I’ve always loved to cook, as you can see from some of the cooking/food-related posts I’ve made in the past… but I’ve never really tried my hand at baking. I don’t know what it is… maybe it’s the supplies we got from Gourmet Warehouse so I actually have the tools/pans/etc that I need to bake, or what… but I’ve been on a real cooking/baking kick lately. So bear with me as my blog swings between cooking posts, baking posts, Twilight, and surfing this week (I’m heading to Tofino for the long weekend). Haha.

As you can see, my blog has no real direction or niche. I can’t pick just one topic. Hope you don’t mind

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So, adventures in pizza making! In university I used to make homemade pizza quite a bit, but due to being a starving, broke student, I never really had the good ingredients I wanted to use to make it. One of my favourite foods in the whole world is pizza… so this weekend I figured… hey, why not?

First a disclaimer: Everyone has their own kind of pizza that they like. Personally, I like a thick, spicy sauce… with a medium-thin crust (not too thin, but not a deep dish crust either), and light on the cheese with lots of toppings and herbs. I tried to make this kind of pizza. I don’t recommend the recipes if you prefer a different kind. Recipes after the break in the comments section!

Making the Pizza Dough, based on a Mario Batali recipe

The secret to this fabulous pizza dough is white wine, and honey. It really makes a huge difference. Your first steps are to mix together the yeast, water, honey, salt, and olive oil.

Use good ingredients. I like to use a proper ’00′ pizza-specific flour (NOT a pizza mix, those are no good), good olive oil, a decent white wine, and good honey. Why this particular honey? Well, my uncle actually makes this honey himself on his farm near Fort St. John! It’s called Rose Prairie Honey. It’s REALLY delicious. He always sends us a batch every year.

You’ll also notice the pizza stone. This is key to a good pizza as well. It keeps the crust crispy but moist. I have a ceramic one but any kind of pizza stone works well. If you don’t have  a pizza stone, any tray will work fine. Knead the dough till firm but pliable and set it aside to rise. (Excuse Allan’s hairy hands in the photo… haha!)

Making the Pizza Sauce, my secret recipe that I adapted from an Italian pizza book

Again, good quality ingredients are key for a good pizza sauce. I like to use Italian tomatoes and tomato paste… perhaps I’m crazy but it seems to make it taste more authentic. I also like to use real chunks of tomatoes… home grown is best but not necessary. The secret here is the fennel seed. It really makes it taste good. Again, high quality parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) is important. If you have a mortar and pestle it makes it easier to mix together the spices.

Saute the onion, garlic and celery together in the olive oil. Combine the ingredients for the pizza sauce, follow the recipe below. Make sure you add the fresh herbs at the end, only when you are ready to use the sauce so that they don’t wilt.

Putting your pizza together

Now that the dough has risen, you can roll it out thin and place it on a lightly floured pizza stone. Spread the pizza sauce on thickly.

Put all your ingredients on top! We used thinly sliced tomatoes from the garden. I like a mix of homegrown heirloom tomatoes. We also used some pineapple, and chorizo salami from Granville Island, sliced up like pepperoni. DELICIOUS! Chop or tear up some fresh basil and grate with parmesan over when serving. We tried some variations, even using fresh mozzarella (Bocconcini) which was also good.

We gobbled up about 3 different pizzas and called it a night. I’m really happy with how they turned out. Savoury, full of flavour, crispy, and a mild spice. Yum! Let me know if you try the recipe and tell me what you think! Let me know if you have any questions!

One of the best parts of looking for a job at the moment is having a couple spare moments to go grocery shopping and cook meals. I generally cook quite frequently, but the free time is allowing me to be a bit more creative with my meals. Despite being so busy lately that I haven’t even had a chance to sit down for longer than a couple minutes, I find myself always trying to at least make time to cook a nice dinner from scratch. I generally don’t make anything too fancy. My motto is quick to make, simple and tasty! And always using fresh local organic ingredients.

Above is the Panko and Pecan Encrusted Halibut I made last night. The crust has olive oil seasoned with ginger and green onions, a little chopped habanero pepper in the crust, and it is topped with fresh tomatoes over a bed of garlic ginger broccoli and served with yukon gold nugget potatoes. On a side note, the halibut was previously frozen but it is actually the halibut we caught when we went deep sea fishing in Tofino last summer.

Here’s what I call “The Meat Lovers Kitchen Sink“. This is definitely Allan’s favourite. It features 3 kinds of organic meats: bacon, pancetta, and chorizo sausage. The sauce is a homemade spicy tomato sauce and there’s a number of vegetables in there, including zucchini and peppers. The noodle there is a fresh tagliatelle pasta from Granville Island.

Here is my Tandoori Chicken with Green Curry Vegetables. I always try to find a way to make sure there is a large serving of vegetables with every meal, and curry sauce is one of the best ways to include them! The Tandoori Chicken is marinated and basted with coconut milk, lime juice, garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper, saffron and an indian blend of chilis and spices.

This is called “Heart Attack on a Plate“. Yummy big fresh pappardelle noodles served in an alfredo sauce made with heavy cream, parmigiano reggiano, and green onions. Mixed with my favourite of course… LOTS of double smoked bacon, and some spinach, mushrooms, and asparagas.

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On a non-food note, I’ve been enjoying Twitter very much lately. Just to clarify, I’m not planning on using this account for work purposes or anything, it’s just a life feed from yours truly when I’m in between blogging. http://twitter.com/VancityAllie

I’ll be posting photos/videos from the trip this past weekend to Sun Peaks. Also, this coming weekend I’ll be doing a little Valentine’s stint in Victoria and then up to Courtenay for the snowboarding trip to Mount Washington every year with Allan’s friends.