Elevate your summer pizza with heirloom tomatoes
In less than half the time it takes to wait for a pizza to arrive at the door, you could have baked yourself a pizza for less money and saved yourself a few grease-soaked paper towels.
The spectrum of home-baked pizzas can range from sliding a slab of Dr. Oetker into the oven or proofing and rolling your own dough. I prefer doing the latter, but it’s more of a weekend project so a happy middle ground for a weeknight dinner is to buy ready-made pizza crust and pile on the toppings.
Right now, the perfect pizza topping is thinly sliced heirloom tomatoes, which are just hitting the farmers markets and, if you’re lucky, supermarket shelves. You’ll recognize them immediately: they come in an endless array of pinks, oranges, reds, purples, yellows, greens and blacks and have eccentric names such as Box Car Willie, Hazel Mae and Green Zebra. They can be shaped like oblong peppers, giant kidneys and even a dumpling with creases and folds around the stem.
Artisan appearance aside, heirloom fans love the tomato because they have a deeper taste since heirloom plants tend to yield fewer tomatoes than other plants, meaning each tomato gets more energy and nutrients.
That being said, heirlooms tend to be slightly more expensive than other kinds (they’re also more prone to bacteria and rot on the fields). But you’re only making a pizza for one, so you only have to buy one or two of these beauties to fill up a pie.
Heirloom Tomato Pizza
Star Tested I simply brushed a store-bought, thin pizza crust with olive oil and laid a single layer of sliced heirlooms, added stripes of prosciutto, minced garlic, basil leaves, crumbled feta, salt and pepper. It’s filling, light-tasting and ready in 20 minutes from start to finish. No dough rolling; just sprinkle stuff on top of the crust and bake, kind of like sliding a giant piece of toast into the toaster oven for a few minutes. Beats takeout any time. 1 store- bought, ready-made thin pizza crust Olive oil 1 garlic clove 1 to 2 medium heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced 3 to 4 slices prosciutto Freshly torn basil leaves 1 tbsp (15 mL) crumbled feta Salt and pepper, to taste Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C) or temperature indicated on pizza crust baking instructions.
Rub garlic clove all over pizza crust. Lightly brush crust with olive oil. Mince garlic clove and sprinkle evenly over crust.
Arrange sliced tomatoes in a single layer around crust. Top with prosciutto, basil and feta. Brush more olive oil on top. Season with salt and pepper.
Place pizza directly on the middle rack of the oven; bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until prosciutto and tomato edges begin to crisp and brown.
Remove from oven. Serve immediately.
Makes one pizza. Choose your toppings wisely: Choose ingredients that compliment the delicate flavour of the heirloom tomatoes and don’t drown it out. Pizza sauce is too heavy, so use olive oil instead. Crumbled sausage, bacon, salami and pepperoni are also too salty and strongly flavoured. Opt for lighter tasting prosciutto slices, arugula, mozzarella, shaved asparagus or if you’re really in the luxe mood: shaved black truffles. Pizza bianca: In a nutshell, pizza bianca or “white pizza” is pizza without tomato sauce. Originating in Rome, true pizza bianca has a slightly fluffier, chewier dough, not unlike a focaccia, and is sprinkled with coarse salt and lots of olive oil. Try baking tomatoes on top of naan or even a focaccia for a variation. Recommended reading: The tomato has a fascinating history from its origins in the Andes to cultivation by the invading Spanish conquistadors to the popularity explosion of heirlooms in finedining restaurants in major cities by the ’80s and ’90s.
Read more about it in Jennifer A. Jordan’s book Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes and Other Forgotten Foods. karonliu@thestar.ca