Eating off the Hill: Jeff's cast iron pizza

When I bought a cast iron pan, I had visions of searing steaks in the winter months. But I had no idea I'd be making pizza so often.

In fact, pizza has become my favourite thing to make in my cast iron pan, and it produces perfect crust every time. So for those who haven't discovered the wonderful world of cast iron pizzas, I thought I'd share my process.

First step is to pre-heat your oven. Some say to go to 500 or as high as your oven will go. After a few set off the smoke alarm incidents when broiling ribs, I prefer to take my oven up to 450 for pizza. And I find that's more than hot enough to cook a pizza perfectly.

Put your pan in your oven to pre-heat along with the oven. A hot pan is key to perfect crust.

While your oven and pan is pre-heating, prepare and stage your toppings. Things will need to happen fast when you take the heated pan out of the oven, so you want to have your cheese grated and toppings sliced and ready to go.

Then roll your dough out to the rough shape of your pan. If you don't have a rolling pan, a bottle of wine will do -- I prefer red. If you use a ball of store-bought frozen pizza dough I prefer to only use half for a pizza, otherwise it's too bready. But that depends on whether you prefer a thick or thin crust.

When your oven and pan are pre-heated, remove the pan to your stovetop. If your pan is well-seasoned no oil should be necessary, unless you prefer a more pan-style crust -- some olive oil won't hurt but isn't really necessary. I usually use a sprinkle of semolina just because.

Working quickly (while your pan is still hot) and carefully (because wow, that pan is hot) lay your dough in your pan and form it to fill the pan fully. The hot pan will start to cook the dough, and that's fine. You want that, but don't take all day finishing the pizza.

Start with your sauce, and don't be afraid to spread it all the way to the edge. Don't worry if it hits the edge of the pan, that's how you get the tasty crunchy bits.

Then finish building your pizza. I didn't want to brave the rain to hit the grocery store yesterday so I topped with that I had on on hand -- a cheddar/mozza mix, onions, sausage and leftover butter chicken. And then fresh Parmesan Reggiano, garlic powder, a bit of sea salt and olive oil. I like to top all the way to the edge to maximize my topping space, but that's personal choice.

And then quickly back into the oven it goes. I set a timer for 10 minutes, and then check it regularly until its done to my satisfaction. Usually around 13, 14 minutes or so. Once you're happy with it, take it out and let it rest on the stovetop for about 10 minutes or so to set. But first I usually do use my spatula at this point around the edges to loosen any crusties.

Cast iron method produces perfect crust every time...

Then slice, serve and enjoy!

There are lots of ways to vary the method to your preferences. One way is to saute your sausage/bacon in the pan first, and then use the pan with the residual oil to make your pizza (removing some of the oil first though). This infuses the crust with some of that flavour. I've done that, and it's good, but you'll want to give the dough a quick pre-cook in the pan on a hot burner before you top it to get the crust right and then return to the oven to cook the pizza, since you don't get that super hot pan cooking the crust while you top it.

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Eating up the Hill: Pizza 2.0 a marked improvement from the Hill cafeteria

I wrote earlier about some of the changes made at the Parliamentary cafeterias during the summer/election break and the first I spotlighted, the supposed Peri Peri chicken, was a definite miss. Yesterday, I tried their new pizza, and thankfully, it was definite change for the better.

The earlier pizza available in the Wellington cafeteria was a square slice served in a french fry tray, priced around $5. The pizza was OK, but overpriced and represented poor value for what you were getting. Don't think it sold too much, as cheaper options abounded offsite and, if you wanted pizza, you could get more for less with a short walk.

Well, no longer. Now you can get a 9" (square) personal pizza -- basically, a small pizza in most pizza restaurants for $7.10. Now that's great value.

I got the meat lovers and, while I neglected to take a photo of the ingredient list, it was very meaty with sausage, I think pepperoni, and maybe ham or salami. It was made Colonnade-style, with the cheese on top of the toppings.

It was a tasty pie. From the bottom-up, it wasn't a thick crust and that's a positive for me-- I don't like a bready pizza. The crust is the topping delivery vehicle, not the star attraction. It was nicely sauced, lots of meat, and a (un)healthy amount of cheese.

And it was so much pizza I almost didn't finish it. And yet, I persisted. Good value, good taste, good revamp of the caf's pizza offering.

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Eating up the Hill: Anthony's on Bank

The need to go to the Glebe after work one day last week to stock up on furnace filters (it's called adulting, people) led me to decide to make an outing of it and try the wood oven pizza from Anthony's on Bank, a spinoff of the more trendily located Anthony's on Wellington. According to some rando Food Network guy it's one of the top 12 pizzas worth travelling for in Canada. That seems like a suspicious number, but what the heck. I do like a good napoletana pizza.

It's not a huge place, but it wasn't difficult to get a table in the midweek early dinner hour. The wood oven is visible from the tables -- unless, like me, you had your back to it. Not a fancy place, but clean and nice enough.

It's a tight menu with six red pizza options and three white, plus a few miscellaneous items. I debated having the appy meatballs as a side, but decided to focus on pizza. Typical Italian fare, and light on meat. I opted for the Gianni, which came with mozza, fior di latte, ricotta, hot salami and olive oil. Basically, three kinds of cheese, and salami.

The pizza came perfectly toasted and crispy. The salami was in good quantity, but I wouldn't have minded it more dispersed rather than four large slices. I enjoyed the different textures of the cheeses, and it was all a very tasty combination of flavours with a nice thin crust. I didn't care for the provided oil I dipped my crusts in; it was a bit too petroleum-y for my taste.

I'll be back in the future when I have an authentic pizza craving, and may try the meatballs too.

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