~Andrea

The first is best in the summer when tomatoes are more flavorful: Chopped tomatoes which have been briefly marinated in olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and crumbled feta cheese atop grilled pizza bread. The bread must be grilled or baked with tender-crisp crust for the best play of the tomatoes, tart vinegar, creamy feta and bread toasty on outside, soft inside. This favorite isn’t just for lunch or dinner or snacks. It’s often my choice for breakfast. (Can also use this to top fluffy pocketless pita bread toasted in toaster oven.)

The second favorite, while not a typical pizza, does taste great on pizza dough base. If making from scratch, add generous amounts of asiago cheese to the dough. Bake the base first. When done, while still hot, spread base with butter (to taste) and let it melt. Add a topping of chopped spicy olives. I make very hot olives by draining brine from a jar of firm queen olives, then pouring in a bottle of a favorite habanero hot sauce (it’s like a light tomato sauce, not a vinegared hot sauce) and letting the olives marinate in the fridge for at least several days. The olives will absorb the heat of the spicy hot sauce. With a longer marination, the spicy tomato sauce will pick up a lovely flavor from the olives. Mamma mia! So good. Drizzle some of the now-olive-flavored sauce over the chopped olive topping (I use only a little to punctuate the topping because the sauce is very spicy indeed). (This topping is equally at home on any kind of toasted bread, or better, toasted buttered bread, or better toasted buttered asiago bread.)

If using a commercial pizza base, sprinkle a layer of asiago cheese on top (not a heavy layer, just a flavor-interest layer) before baking. After baking, top with the chopped spicy olives and a little of the sauce.