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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Pesto Pizza



Our menu is typically created sometime Friday or Saturday.  During the summer months, Friday's the day since the farmer's markets are typically on Saturday morning.  This summer we've not had time to go to the farmer's markets since we've been working so many crazy hours.  I've really missed the fresh produce.  But, since we've had a LOT of good stuff from our own garden it's not been terrible.  That is what we can get to around the weeds in the garden... 

Annie the dog intervened last weekend.  She was almost out of lamb jerky treats.  You see, she gets one at 7:00 every evening.  If we're not going to be home until later, Connie gives her one before we leave.  All you have to say is, "Hey Mister, you got a dog?" and Miss Annie comes running.  She skids to a stop short of entering the kitchen and impatiently waits while the treat is retrieved from the fridge.  That's something else Connie's trained her to do - dogs DO NOT enter a room where a human is eating or preparing food.  She can be sound asleep in the dining room then as soon as we start carrying dinner dishes in, she's out of there and in the front hall.  She's such a good doggie!  So, you ask, why do we say, "Hey Mister you got a dog?"  That's what Hunter and Conner Knudsen would say to the folks at the farmer's market when they were trying to sell their lamb jerky.  How do you say no to an adorable little red-headed kid?  We know their mom and dad are teaching them excellent money lessons by letting them sell the jerky.  And, Annie loves the treats.  Ergo, we buy them for her.

Wow, that was a long-winded story just to tell you that we had some fabulous fresh corn on the cob in the fridge.  I'd planned on having it for my dinner Monday evening.  Connie was scheduled to play bridge.  I could come home late and just have two ears of corn on the cob and be perfectly content.

Except he didn't play bridge.  He was going to be home for dinner.  Plan B.  We'd picked all the roma tomatoes in the garden and I'd roasted a huge sheet of them.  They were in the fridge.  I was pretty sure I had some fresh mozzarella.  And, I'd bought a Boboli crust to have on hand.  What about a caprese pizza?  Sounded great.  So, I asked, "Would you like just fresh basil or fresh basil and fresh pesto on the pizza?"  Of course he responded that he'd like some pesto too.  Who wouldn't?  Turns out the fresh mozzarella was a figment of my imagination.  Fine, I had a bag of shredded.  And, there were a couple more ripe romas to be used up.  Oh, and I was frying bacon to make blt's for lunch.  There was extra...  We were in business.

How did we like it?  I've got to say this was one of the all-time best pizzas I've ever had.  Anywhere.  And, that's coming from the gal who thinks a pizza made without pizza sauce is not a real pizza.  I've changed my mind.  We had the leftovers for lunch and while not as totally fantastic, the pizza was still wonderful.  This will be a regular garden-dinner dish.  And, yes, we did have corn on the cob with our pizza...  Strange but good.


Boboli whole wheat pizza crust
Shredded mozzarella
Pesto (preferably freshly made)
Roasted roma tomatoes
Fresh roma tomatoes
crumbled bacon
Fresh basil

Here's how it went together:

Pizza crust topped with a bit of shredded mozzarella then big dollops of homemade pesto:




Schmear the pesto around:



Top with roasted roma tomatoes. (Toss halved tomatoes with olive oil, roast at about 450 for 20 minutes, remove and discard the skins.)



Next, fresh, sliced tomatoes:



Then, crumbled bacon, shredded mozzarella, fresh basil:




And, finally more shredded mozzarella




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