My wonderful husband, Jesse, bought me a fabulous Emile Henry pizza stone for Christmas and I love it. It may indeed be my new favorite kitchen toy. I like to make pizza but I have never been able to get a crispy, darkened crust with my oven, voila use a pizza stone, it really works! Pizza is fun!You can put anything on it and for us it often becomes a base for salad. I love to top it with arugula or caesar salad.  It’s a great Friday night meal.

To make a fast pizza you can use Pillsbury pizza dough or Central Market in Austin has a very good frozen dough that rivals home-made. Last night our pizza was very simple and oh so delicuous with fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzerlla.

PIZZA

• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, I used yellow ones, nice & sweet
• 1/2  pound of fresh mozzerlla
• 1 regular round pizza dough

To start I carmelized the tomatoes in a saucepan with a little olive oil, pinch of salt & pepper and about a 1/2 teaspoon of oregano and a few fennel seeds. Just let the tomatoes melt on low heat while you get the oven heated and the cheese sliced.

I heated my oven at 500 degrees for about 30 minutes with the stone in it.

Roll the dough out on a pizza peel that you have sprinkled with flour. Add some olive oil to the dough and smooth it around and then add the tomates and mozzerlla. Bake for about 12 minutes and enjoy home-made delicious pizza!