Veggie Varieties for Italian Cooking

Top-performing edibles to perfect classic dishes

former - summertime harvests of juicy tomatoes , fresh herbs , yummy ruddy white pepper , and leafy green inspire tasty supper . And putting together a pizza top with your very own , fresh - from - the - garden summer veg is in high spirits on the leaning of a nurseryman ’s greatest pleasures .

Whether made from scratch or store - buy , bare pizza lettuce is transformed into a culinary pleasure with the add-on of smart ingredients from your own garden . We each have our favorite toppings , and as long as they ’re works establish , we can grow most of them ourselves in our Northern California backyards . My own favourite pizza pie begins with a splash of homemade tomato sauce ( thick , robust , complex , made from kale , and force out in autumn ) on the gelt ’s control surface , a dab of homemade pesto , and a sprinkle of oregano . Then the actual merriment starts as I layer on my favored newly harvested vegetables and herbs , starting with the ace below .

‘Costoluto Genovese’ tomato

This dark red Italian heirloom , beloved by Thomas Jefferson , is richly flavourous , deeply ridge , heavily lob , and nicely plank . It ’s the most popular Lycopersicon esculentum in Italy for both fresh feeding and preserving , with its left over , old - fashioned shape belying its complex , acute , acidulent flavour . Incredible in sauces , and gorgeous sliced , its flower - form cross - segment make it extra attractive . plant life ‘ Costoluto Genovese ’ in the sunniest location usable , protect from wind instrument , after your last average frost day of the month has safely passed . Amend the soil well with compost and a low - N plant food before planting . Like many other heirloom and sauce Lycopersicon esculentum , its savour is intensify if give less water supply than you would other tomatoes . Each vigorous industrial plant grow to 6 to 7 invertebrate foot magniloquent , so be sure to give it sturdy support . self-aggrandising harvests of pleasant-tasting tomatoes begin just 75 days from transplant .

‘Napoletano’ lettuce leaf basil

Ocimum basilicum‘Napoletano ’ , one-year

Large , dark - green , scrunch leaves originate on bushy , vigorous plant of lettuce leaf basil . This Italian heirloom Basil of Caesarea comes from Naples , where it is recognise and loved for its vast , gelt - like leaf and sweet , mildly gamy flavor . Perfect for pesto , salads , and of row , tossing on top of your favourite pizza , lettuce folio basil is one of the easiest and most productive basil kind you could grow . Each leaf can reach up to 6 inches long and 4 inches wide on sturdy , shaggy-haired flora . Basil sleep with ardent weather , so await until at least mid - April to imbed it outdoors , and uprise it in full sun in racy , well - drained stain with regular irrigation . Add a well - balanced plant food at planting prison term , and be sure to harvest the tasty leaves oft to prolong production and to prevent the basil from going to seed .

‘Jimmy Nardello’ sweet Italian frying pepper

My out-and-out all - time favorite pepper is an other manufacturer and so loose to mature . An heirloom , bring to Connecticut from southern Italy in 1887 by Jimmy Nardello ’s female parent , this deliciously sweet and fruity capsicum is create in teemingness on bushy , disease - resistant plants . The fruits are 6 to 9 inches long , point , thin - walled , and a shiny deep red with wrinkled skin when to the full ripe . They are wondrous for eating fresh but even better fried in olive oil colour and tossed on a pizza . establish your ‘ Jimmy Nardello ’ peppercorn plant in full Dominicus and rich soil , with a high - nitrogen plant food added at planting time . For best upshot , water regularly . There are just 76 day from transplantation to your first delightful peppers !

‘Music’ garlic

Planted in tardy fall , ‘ euphony ’ is a porcelain ail that grows smartly to 3 to 4 feet tall . It bring on twirling , snakelike flower stalk in spring ( snap them off and sauté them in olive rock oil , or add up them to your favorite dishes for a gourmet ail treat ) and in late July is ready for harvest home . The large electric light contain few cloves that are nevertheless large , prosperous to peel , and intensely sapid . earlier from California , ‘ Music ’ Allium sativum is widely adaptable and perform well in both strong and cold regions of NorCal . Perfect for lead pizza , this garlic store well and is make out for its warmth when rust raw and for its complex , productive redolence when sautéed or roasted . To grow your own Allium sativum , gently split up the clove and , without flake , plant each Eugenia caryophyllatum blunt cease down , about an in cryptic . turn up your garlic patch in a dapple that receive as much wintertime sun as possible , digging in well - aged manure or compost and a low - nitrogen fertilizer at planting time .

‘Sylvetta’ wild arugula

Diplotaxis erucoides‘Sylvetta ’ , annual

Quickly steamed or sautéed , a smattering of these pungent , peppery leaves nicely equilibrate the pleasantness of pepper and Lycopersicon esculentum , complement the look of garlic and basil , and complete the perfect pizza pie . A uncivilised form of arugula , with profoundly lobed , dark green , narrow leaves , ‘ Sylvetta ’ is pocket-size in sizing and more intensely flavored than other varieties , and is slower to run out . A cool - weather condition harvest that can be grown in summertime given shade and plentiful water , ‘ Sylvetta ’ microgreens can be beak 35 twenty-four hour period after planting or leave to grow and be harvest whole at 50 day . The yellow heyday are also edible and pure for embellish salad or sparge on your pizza pie after it emerges from the oven .

— Fionuala Campion is the owner and manager of Cottage Gardens of Petaluma in Petaluma , California .

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growing pizza toppings

From left to right: ‘Costoluto Genovese’ tomato,Photo: reneesgarden.com; ‘Napoletano’ lettuce leaf basil,Photo: reneesgarden.com; and ‘Jimmy Nardello’ sweet Italian frying pepper,Photo: seedsavers.org

‘Costoluto Genovese’ tomato