Shrimp Scampi Pizza

Shrimp Scampi Pizza topped with fresh Arugula

I had this pizza at Califormia Pizza Kitchens and it was wonderful. This was in October 2015 and they had re-made their recipe which was only being offered in that month. I decided to try to replicate it at home.

According to their press release, "A fan favorite since 2001, the reinvented Shrimp Scampi Pizza features tender garlic shrimp, housemade garlic cream sauce, caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella, parmesan and red chili, topped with fresh wild arugula and finished with wild Greek oregano." The arugula takes this pizza from good to excellent, so don't leave it off unless you can't find it.

California Pizza Kitchen's crust is very thin and the crust around the edge is very puffy and hollow. To recreate the pizza, use a New York style pizza crust.

FMM: I came up with this pizza recipe and it was almost as good as the one I had at CPK. Our crust on the bottom was not quite as crisp (should have been cooked a few minutes more or bake the crust for a few minutes first until just starting to set) and ours was more garlicy. CPK's pizza did have a strong garlic taste. We probably should have gone a little lighter on the sauce or added a little less garlic when making it. I thought it delicious, but those who are not fond of garlic might find it a bit much. The shrimp scampi has garlic and the sauce has garlic, so you have to balance the two.

This is how I layered the pizza (worked well). Do not overload your pizza or it can become soggy and heavy. Go especially light on the Garlic Cream Sauce. [I found that par-baking the crust until just starting to set helps a lot. Also go lighter on the sauce, plus less garlic flavor. I have seen recipes that parbake the crust for a few minutes, like 3 or 4 minutes, that can help with this.

Pizza Dough (New York Style) - you will need to make this a day or two before
Garlic Cream Sauce (use less garlic so the pizza is not too garlicy)
Fresh mozzarella, grated
Carmelized onions (slowly fried in butter until browned and sugars have carmelized)
Shrimp Scampi (again not too garlicy and undercook the shrimp, you just want to flavor the shrimp), remove the shrimp, boil down the wine & add the juice to the Garlic Cream Sauce
Parmesan cheese
A few flakes of red pepper flakes
Dried oregano
Arugula (top after removing from oven)

There is a lot to do to get the ingredients ready for this. You can make some of this beforehand, bring the ingredients to room temperature and make the pizza another night.

Follow the instructions in Pizza Dough for shaping and baking the pizza. Bake until the crust is nice and brown and the cheese is bubbly. Once the pizza is out of the oven, sprinkle fresh arugula over the top.