Each week, The Medium chats with a UTM professor or staff member about one of their favourite recipes.
When you no longer feel the shame in proclaiming yourself a “foodie” (hopefully in the least pretentious way possible), there’s nothing more exciting than meeting another one. It immediately creates a bond—someone else who understands Food Network references, takes photos of their home cooking, and never shies away from a dinner out. Thus, I was very excited when two years ago I met Adam Fraser, a foodie and the community development coordinator for the Department of Student Housing and Residence Life.
Fraser is a UTMer through and through. “I’ve lived on campus for over 10 years now,” he says. “I am originally from the Prince Edward Island (Potato Land), which is on the east coast of Canada. I moved here to do my undergraduate degree in 2004 and have been here ever since.” I had to ask him to contribute to this column.
However, finding something to prepare proved a challenge. Unlike someone who depends on recipes and a fine set of measuring cups almost too much (like myself), Fraser says all those things go against his “cooking philosophy”.
“But that’s okay, I will make it work,” he continues. “Cooking is one of those things that I just do; I don’t follow a recipe, I don’t measure anything, I don’t set timers. But for the purpose of this article I see why it would be important.”
Join me in confidently leaving your teaspoons and tablespoons in the drawer, taking Fraser’s advice, and following a recipe that encourages you not to follow a recipe. Learn to trust that your culinary creations will still taste as good whether you add two handfuls of an ingredient instead of two measuring cups’ worth. Embrace your inner foodie instincts and, for the occasional recipe, repress your inner control freak.
Potato Rosemary Pizza
Serves however many you want. (It’d be wrong to put a serving size on this.)
INGREDIENTS
storebought pizza dough, premade pizza crust, or pita bread
1 or 2 medium unpeeled new potatoes
bacon (Fraser says, “Vegetarians can leave it off, but it’s a nice touch.”)
your favourite cream-based pasta sauce
fresh rosemary
gorgonzola cheese or aged white cheddar
METHOD
1.Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C) and bring a medium pot of water to a boil.
2.Place the pizza dough into a mixing bowl and pat some flour, cornmeal, and your choice of seasoning (for example, garlic powder, pepper, salt, or dried herbs) into the dough until it becomes less sticky and easy to handle.
3.Boil potatoes until cooked, strain the water, and cut potatoes into ¼”-thick slices.
4.Cook bacon and cut up into small pieces.
5.Roll out the dough using some additional flour into whatever shape you want—it doesn’t need to be perfectly round.
6.Spread the pasta sauce over the dough, leaving ½” from the edge for the crust.
7.Sprinkle half of your cooked, chopped bacon, followed by a layer of potato slices, and the rest of the bacon onto the pizza. Finally, crumble the gorgonzola or cheddar cheese over the pizza. (Fraser says, “Use as much as you like—who doesn’t love lots of cheese?!”)
8.Cook the pizza for about 10 minutes depending on whether you used dough (and how thickly you rolled it out), precooked crust, or pita bread. Once it’s cooked, turn on the broil for a minute or two to crisp up the top.
9.Sprinkle rosemary over the cooked pizza and let the pizza sit for 4 to 5 minutes (if you can), slice, and enjoy!
