I’m having one of those ‘Rip Van Winkle’ moments because I just cannot fathom that I’m actually using the words, ‘mid-summer.’ Then I look at the calendar and remember that the temperatures have been above 90 for the past couple of weeks and our gardens do indeed, remind me that it really is mid-summer – there’s a bounty to be picked and enjoyed! We’ve put together a ‘mid-summer’ garden tour – so take a minute and walk with us – we’ll show you around!
Now if you’ve been reading Smith Bites on a regular basis, you know that one of The Professor’s favorite things to make and eat, is pizza. So when patty-pan squash, bell peppers, eggplant and onions were ready to harvest, a summer pizza was the natural choice. Quick, easy and delicious, not to mention reasonably healthy, this one turned out better than we had anticipated. Pizza is one of those foods where almost anything goes and you can get very creative with ingredients – veggies, herbs, types of cheese – even the variety of olive oil used, can be paired in several different ways. When determining how to pair veggies, we generally rely on the phrase, ‘if it grows together, it goes together’ as a guideline; add a tossed green salad and a cold drink and the results were nothing short of superb!
Do you make pizza at home?
SUMMER GARDEN PIZZA
NOTE: Pizza toppings are one of those things where less is more, so quantity of ingredients will be determined by the size of pizza you’re making. These measurements are for a 10″ pizza and are approximate.
INGREDIENTS
Frozen Pizza Dough, thawed
Olive Oil
A pinch of Crushed Red Pepper
1/4 Cup White Onion, thinly sliced
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1/4 Cup Sweet Pepper, thinly sliced (Red, Orange or Yellow)
1/4 Cup Patty-pan Zucchini, thinly sliced (I recommend using the bitty ones so you don’t have to peel or seed)
1/4 Cup Japanese Eggplant, thinly sliced
1/2 Cup Fontina Cheese, grated
1/2 Parmesan Cheese, grated + more for finishing
Salt
Black Pepper
Fresh Basil, thinly sliced
Truffle Oil for finishing
METHOD
Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Divide thawed dough into 2 pieces and set aside one half for a second pizza; lightly flour surface and rolling pin, roll out dough to approximately 10″ circle. Slide rolled pizza crust onto a metal pizza wheel for transfer to oven; drizzle with approximately 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil; sprinkle with grated Fontina cheese.
In the meantime, add 1 Tablespoon Olive oil to medium non-stick skillet; add onions, garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes, a pinch of salt/pepper – sauté approximately 2 minutes then add peppers and patty-pan squash. Sauté another minute and add eggplant and another pinch of salt/pepper. Sauté for another 2 minutes and remove from heat. You just want to cook veggies so they’re crisp/tender, not mushy.
Add toppings to dough, distributing veg evenly over pizza; add grated Parmesan and transfer pizza to oven and bake for approximately 5-7 minutes. The bottom of the crust should be crispy and browned. Remove from oven to a cutting board, grate additional parmesan cheese over the pizza, top with fresh basil and drizzle with truffle oil. Cut into slices and serve!
Era Molto Buono!
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Debra:
Wow. If this ain’t “The RGB” in a nutshell, I don’t know what is. You guys sure know how to live… This might be my favorite post of yours, EVER!
In fact, we do make pizza at home. There’s a stone for the oven and a stone for the grill. And we have balls of pizza dough queued up in the freezer so we can make one anytime we’re inclined to. Current favorite toppings: caramelized onions, prosciutto and goat cheese, then sprinkled with a little minced parsley. But it changes…
Happy week! [K]
SO beautiful. I need some green-egg pizza in my life!
What a lovely pizza…And a great site:)
Wow love your post and your site! Just found you via Marla from Family Fresh Cooking! So glad I did!
nope Elizabeth, we didn’t heat up the kitchen for this one – cooked the pizza on our Big Green Egg and boy was it good!
I give you guys so much credit for cranking up the oven for pizza in the heat. Some days it’s been taking all of our wherewithal to just turn on the stove!
Love your garden bounty–so impressive!
Can’t see the vid for some reason 🙁
Amazing looking pizza though and beautiful photos, so cool that it’s all from your garden ^_^
Awwww thanks Brian – we are very fortunate to be able to grow some of our own produce; and that chard is wonderful!
You guys are adorable! I love this video. All that wonderful produce in your garden… Definitely feeling a bit jealous.
All of it looks great, but I have to say that the chard is breathtaking. Bravo!
Rowdy ~ we just use a generic frozen dough from my local grocer; BUT i am working on a brioche pizza dough that looks like a real winner!
Do you have a particular brand of frozen pizza dough you like? I usually make the dough in my bread machine, but I’m never thrilled with the results. Maybe frozen dough would work better for me…
I’d never heard a Cicada before moving here – nor had I seen a firefly – but both signal summer to me and I would miss them terribly! Enjoy that music pairing Carol!
I can’t wait until this weekend, I have no garden but do have a great farmer’s market! Pizza Pizza with my mid- summer music pairing – the cicadas…..
Great idea Chef Dennis – we’re gonna try that one!
those are beautiful images, of a fantastic Pizza…..Pizza is like a blank canvas, it works with just about anything!! Fresh vegetables are just the best right now, and what a great way to use them….
how bout a zucchini Blossom Pizza….wow….that would be soooo good!
You know Marly, I used to love thick crust pizza – but that was way back when I ordered take-out; now I prefer thin crust w/lots of veggies!
What a great looking summer pizza. My daughter and I love thin-crusted pizzas. I can’t wait to tell her about this recipe.
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