Phyllo Crusted Pizza

Since you can obviously put whatever you like on a pizza, this is really more of an idea or suggestion than an actual recipe.  I just happened to have had some spare phyllo in the fridge, so I was playing around with new things to do with it.  When I found some mini sweet peppers and multicolored grape tomatoes in the fridge, I already knew there was leftover chicken, so I decided to pull some homemade pesto out of the freezer and put them all together to make a pizza.

I know from experience (the first time I attempted to make spinach pie and it was a soggy mess) that you don't want to introduce too much liquid to the phyllo, or it will pretty much turn to paste.  That's what prompted me to partially pre-cook the crust...and to blot my tomato slices on a paper towel.

Gather your ingredients.

Using 8-10 layers in total, place 2 layers in your pan,

brush with melted butter, sprinkle with Italian seasoning and

repeat - do NOT sprinkle the herbs on the very top layer.

You don't want them to burn while baking the crust.

Bake the crust at 375 for 10-15" until lightly golden

and nicely puffed up.  

My pizza was a half/half, so

I spread pizza sauce on one half and dotted pesto on

the other.  Add your toppings of choice.

Top with shredded mozzarella and some fresh

grated Parmesan and return to oven at 350.

Bake until mozzarella starts to bubble and brown, 15-20".

Because one diner had an issue with the "crust" layers sliding apart, I'm thinking of sprinkling a little mozzarella between the layers next time, along with the Italian seasoning, to sort of glue the sheets together.  You could also layer the bottom sheets in such a way that you could wrap them over the top at the end, so the edges are covered.  If you do that though, you might want to pre-cut your slices so the heat/air will get to the middle slices.  Either that, or bake the crust longer on the front end, putting a sheet of foil over it so it doesn't brown too much.  You just down want to end up with uncooked phyllo.