I was going to say that it didn’t look like a whole lot of moderation went into that pizza.  Maybe Margherita moved to Chicago?  I haven’t made Margherita pizza before, but what I’ve had in restauraunts has always been thin-crusted with few toppings, and with the tomatoes sliced rather than cubed.  The variant with goat cheese instead of mozzarella is also quite tasty.

When it’s nice outside we cook ours on the charcoal grill which has a cast iron cooking grid.  Roll out the dough and cook it on foil directly on the grid for about five minutes until the bottom is browned.  Take off the grill, flip it over, add the toppings and cook another five minutes or so.  Moderation is definitely important because if you add too many ingredients the bottom will burn before they’re cooked through.  I like to put whole basil leaves on with the other ingredients because they get a little crispy.  Add later if you don’t like that.  And the whole thing has a wonderful slight smokiness to it in addition to great crust texture.

And since my order of tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings came in the mail Friday I am now TOTALLY psyched to make this with some heirloom tomatoes late this summer!

Sounds great, Betty. I love making pizza, and this will be my next adventure. Thanks.

Good pizza-making advice –– especially the part about moderation, using smaller amounts of better-quality ingredients.

Margherita is one of my favorites. I’ve never had a problem with tomato skins or seeds, so I skip the boiling and seeding part. I do salt the tomatoes beforehand and let them drain on paper towels. This eliminates potential excess-moisture issues. If you’re using fresh mozzarella it’s a good idea to drain that a bit, too.

Mar, where do you get your seedlings?

My in-house New Yorker had an awful experience when she first ordered a pizza in a Glasgow fish and chip shop.

The server took a dubious-looking disk out of the freezer cabinet, dropped it in the deep-fat frier, waited a few minutes, grabbed some paper, fished out the now sizzling atrocity, folded it in half, and handed it to her with the Glasgow equivalent of “Bon appetit!”

Traumatized, she went outside, wrung the fat out of it into the gutter, took a bite, then looked for the nearest trashcan.

I should add that it’s possible to get decent pizza in Scotland - lots of long-time Italian immigrants run restaurants and cafes - but steer clear of the chippies if you want a crispy crust. Oh, and don’t even think of going for the deep-fried Mars bars unless you want an instant embolism.