We’ve posted about pizza before, but this summer it seems the subject of original pizzas hasn’t gone away from the Reel Chow kitchen. The discussion keeps returning to my desire to make entire pies from scratch—including dough—but creating delicious gourmet fare you’d never find at pizzerias across the United States.

The trend in pizza for several years has been toward the more exotic. Spicy and previously untapped vegetables and lots of chicken are just three of the movements we’ve seen gaining ground. The buzz is only getting louder, and we’re not immune to it. Both Ron and I grew up with traditional pizza ingredients and we were on opposite sides of the nation. Things were bound to change for the old neighborhood classic.

Homemade Vegetable Pizza topped with optional feta cheese. ©Reel Chow

Here’s my the first of what I hope to many original pizza recipes to be let out from our kitchen. It’s called Vegetable Pizza Without Marinara. This dish obviously features a non-marinara sauce, but also no baked mozzarella cheese, making it a dairy-free for our lactose intolerant readers. I sprinkled some feta on one of the pizzas after it was done, which proved to be wonderfully complimentary.

The sauce of this pie was made of red onion, Spanish onion, and balsamic vinegar. The first step is to saute the onions, softening them with a little olive oil and sea  salt. Add the balsamic vinegar and reduce, so it thickens and the onions take on the full flavor.

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