Thursday, October 7, 2010

Yellow Tomato & Zucchini Pizza with Garlic Crust



The last of the summer tomatoes seem to be trickling into my house. Not from my plants. I’m too soft to end the lives of the cute little slug-like snail creatures eating all my tomatoes. The only crops around here come from my CSA or my mother’s garden.

Feeling sorry for the tomato loving bugs has proved once again to be a terrible way to raise productive plants. I must be strong and firm next year. It’s their lives or mine! Or, I could just rob the tomatoes out of mom’s garden. Why do I try to grow tomatoes anyway?

I don’t think I’m cut out for the cruelty of gardening.

Yellow Tomato & Zucchini Pizza with Garlic Crust
Printer Version
Very soon I’ll be missing these colorful, tasty late summer vegetable pizzas.


1 (12 to 14 inch) pizza dough, stretched onto a pan
1 recipe Zesty Old School Pizza Sauce

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup mozzarella, shredded

1/2 cup Asiago cheese, shredded

A few thinly sliced zucchini rounds

2 small yellow or red tomatoes, chopped 

3 to 4 tablespoons chopped onions

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper
Onion powder
Basil olive oil (Optional, but makes this pizza even better if you have it.)

Cornmeal



Preheat the grill on high to 500 degrees, with the lid closed. Brush a good quality pizza pan lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with cornmeal. Set aside.

Place chopped tomatoes on a paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover with a paper towel to drain.



Stretch and roll out the pizza dough until thin, and place on the pan. Brush the top with 1 tablespoon olive oil, and spoon on as much pizza sauce as desired.

Pat the liquid out of tomatoes.

Top pizza with the mozzarella, Asiago, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, minced garlic and Parmesan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and onion powder. Drizzle top with a little basil olive oil.



Set pizza on the grill and close the lid. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until cooked through and bottom of crust is browned.



Garlic Pizza Dough

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon honey or sugar

1 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt



Place water, yeast, and honey or sugar into a stand mixer bowl. Stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes.



Place the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and knead with a dough hook on low speed for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead by hand on a clean surface for another minute.

Pat into a circle.

Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough inside, flipping once to coat with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

 Makes two large pizzas.

Zesty Old School Style Pizza Sauce
The recipe makes enough sauce to cover three medium, or two large pizzas.



1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
 without sugar
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar



Place all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir together.

Makes 1½ cups of pizza sauce.



Notes: Because this recipe is so quick to prepare, I keep extra tomato sauce and tomato paste around for spur of the moment pizza nights.


Recipes & photograph by Laura Flowers.


12 comments:

VegeCooking Club said...

So tomorrow is my one year bloggiversary and I was actually thinking of doing grilled pizza! This looks amazing. I have to say thanks for giving me tips and inspiration throughout this whole year and that it has been such a pleasure to read your blog.

The Cooking Photographer said...

Dawn you've really been blogging and sharing your beautiful food with us for a whole year? Where has the time gone? Happy anniversary my friend!

Laura

Unknown said...

Lovely recipe, KILL THE BUGS...and dont look back lady!

Joanne said...

yellow tomatoes are such a favorite of mine! I think they are way worth killing the bugs. Just saying...

scrambledhenfruit said...

Your pizza is lovely! Just when I think I can't eat another tomato or zucchini, along comes a recipe like this one, to tempt me all over again.

I have the same problem with tomatoes. I plant them with good intentions, but as soon as the tomato hornworms show up, I won't go near them on a bet. Luckily I have a brother with a produce business. :)

I made your (Uncle Will's) molasses cookies- The dough was sticky so when I rolled them out I used lots of flour. I don't think I got them quite as thin as yours, so I baked them a bit longer. They're delicious and well worth the trouble of the sticky dough! Thanks!

PS (as if this wasn't long enough) There's a link to the gougeres recipe near the bottom of my post.

The Southern Cookbook said...

Laura, your pizza looks amazing. I love how the zuchinni and tomato come together. Now I am craving pizza :)

Monet said...

In my book, pizza should always have a lot of garlic and a lot cheese. Veggies are mandatory too. So needless to say, this pizza is a winner for me. Thank you for sharing, Laura. It looks amazing...I only wish those summer vegetables would last a bit longer!

Veronica said...

The cruelty of gardening! You make me laugh so hard!

LimeCake said...

yum i love grilled pizza. just as good as woodfired ones. this looks delicious!

Steve said...

Laura,
Just in time for Friday night. Beautiful!
Steve
http://www.myfavoriteflavours.com

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

I love that you've flavored the crust and the veggies sound great, too. Was just thinking about making pizza since it's been a while.

Tia said...

ive been looking for a good sauce recipe. i'm excited to try this - and will be following your blog too! take care :)

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