It took me just one visit to the farmer’s
market a couple of days ago to realize the fact that we haven’t been using
enough summer veggies in our dishes lately. Sure, we had broccoli and shrimps
and rice and coconut, all nice and delicious, but where is the summer? With
that in mind, I went on a shopping spree in the farmer’s market (believe it or
not, this thing happens a lot more often that you might think) and bought a
rather large quantity of veggies (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, cucumbers,
peppers) and spices, all fresh (oregano, coriander, lemon thyme, parsley, sage,
chili).
This situation, if we can call it like that, raised another question:
how to cook all these delicious, fresh, fragrant and healthy veggies? In the
end, I opted for making some homemade pizza, for which I also used some nice
and spicy chorizo. Now, this post isn’t much about some incredible recipe or
some high-tech cooking stuff, but instead I just wanted to tell you guys to enjoy
summer and all it has to offer in all the markets. The fresh vegetables, greens
and spices that you can get your hands on should not be missed, because in the
kitchen, this is what summer is all about.
For our pizzas I bought the fresh made
dough from a local pizza place (browse around the pizzerias near you, there are
bound to be ones that sell the dough). They way I give that lump of dough the
round shape is by flattening it with a rolling pin and turning it 90 degrees
after each passing of the pin. In the end , if you have the skills, feel free
to use your hand to throw it spinning in the air, it will help evening it and
give it a nice round shape.
Next, with a pastry brush or just your finger, just
slightly glaze the pizza with some olive oil. After this , spread some tomato
paste (not juice, not passata, use some more concentrated stuff) on top - I like to use plain stuff in this phase,
without any condiments or other flavors except of the tomato paste itself. Place
the chorizo (or the meat of your liking).
Next stage, veggie time. Go nuts.
Honestly. Tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, onions, eggplants, olives, maybe
broccoli, ruccola, oregano, thyme,
basil, parsley, even sage. Quick note here, because I feel like I have to
mention this: I managed to get my hands on some delicious purple-black cherry
tomatoes that were just amazing on top of this pizza. For the cheese, I used
some mozzarella (not the kind you see in the supermarkets packed for pizza, use
the real thing) that I ripped or cut
into pieces that in put on top of the veggies and spices. You can put the
cheese under the vegetables, your choice here really.
Pop the pizza in the
oven; the cooking time will depend largely on the thickness of the dough. I
made 3 pizzas, 2 of which had a thicker base and took around 16-18 minutes, the
lighter one took only 12.
For the sauce, I say... put that ketchup away (catchy,
isn’t it?). Use about 250 grams of fresh tomato juice (cut the tomatoes in half
and use a grater to obtain the juice), and the mix of fresh condiments of your
choosing. I opted for some oregano, lemon thyme, sage and parsley, next to some
garlic, chili (a variety of Scotch bonnet was used), salt and pepper.
You can
either finely chop everything and not bother with the greens or leave them
whole and remove them from the sauce once it is done (that’s how I did it).
Boil this whole magic combo on medium heat until it reaches a sauce, not too
thick, not too runny, consistency. Use this on top of your home made pizza for wonderful results.
About the results of the vegetable shopping spree, what can I say? You know when you eat something and you get that feeling that you need to say it out loud how good it is, but you don’t wanna stop eating either, and result is just some weird satisfaction noise? Ever been in that situation? No? Then you need to try this pizza. If not for the taste, then for the life experience.
Enjoy,
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