A classic pizza thrives on a good sauce — and it doesn't always have to be tomato. This version uses a fresh, savoury pesto as the base. The pesto also works well with pasta or fish.
Ingredients
Green pesto
- 7 EL olive oil
- 80 g hard cheese (Parmesan or Pecorino)
- 2–3 garlic cloves
- 50 g rocket
- 25 g pine nuts
- 2 EL lemon juice
- 1/4 TL salt
- Chilli powder or flakes to taste
Toppings
- 100 g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 150 g Parma ham
- 100 g brown mushrooms
- 1 courgette
- Mozzarella
Finishing
- 4 radishes, sliced
- 50 g pine nuts
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Method
Make the pesto
- Wash the rocket, spin dry and remove any coarse stems.
- Peel and finely chop the garlic. Grate the hard cheese.
- Place the rocket, garlic, cheese, pine nuts, lemon juice, salt and chilli in a blender (or pound in a mortar). Add the olive oil gradually until you reach a spreadable consistency. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Bake the pizza
- Roll out the pizza dough. Thoroughly preheat the oven and your baking surface (stone or steel).
- Spread the pesto thinly over the dough.
- Distribute the mushrooms, courgette and mozzarella on top. Optionally bake a few chopped sun-dried tomatoes with the pizza.
- Bake until the base is crisp and the cheese has melted (baking time will vary by oven).
- After baking, add the Parma ham, remaining sun-dried tomatoes, radishes and pine nuts. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Oven and preparation tips
- High heat: A well-preheated pizza oven or home oven (with stone/baking steel) gives a crisp base.
- Handling: A pizza peel makes sliding the pizza in and out of a hot oven much easier.
- Extra flavour: Dry-toast the pine nuts in a pan without fat until golden, then let cool.
- Variations: Omit the ham to make the pizza vegetarian. Leftover pesto is excellent with pasta or fish the next day.