at home with pizza - Cheezly and Tomato // some other next pizza I made ft. Sainsbury's bases and Violife pizza cheese

At the minute I cannot afford to be a fancy lady who is wining and dining on delicious vegan pizzas all the time because I am an idiot student who was really bad at trying to save money in the summer. That however is a story for another day.

What I want 2 talk to you about today is (duh) pizza, and more specifically, homemade pizza. I haven't yet taken the plunge into making my own dough (but when I go home for Christmas I swear down it's gonna happen and when I post about it you will all cry like you have seen the face of God) but I have assembled a number of pizzas over the last few weeks, so I can definitely give you the lowdown on what's good in the world of shop-bought(ish) pizza.

So first of all there was this cheezy lil number, which I bought from Holland and Barrett for probably about £3, and then added peppers and tofu:

This is a pizza made by the company which makes all of the Cheezly cheeses (the ones you can get in Holland and Barrett) and it is pretty yum. Though I would not say that the tomato sauce or the base are anything particularly special (this is not to say that they aren't satisfactory/can't be jazzed up with some herbs and olive oil) it is super convenient to be able to go to the shop and buy a vegan pizza with actual cheese on that you can just freeze and then shove in the oven at your behest. I love being vegan, but it is not often this convenient, so this pizza gets plus points for that. My only real downside to this pizza is that it is quite small and is obviously not ready for the jelly of a seasoned pizza eater such as myself, as I could probably easily eat three pizzas this size in one sitting. In all though, I was into this Cheezly pizza/would eat it again/am interested to try the 'meatless feast' variety. 

Pizza rating: 7/10

This takes me onto the second pizza that this post will cover:

This pizza was more of a self-assembly job, but considering the toppings were sweetcorn and olives, it was not very labour intensive. Just letting you know in case you were worried I was putting myself through extreme trauma in the name of pizza. (FYI I would probably put myself through minor trauma for pizza i.e. like maybe I would stub my toe or stand on a plug) I have made lots of this kind of pizza and written about it on this here blog before, but with this one I do actually believe I have perfected the art of the assemble-at-home vegan pizza, because I have found both the optimum crust and cheese. 

The baby angels over at Sainsbury's (big up yourselves Sainsbury's honestly) have, in their Italian section of the fridges, started stocking freshly stonebaked pizza bases which you can top yourself at home. I think that everyone can agree, this is a complete gamechanger. Whilst the types of self-assembly pizza bases you can buy in boxes are okay, they never ever pack that authentic crunch of the crust that you always get with a stone bake. Sainsbury's have changed all of that. They have changed everything. *Prayer hands emoji* 

However, to add to my elation (lol), I also happen to have finally found a truly great vegan pizza cheese (it rivals my love of Tofutti Mozzarella style slices and also smells way less terrible/is not slimy) - take a bow VIOLIFE PIZZA STYLE. A truly cheese-like vegan cheese which is also soy free if that's what you like, it melts absolutely great and gives a very authentic cheesy flavour and texture. I'm also pretty sure it's what Basilico use on their vegan pizzas, so there's that. Put together, this cheese and a Sainsbury's stonebaked base created a pizza that I absolutely love and which will be my home cooked pizza standard for a while to come I think. It reminded me of the Pizza Express shop bought pizzas which I used to absolutely love before I went vegan, so that was a nice trip down memory lane for me. 

Basically, meat/dairy eater or not, get to Sainsbury's and make a pizza on one of these bases bc it will be a tru party in your mouth. And not a shit party either, like one after a christening. I mean a properly sick one, like that one New Year's Eve house party which is actually good and makes you disappointed on every New Year's that follows it. 

Pizza rating: 9/10

That is it from me now folks - until next pizza xoxo

recipe: PIZZADILLAS - 16/7/2014

Here is a pizzadilla what I made. Obviously it looks absolutely shit because all of the magic was happening inside (I forgot to take a picture of the magic before I put the second wrap on top because I was shitting myself about it burning sorry), but I assure you, these badboyz are dope. 

Before you do anything with actual cooking utensils, make sure you've a) grated lots of cheese (vegan or otherwise - I used Violife pizza cheese, but any grate-able cheese works), b) chopped up your veggies/whatever elses for the filling (I used red peppers and black olives), and c) made up a lil pizza sauce (passata/tomato puree/garlic/herbs), and perhaps added some extra kick due to the usually spicier-than-a-pizza nature of a quesadilla - I did so by using chilli powder, paprika, cumin and coriander. Alternatively, you could use a ready made pizza sauce, or even salsa from a jar. 

Once you have done that, start to warm up a frying pan and fuck a load of olive oil into it. Make sure both the pan and the oil are quite hot, and then put a tortilla inside it, flat. Wait until the tortilla starts puffing up a bit and little air bubbles start appearing, and then give it a flip over. Wait for the same thing to happen on the other side, and then flip it back to the original side. Then u must work quickly. 

Spread the pizza sauce, whichever you have chosen to use, onto the tortilla, like you would onto a pizza base. Then sprinkle most, but not all, of the cheese on, and crucially, wait for it to melt. It is rly important that the cheese melts for the next bit. 

The next bit is putting the veggies on top - if the cheese has melted, they have something to cling to rather than falling all over the place like me walking home after I've been out. Once you've put the veggies/whatever on top of the tortilla, sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top of them. Then comes the difficult part. 

You can do this in one of two ways - if you have lots of time and ingredients, you can simply fold one side of the tortilla over the other and flip it over a couple of times with a fish slice, so that it toasts evenly. Then, repeat all of the above using another tortilla so that you end up with four little slices of pizzadilla, as per the picture. You can put the one you've made in the oven to stay warm (obvious, but protip all the same). Alternatively, if like me, you are a disorganised mess and need to be quick, you can simply place another tortilla on top of the one in the pan, and flip them over so that the new one also becomes crispy. Obviously this flip requires great accuracy and strength of will, but I believe that you can do it without much issue if I was able to, because I am properly useless. I used two fish slice-y type things and held them underneath the pizzadilla on either side, and then quickly flipped it over. Surprisingly, it didn't actually make much mess, and crisis was averted.

Once you've overcome that hurdle, stick it on a plate and eat it. I had mine with fake garlic mayo and a red pepper and olive salad and it was delicious. Go forth and pizzadilla. 

PS: sorry for the lack of photos in this post - kinda shitty when I'm trying to explain how to do something! If you'd like any more clarification of the recipe pls just leave a comment and I'll get back to you on it :3