Smoked Margherita Pizza with Roasted Tomato and Pepper Sauce

It started with a note.

A note on the fridge.

That’s all it took. I took out one of the pre-made pizza doughs out of the freezer and stuck it in the fridge, then went to work. It was thawed when I got home (basically 8am-5pm). I would recommend taking it out once you start to let it come to room temperature (this translates to “I wish I did”).

So I wanted to make Margherita pizza with the basil from the garden while it lasts. So I needed mozzarella to slice and top the pizza with. And my favorite mozzarella is smoked. So I stopped at the store on my way home and picked up a little bit of delicious.

Something everyone should know about me. It is a weakness. I don’t understand moderation when it comes to sales. I own 3 shirts in 4 separate colors each because it was a good price and I can’t help myself.

So when I saw the smoked mozzarella was on sale for 1/2 off ($2.24), I needed all of it. Well, 6 of them. 5 are currently in the freezer. Those will come in tasty hand for a future pizza or something else. Anyway, back to tonight’s pizza.

Since I was using smoked mozzarella and cannot stand fresh tomato, I decided to roast some cherry tomatoes.

And peppers, onion and garlic.

I vaguely used this recipe for roasted cherry tomatoes. I rinsed everything, brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled sea salt and put it in the oven at 400° for 15 minutes on the middle shelf. Then I turned the broiler on high, moved the tray to the top shelf and let it really roast for about 3 minutes.

Mmmm. The tomatoes were soft and peppers roasted. Now I start the sauce.

I put some of this in a Magic Bullet and went at it. All in all, I made the sauce from most of the cherry tomatoes (I saved about 7 for the pizza), 3 of the pepper halves, 1/2 the onion and 3 cloves of garlic. I threw in some smoked paprika, Chipotle chili powder and fresh chopped basil. This made a much greater amount of sauce than I needed (I used about 1/3 on the pizza). We are freezing the rest for another night.

This is the completed sauce, basil (chopped and whole), the remains of the roast and sliced smoked mozzarella.

I used a rolling pin to spread out the dough (it would have been easier if I had let it come to room temperature), spread a generous layer of sauce down and sprinkled chopped basil on that.

Then I added the remaining roasted veggies (cherry tomatoes on 2/3 so I could have a whole-tomato-free portion). I broke up the garlic as well and spread it out.

Then I spread the cheese out over the toppings. I had a little bit left over of the cheese, but that’ll become a sandwich this week. I didn’t want to over-cheese it for my Mom’s sake. She’s all about the sauce.

Then I put basil on! And took it out within minutes of putting it in the oven because that was a silly decision (it dries the basil out and shrivels it up).

I cook the pizza at 460° for about 14 minutes, but you should just keep an eye on it after 10 minutes (6 minutes for a smaller pizza). It depends on the size and toppings.

I topped it once I took it out with fresh basil and it was delicious! I love homemade pizza. And it is just gratifying, knowing the most unhealthy part is the cheese. And even that isn’t so unhealthy in moderation, which I think this pizza was. But it feels like a treat pizza!

Mmmmm. So good.

Also! I couldn’t taste the lemon juice I put in the dough. So I guess that is a don’t bother.

I can’t wait to experiment with more toppings and different variations! Any suggestions?