Hello!
I’ve just returned from a few weeks in America, where I ate every single meal out. It’s been a shock to reacquaint myself with washing up 😅
I’ll share my food highlights in a bonus edition because there were so many, from crunchy beignet in New Orleans to a trip to Superiority Burger in New York.
In the meantime, please enjoy a handful of recipes I use all the time, including one that’s online for the very first time.
Pizza night
I read Molly Yeh’s food blog religiously in the 2010s. She had a Friday night pizza ritual (and now a pizza oven named Friday) and I’ve been using her favourite pizza dough, a Jim Lahey recipe, for years. It rests for 18 hours, so I mix it up the night before and look forward to dinner all day.
The recipe makes two pizzas, and while the dough isn’t the easiest to roll out, you can easily push and pull it into shape.
As for a tomato-based pizza sauce, I have tried all kinds, including ones that bubble away for hours. I’m happy to report that the best one I’ve come across simmers for just 10 minutes. The only trouble is, the recipe wasn’t online, so I sent a few emails to see if I could republish it here.
The recipe comes from Alla Fratelli, a 2015 cookbook by Barry McDonald. It’s one of the most used and food splattered cookbooks in our house and features recipes from Fratelli Fresh, a favourite cafe/restaurant from my Sydney days. They served a shaved cabbage and Parmesan salad (essentially, a cheese salad), fresh pastas and the best tiramisu. Here is their pizza sauce, which I regularly double so I can stash some in the freezer.
Salsa Di Pomodoro
Makes enough for four pizzas
250g (9oz) tinned chopped tomato
2 Tablespoon chopped basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon caster sugar
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until the water content is reduced and the sauce is a bit thick and lumpy.
Blend in a food processor or blender until smooth. Store in the fridge until ready to use; it will keep for up to 3 days.
Images and text shared with permission from Alla Fratelli by Terry Durack and Barry McDonald. Murdoch Books RRP $55.00.
This cookbook came out nine years ago and often pops up at discount book stores for $10-15. I’ve seen it on bookshop sale tables too. It’s worth keeping an eye out as it includes the shaved cabbage salad recipe, an excellent tiramisu and a mushroom gnocchi that had a two-year-old asking for thirds.
Pizza toppings & cook time
Once you’ve made your dough, sauce and assembled your pizzas, bake at 250°C for about 15-17 minutes, checking halfway and rotating the pizzas for even cooking.
I always make a margherita with a tomato base, fresh mozzarella (this one is $3!), and either grated mozzarella or Parmesan. Add fresh basil leaves and olive oil when it’s time to serve.
Supreme pizza is forever changing in this house and is sometimes a bit of a leftovers pizza. Ideally it has a tomato base, pepperoni (and sometimes ham), green capsicum, mushrooms, anchovies, olives, red onion and grated mozzarella.
Sweet treats
We’re in the best season for baking! Here are my go-to recipes when baking for comfort, friends and coworkers too.
Choc chip cookies
For a classic, slightly chewy choc chip cookie (my ideal), try Ovenly’s salted choc chip cookies, which happen to be vegan if you choose the right chocolate. They’re finished with a sprinkle of sea salt and are so good.
If you’re a more-is-more person, Joy the Baker’s cookies and cream choc chip cookies have crushed Oreos, cream cheese and milk powder mixed in.
Or go for crunch with Alison Roman’s salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread, which went viral for a reason. I still think about the year my friend Sarah gave me a bag of these shortbread as an early Christmas present.
Brownies
The first time I made Claire Saffitz’s malted ‘forever’ brownies, I split the batch between myself and two friends, so I think of them as friendship brownies. They’re fudgy brownies made even more delicious with chocolate chunks and malted milk powder.
For a rich, vegan brownie, try Meera Sodha’s salted miso brownies, made with chia seeds and coconut oil.
P.S If you have a copy of Sohla El-Waylly’s cookbook Start Here at home, her fruit and nut spelt muffins are excellent. Heavy on the honey, they’re more granola-like than cakey and a perfect breakfast muffin.
Roasted strawberry and rhubarb sundae
Here’s one last recipe and it’s a recent one I’ve tried. It’s a good excuse to pick up some rhubarb while it’s in season, strawberries too. Then make this awesome fruit sundae by Hailee Catalano. Hailee is fun to follow on TikTok (her beach sandwiches!), where she also posts videos with her husband Chuck.
For this sundae, rhubarb, strawberries and aromatics roast along with a quick and addictive pepita and sesame crunch. My oven runs hot, so the fruit didn’t keep its shape like the video, but it didn’t matter because it was the most delicious combination of sweet and tart, with some ginger and cayenne pepper adding a bit of heat. It’s served with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of olive oil. A perfect dessert!
That’s it for this edition, back soon with travel highlights from LA, New York and New Orleans.
I really want to bring back Friday Night Pizza too! I use Julia Busuttil Nishimura's pizza dough from her first book Ostro - it has never failed me and I make it in the bread maker, so it's ready in 45 minutes, winner. Love the idea of this ten minute sauce you've shared, yum! I am also still making your slow cooker baked beans most weekends, which means we wake up to the most delicious smelling house on a Saturday morning 😍
Have you got Meerah Sodha’s cookbook east? I’m not sure why, but I feel as though you would enjoy it- even if you don’t have the book, a lot of the recipes are online. Would def recommend!