BLT Pizza -- The Summer Garden Table We Keep Coming Back To

June 2037. The garden in its fifteenth season on the land. I had been amending and tending this soil for fifteen years and the results were visible everywhere: the Cherokee Purples taller and heavier, the beans earlier, the corn solid. Kai's analysis showed soil organic matter at twice the level at purchase. That number was fifteen years of compost and cover crops and the simple refusal to exhaust something in your care.

River's beds in their third full season produced results rivaling the main garden. He brought me a jar of his first serious harvest of traditional bean varieties—processed and dried with the care of someone who understood what he was holding. I put it on the shelf next to the Stilwell beans. He saw where I put it and said nothing, but he seemed right about it.

Made a summer kitchen dinner: tomatoes, corn, beans, a chicken from the site flock. Ate it with Tommy in his high chair eating soft bean from a spoon in his own hand, Kai reading, Sarah watching Tommy, the June light through the persimmon window. An ordinary evening. All ordinary evenings on this land are exactly enough. I've known this for years and I keep relearning it the way you relearn things worth knowing. Enough. Yes. This.

That evening’s kitchen dinner—tomatoes heavy off the vine, the whole household gathered around Tommy in his high chair—is the kind of meal I want a recipe to live up to. The Cherokee Purples were at their peak, sliced thick and still warm from the garden, and it felt right to let them carry the plate rather than bury them. A BLT Pizza does exactly that: it’s built for tomatoes this good, layered onto a simple crust where nothing competes with what the land grew. It’s the kind of meal an ordinary June evening deserves.

BLT Pizza

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb pizza dough, store-bought or homemade
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced (Cherokee Purple or heirloom preferred)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups romaine or leaf lettuce, shredded
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Olive oil for brushing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 425°F. If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven while it preheats.
2. Shape the dough. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll pizza dough into a 12-inch round. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet or preheated pizza stone. Brush the edges lightly with olive oil.
3. Make the garlic mayo base. Stir together mayonnaise, lemon juice, and garlic powder in a small bowl until smooth. Spread evenly over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge.
4. Add cheese and bacon. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella evenly over the mayo base, then scatter the crumbled bacon across the top.
5. Bake. Transfer to the oven and bake for 16—20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned at the edges.
6. Top with tomatoes and lettuce. Remove pizza from the oven and immediately layer the sliced tomatoes over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Let rest 2 minutes, then pile the shredded lettuce over the tomatoes just before serving.
7. Slice and serve. Cut into 8 slices and serve immediately while the crust is crisp and the lettuce is fresh.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 19g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 46g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 820mg