From backyard gardens and farmers’ markets to roadside farm stands, there’s a bounty of fresh produce to (finally) choose from here in New England.
What’s growing in your neck of the woods, and how do you incorporate the season’s freshest fruits, vegetables, and herbs into your family’s diet? If you’re looking for inspiration, read on for my three farmers’ market pizza ideas, each topped with one of my picks of the week: roasted beets and thyme, sliced strawberries and mint, and slow-roasted cherry tomatoes and basil. (And scroll down too to download and print my FREE Farmers’ Market Scavenger Hunt.)
{I partnered with Flatout Flatbread to create these three seasonally-inspired pizza concepts. I was compensated for my work, but all ideas are my own.}
Flatout’s Artisan Thin Crust Pizza Flatbreads come in three varieties including Rosemary & Olive Oil, Spicy Italian, and Rustic White, and they provide a canvas for just about any pizza topping you can imagine. They have between 120 – 130 calories and they cook up conveniently in just 6 minutes.
Beets, kohlrabi, and radishes from Pumpkin Pond Farm on Nantucket.
In preparation for this blog post, I shopped at three local farms on Nantucket — Pumpkin Pond, Bartlett’s, and Moors End — and then turned their local harvest into three distinctively different pizzas. You don’t really need a recipe for any of them; just a rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables and a dash of creativity.
Flatout pizza topped with roasted beets, feta cheese, thyme, toasted pecans, and beet greens.
For the pizza, roast a bunch of baby beets, cool, and peel and slice into thin rounds. Bake two Spicy Italian pizza crusts for 2 minutes according to package directions, top with the beets and crumbled feta cheese, and bake 4 more minutes. Finish with a topping of fresh thyme, toasted pecans, and thinly sliced beet greens. {Beet greens are tender and slightly sweet. Use as a pizza topping, in a salad, or sautee with olive oil.} Slice and serve.
Flatout pizza topped with goat cheese, honey, sliced strawberries, fresh mint, and balsamic glaze.
Who says pizza has to be savory? This strawberry pizza starts with one rustic white thin pizza crust. Combine 1 ounce goat cheese with 1 teaspoon honey and set aside. Bake the pizza crust for 2 minutes according to package directions, remove from the oven, and spread the goat cheese mixture evenly on top. Layer with sliced strawberries and then bake 4 more minutes. Once out of the oven, drizzle with balsamic glaze and fresh mint. Slice and serve.
I bought a pint of multi-colored cherry tomatoes and slow roasted them. It was ridiculously easy. {Here’s the recipe on Smitten Kitchen that I used.}
Slow-roasted tomatoes taste like sun-dried tomatoes. I used them to make this beauty …
Flatout pizza topped with basil pesto, slow-roasted tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. * For the tomatoes, I followed a recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
For this slow-roasted cherry tomato pizza, bake two Rosemary & Olive Oil pizzas for 2 minutes according to package directions. Remove from the oven and spread prepared basil pesto over each. Top with the slow-roasted tomatoes and shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake 4 minutes more. Remove from the oven and sprinkle thinly sliced fresh basil on top. Slice and serve. {The next time I make this pizza, I want to use thin slices of fresh mozzarella.}
And now for something really cool. Have you seen my Color, Cook, Eat! coloring book series? In the family dinner book, I have a Farmers’ Market Scavenger Hunt, which I turned into a FREE PDF just for you. Feel free to download and use with your kids the next time you go to the farmers’ market!
Click here to download Farmers’ Market Scavenger Hunt PDF.
What’s your favorite thing to buy at the farmers’ market? Have you used the summer bounty for a pizza? For more pizza ideas, check out the recipes over at Flatout.
Leave a comment!