Jul 4 2008
Pizza time
Paul loves to cook on the weekends, and tries to involve the kids in his cooking projects as much as possible -- probably because he has much more patience than I do. The only bad thing about this is that he doesn't like to clean up afterwards. I put up with it because he usually makes something fantastic.
His latest endeavor is homemade pizza. He's currently experimenting with dough and sauce recipes, so we decided to try Telly Scotchmeyer's version (www.realfamiliesrealfun.com/gf/pizza/index.html). Nathan was so impressed the last time Paul made pizza that he put it as one of his awards on his behavior chart.
When Nathan finally won it, we set a pizza night, and I went shopping. I splurged and got fresh mozzarella and artichoke hearts for me and Paul. I wanted sun dried tomatoes too, but passed after seeing that a teeny jar was $8. For the kids, I bought store brand mozzarella, Canadian ham, and pineapple. I also picked up some black olives, onions, and turkey sausage (BOGO and cheaper than regular Italian sausage). I think the pizza restaurant down the block ran out of supplies, because the store was out of grated cheese, fresh basil, and pepperonis for some odd reason.
I made the dough ahead of time, but should have made the sauce and chopped the ingredients too, since it was nearly 7 p.m. before we put the first pizzas in the oven to cook. I chopped ingredients and grated cheese while Paul rolled out the dough, and bravely tossed it in the air. This resulted in a light layer of flour covering the kitchen and his shirt -- much to my chagrin -- but the kids loved watching and cheered him on.
After spreading the sauce on the dough, Paul let Nathan and Lucie distribute the ham slices, bits of pineapple, and grated cheese. They tended to pile up the food in spots instead of spreading them evenly, but that was easily corrected. Between the three of them, they made a couple of spectacular looking pies.
Afterwards, Paul and I shooed the kids out of the kitchen in the name of safety. We've had several instances of the kids trying to touch the inside of the hot oven. We've caught them every time, but it's incredibly unnerving. Since they were so excited about helping to make pizza and their dad being home, we practically had to tie them to chairs in the living room to keep them out of harm's way.
Paul made the rest of the pizzas while the first two cooked. Since the oven wasn't quite warm enough, they stuck to the peal and turned out soggy. (Unlike Telly's recipe, we don't use tins or pans, but use peals and pizza stones. We love our kitchen gadgets and accessories.) Not realizing how long it takes to get the oven to 450 degrees, I should have turned it on while we were preparing the ingredients.
I only managed to have a slice before I was full. After sampling too much food during prep time, I wasn't that hungry. Luckily, the pizza was just as good the next day. Nathan and I ate it for breakfast. His was heated up in the microwave, but I had mine cold. If pizza is just as good (or better) cold than it is warm, you know Chef Paul and his sous-chefs, Nathan and Lucie (and me) did a good job.