I’ve long loved the Mountain Magic variety of tomato because it’s the most early blight resistant tomato that I’ve grown, and believe me, I’ve tried them all. In early October we are still picking many of these every day, although all the other varieties in our gardens were done in by blight in early September. The fruit on Mountain Magic are about the size of a golf ball, and have good flavor; we use them in salads, in fresh-tomato with basil pasta, and even to make sauce. (Note: since they are small there is a high proportion of seeds to pulp in a sauce, so strain out the seeds after cooking the fruits down.) But the best use of Mountain Magic is sliced fresh on top of pizza. Since they aren’t too watery, and are bite-sized, these are perfect for slicing and topping any pizza you’re baking.
Here are just a few of the Magic Mountain tomatoes we harvested on October 1st.
Here’s my recipe for a garden pizza using Mountain Magic tomatoes.
Get a pre-made crust. I use the Pizza Gourmet Wood Grilled Pizza Crust that I buy at Whole Foods. Yes, I might make a crust from scratch on a weekend, but for a weeknight, get it in the oven quickly, I go for this thin, premade crust.
Use pre-grated cheese. I use one of the Italian Mixes, such as Sargento Shredded 6 Cheese Italian. One package is more than enough for one pizza.
Use whatever is in the vegetable garden. I will put zucchini, eggplant,broccoli, shredded chard, ribbons of kale, fresh tomatoes, potatoes and even nasturtium flowers on my pizza. If you want to use the zucchini, eggplant, or potatoes raw, slice them very thin. If you want to slice them a bit more thickly, quickly saute them in a bit of olive oil before putting them on the pizza. Cook broccoli briefly on the stove top or in the microwave. Chop things like kale and chard, and put them on the top of the pizza five minutes before removing the pizza from the oven. Add any flowers two minutes before taking the pizza out of the oven.
Here is the garden pizza I made last night. Not bad for October 1st! Nasturtium flowers are not only pretty on a pizza, but they add their slight spicy flavor to any flatbread as well. This pizza has grated cheese, thin-sliced zucchini, sliced Mountain Magic tomatoes, arugula, and nasturtium flowers.
If you can’t find Mountain Magic plants at your local garden center, consider joining with a few other people and growing them from seed. If you’ve had tomatoes die in August because of early blight, you’ll be pleased to have a Mountain Magic or two in your garden every summer from now on.
Thank you! I’m going to try to find these plants next spring. I have had great luck with Sun Gold, and still am getting several even in October!