Adventures in Food
Bistro pizza week–margarita
I’m keeping it simple and fun this week by passing along a few mini-meal ideas we’ve been trying out–welcome to bistro pizza week! Now you can definitely make your own pizza dough, but to keep this meal fast I buy pre-made dough from an Italian grocery store near our home. With dough at $1 per bag, I pick up three and make four mini pizzas with each.
It’s fun to play around with the small sizes and experiment with the flavors. But to start off, I’m passing along a classic–Margarita pizza, topped with only three fresh ingredients: mozzarella cheese slices, roma tomatoes and basil. Named after an Italian queen whose visit to Naples inspired the idea, I find the simple ingredients are appealing to picky eaters. Maybe it’s that the ingredients are so easy to identify, or that every part of the pizza is fresh, but this is the most requested pizza at my house. We even picked up yellow tomatoes to make it again this week–gotta tweak right?
Note: It’s easy to double or triple this recipe and it makes for great leftovers to send in kids’ lunches–or to have for breakfast…
Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4 mini-pizzas
Ingredients
1 bag pizza dough
2 roma tomatoes
1 bunch basil
8-12 ounces fresh mozzarella
olive oil
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Divided the dough into four equal pieces using a floured knife.
- Roll each dough piece out into a 5-6 inch circle, then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.
- Brush each dough piece generously with olive oil.
- Place tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh ground pepper on top.
- Bake for 10 minutes, remove pizza and add basil then cook for an additional 5-10 minutes or until cheese is golden. (You can leave the basil on the whole time if you don’t mind it getting a little crispy. I actually like the basil crisped so I put it on at the beginning of cooking, it’s up to you!)
Coming up later this week:
- Meatball margarita pizza
- Breakfast pizza failure
- Apple gruyere pizza (a new favorite)
about 6 years ago
delicious! i’ve been experimenting with that overnight pizza dough, where you just stir it up the night before, and wait.it’s SO tasty!
about 6 years ago
We always do single serving pizzas here. Of course, as my kids are now teens, the single serving pizza has grown in size!
about 6 years ago
Those pizzas do grow as they get older, don’t they?
about 6 years ago
I love this pizza. It is my favorite. Sometimes I experiment with different types of cheese,whatever is leftover in the fridge, but usually make it with swiss, since that’s what I used in France. The Juice, a popular restaurant in town, makes it the way you do. Will try.
about 6 years ago
We have pizza at least once a week. I will have to try these!
about 6 years ago
Just in time for me…I am getting so bored with my old recipes. Thanks!
about 6 years ago
I’ve belated discovered the joys of fresh pizza dough from your favorite pizzeria. My son and I picked some up this weekend and loaded it with cheese, pesto, red onion, tomatoes, olives, parsley, garlic, and lemon rind. Perfect for watching a ballgame at home on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
about 6 years ago
making pizza is so much fun, and we enjoy making our own dough with added things such flaxseed meal. thanks for the reminder.
about 6 years ago
who knew you could buy fresh dough from a pizzeria? the things i learn from your blog! grazie …
about 6 years ago
The simplest pie is always the best (to me).