Grilled Pizza with Pesto and Tomatoes (5 ingredients!) Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

FAQs

What is pesto pizza sauce made of? ›

This fresh sauce made from basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, and a salty hard cheese might possibly be the oldest Italian sauce. You may also see it called Pesto alla Genovese after the town of Genoa, where it originated.

Pizza as we know it

1522 – Tomatoes were brought back to Europe from the New World (Peru). Originally they were thought to be poisonous, but later the poorer people of Naples added the new tomatoes to their yeast dough and created the first simple pizza, as we know it.

To me, a good pesto pizza should have bold pesto flavor. I don't want it to taste faintly of basil, garlic, Parmesan and olive oil—I want those flavors to bowl me over. The key is to spread a generous layer of pesto over the pizzas before baking, and then top them with more pesto when they come out of the oven.

Tomato pesto differs from traditional basil pesto in that it incorporates ripe tomatoes as a primary ingredient, giving it a rich, tangy flavor. Traditional basil pesto, on the other hand, is made primarily with fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.

If you use a grill to make pizza, you can keep the heat outside where it belongs. Grills also better mimic a wood fired oven than your conventional indoor oven. Whether using charcoal or gas, the smoke from the grill will help give your pizza great flavor that you simply cannot get from a regular oven.

Absolutely, you can grill pizza at home! If you don't have an outdoor wood-fired oven, the grill offers the next best way to achieve high heat and smoky flavor. As for the secret to cooking pizza on the grill? Be prepared: Have your dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings ready to go and near the grill for easy access.

The Best Tomatoes for Pizzas

Plum tomatoes are ideal for making pizza sauce. Actually, the best tomatoes for pizza sauce are ones below Mt. Vesuvius' soil outside Naples in San Marzano, Italy. But, since everyone doesn't live around Vesuvius, canned San Marzano tomatoes are available in the supermarket.

Pizza sauce and marinara sauce are similar but not the same. Pizza sauce is thicker in consistency than marinara sauce because the tomatoes are pureed instead of lightly blended. Pizza sauce is usually cooked on a pizza crust, whereas marinara sauce is served as a dip or topping.

Scoop out the seeds and guts and then dice your tomatoes instead of slicing. This should get rid of some of the moisture. Add cheese and then place tomatoes on top.

What exactly is pesto sauce? ›

Pesto is one of the most popular pasta toppings in Italy. It originated in Liguria, specifically in Genoa. This flavorful sauce is made of basil, extra-virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese, pecorino cheese, pine nuts, garlic and salt, traditionally ground in a ceramic or marble mortar.

Traditional pesto is a blend of fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, extra-virgin olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. With a food processor, it comes together in just a few steps: Pulse the nuts, lemon juice, and garlic in the food processor until they're finely chopped. Add the basil and pulse again.

Pesto (Italian: [ˈpesto]) is a paste that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmesan or pecorino sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), all blended with olive oil. It originated in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy.

What does pesto taste like? Traditional pesto is a thick, green sauce that tastes bright and herby from the basil, and salty and rich from the cheeses and pine nuts. It should be garlicky, with pleasant grassiness from good quality olive oil.