On our honeymoon in Rome, we made sure to visit the restaurant that our guidebook promised served “the best pizza in Italy.” A few things surprised us newbies: first, we were seated at a table with a couple of strangers, and second, our pizza came with an egg on top. What wasn’t a surprise: it was some damn good pizza. The richness of the egg yolk against the sweetness of the tomatoes was spot on, and we’ve been making pizza with egg ever since. This one is a fancied-up take on pizza margherita, the classic tomato, mozzarella, and basil pie; we add eggs and wilted green onions. Using San Marzano tomatoes, a delicately sweet Italian variety, is a must on a great margherita. Instead of making a sauce, we use the crushed tomatoes straight from the can and top them with minced garlic and a bit of salt. We also love adding finely grated Pecorino cheese over the mozzarella, a hard Italian cheese similar to Parmesan with a sharper flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough (here)
- 2 medium garlic cloves
- 4 green onions
- ½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
- ½ cup crushed San Marzano tomatoes
- Kosher salt
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup shredded Pecorino cheese
- 2 eggs
- 5 basil leaves
- Make the pizza dough (here).
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F.
- Peel and mince the garlic and reserve it. Slice the dark green parts from the green onions. In a small skillet, heat ½ tablespoon olive oil. Add the onion greens and sauté until tender and wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- When the oven is heated, stretch the dough into a circle. Place the dough on a pizza peel sprinkled with a bit of cornmeal (for more detail, see here).
- Brush the entire dough with a light coating of olive oil. Spread the tomatoes over the dough, then sprinkle with the minced garlic and a few pinches of kosher salt. Sprinkle the dough with the mozzarella cheese, then add the Pecorino cheese and arrange the green onions on top. Carefully crack two eggs onto the pizza, and sprinkle with another small pinch of kosher salt.
- Transfer the pizza to the oven on the pizza peel. Bake until the egg white is set and the yolk is still runny, watching carefully toward the end of the cooking time.
- Depending on the oven, this can take anywhere from 7 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Slice the basil into thin strips. Sprinkle the pizza with basil, slice into pieces, and serve warm.
