Homemade Pizza

We went to some friends for dinner and hockey night a week ago. We were treated with homemade pizza! We love pizza! It's probably our favourite "treat" meal. They even had a stone slate! I have to get one!!!
But get this... I have never made homemade pizza! I've made pizza from bread bases (ie Ciabatta Pizza), but never made the dough from scratch. I know, shocker right?

We usually buy the Dr Oetker Restaurante Pizza. It's the dish we usually have at the end of the week when I'm tired and just don't feel like cooking. But, uuuummm, hello!! why don't we have it on nights when I do feel like cooking and have homemade pizza?? Duh! I don't know where my foodie head has been floating off to in the past.
So this weekend I went for it. Wow! It was so quick and easy. It was actually quicker and easier than making the effort of getting my coat and shoes on, walking to the shop, waiting in line and buying a frozen pizza.

PIZZA DOUGH
1 (8g) package active dry yeast

• 1 cup warm water (cooler than bath water but warmer than room temperature)
• 2 cups all purpous flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar (optional, I read sugar makes the crust a bit puffier)

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl mix water with yeast. let stand for about 10 min, then add olive oil

2. In a large bowl combine flour, salt and sugar

3. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, then pour in wet mixture. Stir together well until a dough forms. Cover with a cloth to let rise for about 30min, or until dough has doubled in size. Meanwhile heat the oven to 375 F (190 C, gas mark 5)

4. Roll dough out (or toss it in the air and pretend you're an Italian cooking in your own pizzeria, like I did) onto a floured surface until it's round and about 1-2 cm thick. Place on a pizza baking sheet (or stone slate if you're lucky enough to have one already)

5. Top with tomato sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice and bake in the oven for 20-25 min, until reached desired golden colour crust and top

I didn't have any tomatoes or sauce on hand but I had some sundried tomato alfredo sauce leftover. Why not eh? I made a sundried tomato alfredo pizza with mushrooms, spinach and mozzarella. Yum yum yum yum!!

Hors D'oeuvres Party

We had my parents and some family friends over for hors d'oeuvre and wine the other night. It turned out really well, obviously including some panic within the last hour before guests arriving (I think I just put my hair dryer down as they pulled up to the front of our place). What party is complete without a little last minute rush and panic eh?

Now on to the food.....

I don't mean to boast but these are the best Chicken Goujons (is that a posh name for chicken strips, chicken nugets or chicken fingers? hhhhmmm?) I have ever eaten! They came out so crunchy and flavourful. I didn't want them to be at all greasy so I baked them.

I made these, served with very good quality mayonnaise to dip (I meant to make a curry mango dip but totally forgot to buy the curry ingredients). The mayo we have is so nice it was just fine served plain as a dip (I just looked for the mayo on the shelf that didn't have anything in it that I didn't recognise, no funny stuff, no chemical mumbo jumbo). Scrumptious! Although I should try to make my own mayo next time. It's suppose to be super easy right?

Chicken Goujons recipe
(recipe adapted from All Recipes)
450g skinless, boneless chicken (I used thighs instead of breasts because I find them to be more tender)
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp milk
couple pinches of salt and pepper
150g fine bread crumbs
2 tsp dried thyme
1. Set oven to 240 C / 475 F / gas 9
2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or foil
3. Cut chicken into strips
4. In a bowl mix together, egg, milk, olive oil and salt & pepper. Add the chicken strips, stir and coat them well with egg mixture
5. In a separate flat dish mix breadcrumbs and thyme
6. One at a time, place chicken strips into the breadcrumbs, turning them to coat evenly. Place chicken goujon onto the baking sheets
7. Bake chicken goujons in the oven for 15min or until golden (Mine stayed in closer to 20min)

I also made my vegetarian spring rolls. But this time I added egg to the filling. Yummy!

A couple weeks ago I instructed Marek how to make salsa. He's got it down pact now and I think his tastes better than when I make it! I made it for the first time a couple months ago and from then on we decided never to get store bought salsa again. It's so easy to make and tastes so much better fresh!

Salsa recipe

2 large tomatoes, chopped fine (make sure they're just ripe and firm)
1/2 a jalapeno pepper, chopped fine (less or more depending on how hot you like your salsa. Also the seeds are what make salsa hot, so keeping them or not is, again, personal preference)
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 shallots, chopped fine
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2 tbsp olive
squirt of a wedge of lemon
1 tsp each of salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together well and serve!
You could even use the salsa for chicken goujons dipping!

I couldn't forget to tell you about the prosciutto and pear bites that Marek put together. So savoury and fresh. these lovelies gave a good balance to all the hors d'oeuvres we served

Pear, Prosciutto and Gorgonzola Bites recipe
1 french baguette, sliced
1 pear, sliced into bite size pieces
12 slices of prosciutto, cut in halves
25g cream cheese
50g blue cheese
handful of crushed walnuts





1. Warm the baguette slices in the oven a bit
2. Blend together the cream cheese and blue cheese
3. Layer ingredients on top of the baguette slices in this order; cheese mixture, a few walnut bits, a piece or two of pear, a piece of prosciutto
Serve! Yum!

Last but by far not least are the Rich Chocolate Pots.
I posted a week ago about Chocolate and Love organic chocolate and said I would be making something with the chocolate. Well, here it is! Be warned though, this dessert is not for the faint hearted, IT IS RICH !

