Boys love pizza – fact! But making it has always been Matthew’s territory, however after watching Lorraine Pascale throw one together on her show Baking Made Easy I couldn’t resist getting stuck in myself.
I do love Lorraine’s fuss-free approach and often feel inspired to give her recipes a bash because she makes things look so simple but somehow the finished results look stunning.
I have to say the picture-perfect world she inhabits on TV sticks in my throat a little. The spotless flat full of gleaming gadgets, the shiny scooter, the frequent trips to Paris wearing a jaunty little beret… it’s more than a little reminiscent of early Jamie Oliver. Is her life REALLY like that?!
But saying that I’m still tuning in every week. Her food shines through the hype and the recipes are great.
Her pizza dough is so easy to rustle up. I’m lucky enough to have a mixer with a dough hook taking the elbow grease out of the process, but even by hand it’s hardly taxing. The only tiny faff is to leave it to rise for 40 minutes in a warm place – and that’s hardly a faff just a bit of time to factor in to your meal planning.
Lorraine covered her pizza with fancy figs and posh ham which looked incredible but this is a bit budget-busting for me, so I decided to use up an already open packet of bacon, some economy mozzarella, and a smattering of sun-dried tomatoes and capers.
I finished the pizza with a scattering of Greek Basil which I found at the supermarket last weekend. It’s such a beautiful herb – a much smaller leaf than the usual kind and with a lemony dimension to it.
That’s the beauty of pizza, you can chuck anything you like on there as a great way of using up leftovers. Plus of course you can let the kids choose their own toppings and put it on themselves – a great half-term activity!
The end result was scrum. Thin and crispy base (cooking it on a pizza stone vastly helps this) and the toppings salty and punchy.
Check out Lorraine’s recipe and watch this space for more Lorraine-inspired cooking!
