I’m still excited about the tomatoes that are coming into ripeness in the garden, so we ate of their bounty again tonight.

I threw together something resembling a Caprese salad that wasn’t 100% traditional, but it was good.  It was just cut-up tomatoes, basil leaves, fresh mozzarella pearls (those little balls, or else you could cut up a larger chunk), part of a red onion left over from last night, some crushed red pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and S&P.

For the compound butter, I minced up a whole lot of garlic.  This was my first year growing garlic in the garden (thanks to my dad), and it’s so much fun using it.  I sauteed it in some butter until it was just barely golden, then I chilled it for a while.  I added some finely-grated parmigiano reggiano and more softened butter and smooshed it all together.

We ate that (and the Caprese salad) on baguette that I toasted in the oven a little.  It was very easy, fast, and doesn’t even require a whole lot of clean-up.  Oh, it’s vegetarian, too.  Usually we do meatless Mondays, but we got a little wild this week.

I actually made these last night, but I forgot to blog about them, so here we go.

This is an old standby recipe, and while it’s not difficult, it helps to have two adults out by the grill to work on it.  There are some things that need to happen quickly, and having four hands sort of eases the process.  Last night, my parents were here, so they could mind the short guys while DC and I grilled up the pizzas.

I had dough in the freezer.  It’s Cooks’ Illustrated’s herbed pizza dough, which I can’t find online, but I figure most pizza crust recipes would work as long as it’s a kneaded yeast dough.  I make a double batch when I do it, divide it into single-serving-sized blobs, and freeze the ones I don’t use.  I wrap them individually in plastic wrap.  They thaw pretty fast for a quick dinner.

The sauce was just last year’s all-purpose tomato sauce from the garden (tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, basil, salt, sugar), cooked down so it was thick.  I also added some of Penzey’s pizza seasoning.  For toppings, I used sliced little tomatoes from the garden, turkey pepperoni, thinly-sliced red onions, basil leaves, and provolone cheese.  It’s important to use toppings that don’t require thorough cooking, because that part of the process happens pretty fast.

To make the pizzas, heat the grill up (DC handles this part…I want to say medium-high or something?), then once it’s hot, turn it down to medium-low.  Brush one side of each flattened-out dough with olive oil, then slap them on the grill.  Close it so there’s an oven effect, and leave them on for 2-3 minutes (check carefully, because burned is trouble).

Once you have some nice grill marks on the bottom, brush the top with olive oil and flip them over.  Immediately spread the first grilled side with tomato sauce, toppings, and cheese.  Close the lid and grill for another couple of minutes, or until the cheese is melty and there are grill marks on the bottom.

Tasty.