DIY Takeout: A Spicy White Pie Like Pizzeria Locale's at Home

Who doesn't love a good pizza? I recently went to Pizzeria Locale at 550 Broadway and tried one of the fast-casual restaurant's most popular pizzas: a spicy chicken white pie. It was really good, and surprisingly fast. It only took five or six minutes for the line to build and cook up a fresh pie for me; I loved the crust that results from the domed Italian oven.

Of course, I wanted to know if you could easily reproduce this pizza at home. It turns out you can get really close; if you wanted a bunch of these pizzas, you could save some serious money by doing it at home. If you have time, you could even make homemade dough, but using store-bought dough is also fine.

This is a traditional white pie, which means the base layers are just olive oil, Parmesan cheese and basil, but I cooked the chicken in marinara to add a little tomato sauce to the pie.

The end result was a simple-to-make white pizza that was surprisingly close to the Pizzeria Locale version. Of course, it's tough to get the crust perfect — unless you happen to have a brick oven in your home (you're lucky if you do!) and access to artisan flour made from heirloom wheat.

But don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here, team. Make pizza at home. It's delicious!
Spicy Chicken White Pie
Makes one personal pizza
Total Time: 45 minutes

Spicy shredded chicken:
1 cup marinara sauce
2 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1-1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs

One pizza:
8 ounces pizza dough
Cornmeal, for pizza peel
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
8-10 leaves fresh basil
6-8 ounces mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded spicy chicken
Roasted red peppers
Sliced red onions
Salt and pepper
Dried oregano

Directions:
For spicy chicken:
1) Add marinara, olive oil and spices to a medium pot over medium heat. Add chicken thighs and cover. Bring to a simmer, then turn down to low heat and simmer chicken for about 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Then shred with two forks.

To make pizza:
1) Preheat oven to 550 degrees F. with a pizza stone in it.

2) Roll out dough and place on a pizza peel (or similar flat kitchen implement) dusted with cornmeal to prevent sticking. Drizzle with olive oil and top with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves.

3) Top with sliced (not shredded) mozzarella. Then top with shredded chicken, roasted red peppers, sliced red onion, salt and pepper, and a pinch of dried oregano.

4) Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot stone and bake for 8-10 minutes until crust is crispy and cheese is bubbly.

5) Remove pizza and let cool for a minute. Slice and serve!

Have an idea for a dish to re-create for DIY Takeout? Leave a comment or e-mail [email protected].