Rich Chocolate Pots recipe
(Direct from my favourite cookbook - Good Housekeeping Cookery Book)
300g good quality plain dark chocolate, in pieces (I'd say no more than 70% otherwise the dessert could be too bitter)
284ml double cream
250g mascarpone (I used half mascarpone, half cream cheese)
3 tbsp cognac
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I probably put double that amount because I LOVE Vanilla)

To decorate: Marek came up with the coconut topping, and I had some little chocolate coins to put in the middle. Another idea would be a dollop of whipped cream on top, sprinkled with crushed walnuts

1. Put chocolate into a heat proof bowl over a pot of gently simmering water. Leave until all chocolate is melted and smooth. Lower hear to it absolute lowest
2. Add cream and mascarpone, cognac and vanilla. Mixx well. (if you use cream cheese as I did it may take a bit longer to melt into the chocolate than the mascarpone)
3. Once all blended well and mascarpone (and cream cheese) have melted fully, divide mixture into glasses and chill in the refrigerator for atleast 20 min. Then you can top with you decoration of choice

The recipe in my book said this serves 6, but I have to say it was so rich I would say it serves 12. Next time I make these I will divide them into shot glasses. They are seriously rich, but irresistibly delicious! Dare I say it? they are orgasmically delicious!

It was a wonderful party and everyone was impressed with the food. Yay!!
One comment I won't forget, "When we were your age we weren't putting together something this nice". That comment pleased me to no end.

I love dinner parties!

Long live Cast Iron! : Chantal Cast Iron Review

How many of us dream of our perfect kitchen?

If we were all sitting in a room together right now I bet I'd see a whole lot of hands in the air! I had been living in temporary conditions and saving to move for so long I kept putting off buying the kitchen items I so badly wanted. How many of you are nodding your head right now? "I know how that feels", you're thinking.
I would spend hours browsing around alluring kitchen shops, always tempted to buy buy buy. Every item in the shop speaking to me. All the beautiful stainless steels, pastel colours and shimmering copper. I'm in a dream world in these stores. It's like Kitchen Disneyland for me. But I could not hop on the rides.

Well now that we've finished our move and live in a city where we plan to hopefully stay for a very long time, I will now begin slowly collecting these kitchen items I have been dreaming of for so long.

First on my list has always been the cast iron dutch oven. You know, the ever famous Le Creuset beauty. I won't lie to you, the pot in the image is not Le Creuset. I admit I was stuck on the idea of the trustworthy brand from French cuisine, but who am I kidding, I can't afford such luxury right now. I've purchased the Talavera Cast Iron Dutch oven from Chantal. Chantal vs Le Creuset cast iron pot is purchased at about 1/3 of the price! So why not right?

I've read many reviews on Le Creuset vs Chantal. I have to say that most are in favour of Le Creuset claiming Chantal's enamel begins to chip away after a while. In the same breath, however, I have noticed some of these people talking about their pot being in the oven at 450 degrees. The instructions on my Chantal tag says max 400 degrees..... hhhmmmm....
You can also check out this review from the Boston times - Pot vs Pot.

So far, my Chantal Dutch oven works brilliantly! I've used it about 4 times in the past week and no problems yet. I am very pleased so far. I want to cook everything in this thing. It's so addictive! Long live cast iron! The journey to my perfect kitchen begins. Kitchen Disneyland here I come! One piece at a time though. That's fine by me :)

Note: You may find that Chantal website does not advertise their Talavera Cast Iron Collection. I am also boggled by this. Seems Chantal do not normally produce cast iron so this is a special edition line sold only in certain stores ?? I found mine at HomeSense.

Oh and if you have bought a cast iron pan and would like to season it, please read my post about how to season a cast iron pan.

Chocolate and Love

Woohoo!! I'm so excited to be back!! I've been away for a little while and I apologize. As some of you may know from following my previous posts I was planning a big move. Well, after much painstaking, and what seemed like never ending packing, it's now all complete. I'm officially living back in Vancouver Canada. Of course this does not mean I will not continue blogging with the UK. I would be very happy to share with Canadians and Brits alike.

To welcome myself back I though it would be a great idea to start with one of the world's most loved foods....CHOCOLATE! But not just any chocolate, my new found favourite chocolate called CHOCOLATE & LOVE

I am lucky enough to have been asked by Chocolate and Love to try their chocolate, come up with a verdict and tell you lovely folks all about it. I couldn't taste and write this verdict without my chocolate adoring other half, and here's what we have to say about it (and just so you know I'm still nibbling on the chocolate as I'm writing for you now).....

The flavours represent every chocolate lover’s dream, one that might be richer than sweeter (just how 'real deal' chocolate should be) but the kind that you hope will never end.  It has a very smooth taste that overwhelms your mouth and its wild smell always encourages another bite.  Make no mistake; this brand belongs on the same shelf right next to the best known chocolate brands. The only thing that sparks a difference is the packaging which is not as fancy as of some of its counterparts, but instead it offers simplicity that makes it stand out. 

The earthy look gives it a feel of sincerity which you will believe in once you try it. And if you don't tear apart the packing too quickly to get your mouth wrapped around this decadence you'll find that the inside, so creatively, has some interesting and reassuring information about the sourcing of the cocao. Oh and as you probably guessed... it is organic.

We've tasted 2 flavours of the many to be selected from Chocolate and Love's website. 71% "Filthy Rich" (which you certainly don't need to be to buy this brand of chocolate) was the first, followed by 55% "The Coffee Affair". Both following to the 'T' the description above. I am a huge coffee flavour fan so I will no doubt place this one as my favourite. The coffee flavour beings strong enough for that extra kick, but subtle enough to allow the cocoa the melt on your mouth with ease and seduction.

This is great gift for those loved ones, for your own sneaky nibbling, and of course for many of your up and coming Christmas baking!

I will be hosting a dinner party next week which I most certainly plan to use this chocolate for whipping up a heavenly dessert. Stay tuned!

Don't hesitate, visit their website and order your own CHOCOLATE & LOVE today!