tortilla pizza margherita

Meg and I had pizza margherita over at the new (most tasty) restaurant "One Speed" in East Sac the other night with some girlfriends and now we've decided to make our own version. We are using their recipe for tomato sauce which is given on the back of their business card(cool). To sort of duplicate the very paper thin crust we are using really good homemade tortillas that we lighty fried in olive oil till just crisp. Topped with the sauce, mozzerella cheese and finished with basil that was melted for just a few minutes under the broiler. Finished with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil. I want to wait tables there maybe even finally get into a kitchen. I miss the food industry a whole lot these days. This was comfort food tonight. It's been a really long day.



The history surrounding pizza margherita is a pretty neat tidbit of history: From In Mama's Kitchen:

In about 1889, Queen Margherita, accompanied by her husband, Umberto I, took an inspection tour of her Italian Kingdom. During her travels around Italy she saw many people, especially the peasants, eating this large, flat bread. Curious, the queen ordered her guards to bring her one of these Pizza breads. The Queen loved the bread and would eat it every time she was out amongst the people, which caused some consternation in Court circles. It was not seemly for a Queen to dine on peasant's food.

Never the less, the queen loved the bread and decided to take matters into her own hands. Summoning Chef Rafaelle Esposito from his pizzeria to the royal palace, the queen ordered him to bake a selection of pizzas for her pleasure.


To honor the queen who was so beloved by her subjects, Rafaelle decided to make a very special pizza just for her. He baked a Pizza topped with tomatoes, Mozarella Cheese, and fresh Basil (to represent the colors of the Italian flag: Red, white, and green).

This became Queen Margherita's favorite pizza and when word got out that this was one of the queen's favorite foods, she became even more popular with the Italian people. She also started a culinary tradition, the Pizza Margherita, which lasts to this very day in Naples and has now spread throughout the world.