Home-made pizza and a long weekend.

I don't know about you but I feel like summer this year has cooked me. It's been hot. And it's still so hot as I sit here at our tiny dining table covered in a sticky film of sweat, unable to get comfortable. I'm ever so slightly jealous of Arthur who lies on the bathroom or kitchen tiles all day long to cool off, I don't think it would be acceptable for me to spend 90% of my day lying on the tiles unfortunately.

Tomorrow in Australia is a day where you can let your inner bogan free. It's a day you find that stubby cooler you know you have lying around somewhere or the bucket hat that makes an appearance for one day a year still smeared with last years green and yellow zinc (guilty as charged). So on a long weekend what better way to spend a Saturday than at the beach with friends and home made pizza's for dinner?

An airconditioned apartment. Jokes!... maybe.

The pizza dough was actually surprising easy to make and didn't take that long at all. Not going to blow my own horn here but they were pretty damn good.

I got the recipe from one of my favourite food memoirs 'My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss' and tweaked the topping. She also writes about this on her blog - The Wednesday Chef. I remember reading her book in bed at about 11pm and there is a scene where the writer sits on her balcony eating home made pizza by candlelight and it sounded so romantic, care-free, delicious and easy. I wanted to go and make pizza right then and there at 11pm in my pj's. Looking over at Tristan snoring next to me stopped me or maybe it was the fact I had to get up early for work but it wasn't the only occassion that I wanted to get out of bed and start cooking from her book then and there so I could taste what she had written so beautifully about.

If your a foodie with a soft spot for a love story you will love this book and her blog!

The pizza dough was easy to prepare. A little mixing and a little kneading then let it sit and double in size. Stretch it, top it and bake it. I made a simple tomato sauce for the base which was made up of onion, canned tomatoes, garlic and some dried oregano but you can make it even easier by following Luisa's instructions (link below) where she tears canned tomatoes over the pizza instead of making a sauce.

We made two pizzas and put ham, olives, chilli and mozzarella on them. Some sections with the lot and some with less to keep everyone happy. You need to really crank your oven to full ball and make sure it's piping hot! I think my oven could have been hotter and an even better trick which I will do next time is make the pizza's on baking paper or foil and put your trays in the oven to start with so that it gets really hot then slide your pizza onto the hot tray and hopefully you get a crispier bottom. Everyone loves a crispy bottom :)

The pizza dough also freezes well or if you make the dough in advance just pop it in the fridge the night before and then pull it out an hour before you want to roll the pizza's out. Easy!

Sorry... Hunger won again!

Home-made pizza (dough and all!)

pizza dough recipe from The Wednesday Chef - find original recipe here
serves 3-4

For the pizza dough:
3 1/2 cups of 00 flour (or plain flour)
1 1/2 cups luke warm water
a pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon fine table salt
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

- Put your flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre of it. Add your yeast and sugar then pour over your luke warm water (make sure this isn't hot or you'll kill the yeast). Start mixing it together with a fork, adding the salt and olive oil as you mix. It will start to look like a shaggy mess but thats ok.

- Using your hands bring it together in the bowl. If it's too sticky add a little more flour or if it's too dry add a splash more water. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead with the heel of your hand until it becomes smooth and springy. Form it into a ball.

- Wash and dry your mixing bowl then lightly oil it with oliver oil. Place the dough in the bowl turning it around so that it is covered in a very thin layer of olive oil. Place a wet tea towel over the top and place it in a warm draft free area. It is very easy to find one of them in our apartment right now! Let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.

- Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce (recipe below) and get your toppings ready (what ever you fancy!).

- Once your dough has doubled in size crank your oven to hot hot hot (220C or hotter) and place your baking trays in the oven. Gently push the dough down knocking the air out and divide it into two pieces.

- Stretch or roll them out on a floured surface to your desired tray size/shape and place the dough on to either foil or baking paper. Top them with the sauce and your toppings.

- Slide the pizzas onto the hot trays (keep them on the foil or paper) and bake for about 15 minutes or until everything is bubbling and smelling incredible.

Tomato Sauce recipe:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 can tomatoes
1/2 cup water

- Heat olive oil, garlic, onion and oregano over medium heat and cook until onion is translucent.

- Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the can of tomatoes and water and bring to a boil.

- Cook for 20min on low. Let cool for 10 minutes or so then using a stick blender or processor blitz the sauce if you want a smooth sauce or leave it chunky if you prefer.

Tomato Sauce with Carrots and Onions from My Berlin Kitchen.

So the other week when I was home alone for dinner I of course had to cook myself pasta. It's simple easy and why resist one of your favourite foods when there is no one eating but you?!

