Pesto to Pizza

I grew the basil myself.

Varieties: Lettuce Leaf Basil & Corsican Basil (purple)

The Corsican Basil is an heirloom variety that is said to have originated where Napoleon grew up.

Pesto:
2 Cups of fresh, homegrown, basil
2 Tbls pine nuts
5 cloves of roasted garlic (put a whole garlic clove in the oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes to an hour and then pop the 5 out you need)
1 Cup of grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 Cup of Olive oil

Add basil, pine nuts, garlic, & cheese to blender and mix into a pulp. The leaves will stick to the sides of the blender so periodically stop the blender and scrape the sides. After the leaves have made a pulp, drizzle the olive oil in until the desired consistency.  More cheese creates a 'dry' pesto while more oil creates a 'wet' pesto.

I made the pizza sauce from tomatoes from the garden but forgot to take pics during the process.

Sauce:
1 yellow onion 
2 Tbls butter
3 large homegrown tomatoes 
1 Tbls honey
1/2 Tbls dried cayenne pepper
1 Tbls black pepper
1 Tbls dried oregano
1 Tbls dried thyme
1 Tbls dried basil
1 Tbls salt
1 can of tomato paste (6oz)
1/4 Cup homegrown basil
6 roasted garlic cloves (use the rest of the roasted clove from the pesto)

Saute onion in butter until browned. Add diced tomatoes, honey, spices, can of tomato paste. Add roasted garlic and fresh basil at end. Add sauce to blender and puree until it looks like pizza sauce. 

I like the mozzarella from Trader Joes. We get whole, but I suppose you could use the 2%. (if you hate cows) 

Remember to roll the dough out on parchment paper. It will be a dream to move from the oven to the counter

It barely fits on our baking stone!

Bake for about 20 mins.

5 mins before taking it out, brush the crust with some of the pesto oil that has separated from your extra pesto

Glamour Shot!