These farmer’s market pizzas take some of the most beautiful gems from the day’s trip to the market and highlight them for dinner. On a hot day, the pizzas can be made with just the toaster oven and on the grill to keep the house nice and cool. Zucchini is plentiful this time of year so, I took the traditional Southern Italian practice of drying zucchini and modified it to get all of the concentrated flavor without the hours of drying. The twist for these pizzas, especially the sweet one, is that they are white pizzas inspired by a classic Jewish treat: the blintz.

Farmer’s Market Pizza
Makes two small/medium savory pizzas and two small/medium sweet pizzas

Ingredients:

• 2 pizza doughs from the refrigerator section of your local pizzeria or grocery store

Savory Ingredients:

• 1 package (7 1/2 oz) of farmer’s cheese
  (You can use ricotta if you cannot find farmer’s cheese)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 6-8 Tbsp. of grated Parmesan
• 2-3 tsp. of Canola oil
• 2-3 medium sized zucchini (or any other delicious veggies you find)
• Kosher salt
• dried oregano
• 1 TBSP of olive oil
• black pepper

Sweet Ingredients:

• 1 package (7 1/2 oz) of farmer’s cheese
  (You can use ricotta if you cannot find farmer’s cheese)
• 1 lemon
• 3 Tbsp. of mascarpone cheese
• 3 Tbsp. of granulated sugar
• 1 pint of blueberries
  (Use any other seasonal fruit that strikes your fancy
  such as cherries, raspberries, peaches or nectarines)
• powdered sugar for serving

Savory Pizza with Dried Zucchini

1.  To dry the zucchini, first wash and slice it into 1/8 inch slices. Then line a baking pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle some Kosher salt over the paper and lay the zucchini over the salt. Sprinkle the top of the zucchini with salt as well. Let the zucchini rest in the salt for at least 30 minutes.

2.  After 30 minutes, preheat your oven or toaster oven to 150° F. Rinse the zucchini slices well under a running tap and place them on a clean kitchen towel to pat dry. Then, place the zucchini on a tray covered with tin foil and let it dry out in the oven for about two hours. If you are short on time, you can raise the oven temperature a bit and let the zucchini dry out for a shorter time.

3.  Once the zucchini are fairly dry, almost rubbery in texture, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle a teaspoon of dried oregano over them. Do NOT add salt, but do grind fresh pepper over the zucchini to taste.

4.  Preheat your grill to high or preheat your oven to 450° F. Split your dough in half and create two oblong pizzas on oiled heavy-duty tin foil or on an oiled cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. You can use a spray oil but I prefer to put a teaspoon of Canola oil on the foil and spread it with my hands or a paper towel. Partially bake the dough. This should take 10 minutes or so.

5.  Remove the partially baked dough and prepare your cheese.

6.  In a bowl, add the 7 1/2 oz of farmers cheese, squeeze 4 cloves of farmer’s market garlic through a garlic press (or mince), add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and then grate 4-6 Tbsp. of Parmesan to taste. Mix until uniform.

7.  Spread the cheese on the two pizza crusts and then carefully arrange the zucchini slices over the cheese. Place back on the grill or in the oven until the cheese is heated through. Slice and serve.

Note: This pizza can be topped with any kind of squash, onions or other fabulous vegetables you find at the farmer’s market. Just prepare the vegetables by cooking them partially first in the oven or on the grill, then assemble the pizzas, heat and serve.

Sweet Farmer’s Market Blueberry Blintz Pizza

1.  Prepare the dough as above, but before placing it to cook, brush water over the top of the dough and sprinkle with sugar.

2.  Preheat your grill to high or preheat your oven to 450° F. Split your dough in half and create two round pizzas on oiled heavy-duty tin foil or on an oiled cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. You can use a spray oil but I prefer to put a teaspoon of Canola oil on the foil and spread it with my hands or a paper towel. Partially bake the dough. This should take 10 minutes or so.

3.  In a bowl, mix the farmer’s cheese, the zest of 1/2 of the lemon, mascarpone cheese and granulated sugar (or vanilla sugar if you have it).

4.  Top the partially cooked pizza crusts with the cheese mixture and return to the grill or oven until the cheese begins to melt slightly and is heated through.

5.  Take the pizza off of the heat and top with fresh blueberries. Sprinkle the entire pizza with a dusting of powdered sugar and finish with a little bit more lemon zest.

Note: This pizza can be topped with pitted and sliced cherries, fresh berries and stone fruit that is not too juicy. If you are using stone fruit, I recommend grilling the stone fruit halves separately first and then slicing before topping the pizza.