Pair Cherry Tomatoes With This Sweet Fruit For The Best Homemade Pizza

Most homemade pizza recipes start with pizza sauce made from canned tomatoes, but you can also make a pizza using fresh cherry tomatoes. Nathan Gerard, the manager at pellet stove and grill retailer Pellet Head, not only encourages doing so but recommends taking it one step further with the addition of a certain kind of fruit. No, we're not talking about the ever-polarizing pineapple pizza. Gerard suggests adding strawberries instead, saying they pair surprisingly well with cherry tomatoes.

As Gerard told The Takeout, "The sweetness of strawberries balances the acidity of cherry tomatoes, kind of like how balsamic glaze plays off tomatoes and cheese. It adds a fresh, slightly jammy layer of flavor." He cautioned, however, that both strawberries and tomatoes have a high moisture content, so you'll need to go easy with how much you add so the crust doesn't get waterlogged.

If you have a dedicated pizza oven (such as the one Pellet Head sells), this would be ideal for cooking such a pizza. These ovens can reach temperatures as high as 900 degrees Fahrenheit, which, Gerard explained, "can make sure you don't get the sogginess from such toppings."

Before you assemble your strawberry tomato pizza, you'll first need to prep the produce. To slice a number of cherry tomatoes at once, try sandwiching them between two plates to hold them all in place. As for the strawberries, Gerard had some thoughts. "You can slice them thin and layer them like the tomatoes, but just avoid big chunks because they'll release too much water and get soggy like I mentioned earlier. Best to keep them thin so the oven's heat can keep the moisture down."

You can stick with mozzarella for the cheese, but Gerard feels that goat cheese would also work. When it comes to toppings, "Maybe toss on some arugula or basil for a peppery bite," he said "Prosciutto could be a good choice, too." For a finishing touch, "A drizzle of balsamic glaze at the end ties everything together." You could even double down on the fruit flavor by using a strawberry balsamic reduction, or skip the berries altogether and add just a touch of strawberry flavor with this condiment.

For a side dish, you could take the same produce used to top the pizza and turn it into a salad. Simply slice the strawberries and tomatoes and toss them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Or echo the pizza ingredients even further by adding arugula, basil, or chunks of mozzarella.