Cherry Tomato Pizza Margherita

Summer perfection in pizza form. Charred cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella. Yum!

Pizza dough (recipe found here)

Adapted* from Bon Appetit


2 cups or 250g cherry tomatoes
splash of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 teaspoon fennel chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup (approx.) or 100g mozzarella
8 basil leaves chopped


Preheat your oven to 500°
Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat for 2 minutes, add oil then add tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Saute until tomatoes are becoming charred and breaking down, about 5 mins.

Transfer to a bowl and mix in garlic, fennel, red pepper flakes, and crush mixture with the back of a fork, leaving large chunks intact. Toss in basil and season with salt and pepper.

Roll out your dough on a floured surface until desired thinness is reached. Don't worry about making a circle, and actually just don't worry about anything. Get used to the feeling of the dough in your hands. Roll it a bit, pick it up, flip it over, flour more, roll more, flip, flour, roll. Keep going until you're happy.

Place dough on a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal (optional, but highly recommended). Sprinkle grated cheese evenly over dough, then spoon on tomato mixture in dollops leaving some cheese uncovered. Drizzle a little olive oil around the edges if there is much space without topping. Slide onto a baking stone (or baking sheet) and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until pizza is lightly golden brown.


*I've decreased the baking time from the original recipe but increased the oven temperature by 75 C. Trust me, really hot oven = great pizza. Also, I only used one kind of cheese.