zucchini pizza

Oh hi blog. It's been a long time. I'm not making any promises that I'll be posting on the regular (yet), but for now, here's my favourite recipe so far this summer! I spotted some awesome yellow zucchini at the farmer's market this week and threw together this pizza for a perfect mid-week dinner.

These days, my go-to pizza dough recipe is Jim Lahey's No-Knead dough. I half the recipe and add a tablespoon of honey to the dough. It's great because you mix the dough the night before and just let it sit until the next day.

For the toppings, use pesto for the base. Sprinkle with some grated parmigiano and a thin layer of mozzarella, and top with thinly sliced rounds of yellow zucchini, red onions and small dollops of goat cheese. Bake until golden brown. So good! 

north of brooklyn pizzeria

Good pizza is hard to find around my neighbourhood, so when I saw a new pizza place setting up shop just one street over, I was pumped. I've had pizza twice now from North of Brooklyn Pizzeria and I'm happy to say that this is some good pie. The first time I called ahead for pick-up. Joe went to grab the 'zas and he said that service was painfully slow (the pizzas were sitting on the counter for 15 minutes before anyone decided to box them up). So slow that the pizzas were lukewarm by the time he got them home (even though we literally live a block away). Luckily, they still tasted awesome. The second time we stopped in for a couple of slices. We enjoyed those (hot!) fresh out of the oven. Delicious.

My favourite so far is the pepperoni. Thin, bubbly crust topped with cheese and some really good pep! Slightly spicy and uber flavourful, this pepperoni puts the generic kind to shame. The classic margherita is also a reliable standby with fresh basil, tomato sauce and mozz. 

It's been pretty dangerous having such good pizza so close by. Dangerous, but also convenient.

North of Brooklyn Pizzeria

650 1/2 Palmerston Ave.

pizzeria libretto prix fixe

The prix fixe lunch at Pizzeria Libretto is a great deal. For $15 you get to choose a starter, pizza (Margherita or Marinara) and dessert. For an extra $5 you can upgrade your pizza to any of the ones listed on their menu. There were three of us so we had one of each appetizer: (top to bottom) chickpea and prosciutto soup (loved this!), beet caprese salad, arugula salad.

I really dig the pizza here with its thin, charred, bubbly crust topped with simple, tasty combinations. This time around, we had (left to right) the Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, basil), Cremini Mushroom (buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola, roasted garlic, rosemary, thyme, pecorino), House-Made Sausage (caramelized onion, mozzarella, chili oil). The sausage remains one of my favourite choices.

You can choose from biscotti or a scoop of gelato for dessert. We tried the biscotti and the gelato of the day, biscotti cookie dough. That cookie dough gelato was genius! 

Pizzeria Libretto

221 Ossington Ave.

pizza! pizza!

This pizza dough recipe from Pizzeria Mozza is fantastic! No really, it's probably the best dough I've ever made. There are a couple unconventional ingredients (rye flour and wheat germ) and the dough takes a while to make since you need to make a starter and let the dough rise a few times, but the resulting crust was so worth it. Chewy, full of bubbles and mega-flavourful, I couldn't stop saying "How good is this pizza!?" Here's the final rise of the dough (I made four medium-sized pizzas). You can see the bubbles forming.

Toppings! A good way to clean out the fridge.

Check out that crust: 

The recipe calls for using a pizza stone, but mine cracked a few months back so I improvised: I turned a large baking sheet upside-down and heated it in a 500-degree oven just like you would a stone. I'm already planning next week's pizza night.

a victorian christmas

Over the weekend, Seema and I went to Dundurn Castle to see it all decked out for a traditional Victorian Christmas.

The entire castle was decorated just as it would have been when the MacNabs lived there. My favourite part was seeing the tables set and ready for a feast.

Even the servants had a special meal (obviously not as fancy though)during Christmas. That's a pigeon pie on the corner with little talons poking out.

Next, a late lunch at Bread Bar where the focus is on local and seasonal ingredients.

We shared a potato bianca pizza (fontina cheese, fingerling potatoes, bechamel sauce and rosemary)...

...and the toasted tomato, ricotta and basil sandwich along with the loaded fries of the day (poutine-style with curds and mushroom gravy).

We ignored our full stomachs and ordered the mixed berry pie (warm!) and ice cream for dessert. Such a satisfying meal.

*Bread Bar

258 Locke St. S

Hamilton, ON.

pizza at home

Years ago, I used to make homemade pizza on a weekly basis, but I just never found a dough recipe that I loved and stopped. This recipe, however, is awesome and produces the easiest dough I've ever worked with. There's no rolling involved and the crust turns out perfect: not too doughy, not to crisp. Pizza Mondays are back!

* salami, caramelized onions, basil

* olive oil, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, basil

* caramelized onions, sauteed mushroom, salami, candied jalapenos

makes enough for 3 10-inch pizzas 

10 ounces Italian tipo "00" flour (you can also use all-purpose)

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

10 ounces water

1. Combine the flour salt, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook*. Mix. Slowly add the water until the mixture comes together (you may need more or less water). Let sit for 15 minutes.

2. Continue kneading in stand mixer for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and doesn't stick to the bowl (you may need to add a bit of flour of dough is sticky). Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough sit in the fridge for at least 8 hours or up to 3 days.

3. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces and place in 3 oiled bowls. Cover and let them sit in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, approximately 2-3 hours.

4. Heat a pizza stone in the oven at 475 degrees. Take a dough ball and stretch by hand until 10 inches wide (I like to make the edges a bit thicker than the rest of the crust). Add toppings and bake for 10-15 minutes.

*If you don't have a stand mixer, I'm sure you can make this in a food processor or even by hand.