RECIPE // Margherita Pizza

Homemade margherita pizza with multigrain crust, fresh mozzarella, charred grape tomatoes, fennel, garlic, crushed chilis, and plenty of fresh basil.

This pizza is beautiful to look at and just as delicious.  It’s fairly simple to make, with only 10 ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

Multigrain pizza dough
Garlic Salt
Fresh-Grated Parmesan Cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
12 oz Basket of Grape Tomatoes
2-3 Crushed Garlic Cloves
A handful of fennel seeds, bruised with mortar and pestle
1-3 Crushed Dried Red Chili Peppers
1 Large Ball of Fresh Mozzarella in water
1/2 – 1 Block Mozzarella Cheese
Fresh Basil (the more the better!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.  Sprinkle the pizza stone with corn meal and stretch the multigrain dough over it, folding the edges to make a rough border.

2.  Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle it liberally with garlic salt and fresh-grated parmesan cheese, making sure that some gets on the crust.  Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 5 minutes.

3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet on high heat, then add the grape tomatoes and sauté them until they are charred.  This step takes about 5 minutes.  It’s a good idea to give the tomatoes a good shake a couple of times during this process, so that they have the chance to char on all sides.  The oil will likely spatter at this heat so I recommend using a mesh splatter screen if you have one, or at else holding the pan handle with a tea towel that you can also use to cover your arm.

4. Combine the garlic, fennel, and crushed red pepper in a large bowl, then add the tomato mixture and mix well. Puncture and slightly crush the tomatoes with a fork. Season with rock salt and fresh-ground pepper.

5. Select some nice basil leaves to decorate the top of your pizza and chop the rest.

6. Grate the block of mozzarella and chop the ball into large pieces.

7. Toss the cheeses together with the basil in a medium-sized bowl.

8. Sprinkle the cheese and basil mixture evenly over the pizza dough.

9. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the pizza, making sure there are still some areas without any sauce.

10. Bake the pizza until the crust is browned, about 15-20 minutes.

11. Garnish with the basil leaves, slice and eat!