Pizza Marinara
The Marinara dates back to 1735 and was prepared using a combination of cherry tomatoes, oregano, basil, garlic and olive oil. Historically, it was known to be consumed by poor sailors, and made on their ships due to easily preservable ingredients.
Prep
10 min
Cook
10 min
Total
20 min
Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
Tap to check them off.
How it’s made
- 01
Oven, Pre-Heat
If your using your oven, place a rack in the middle shelf and pre-heat to as high as it will go (240-260 degrees). If you have a pizza oven, even better - although due to the thicker layer of tomato base on the Marinara, it's sometimes better in the oven. Place you pizza stone in the over for at least 1/2 hour to pre-heat. I have an Emile Henry pizza stone (pictured) for my indoor winter pizzas - it's just too cold to mess around with the outdoor pizza oven; although that will hopefully be converted to an 'indoor' pizza oven in the near future!
- 02
Tomatoes, chop
Set aside 4-5 cherry tomatoes depending on their size. Place the remaining tomatoes into a food processor and pulse for a second. Give them a mix a pulse again. We are not looking to make tomato sauce, and also not looking to have large chucks - so somewhere in-between. Basically think of the smallest size pieces you could chop with a knife - and if you don't have a food processor, do that! I use my Tupperware Turbo Chopper, which is a manual pull-cord chopper. It's really designed for herbs, but makes quick work of cherry tomatoes in a few batches. Add the chopped tomatoes to a bowl, season well with salt and finely chopped oregano.
- 03
Garlic, Slice
Thinly slice your garlic cloves vertically. Aim to slice as thin as you can with a sharp kitchen knife.
- 04
Tomatoes, Slice
Thinly slice the remainder of the cherry tomatoes and season well with salt.
- 05
Base, Prepare
Push and/or roll out your pizza dough to form a rough circle, roughly 30-25cm in diameter. Push up the edges of the dough to form a ridge, If our using the oven and the pizza stone, cover a wooden pizza paddle with semolina flour and place the round on top - this will allow you pizza to easily slide into the oven. Drizzle the dough with some good quality olive oil - and make sure it's Italian!
- 06
Ingredients, Add
Spoon on the crushed tomatoes and using the back of the spoon, spread evenly. Don't go too close to the edge, leave a 3-4cm gap. Remember to spread thicker than you would a normal pizza as this is the primary ingredient. Add sliced tomatoes to the pizza, along with the garlic cloves and whole oregano leaves. How much you use is up to you, but try to keep it somewhat even.
- 07
Cook
Slide you pizza onto the hot pizza stone and cook. Every oven is different, so you will just need to use your judgement. The edges of the pizza should puff up, and when they start to brown it's almost ready. If your not sure, it's always better to overcook a tad, rather than have undercooked dough in the middle of your pizza.
- 08
Done
Place pizza on a wooden paddle. Top with extra chopped oregano and a light drizzle of olive oil. Slice and eat!
Originally published 16 July 2017 · by John Drummond
