Cooking is one of my top hobbies aside from traveling and swimming. Whenever I get the chance and time to cook, I always take advantage of it and practice my favorite recipes. I also watch a really great cooking show that even uses an Audience Response System to involve its audience in the show. I have now been watching the show for more than two months on a regular basis. In that time frame, it never failed to amaze me.

This cooking show has helped a lot in developing and improving my current cooking skills. In addition to that, there are new cooking techniques that I have learned just by watching this show. It’s really amazing how I easily absorb all the things that the featured chef in this show tells his audience. Well I guess having the passion for cooking really helps a lot. How I wish I just practiced cooking as a profession. However, this was not the path I chose when I had to make a choice.

I find Pizza with Swiss Chard and Bacon very special and consider it one of my favorites so I’d to share the recipe to you. I originally found this recipe in Yahoo. I hope you’ll also love it!

You will need the following ingredients:

1. 1/2 pound sliced bacon
2. 1 1/2 pounds Swiss chard, stems and tough ribs removed, leaves cut into 1/2-inch-wide ribbons
3. 1/2 pound Fontina or mild provolone cheese, shredded
4. Salt and freshly ground pepper
5. 1 pound pizza dough, at room temperature
6. 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Pizza

Cooking it is also very easy. Here are the cooking directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Preheat a pizza stone or generously oil a large baking sheet. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over high heat until browned and most of the fat is rendered, about 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and let cool, then break the bacon into 1-inch pieces.

2.Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat from the skillet and heat until shimmering. In a large heatproof bowl, toss the Swiss chard with the hot fat. Add the bacon and half of the cheese, season with salt and pepper and toss well.

3.On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a rough 14-inch round. Transfer it to a floured pizza peel or rimless cookie sheet, or to the oiled baking sheet. Spoon the Swiss chard topping over the pizza, leaving a 1-inch border of dough. Brush the border with the olive oil. Scatter the remaining cheese on top.

4.Slide the pizza onto the hot stone, if using, and bake for about 10 minutes on the stone or 16 minutes on the baking sheet, until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling. Transfer the pizza to a rack and let cool slightly before serving.