First of all, happy birthday to Lasang Pinoy, Sundays! It has been a good year…

And for this Sunday’s theme “One”, let me share the recipe of my first-ever homemade pizza. Uhm, well, it’s not 100% homemade as I bought prebaked pizza dough but other than that… I prepared everything including the tomato sauce. Yeah yeah… easy but still my first. Saturday night last week to be exact.

Ingredients for the Tomato-herb sauce:
Olive oil
3 to 4 tbsp Minced garlic
Small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (or curly leaf)
2 tbsp Chopped fresh basil & whole basil leaves
1 can Filleted Roma tomatoes (whatever whole tomatoes available, fresh or canned)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pizza and Toppings:
2 pcs Prebaked whole wheat thin pizza dough
Sliced pepperoni
Salami
Yellow capsicum , sliced thinly
Button mushrooms, sliced thinly
Coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
Mozzarella and parmesan cheese

To prepare the basic tomato-herb sauce:
Heat olive oil in a pan. Fry garlic until aromatic. Throw in onion and saute until softened. Add canned tomatoes and simmer until the sauce thickens with occasional stirring. Add basil and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Pour into a bowl and reserve.

In the meantime, preheat your oven for for 10 minutes, (200deg C depending on the dough cooking instructions.)

To prepare the pizza:
Spread the cooked tomato sauce evenly over the pizza crust. Top with mozzarella cheese. Arrange your desired toppings on the pizza.

Just remember: sauce, cheese, toppings, (more cheese), garnish.

Place pizza in the middle of the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes; crust is crispy on the edges and cheese have melted. Serve hot. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. YUM!

By the way, I prepared 2 pizza for 3 persons…

Pizza 1 Toppings: Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, salami, mushrooms, capsicums and chopped basil leaves.

Pizza 2 Toppings: Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, thin slices of pepperoni, salami and capsicums, whole basil leaves.

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays.

Iska

I am not a professional cook. My only claim to having a culinary background is a short stint as my dad’s teen ‘sous chef’ in his carinderia ages ago. Dad ran small eateries since I was a young kid - serving standard ‘turo-turo’ food ranging from the likes of menudo, adobo, pritong isda, dinuguan, binagoongan, bopis, munggo, pinakbet and giniling to merienda fares like goto, ginataan, pancit bihon, halu-halo and saging con yelo.

My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.

Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.