from the garden to the table : : margarita pizza

South Bend seems like a great place to plant a backyard veggie garden (to us first-timers at least...). The soil is rich black in color and fertile (certainly the weeds grow fast), the earth worms are huge, it is hot and humid and we get plenty of rain - all good for growing some of our own food.

Home-made pizzas are great for a night-in with a cold beer to drink and a DVD to watch. The classic margarita pizza is so easy to make when the two key ingredients come from the backyard - tomatoes & basil.

If you want to get into the home made pizza routine, I would suggest two key investments:

1. a pizza stone & rack (between $10-$20)
2. a good mixer (not so cheap, but a lifetime investment if you get a good one) - the best being the KitchenAid Professional 600 Series

The results are good (this is Andrew's handiwork...)!

Here's how to make it...

• we use Deborah Madison's pizza dough recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (the only addition is to add ground pepper, chili flakes, dried basil & oregano to the dough)
• per-heat the oven 30 mins prior to 500 F with the pizza stone in the oven on the rack
• roll-out the dough to about 75% size of the pizza stone
• take the VERY HOT pizza stone from the oven and place the dough on the stone, pushing the dough to the edges (this bit needs to happen quickly, so the dough hits the hot stone and seals the crust)
• then take your time making the pizza... start with pizza sauce
• we blend mozzarella with some parmesan and a little cheddar, and mix it through with ground black pepper and olive oil
• add your tomato slices - cherry tomatoes sliced in thirds work great - add plenty!
• put the pizza in the oven until the crust starts to brown
• take the pizza out and add your ripped-up basil leaves + a sprinkling more of the cheese
• then back into the oven for another 3 minutes or so...