Uncle Ben’s Pizza Margherita
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Entree
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • One ball of whole-wheat pizza dough (you can make your own like Ben or find fresh dough in your grocery store's deli section)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 8 Roma or plum tomatoes
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¾ of a pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
  • Fresh basil for garnish
  • Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper for garnish
  • Olive oil for garnish
Instructions
  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cut an X into the bottom of each tomato.
  2. Blanche the tomatoes in the boiling water for one minute, then rinse under cold water. Peel and coarsely chop the tomatoes, discarding the seeds.
  3. Mince the garlic. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in the pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until it gets fragrant (about 30 seconds), stirring frequently. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring and mashing occasionally to help the tomatoes break down.
  4. While the tomatoes are cooking, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the cooking stone or baking sheet in the oven while it heats (about 5-6 minutes). Roll out the dough on a floured surface and then add the dough to the pizza stone or baking sheet. Rub one tablespoon olive oil on the dough and cook for 10 minutes or until its crisp and brown. Set aside until the tomatoes are done.
  5. When tomatoes are almost done cooking, add ¼ tablespoon coarse salt and ¼ tablespoon black pepper. Stir once and then take off the heat to cool.
  6. Add the tomato sauce to the dough. DON'T make the mistake I did and pour the entire pot of tomato sauce on the dough. It's still tasty but it's more like pizza soup than Pizza Margherita. Instead, gently spoon the sauce onto the dough until it covers the surface, leaving a ½ inch circle around the edges of the crust bare. If you have leftover tomato sauce, great, use it for pasta. Add the mozzarella slices to the pizza.
  7. Cook for another 10 minutes or until cheese is nice and melty.
  8. Finally, garnish with fresh basil. Add a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly-ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil to finish off the pizza.
Recipe by Healthy Recipe Ecstasy at https://www.healthyrecipeecstasy.com/uncle-bens-pizza-margherita/