One of our staple condiments is pesto. We’ve made the more traditional pesto with basil and have also tried a new early spring pesto with arugula and green garlic. Pesto freezes well and can be adapted to your tastes. You can slather it on good bread and have bruschetta or toss it on pasta or zoodles for a quick dinner. Since we are also big fans of pizza, we decided to test out a new Basil Pesto Pizza on Friday night pizza and movie night! Our kids have always been fan’s of Amy’s pizza from the freezer section (their favorite even has broccoli on it), so this was a perfect way to test out a similar style pizza and see how they would react.
Avoid Soggy Pizza!
One of the keys to a good homemade pizza is definitely avoiding too many liquids. Nobody wants a soggy pizza! For this reason, we tend to make our pesto pretty thick, with less oil than normal. So, it is a perfect topping for pizza! And if we are using it on pasta or some other medium that needs a little more sauce-y pesto, we can always add oil. Also, watch out for really watery veggies or tomatoes. I tend to cut the plum tomatoes very thinly and let them drain slightly before putting them on the pizza.
I think the order of toppings is also key to a good pizza. You’re layering flavors. We tend to do sauce, then cheese, then toppings. Don’t crowd the toppings because then they don’t cook properly and the cheese gets buried and doesn’t get that delicious crisp to it. We LOVE that slightly browned crispy cheese!
Pesto is the Besto!
Yeah, yeah, it’s a corny-cheeseball saying, but we do say it in our house because we really have become big fans of pesto.
- It’s an amazing way to make use of fresh garden ingredients
- It can be used for so many things: bruschetta, on pasta, on pizza, as a condiment on subs and sandwiches
- It freezes really well. Make it now, use it later!
- It’s healthy. Our kids gobble down pizza and pesto on bread and don’t even realize they’re getting a serving of veggies!
Alright, let’s get to the recipe:
Ingredients
- 1/2 c . pesto
- 3 plum tomatoes , very thinly sliced
- mozzarella cheese
- pizza dough
Instructions
- Make the crust ahead of time (or buy your favorite store bought dough).
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
- Roll out the dough on preheated stone.
- Add toppings--pesto first, then cheese, then tomato.
- Cook for 10-14 minutes.
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