Pizza Express

In my wildest food porn fantasies I always have time to get my hands dirty into squishy dough I can then flatten, flip, twirl and toss in the air before I lace it up with fabulous things and slam it into my six-door Aga. When I snap back to reality, I find myself in my hole of a kitchen, faced with a hunger bigger than I can manage and a tiny electric stove that is good for nothing. Necessity however truly is the mother of invention; I have found that when I am ravenous for food, which happens more often than I care to admit, I whip out a pizza so express that even Nigella cannot beat me to the post.



I usually find myself fighting against a great misconception: fast food is crap food. It doesn't have to be this way. If you use ready-made, supermarket-bought pizza bases... well... you ain't gonna produce the best pizza ever, you may just manage a quick one. Wraps on the other hand, provide you with a lovely base that is neither stale nor un-pizza-like. In fact, unless you only like deep pan, a wrap is the greatest and fastest alternative that yields a base as close as possible to the Italian super-thin of original pizzerias.

The secret is then to use really interesting and good ingredients such as fat olives and capers, interesting cheeses (I am thinking Blue Danish, Saint Agur, Stilton, gorgonzola, Parmesan, mozzarella, pecorino), a thick tomato sauce and, the oft-omitted pièce de résistance of pizza-making, dried oregano sprinkled on top just before you stick your masterpiece under the grill. Keep an eye on it; a wrap is easy to carbonise, yet, you want it warmed throughout and with all cheese duly melted.

I had one tonight and it does beat your run-of-the-mill Domino's and it is faster than their delivery also. Tune in soon for more ideas on great pizza toppings. I feel inspired in a Jamie's Italy kind of way...