Pizza

We've spent the day at the coast, visiting Souter lighthouse and picnicing/digging sandcastles in the rain, so tea needed to be quick, and filling.

One batch of pizza dough from the breadmaker - 300g of flour makes enough for pizzas for four, as long as you've got some salad to go with it. Alternatively you could buy some plain pizza bases from the supermarket, but it's not half as much fun.

Pizza sauce - I had some of yesterday's mediterranean vegetables left, which I shoved in the blender to make a smoother sauce. Otherwise you'll need:

one onion
a clove of garlic
a tin of tomatoes
herbs (oregano, thyme etc)
black pepper
a little sugar/honey
a splash of balsamic vinegar

Chop the onion and garlic finely, and then fry in some olive oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes, herbs, black pepper, and heat until the sauce is bubbling. Turn down to a simmer, add a splash of balsamic vinegar, and half a teaspoon of sugar/honey, and then leave to cook down, until the sauce is no longer watery. Half an hour will do, but you could leave it for longer. (Oh, and by the way, stick the oven on at this point, as high as it will go - it'll take a while to get to the right temperature.)

Place your base on a tray (preferably on a silicon baking sheet, or just on the racks in the oven, depending on how clean they are). Spread your tomato sauce over the base, and then add:

olives/capers
veg - mushrooms are good, as are courgettes at this time of year. Your dad likes chillies as well, but I'm more of a wuss.
anchovies
thinly sliced cheese - I know you're supposed to use something like mozarella, but to be honest it usually ends up being mature cheddar, as that's what we always have in the fridge.

Shove in the oven (which will now be piping hot). Takes about 8-10 minutes until the pizzas are crispy - although if you're making smaller pizzas they can be a bit quicker.

Your favourite toppings at the moment are olives, capers and anchovies. You have expensive tastes...