Tomato Pizza
Homemade pizza’s have become a favorite of mine. They are easy to make and the diversiy of ingredients you can use, means that you can please just about anyone’s tastes. For this recipe, I show you how to make what I’m calling my “Chunky Tomato Pizza”. It’s a take on a standard margarita pizza, but instead of a smooth tomato sauce, I keep large chunks of diced tomato in the sauce. As a result you get bites packed with tomato flavor as you eat the pizza…a tomato lovers dream. Give it tray, and I hope you enjoy it!
Recipe Overview and Keys to Success
To make the best Tomato Pizza just make sure to do the following:
- For all my pizzas I use a very hot oven…about 500 degrees. If possible you should also use a pizza stone, but if you don’t have one, use your heaviest sheet pan or tray – the thicker the better
- This pizza, by definition is for the tomato lover, so go easy on the cheese, or there simply be too much topping for the crust
- By all means make your pizza dough if you’d like, but I find it hard, and my local pizza shop is very willing to sell me the raw dough, which is what I do every time.
RECIPE FOR CHUNKY TOMATO PIZZA
Ingredients (for 2)- 1 16 ounce can diced (or whole tomatoes)
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 shallot diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 3 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
- 1 medium pizza dough
- 1 8 ounce fresh mozzarella ball (you can also use grated)
- Dry polenta or grits to roll out the pizza dough
- 5 – 6 fresh basil leaves
- Bring a sauce pan to temperature over medium heat and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom
- Add the shallot and garlic, and sauté until softened. About 5 minutes
- Add the diced tomato (if using whole, crush the tomatoes in your hands)
- Add the oregano, season with salt and pepper and simmer, covered for about 20 – 30 minutes
- Add the parmesan cheese, and stir it in. If the sauce is too thin, continue to simmer uncovered to thicken. To thick, simply add water to thin it out.
- Allow the sauce to cool as you roll out the dough
- Heat your oven with the pizza stone inside to 500 degrees for about 20 minutes to ensure it is hot
- Stretch the dough out as thinly as you’d like, I generally like it as thin as I can get it, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick
- Spread the dry polenta on a cutting board, and then lay the stretched dough on top of the polenta – that will make I much easier to slide off the cutting board and onto the pizza stone
- Spread the sauce over the dough, in a fairly thin layer. Freeze your left over sauce for another time
- Cut rounds from the mozzarella ball (or you can also use grated if you’d like) and spread them around the pizza evenly, keeping large gaps between each round
- Lay out the fresh basil leaves in a similar way
- Now slide the pizza off the cutting board and onto the hot pizza stone, and allow it to bake until the cheese is fully melted and the crust a bit crispy
- Remove the pizza stone from the oven and allow the pizza to rest on the stone for about 5 minutes
- Cut up your chunky tomato pizza and enjoy!
Pizza. Tomatoes. You gotta go with a Sangiovese with this meal. The light tannins and good acid in the wine work really well with food, and there is a natural affinity between Sangiovese and tomato. You don’t need to break the bank, and a simple Chianti will get absolutely perfect.
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