Hello friends,
It’s rather foggy out but I’m bundled up inside and watching the most fabulous show — MasterChef Junior. I’ve only just discovered this show (although there are already four season). The storyline is simple — have a cooking competition hosted and judged by Gordon Ramsey + friends. But in the Juniors edition, all of the competitors are young, most of them younger than 13.
These kids are more than adorable. They’re shiny, bright, honest, and earnest. These kids are probably the best human beings on tv. They’re home cooks given an opportunity to follow a dream, and are completely reliant on their talent and skills. No manipulation, no insecurity (fears yes, but not the deep seated insecurity that plagues many of us later in life), no self-sabotage. I cry pretty much at every episode. Like there’s this moment, and the producers work this angle every single time because they know it makes for great tv. A kid brings his creation up to the judges and it’s beautifully, deliciously done, the camera pans onto the rest of the contestants’ faces and they are literally beaming with pride and delight. They are so genuinely thrilled for their fellow competitor. They have such an appreciation for what their buddy has done. And there I am sitting with tears streaming down my face, in still adoration. The kids, the ones vying for the same dream, competing against each other, are ROOTING for each other. Beautiful.
MasterChef Junior is the best marathon binge watch show ever. And it’s what I’m watching tonight, because Sunday evenings are my favorite to chill out and enjoy a quiet night before the frenzy of the week begins.
Sunday is always cooking night in our kitchen. It’s not usually a night we try new recipes. Instead, it’s normally a night we go back to our favorite comfort dishes, perfecting the simplest details. Last week it was quiche. Tonight we have a bunch of veggie and meat odds-and-ends in our refrigerator, so we’re making a favorite clean-out-the-fridge meal — pizza! The only things we don’t make at home is the crust and the pizza sauce.
Pre-made pizza dough can be found most anywhere, but you want to find the refrigerated dough if you want to make the pizza the same day. We normally get refrigerated dough from Trader Joe’s. It’s good, easy to work with, and super cheap (just more than a dollar). Today we splurged and bought dough from Bi-Rite (it’s almost $4). I think it’s worth it. The dough is easier to roll out, the texture is chewier, and the flavor is closer to homemade than the Trader Joe’s crust.
And for the pizza sauce, well we use pretty much whatever is sold in the local store. This time we had a jar of ragu pizza sauce. We’ve used the Trader Joe’s pizza sauce. Whichever one you choose, they all need extra herbs, salt, and pepper to bring up the flavor.
I hope you enjoy this easy, simple, hearty recipe and use it to cook up some of the remaining veggies and meats in your refrigerator. No reason to waste perfectly good food, and it’s amazing how deliciously leftover veggies cook up in a homemade pizza. 🙂
Bises,
Gigi
Sunday Pizza
Ingredients:
pre-made refrigerated pizza dough
jar of pizza sauce
2-3 eggs
1/4 onion
3-4 tb flour
pizza toppings! (we normally have mushrooms, ham, kale around)
1. Read pizza dough instructions and pre-heat oven.
2. Slice onions into 1/4 inch rings, and begin caramelizing them over low heat. Here’s more on how to make perfectly caramelized onions.
3. While the onions are caramelizing, start prepping your other veggies and meats. Just chop them up in smaller-than-bite-size pieces and arrange all of the toppings in one area.
4. Start on the dough. Lightly flour a surface (we just put parchment paper on the counter) and begin to roll out the pizza dough. We cook our pizza on a baking tray so we end up with a rectangle pizza. But just make sure your dough is rolled out to fit the pan you want to use.
5. Spread the pizza sauce out on the dough, and add herbs, salt, and pepper. We use herbs de provence and oregano.
6. Now add all of your toppings except the egg. Add any combination you like. We split the pizza into different sections so we can try a bunch of different combos.
7. Bake the pizza in the oven for 4 minutes.
8. Pull the pizza out (it should be about half-baked) and crack the eggs on it! Just crack the eggs right on top of the pizza like you would make a sunny side up egg.
9. Bake the pizza for another 4 minutes (or until the egg whites are set and the yolk is still runny).
And you’re done! This pizza is light and perfect with a fresh salad. Use the crust to dip into the runny egg yolks.
Bon Appetit! 🙂
postcards from gigi 