What is a Margherita pizza?

It is Pizza Margherita. It was made in honor of the Queen consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy. It's toppings are  tomatoes, fresh sliced Mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves. It represents the colors of the Italian flag. In this recipe I use "Certified" San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes in a can. The "certified" n the label means they were imported from Italy and not grown locally or elsewhere. There is a difference. Some sauce recipes call for sugar. This is not necessary when using the San Marzano tomato's from grown in Italy. 

If your a pizza lover, your in for a treat. This is a very simple recipe with big flavor.

Let's start by making the sauce for the pizza. Slice up 1/2 medium red onion. This will be about 4-5 slices from the onion. Cut 1/2 the onion slices into 4th's. Chop the remainder. Chop 2 sprigs of fresh Parsley. Mince one clove of fresh garlic.

Next pour 14 oz. whole peeled of San Marzano tomato's into a blender. As mentioned above I use "Certified" San Marzano tomato's. These are hard to find in 14 oz. cans so in this cook I used 1/2 of a 28 oz. can. With the tomato's in the blender and the lid in place, briefly hit the pulse button twice. Be careful not to puree the tomatoes. We want nice chunks of tomato's in our sauce.

 Place a medium skillet on the stove over medium high heat. Pour in 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. Once the oil starts to shimmer its up to temp and you can now add the red onions. Cook the onions until they soften and start to caramelize. Add in the chopped parsley and 1 clove mined garlic. Add 2 torn up basil leaves. Give it a good stir and let the onions caramelize. Once the onions have fully caramelized add the tomato's. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Note: This is a good time to pre heat your cooker. The cook time will vary based on the cooker temp. In my case 600 degrees fehrienhight. The temp at the stone will be around 450-500. Always place your stone in as its heating up. Never heat the cooker then put in your stone. This can damage your pizza stone.

Lets slice up the Mozzarella cheese ball. You want thin slices. You want to end up with 10 slices. Now that the cheese is sliced we are ready to work on the pizza dough. I used a store bought crust I found at my local grocer in the deli section. I usually get these for around $2.50. Place 1/2 a handful of flour on your work space and roll the dough in the flour until it does not feel sticky. Start flattening the dough while allowing more flower in as it gets sticky. I have found working my hands around the outer edge of the dough as its suspended in air allows gravity to quickly stretch the dough with no need to use a rolling pin. See my video.

Once the dough is stretched and formed sprinkle some Cornmeal on a pizza peel or baking sheet. The corn meal will keep the pizza from sticking so it easily slides onto your pizza stone. Place the dough onto the peel or baking sheet.

Now its time to build the pizza. Spoon on all the sauce and distribute evenly around the pizza dough. Next evenly distribute the sliced mozzarella cheese slices around the pizza. With the cheese in place tear up 3 t0 4 basil leaves and evenly distribute the pieces around the pizza. The last topping to add is extra virgin olive oil. Drizzle a Tbsp. or two around the pizza. The amount is up to you. Watch the video to see the amount I used.

Its time to cook folks! Open your cooker and place the pizza on a pre-heated pizza stone or baking sheet. Close the lid and check your pizza after 10 minutes. If you are cooking in a 700 degree cooker this would be about 6 minutes. In this case the pizza took 15 minutes as my fire was burning down towards the end.

The pizza is done when the crust has a firm crisp to it and the cheese is fully melted and starts to brown in areas. At this point remove the pizza. Let the pizza stand for a few minutes then slice it up and serve it.

Your kitchen ought to be smelling pretty darn good about now. That's it! It's a very simple recipe with a few toppings but the flavor is amazing.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and video!