Forget that. Honestly, getting old is a state of mine. Example: My dad. He's 72 and he can out-hike anyone in the family. A year ago, he helped me re-roof my house. I've seen folks in their seventies that look like they're closer to 100, but Dad's still rocking late fifties to early sixties. How? He keeps busy all the time. Be it visiting people, fixing things up around his house, going down to southern Utah to fish, hike and deerspot, or read the paper cover to cover every morning, he's constantly doing something to keep his mind and body from becoming sedentary. It's worked for him, now I have to get off my butt and see if it will work for me.
But for the time being, I say you're as old as you feel, and I still feel like I did in my late twenties. Yeah, there are a few gray whiskers in the goatee, but those are reminders of having two little boys threatening to jump off the roof on a few different occasions.
So for my birthday, I made a present for myself. This Buffalo Chicken Pizza is probably my favorite pizza in the world. The chicken is tossed in the sauce to coat every square inch and the crust is covered in a combination of buffalo sauce and butter. You get the stretchiness of the mozzarella when you bite into the cheese, but the bleu cheese melts in and permeates the sauce underneath. The onions add a nice little tang as well.
Don't worry, this isn't too hot. If you can eat a basic chicken wing, you can handle this pizza. If you DO want even more heat, slice up a jalapeno pepper and sporadically lay the rings across the pizza.
Also, I HIGHLY recommend that you use a pizza stone. By placing the pizza directly on the stone after it's heated in the oven will create a crispy bottom to the crust, but the meat of the crust will still be chewy. You don't need a fancy pizza stone, any old stone will do. I've seen them for $10 or less at Target, Ross, TJ Maxx, or Tuesday Morning. Just make sure you sprinkle corn meal on the stone before you place the pizza on it to prevent it from sticking.
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Serves 41 pound skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1/2-3/4 cups buffalo wing sauce
1 12-14" Pizza crust
1 cup buffalo wing sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup purple onion, slice into small half moon slivers
2-3 cups mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup bleu cheese
2 green onions
1/2 cup corn meal
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place your pizza stone on the center rack and allow it to heat up.
Cook the chicken, then shred the meat using a pair of forks. Toss the meat with the 1/2-3/4 cup of buffalo wing sauce and set aside.
Next, melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave, then add the cup of buffalo wing sauce. Slice your onions as well.
Spread some corn meal on the counter. Roll and stretch out the pizza crust on top of the corn meal to the proper width. Sprinkle more corn meal on the back of a pizza pan or large cookie sheet and place the crust on it (this is for the move to the pizza stone later.) Spread the sauce evenly over the crust. Then add the shredded chicken and half of the purple onions all over the crust. Next, cover the pizza with mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle the bleu cheese evenly over the top. Garnish the top with the green onions and the remaining red onions.
Now the transfer of the pizza to the pizza stone... Open the oven and pull the rack with the pizza stone out so it's accessible. Sprinkle the remaining corn meal all over the pizza stone. Carefully slide the pizza from the cookie sheet/pizza pan to the pizza stone. Slide it back into the oven. Cook for 20 minutes, but check for bubbles in the crust and doneness at the 10 and 15 minute mark.
When ready to remove, pull the stone out of the oven and slide the pizza from the stone back to the cookie sheet/pizza pan and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Cut into slices and enjoy.
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