Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Alex's brother, Phil, is here visiting from Boston. We decided that we would make pizza for dinner, and were running through various topping options when I discovered the unthinkable: Neither Alex nor Phil had even heard of (not to mention, tasted) barbecue chicken pizza. We soon learned that this was because they were also oblivious to the existence of California Pizza Kitchen, a chain restaurant commonly found in malls and similar establishments that is widely known for this variety of pizza. I actually first tasted this incredibly yummy dish about six years ago, at a local pizza place near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Random. I'm not a huge pizza person, but I became completely enamored by this amazing combination of toppings -- chicken, barbecue sauce, cheese and onions. So if you, like Alex and Phil (and Phil's friend Cassidy), are unfortunate enough to have gone so many years without this, start preheating your oven.

Though the ingredients are mostly self-explanatory, we sought guidance from a recipe for the pizza that we found on Epicurious. Out of 64 reviews, 97% said they would make it again, so we were sold. We ended up modifying it slightly because we forgot to buy red onions, and I'll post what we did below. Additionally, unlike with our last pizza successes, we were too lazy to make dough from scratch. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the dough we bought frozen was gluten-free -- oops. The toppings completely made up for the odd consistency of the crust, however, and Alex, Phil and Cassidy were successfully inducted into the cult of barbecue pizza lovers.


Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large boneless chicken breast halves
2/3 cup hickory-flavored barbecue sauce
7 ounces smoked Gouda cheese, coarsely shredded
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 green onion, chopped

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450. Heat oil in a skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to skillet and sauté until just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and rest for 5 minutes, before slicing chicken into strips. In a bowl, toss strips with 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce. Roll out the dough, and fit it onto a baking sheet. Spread half of the cheese over the dough. Arrange chicken slices over the dough, then sprinkle onions on top. Drizzle with remaining barbecue sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and green onion on top. Bake until cheese melts and crust is crisp, about 14 minutes. Let cool a bit, then serve.