Recipe: Thin Crust Garden Pizza

Freshly picked herbs are the key ingredients

The delight of picking fresh produce from your own container garden is unmatchable. I love to cut a few springs of herbs, pull a green onion or two from a pot or to pick few limes from the tree in my container garden on my little terrace for the meals daily. My husband also loves to collect herbs and vegetables that we grow.

Recently, I just invented this thin crust pizza recipe using some herbs from my garden. It turned out really flavorsome and packed with appetizing fragrance. Here is the recipe for you.

For the Thin Pizza Base

For the pizza dough, combine 1 cup white flour with 1/2 cup plain flour with 1 tsp sugar, instant yeast and salt in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and about 1 cup warm water. Mix softly using a paddle or hands. Knead until dough comes together and is smooth and elastic. Keep aside for 1-3 hours until it doubles. Later, divide this into two balls and softly roll them out to 1/2 in width. Transfer it on a lightly greased pizza pan.

For the Tomato Sauce

Select best 6 medium sized red riped tomatoes for this. Blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes, peal off the skin, discard seeds and chop them roughly. Heat a pan and add 1 small finely chopped onion in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add 3-4 roughly chopped garlic cloves. Keep stirring until slightly golden. Add tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes. Add salt, freshly crushed black pepper and 1 tsp of sugar. Keep stirring until the sauce becomes smooth and tomatoes are cooked. Let it cool down.

For the Topping

Pick your home grown vegetables for the toppings. I picked eggplants, capsicum and red and green onions. Chop them into small cubes, and stir fry them for a minute or two with black pepper, salt, chives, basil, thyme and a little rosemary. You can invent your own herb combinations.

Next, in a separate pan, heat some oil. In a bowl add 1 cup chicken breast cut into cubes, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and some seasoning. Fry chicken pieces on a medium heat until golden. Drain all the oil and let it rest for a while.

Preheat oven to the maximum setting 240C-300C. On one of your pizza dish that you prepared earlier, spread the tomato sauce evenly, add the vegetables  and chicken, add more roughly chopped herbs, a little shredded cheese of your choice and top it with a few basil leaves. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes until the base is puffy around the edges and crispy on the bottom. Repeat with the next batch.

Making food from home grown vegetables and herbs is so satisfying. It leaves you feeling light, fresh and healthy.

We would love to publish your recipe made from your home grown vegetables, herbs or fruits. Send it to crops.in.pots@gmail.com with a photo :) Join us on www.facebook.com/cropsinpot to meet with other vegetable growers around the world.

Happy Cooking!

Zahra