Tuscan Pizza

While in Italy with my family 2 years ago, we stayed in the village where my dad's side of the family was originally from, just outside of Lucca.

We were in Italy during a hot spell. And we lived like the Italians did... with no AC. Which wasn't a huge deal because we weren't really home all that much, but when it came time to make dinner the oven did seem to heat the place up even more. So for the nights we didnt eat at my family's restaurant and it was to hot to cook, we found a pizza place near the center of town.

On the menu there was "formaggio e mascarpone" Which I had never seen before... but I love all things Mascarpone, so we got it. Along with 3 other pizzas and we looked like fat Americans carrying 4 large pizzas out of there, when everyone else was just getting 1 small pizza. But hey, we did have 11 people to feed.

The Mascarpone Pizza was the one of the best pizza I have ever had... and everyone else who had a piece also thought so.

Because I have never seen it on a menu anywhere here in the states we have to make our own.

So last night pizza dough was at sale... and we hadn't had pizza in a while. So we made fresh basil and mascarpone pizza.

Its really easy and wonderful tasting and took me about 5 minutes to prepare.

All you need:

-Fresh pizza dough
-Pizza sauce
-8oz cheese
-tub of mascarpone cheese
-fresh basil

Its as easy as rolling your dough out, place on pizza stone. Add sauce (I always add my own spices to give it a bit more flavor.) Top with cheese, use a spoon to place little dollops of mascarpone on top of the cheese, add fresh basil leaves.

Pop in the oven at 425º for about 15 mins.

and its like i'm in Italy all over again....