Epicure Recipe Card #6: Mozzarella with Fresh Tomato Pesto

I usually have a few of these recipe cards cooked and photographed so that I have some material up my sleeve for those weeks where I either get waylaid by life or am seriously lacking in motivation. Last week I didn’t post a recipe card (due to pre-wedding madness) and this week I had nothing. So over the weekend I asked Monsieur Poisson to choose a recipe card which he’d like to eat and I would make that. He chose this one but followed it up by saying he didn’t feel like anything cool and salad-y. And thus the great mangling of a perfectly fine recipe card began! Out the other end came a margherita-esque pizza.

That classic Italian tricolour combination of basil, mozzarella and tomato works so well on pizza, tossed with pasta or simply as insalata Calabrese. I unfortunately left my grocery shopping a little late and couldn’t get my mits on any fresh mozzarella balls. I had to use packaged cherry bocconcini instead and somehow didn’t put enough of it on the pizza as well! Of course this flavour combination is better in spring when the tomatoes and milk are sweet and the basil is extra green and fragrant, but it’s pretty good otherwise as well – the Italians really know their stuff.

Pizza Margherita (makes 4 medium-sized pizzas)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         1 quantity of Pizza Dough

·         pizza sauce – made from 1 tbs tomato paste, 1 tbs tomato passata, salt & pepper to taste

·         1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

·         mozzarella/bocconcini, sliced (don’t put too much on or the pizza will be weighed down and soggy)

·         2 tbs shredded basil

·         small basil leaves for serving

Method:

1. Divide the dough into four balls and roll each out on a floured surface to desired thickness. Prick all over with a fork before spreading on a thin layer of pizza sauce.
2. Arrange tomato slices on top of pizzas evenly and sparingly before scattering over shredded basil and topping with cheese slices. Season.
3. Bake for around 5-7 minutes at the hottest setting on your oven (around 270°C on mine) until toppings are cooked and cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven, scatter with small basil leaves and let sit for a couple of minutes before slicing to serve.

happy cooking!