More Pizza: A Few Toppings

I don’t have exact measurements for you today, or much of a method beyond what I mentioned earlier in the week, but I wanted to share two more pizzas we made and loved.

The first was more or less a margherita…a smear of sauce, a few coins of fresh mozzarella, and a scattering of onions and red chilies. Throw fresh basil on after you remove it from the oven so it doesn’t scorch and you get the full flavor.

Nothing wrong with a classic. But at some level, the point of making pizza at home is to experiment with toppings, to put things on your pizza that you might not be able to get at your local pizza joint.

Hypothetically, if you happen upon the mushroom man at the farmer’s market, and he happens to have cute little half-pints of fresh chanterelles, you should probably pick them up. Buy an ear of corn, too, and when you get home, slice the mushrooms up a bit and sauté them. In butter. We’re not messing around. When they’re nicely cooked, add the kernels cut from the raw ear of corn and remove from the heat.

After you’ve spread out your dough into a nice round, thin circle, brush with a little garlic oil, then add your mushrooms and corn, sprinkling with fresh goat cheese, thyme leaves, pepper, and a little parmesan. Cook until the crust is crispy, which melts the cheese and roasts the corn a little.

Three pizzas in two days? “But Maggie,” you say, “isn’t that a lot of pizza?”

Oh, that’s not even the beginning. Shiv will take care of you next week—I’m off to Italy!