Margherita Pizza Recipe
Tried it? Rate this Recipe:
|
Category: |
Category: |
|
Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
1 ball pizza dough (see above)
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons basil leaves, thinly sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Kosher salt, Freshly cracked black pepper
Grated Parmesan, to sprinkle.
|
|
Directions: |
Directions:1. At least 45 minutes before cooking, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 550 degrees.
2. Drain the tomatoes over a fine-mesh strainer, reserving the liquid for another use. Break up the tomatoes and drain the juices, pressing them with a wooden spoon. The tomatoes should be fairly dry.
3. Place the dough on a heavily floured surface and stretch and pull, using your hands or a rolling pin, into about a 14-inch round. Place on a lightly floured pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Cover with the toppings, being careful not to press on the dough and weigh it down: the crushed tomatoes first, then the cheese, leaving roughly a 1/2-inch border. Shake the pizza peel slightly to make sure the dough is not sticking. (Gently lift any sections that are sticking and sprinkle the peel with flour.) Carefully slide the pizza directly onto the baking stone in one quick, forward-and-back motion. Cook until the crust has browned on the bottom and the top is bubbling and browning in spots, about 7 minutes. Top with the basil, and season with olive oil, salt, pepper and Parmesan.
Serve hot. Makes 1 pizza. Serves 2.
Mangia, Mangia, Tutti Mangiare |
|
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: On 6/11/1889, to honor the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, the Neapolitan pizza maker Raffaele Esposito created the "Pizza Margherita" - a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, to represent the national colors of Italy as on the Italian flag. This is a fun legend but the Margherita likely pre-dates by about 20 years. Pizza Marinara,the other official Neapolitan pizza is made with Marinara sauce (tomatoes, garlic, herbs, & onions) and seasoned with oregano and garlic. The tomato, an immigrant from the Western Hemisphere has become an integral part of the Italian cuisine including the plum tomato that became the San Marzano. The first seed of this tomato, now identified as being “authentically” Neapolitan/Italian, came to the Campania in 1770 as a gift from the Viceroyalty of Peru to the Kingdom of Naples. For more on the tomato in Italy, see Pomodoro: A History of the Tomato in Italy, Columbia University Press 2010, a highly informative book. The San Marzano, a plum tomato is so identified with Italy that when the USDA bred a plum tomato in 1957, it was called Roma.
|
|
This recipe for Margherita Pizza is from