It's the best time of year for food snobs like myself- garden eating time. Everything in the garden is nearly ready to eat- a great meal is just a few steps away. We made this pizza a few days ago with fresh pesto (we make a batch just about every day and put it on everything) chicken, olives, regular parmesan, parmesan reggiano cheese, (we were all out of mozzerella to perhaps mix in, so we just went light on the cheese in general) pine nuts, tomatoes, and some yellow and green beans thrown on top- just for fun.
Yesterday we ate lunch and dinner entirely out of the garden: spaghetti squash, yellow pear, grape and yellow cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, a bell pepper and pesto sauce- all chopped up and mixed together. (I forgot to pause for a photo). Yum- delicious.
Here is a re-publication of my pesto recipe and the fastest, easiest pizza dough ever too. Bon Apetite
pizza dough:
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 c. warm water
2 1/2 c. flour, white or wheat
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
dissolve yeast in warm water and stir in remaining ingredients. beat vigorously 20 strokes, or use a mixer. let rest only 5 minutes.
pesto sauce:
1 c. fresh basil leaves ( I would recommend planting basil in your garden, or keeping a plant in your kitchen. it is such a wonderful addition to so many foods)
2 garlic cloves
coarse or rock salt, just a sprinkle
2 tbsp pine nuts (giant bags available at costo)
1/2 c. olive oil
4 tbsp fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp pecorino cheese or more parmesan
place basil, garlic, salt, and pine nuts in a blender or food processor until finely chopped. add olive oil with motor running, the add cheese. blend one more time until ingredients are mixed well.
pizza:
shredded chicken
sliced mushrooms
olives
mozzerella cheese
parmesan and romano cheese
pine nuts
or whatever else sounds good on a a pizza!
roll out dough on parchment paper or pizza pan. spoon on pesto sauce, generously.
cover up the pesto with chicken, mushrooms, and olives, come on now, don't be shy or skimp now...
add shredded mozzerella, then about 1/3 as much parmesan and romano, once again don't skimp.
sprinkle with a handful of pine nuts.
bake on a pizza stone with parchment paper at 425 for 15-20 minutes.
-if you don't have a pizza stone just use a pizza pan or cookie sheet, but a pizza stone really makes the crust turn out yummy. i would recommend having a pizza stone in any kitchen. i cook frozen pizza on it as well, on those super busy or babysitter nights.
i transfer pizza & parchment to the hot stone in the oven by cookie sheet, and back out of the oven the same way.
enjoy!
