If it works on bread, it works on pizza!

A Tomato Bruschetta is the best way to celebrate the seasonal tomatoes.

The farmers market is on, and the tomatoes are gorgeous. I am buying loads of them for making my DS Tomato Confit and my DS Chia Seed & Tomato Jam. (Which by the way also work beautifully here, as the jam can be spread over the dough for a richer deeper flavour. and the confit can be squeezed and spread over the top which works exceptionally well with the mozzarella and/or parmesan!) The in season tomatoes are just so colourful and full of flavour, I can’t help myself! I love tomatoes, and when abundant I preserve. Too bad that gorgeous produce goes to waste all over the world. So I appreciate and preserve. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why I started my “Mooneh line”.

Apart from pickling and jamming, I also preserve these beauties by sun drying or oven drying (find the method here) I use these everywhere! Making sauces, in salads, in sandwiches… Also in this pizza right here.

This Tomato Bruschetta Pizza is absolutely a treat! Very fresh, with all the fresh tomatoes during season along with the basil leaves, onions… it offers the contrast of warm dough and cold toppings! Delightful! This is a super simple pizza to make, it is super light and works really well for hot summer days. With that said, when tomatoes are out of season, you can make it using the tomatoes you preserved by drying at the end of the season. Really delicious too. The dried tomatoes lend a deeper flavour and a richer experience.

Finally, you can make this over pesto, marinara sauce or simply dough that is brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt. You can always add mozzarella over the sauce and bake before you add the fresh tomatoes, or you can go for parmesan or without any cheese at all. Really, so many options, all equally good, so follow the food mood you have on the day.

Here is how it’s made.

Ingredients

  • Pizza dough (recipe in links below)
  • 1 ripe red tomato, chopped
  • 1/4 cup red cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup orange cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup green cherry tomatoes
  • 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 small clove garlic crushed
  • 2 tbsp DS Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/4 cup parmesan shavings
  • Salt & Black Pepper to taste
  • A handful of fresh basil leaves
  • Baby rocca leaves (optional for fresh topping)

Roll out the dough to the desired size, brush the dough with olive oil or top with marinara sauce.

Grill the dough halfway, then add the sliced tomatoes and return to the grill. Once done, remove from grill and place on serving platter.

Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, onions, crushed garlic, basil leaves (keep some for garnish). Top with olive oil and Season with salt & pepper. Toss all to coat, then pour all evenly over pizza dough. Drizzle all with a little olive oil, (and some drizzles of Aged Balsamic Vinegar optional). Top with the whole cherry tomatoes.

 

PS, the bruschetta topping can either be baked with the pizza or kept fresh. I have made this both ways and always turned out delicious.

Serve as a side dish/ appetiser or a light main dish.

We paired this pizza with ‘Lucente’ Tuscan Red wine and the combination was excellent. The wine totally brought out the flavour of the tomatoes, and really complimented the dough flavours mixed with a little bit of aged balsamic vinegar. With that said, I have to say that the wine was excellent on its own as well.

 

I have also made this crumbled with my DS Goat’s Milk Rolled Labneh Balls and they were so good against the tomatoes, whichever form those tomatoes were in (fresh, confit, dried, jammed…). This worked both ways with the labneh had fresh crumbled on top, or slightly broiled with the pizza. Not going to say no more! Just try it, you’ll know!

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