Today I’m thankful for pizza. Homemade pizza. The kind made with tomatoes and vegetables picked from the garden earlier that morning. That kind of pizza.
My blank canvas, waiting to be painted…
(I like to pre-bake my crust to make it extra crisp)
Tomatoes are at their absolute best this time of year. Soon they’ll be gone and it will be months before I can taste this amazing flavor of summer again. In fact, I know a woman who refuses to buy “fresh” tomatoes when they’re not in season (canned ones are fair game though). She says she finds the flavor too inferior to even bother with.
So when her homegrown ones are gone, they’re gone. That’s it – no more tomatoes until the season is back and beautiful red tomatoes are on the vine again. I can’t blame her.
Anyway, the sun was setting fast and it was time to get down to some pizza making…
I’ve been playing around with sauce in my last few pizza-making sessions. My last pie was made with raw sauce, thanks to a suggestion by Sean Colgin over at Skinny Girls & Mayonnaise. I tried it, and it worked great. It made me wish I had an outdoor pizza oven to really bring out the flavors.
This time around, I was feeling like I wanted something chunky. I peeled and crushed my fresh tomatoes by hand, then added them to sauteed onions and green peppers. I tossed in some fresh basil as well. I had a hard time not eating the sauce before actually putting it on the pizza. I kept shoveling spoonfuls into my mouth until I realized I almost didn’t have enough for the pie. Oops…
Once it simmered down a bit I smeared it onto my pre-cooked crust and added my toppings.
I kept it simple with kalamata olives, grape tomatoes and basil. The grape tomatoes I grew this year are amazing!
I like to brush a little olive oil onto any the crust that’s left exposed after the cheese is on. I’m not sure it makes a difference, but for some reason I feel it’s a “must.” More flavor?
Use good cheese. Cheese is important, man.
Nice, with a good crispy crust!
Of course a fat glass of red wine was had with it… ~A
