Margherita Pizza

Sometimes deciding on what to make with the overwhelming number of tomatoes that we have is the easiest thing in the world.  And by overwhelming, I mean: so many tomatoes that they are practically yanking the tomato cages out of the ground as the plants lean with the weight of the tomatoes.  So we plucked a few San Marzanos, diced and hand-crushed them and then made a pizza.  A simple homemade pizza of crushed tomatoes as the “sauce”, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil.  Dinner seriously does not get any better than this one!  Who’s with me when I say that I’m going to desperately miss summer vegetables when they are gone?

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Margherita Pizza
source: Smells Like Home original

Ingredients:

• 1/2 batch of pizza dough
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3-4 fresh San Marzano or Roma tomatoes or canned whole tomatoes (if you’re desperate), halved, seeded, diced, and hand-crushed
• 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, patted dry and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, loosely packed, torn or thinly sliced (if desired)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven with a pizza stone inside to 500 degrees F for at least 30 minutes.
2. Roll out the pizza dough to a 14-inch circle on a well-floured surface.  Transfer the dough to either a large piece of parchment paper or a cornmeal-sprinkled pizza peel.  Drizzle a little olive oil over the dough and spread the crushed tomatoes out on top.  Layer the mozzarella in a single layer on top of the tomatoes.  Transfer the pizza to the hot stone.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the mozzarella is bubbly and most of the liquid has evaporated.  Sprinkle the fresh basil over the pizza as it’s cooling and serve hot.

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