This year I had such a good garden harvest of fresh tomatoes and peppers, so I decided to cook up a fresh recipe to combine all of the juicy flavors together.
Tonight we're makin' a pizza! Fresh from the garden!
Almost any dummy can make a pizza, so at least humor me and enjoy the photos while I cook one up.
Harvested Ingredients:
- Roma Tomatoes
- Ancho Poblano Pepper
- Basil Leaves
Additional Ingredients:
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Asiago, Parmesan, Romano Cheese
- Dried Oregano
- Garlic
- Sweet Yellow Onion
- Sweet Italian Sausage
- Pepperoni
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Pizza Dough
- Semolina Flour
First Things First
To get started, I looked up how to make traditional garden fresh pizza sauce, and found out the Italians make it in a very simple way. Italians prefer not to use canned tomato paste, but they do prefer to opt in for the best sweet tomatoes possible.
Cut up tomatoes, and mix in a clove of garlic, a few leaves of basil, a sprinkling of dried oregano, a dash of salt, and a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil. Mix it in the traditional way, with love, using a spoon if you like it chunky, or use a blender if you want a smoother sauce. Ideally 400 ml is enough to cover a pizza. I used 6 Roma tomatoes.
Since I wanted Italian sausage on my pizza, I first cooked the raw meat in a pan until it was browned. While it was cooking I added a little bit of onion and garlic. When it's done, put the meat and onion on a paper towel, but keep the juicy flavors in the pan.
The cast iron pan is pre-seasoned now with a great non-stick surface. Ready for the dough.
Dough and Sauce
For the dough, I chose a roll-out pre-made batch. It comes in a rectangle, so I had to trim the excess off the side of the pan. There was plenty of extra dough, so I pounded the extra dough ball flat, and mooshed it back into the center of the pizza, for a thicker crust. Edges are rolled in to make a thicker edge.
Spread the tomato sauce over the dough. Spill some love juices generously on the edges to flavor the dough.
For added zing, sprinkle the outside of the crust with Semolina flour, if you have it. It adds a lovely crispy grain flavor that tastes very Italian, and it's very aromatic.
Cheese to the Rescue
Sprinkle shredded cheese over the sauce.
Sprinkle cut basil leaves over the cheese.
Use low-moisture cheese if you can find it. It will be less likely to become an oily puddle mess.
Also I went a bit overboard with the four cheeses. Go easy on the sharp cheeses, or exclude them completely, and just stick with good ol' mozzarella. The other white cheeses tend to overpower the flavor of the sauce. Try using less cheese and meats if you want to taste more of the fresh tomatoes.
Arrange the Meats
In my experience, pepperoni can sometimes be a challenge to slice with the pizza cutter. Consider the arrangement of the meat so that cutting the pizza slices can be made more smoothly. Not fun to have all the pepperoni fall off the pizza slice after using the pizza cutter.
Sprinkle with bits of Italian Sausage, peppers, and onion. Olives and mushrooms would also be good toppings.
Stick it in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees F. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
Results
It was a very cheesy pizza.
Honestly, I think I have room for improvement too.
Things To Try For A Fresher Pizza Flavor
- Better Dough: Look up how to make Fougasse bread. It's amazing. It's not hard to make. It makes the best bread sticks too.
- Leave parts of the dough uncovered. Less cheese and other toppings can better highlight the flavor of the bread and the tomatoes. Consider excluding the meats and cheeses, or use less. They contain a lot of salts, and it will mask the sweeter flavors of the veggies.
- Use lots of tomatoes! Watery tomatoes are especially excellent, as the juice can go into the making of the bread dough for additional flavor. End up with a festive harvest red crust.
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Wow, that looks yummy. Never occured to me to cook the whole pizza in a cast skillet. I'll be trying that. I'd probably opt for artichoke, sundried tomatoes and olives for toppings.
It cooked even doneness. Bottom looked just like the top edges. I like the bottom of pizza slightly crisp fried.