The cherry tomatoes in my garden are finally ripening, and now I have the fun of figuring out how to eat them all. This weekend I grabbed a bag of pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and put ’em on a pizza, along with some chard and basil from my garden. That’s about as local and seasonal as it gets, but if you don’t have a garden you can certainly find the ingredients at a farmer’s market.
I used pre-made dough, but next time I want to try it with homemade dough, like this recipe.
Cherry Tomato and Chard Pizza Margherita
Adapted from here.
1 lb. bag refrigerated pizza dough
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, stemmed
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 4-ounce ball fresh mozzarella in water, diced
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
5 leaves rainbow chard
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 550°F. If you’re using one, place a pizza stone in the oven to pre-heat.
Remove the ribs from the chard leaves and chop. Roughly tear or chop the remainder of the chard leaves.
In a large skillet, heat oil over high heat. Add tomatoes and chopped chard ribs; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until tomatoes are beginning to break down, about 5-10 minutes. Add chard leaves and saute until they’ve wilted, about 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Mix in garlic and crushed red pepper. Using a fork, roughly crush tomatoes, leaving large chunks intact. Season mixture with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, toss shredded mozzarella and chopped basil.
Sprinkle the pizza stone or pan with a bit of cornmeal, then roll or spread the dough to fit your pan. Spread shredded mozzarella and basil mixture evenly over dough. Spoon on tomato mixture in dollops, then sprinkle chopped mozzarella on top. Bake pizza until crust is crisp and brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
Loosen pizza with metal spatula and slide onto board.
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Isn’t my scooter pizza cutter
Yum!! That looks so delicious and it’s awesome that you have your own garden! I love gardening and hope to fit at least a little space on my balcony to do so!
Kayli, balconies are great for container gardening! What are you planning to grow? This is the first time I’ve had a “real” garden, and it’s just the strip of ground between the street and the sidewalk in front of the house we’re renting, but growing stuff is really fun 🙂
I’d love to do herbs, veggies and maybe even some flowers! I grew-up helping my mom garden and loved it. 🙂 Any tips or tricks you use?? I’m hoping that my boyfriend will eventually get around to DIYing a small garden bed 🙂
I grew up helping my mom garden, too! I was less than enthusiastic about it, though. She mostly grew flowers, so I search online for tips for edibles. One thing I’ve learned is that tomatoes need calcium, so you can give them crushed up eggshells. And I put used coffee grounds around my plants to repel bugs. Good luck with your gardening!