9.02.2010

fresh veggie pizza

by erin

When Ryan and I planted our vegetable garden last spring, we didn't hesitate to fill every single inch.  "We're going to have a lot of vegetables", we said, "but hey, we like vegetables! We'll have no problem eating them all! Right?"  

WRONG.  Our garden proceeded to explode with zucchinis, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beets, carrots, etc etc etc.  And since I HATE when food goes to waste, the past few months have been a (fun) experiment in Cooking With Vegetables.

A super easy way to use vegetables is to put them on pizza.  Obvious, I know.  But it was only recently that, in a panic of "we have 8 beefsteak tomatoes and 50 grape tomatoes and I have no idea what to do with them!" that I considered using them to make my own pizza sauce.  I found this recipe, and after a few small modifications, declared that I will never buy pizza sauce again, because it was the freshest, most delicious sauce I've ever had.

Pizza Sauce
2 ripe tomatoes
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 tbsp fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 tsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil (add more if necessary)
tiny pinch ground cinnamon
Put everything in a food processor and chop until blended, but still a little chunky, adding more olive oil if necessary.

I wish I had taken pictures while I was making it, because the sight (and smell) of all that freshness going into my food processor was so delightful.

The finished product:
My camera doesn't do it justice.

before:
a whole wheat mini crust from Target (these are great for solo meals) with thin-sliced zucchini and grape tomatoes and chopped red pepper and black olives.

after:
baked for 10 minutes with just a handful of cheese - the veggies are the star of this show!

And now, I need your help.  We have enough tomatoes to feed a small country.  Do you have any tomato recipes?  It might be time to get creative.

1 comments:

JBF said...

ooh, i am going to try this when we get our CSA share this afternoon!

my all-time favorite way to eat tomatoes is bruschetta topping (we just made some last night). it is *super* easy to make if you have a food processor, and goes best on sliced french or italian bread that has been brushed with olive oil (and sea salt) and put on the grill until a little crispy.

Bruschetta topping:
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1.5 tbl fresh basil leaves
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 tsp evoo
1/2 tsp salt

Blend garlic for 30 seconds, add basil and pulse 4 times, add everything else and pulse until desired consistency.

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