Margherita pizza with fresh basil, tomatoes, and a garlic-infused oil base is so easy to make and is perfect for light meals and appetizers.
Margherita pizza is one of my favorite summertime foods.
It tastes the best with garden-fresh tomatoes and basil.
Generally, I am overrun with basil and looking for ways to use it.
This year I bought a mint plant and a chocolate mint plant.
They were both impulse buys since I have absolutely no clue what to do with them besides using them for photo props and making mint tea.
Maybe I will learn how to make a mint julep this summer.
Any suggestions for using it up in cooking I’d love to hear. Sorry, I kind of drove off course didn’t I? Back to the Margherita pizza.
I have seen this made several different ways.
Some use a red pizza sauce, some use a white sauce, others garlic.
I like mine best with a garlic-infused olive oil base with juicy red or yellow tomatoes providing the tomato flavor.
I make my own garlic infused oil by slicing 2 or 3 garlic cloves thinly and putting it in 3 tablespoons of olive oil in an ovenproof small dish, like a ramekin.
I place this dish in the oven as it is preheating for the pizza. I take it out when I can smell the garlic.
In the winter when the tomatoes aren’t so juicy and delicious, I add a spoonful or so of pizza sauce to the base.
Any pizza crust will do too. I prefer my thin pizza crust recipe for this recipe but have been known to use the prepackaged ones when I am being lazy or just don’t have time.
I love using fresh mozzarella for this pizza.
Shredded mozzarella is just fine too and is usually what I have on hand.
If I have fresh mozzarella cheese, summer tomatoes, and fresh basil hanging around I have probably already made some tomato bruschetta with it.
The one must for this recipe, in my opinion, is fresh basil.
Yes I know, if you aren’t growing your own on the patio, it can be pricey (“spendy” as my friend, and unofficial editor, Bryan would say) but it really makes all the difference in this recipe.
Margherita pizza, homemade pasta sauce, and minestrone soup are the main reasons I even have pots of herbs growing in the summer.
Margherita Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza Pan
Ingredients
- 16 inch Pizza Crust
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 clove Garlic sliced thin
- 2 tablespoons Pizza sauce optional
- 2 large Tomatoes thinly sliced
- 12 – 20 fresh Basil Leaves whole or cut into small pieces
- 8 ounces Shredded Mozzarella Cheese or sliced fresh
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees.
- While oven is preheating, mix olive oil and garlic and place in an oven proof small bowl and place in oven.
- When garlic becomes aromatic, carefully remove bowl from oven and set aside.
- Bake pizza crust until beginning to brown. About 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven.
- Brush olive oil garlic mixture over pizza crust. Optional: add a small amount of pizza sauce.
- Cover oil with thinly sliced tomatoes.
- Cover tomatoes with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in pre-heated oven until cheese is melted and browned to your liking. 15 to 25 minutes
- Remove from oven, cover with basil leaves, and serve hot.
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