I picked up my favourite food memoir My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss who writes the blog 'The Wednesday Chef' (such a great blog! check it out!) because when I was reading this book practically every recipe she has in there I wanted to make that then and there but reading till 1am because you can't put it down then going to make a big bowl of pasta for yourself probably isn't the best idea so I've tagged the book like a crazy women and one recipe that I thought would be great for when I'm home alone was her Tomato Sauce with Carrots and Onions. It also was the only ingredients I had left in the fridge so it was fate I say.

Sounds simple you say? It is and that's whats so great about it. It comes with her family story abut her and her father and I remember when I still lived with my patents and my mum had her own version of a tomato sauce she made so it kind of hit home a little. Plus who always has a few carrots, onions and a can of tomatoes floating around their fridge and pantry right before payday? I always do.

Luisa gives you a tip when making this and thats - "to let the onion cook thoroughly in the olive oil before adding the rest of the ingredients. This mellows the sometimes metallic bite of the onion and adds sweetness to the sauce."

The basic recipe (adapted ever so slightly) is heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a small/medium pot, add a whole garlic clove and a diced brown onion and cook that for about 10 minutes or so until the onion has gone really soft. Then add your diced carrot and cook for a little longer. Add a can of diced tomatoes, a pinch of salt and chilli flakes and bring to a simmer. Cook your pasta until al dente, stir sauce and pasta together (fishing out the garlic clove) then serve with a generous serving of parmesan cheese.

So simple and tasty and definitely a great store cupboard/end of pay week staple!

Ragu alla Bolognese (Beef Ragu) from My Berlin Kitchen - A love story (with Recipes).

One of the best food memoirs I have read is My Berlin Kitchen - a love story (with Recipes) by Luisa Weiss from the blog The Wednesday Chef. It is heartfelt and honest and full of mouthwatering recipes that made you feel like you were on one of her secret Berlin weekends eating pizza on the balcony or rugged up in her Berlin kitchen through her first winter there.

My copy of her book is full of tabbed pages with recipes to try. I have even gone so far as looking up how to grow elderflower bushes in pots to make her elderflower cordial and where to buy them online. And the stories about fruit picking... I just love the idea of going fruit picking then making jams and compotes out of it to have for months after when the fruit is no longer in season but the memory of the times you had while picking are in that thick slather you put on toast or add to a pudding. Sounds so poetic. Oh and I adore the love story in it and the happy ending. I'm a sucker for a happy ending!

One of the worst things about the book is that it ended... I could have kept on reading more and more but thank goodness she has her blog, The Wednesday Chef. She started her blog to cook through her mountain of newspaper clippings she had collected.

I've been wanting to make a recipe from My Berlin Kitchen ever since I finished reading it to keep the story going and one of my favourite foods as a kid was Spaghetti bolognese. I have done my research and much more food educated now in that fact that in Italy, there is no such thing as spaghetti bolognese. The meat sauce needs a thicker pasta for the sauce to cling to as you twirl your fork full of pasta and fill your gob.  There was no way I could pass up the Ragu alla Bolognese (Beef Ragu) in the book on a cloudy Sunday afternoon. So few ingredients and so much trust needed not to add anything extra. And no I did not use spaghetti for those Italian's out there...I used fettuccini.

Now just a little about my childhood... The bolognese my mum cooked was always made in a microwave until I was about ten years old. Yes I said microwave. Microwave cooking was the height of technology in the 90's and my mum loved it! She could make bolognese, risotto, lamb chops, quiche, pasta, rice... you name it and my mum could cook it in a microwave. My sister and I never knew that the bolognese we were brought up on had a slight microwaved cooked meat smell and taste to it until we started having bolognese at other peoples houses and realised that mums tasted a little funny (at least she never put beans in hers!). One night we asked her, treading ever so carefully so we didn't hurt her feelings, if she could cook it on the stove tonight and she did. From that day on she never went back to the microwave (for bolognese) and I have never had a microwaved bolognese from that day onwards again.

Back to Luisa's Ragu... all I wanted to do was add some garlic or add a bay leaf or teaspoon of dried oregano but she specifically says - "don't follow the urge to add celery, a bay leaf or a dash of cinnamon. You'll be rewarded for your obedient focus with a meat sauce that truly tastes of Italy" - I trusted her. I did what she said and was I rewarded?... yes! An extra hour cooking and I'm sure I would be even more rewarded but time is of the essence and as much as I wish I was organised enough to start it 5 hours before we wanted to sit down and eat dinner, I'm just not that organised (yet). The sauce is as simple as beef mince, pork mince, carrot, onion, olive oil, butter, pureed tomatoes and some salt. Oh and some red wine but thats a given because you're already going to open a bottle, right?
Don't let these simple every day ingredients fool you. This combination will make you rethink your own bolognese ragu recipe.

So delicious served over steaming pasta with some freshly grated parmesan. Lip licking good!

Pretty excited that we have some leftovers in the freezer for a quick mid-week dinner.