Too Hot to Cook???

Remember those long, hot summers as a child???  I do!!!  As most Italian families in our neighborhood.....we had a kitchen in the basement, with those slanted cellar doors to the outside.......we had our old wood burning/gas stove down there along with old kitchen tables and chairs, nothing fancy, but clean and cool.....my mom cooked every meal no matter the temperature!!!  We never went out to eat!!!  All the messy cooking got done there and all the canning and preserving too.......we dined on fresh garden produce and enjoyed the breezes coming in from the open doors......and we had pizza on Friday nights.....So tonight, to celebrate summer, I made homemade pizza from scratch just like my mom did....no, not in the basement, turned up the AC in order to have the oven on!!!

I made the dough using 3 cups of flour, 1 cup warm water with one envelope yeast dissolved in it and 1 teaspoon sugar too.  Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil with flour....mix and knead till smooth and elastic, put in oiled bowl to rise and oil the top of the dough then cover.

Meanwhile I peeled about 6 large ripe tomatoes, cut in half and put cut side down in colander to drain, I even squeeze more water out of them and some seeds too.  Chop tomatoes and place in bowl, add chopped parsley, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.

By now the dough has risen.....spread it out in a jelly roll pan and in a 9 x 9 pan,cover and let rise again.  Heat oven to 500 degrees, when heated put in pans and cook for 10 minutes in upper third of oven.  Remove from oven and with slotted spoon, spread tomatoe mixture over dough, drizzle with olive oil, add a bit of oregano, sprinkle with grated cheese......put back in oven for another 15 minutes....oh, yum!!!

Of course I had to have a fresh salad and a hamburger too.....washed down with a cold beer.......perfect for hot summer meal!!!