Farmers Market Pizza

The Market Inspiration
Artisan pizza shops and make-your-own pizza places are all the rage these days, but you can make better pizza at home and it isn't hard, you simply need the artisan toppings. Even easier, you can find all of the high quality toppings you want at the Farmer's Market.
For your crust, you can make your pizza dough from scratch, use a pita or flatbread for individual pizzas, or for a quick weeknight pizza, use Trader Joe's delicious pre-made Herb pizza dough. For the cheese, our fromager suggested we use cheese curds, and boy was he right. They melt perfectly into wonderfully warm, melty balls of goodness. We used pepper jack cheese curds that added just a bit of spicy flavor. From there, you can add whatever toppings you like, tomatoes, meat, peppers, etc, many of which you can find at the Farmer's Market. Once baked, topping your pizza with a handful of greens is a great, bright finish of good and healthy eating to round it all out.

The Recipe
1 recipe pizza dough
Olive oil
1 lb. fresh cherry tomatoes
1 pkg. pepper jack cheese curds
1 shallot diced
Salt
Pepper
Dried basil

Garnish
1 cup greens (spinach, chard, and kale)
Fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Roll out the pizza dough into two 9-inch rounds. Drizzle with olive oil, (don't forget to coat the edges), spread the tomatoes, cheese curds and shallots evenly over the two pizzas. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and dried basil. From here follow your specific pizza dough baking directions. You will want the top of the pizza to be golden brown and the crust underneath to be crisp and cooked through.
For the garnish, julienne the greens and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Top your pizza with the greens. Cut and enjoy!

The Pairing
Though he is best known for inspirational dramas like It's a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra also directed a hidden gem in 1937's Lost Horizon, a very different type of movie. Based on the legend of the hidden city of Shangri-La, Lost Horizon is a fever dream of fantasy, high flying adventure, and existential terror. It's a perfect example of epic Hollywood film-making and a wonderful experience. -Z