May 12, 2009
Over the Christmas holidays I was lying in bed fretting over what to serve my vegetarian son Matt and his girlfriend Arlie. My passion is cooking and my family luckily loves to eat, but it seems I always spend more time on the carnivores as they are more numerous in our family! I always felt a bit guilty and wanted to really wow them with something they would love! They both enjoy spicy foods and pizza is a favorite. I had some boiled baby potatoes in the fridge...(I thought) what if I tossed them in some olive oil, sambol oelek (a Southeast Asian chili sauce), garlic, paprika, etc. and gave them a quick bake to flavor them? My pizza base would be my tasty homemade sour dough that I keep on hand frozen in the the freezer, topped with a lovely bechamel sauce with shallots, decorated with the now wonderfully flavoured potatoes and then topped with some tasty cheeses..mozzarella, cheddar. Hmmm that could be tasty, I thought! Sour cream and chopped green onions served with the slices would be a wonderful balance to the heat of the spicy potatoes! With this in mind, I rushed with enthusiasm to my kitchen and began creating. This recipe has now become not only a family favorite, but one of which all of my friends enjoy too. This recipe will make 2 large pizzas. For ease of preparation I will use commercial dough for this recipe.
Detailed preparation time: 40 min. the day before making pizzas to boil off the potatoes, and make bechamel sauce if desired; 1 hour to make (the pizza) on the day of; or 2 hours if doing everything the same day.
