Have you ever heard of the holy Trinity? No, no, not THAT holy trinity….the holy trinity in cooking. The three ingredients vary depending on where you live ~
In Cajun country, or Louisiana, the holy trinity ingredients are onions, celery, and bell peppers
In other parts of the country they are often onion, celery, and carrots
In Italy they are tomatoes, basil and garlic
What ever the ingredients are, the concept is the same, it is basically an intense flavor base.
My personal holy trinity is caramelized onions, roasted garlic, and parmesan cheese. Enough said. Anything tastes good with this!
This is the base for my Pizza Caprese
If you don’t have time to caramelize onions in a skillet, just peel and slice one, drizzle it with olive oil and salt and pepper, wrap in foil and bake at 400 for an hour while you go do something else~
Basically the same technique that you use for roasting garlic. Roasting garlic is so easy and it adds so much flavor~do it before hand~I roasted my garlic and onion the day before and just put the foil wrapped goodies in the fridge until it was pizza time
The cherry tomatoes and basil are actually from our garden! I know you’re impressed! We actually had enough cherry tomatoes to top one pizza! A bumper crop for sure!
Something is nibbling the basil now, but I found 5-6 good leaves
I buy fresh pizza dough in the deli at Publix, you can also buy fresh dough from the pizza kitchen at Whole Foods~or make your own, or use premade, whatever you like~ Partially bake it, just until it starts to brown. You want the crust to be sturdy enough to handle what you’re going to do to it next.
Brush the crust with a little olive oil
Sprinkle with kosher salt…I used Hawaiian Sea Salt just to show off, that’s the pink flecks~ Squeeze roasted garlic from bulb and spread over crust with the back of a spoon.
Top with roasted or caramelized onions
Top with shredded Parmesan cheese. If you are a Costco shopper, pick this up on your next trip, it’s a great option for freshly grated Parm
Next add some fresh mozzarella
and tomatoes~I used cherry tomatoes cut in half. Don’t put the basil on yet, it will blacken. This is just for show, I was deciding if I needed to venture back out to the garden for more~
Cut the basil into chiffonade {thin ribbons made by rolling the leaves tightly and then cutting horizontally into thin strips} while the pizza is baking
Top your hot pizza with the basil
and enjoy!
Here’s the recipe:
PIZZA CAPRESE
Ingredients
- 1 ball of fresh pizza dough* or prepared pizza crust
- 1 large onion
- 1 head garlic
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 ounces of fresh mozzarella
- 12 cherry tomatoes halved
- 6 leaves fresh basil
- olive oil
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Roast garlic in a foil packet, drizzled with olive oil, at 400 for 1 hour. Peel and slice onion and cook the same way or caramelize the slices in a skillet. Cut basil leaves into chiffonade.
- Prepare pizza dough and bake according to package directions until it just starts to brown, about 1/2-3/4 of cooking time.
- Remove from oven and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt.
- Squeeze garlic onto crust and spread with the back of a spoon.
- Top with caramelized onions.
- Top with 3/4 cup Parmesan, reserving the rest for topping later.
- Top with sliced mozzarella and tomatoes.
- Return to oven and continue baking until cheese has melted and crust is done.
- Remove and top immediately with reserved Parmesan and basil.
- Cut into large squares for main dish or small squares for appetizers
Notes
Thanks for stopping by today, do you have a “holy trinity?”
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