Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita is one of my favorite pizzas. Simple, elegant, and oh-so tasty. There's no sauce and not many toppings, so the individual ingredients really shine. Everyone needs to try this pizza, it really shakes up the American ideal of "pizza". You know, greasy, cheese-ladden, smothered with toppings, and with thick, ropey crust. Instead, this pizza gets back to pizza's roots with simplicity (something I seem to be seeking out more and more these days).

Switching topics to something non-food related- I'm really upset by this water emergency in West Virginia (you can read up what's going on here). I should also mention I live about 40 miles west of the affected area, and about 65 miles from the actual leak site. Lets not even mention the damage done to the environment by having a toxic chemical dumped in the river and released into the air, but the fact that so many people have been affected. I had to run to Sam's yesterday (my area's Costco) and I couldn't believe the chaos. Families were pushing 3-4 carts loaded down with 20+ cases of water. The area where the water was located was worse. People were arguing over cases of water. When I was checking out, someone came to tell the cashier the store was out of water. Even today as I'm watching the news, the water ban in 9 counties in West Virginia remains indefinite. I felt spoiled yesterday as I used my water to make my pizza crust. Washed dishes in the sink. Took a long, hot shower. Americans take so much of their daily lives for granted.

All right, I'll hop off my soapbox and allow everyone to get back to their weekends. The hubby and I are having double-date night tonight with one of our couple friends, so I'm excited about today's potential. And... Zumba in a couple of hours!

Tonight's gonna be a good, good night ----> A little Black Eyed Peas reference for this lovely Saturday morning :)

Ingredients:

Basic pizza dough
1 garlic clove, halved
1 tbsp olive oil, divided
4 large plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/3 cup basil, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Prepare pizza dough according to directions. Preheat oven according to directions.
2. Once your pizza dough has been rolled into the desired shape, take the cut side of the garlic half and run it over your pizza dough. Repeat with the other half. Brush 1/2 tbsp of olive oil onto dough. Place tomatoes on pizza in a single layer. Cover with cheese. Broil in the oven 3-7 minutes, or until crust and cheese is browned and blistered. Remove from oven.
3. Sprinkle basil over pizza. Combine remaining olive oil with balsamic vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk furiously to combine. Drizzle mixture over pizza. Cut pizza into 8 slices, and serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light