• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Charlotte Pike

Award-winning cookery writer, teacher and chef

  • Home
  • About Me
    • About
    • Inspiration
  • My Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Baking
    • Recipe Index
  • My Shop
  • My Classes
  • My Foodie Guides
  • My Demos & Events
  • Contact Me
  • Charlotte’s Kitchen – Cooking & Catering
  • Online Consultations

Cooking for friends

2 March 2012 By Charlotte Pike 12 Comments

Homemade pizza

I’m fortunate enough to consider cooking as a great fun pastime, and now, my full-time career. I’m so lucky to be doing what I am doing now, and I enjoy every day. I know not everyone feels the same way about food, and know that some older relatives found cooking as a chore: getting another meal on the table, day in, day out.

Most people I know though love cooking for friends, even if they don’t enjoy day to day catering so much, and I am no exception. I think when cooking for friends, playing it safe is always the way to go – simple, delicious food you know everyone will love. I really don’t buy in to cooking fancy dishes to impress. Cook something simple really well, using lovely ingredients, and that will be impressive in itself.

And that’s why, as my friends will testify, I often make pizzas. Easy to put together after work, and perfect with a glass of wine. Home made pizza is so much better than bought, and you can vary the toppings to suit your guests tastes.

The recipe I most often use is this one. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have made it. Good quality flour makes all the difference, too. I use Stoate’s stoneground flour, which is locally milled in Dorset. It adds a real depth of flavour to the base.

Don’t be scared of making dough either. Just make sure you add warm water to the dough and leave it in a nice warm place to rise, it will work. Do give it a try.

Filed Under: Lunch Tagged With: cooking for friends, homemade pizza, mozzarella, mushroom and thyme, nigel slater, stoates flour

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Urvashi @ The Botanical Baker says

    2 March 2012 at 8:05 pm

    We love pizza in our house. Dancing on Ice (or similar) + picnic blanket on living room floor+pizza = top evening x

    Reply
    • charlotteskitchendiary says

      2 March 2012 at 8:06 pm

      Sounds like brilliant fun, Urvashi! x

      Reply
  2. Jude says

    3 March 2012 at 5:07 pm

    Absolutely! We love Pizza here, it often features at lunch time on Saturdays. When my sons were younger I always baked Pizza for sleepovers, it was always gobbled by the hordes of hungry boys! Jude x

    Reply
    • charlotteskitchendiary says

      3 March 2012 at 5:54 pm

      It’s always a winner isn’t it, Jude! x

      Reply
  3. Karen says

    3 March 2012 at 8:59 pm

    I adore pizza and like you, even though I am often cooking and writing as part of my job, I STILL love making food for friends and family! This pizza looks amazing and I LOVE the toppings too……

    Reply
    • charlotteskitchendiary says

      4 March 2012 at 8:28 am

      Thanks Karen. It’s really tasty. Even hardened meat-eaters love it. Thank you Nigel Slater! x

      Reply
  4. The Food Sage says

    4 March 2012 at 9:21 am

    Your pizza looks great. I’ve only recently stopped buying store bought bases. No going back!
    By the way, what cheese do you use?

    Reply
    • charlotteskitchendiary says

      4 March 2012 at 9:35 am

      Thanks, I agree! I use crème fraîche spread over the base instead of tomato, and then mozzarella and parmesan cheeses for the topping. It really works so well (basically I follow Nigel Slater’s recipe from the link I have included exactly.) I have experimented, and it is the best!

      Reply
      • The Food Sage says

        4 March 2012 at 9:39 am

        Excellent – thanks for sharing. I haven’t been able to get the cheese combo right. Love the look of your mushroom pizza. If only i hadn’t already had dinner!

        Reply
        • charlotteskitchendiary says

          4 March 2012 at 9:44 am

          No worries! You can bookmark this one for next time!

          P.S. The parmesan is, in my opinion, essential. I have tried substituting it for other cheeses, and none are quite as good

          Reply
          • The Food Sage says

            4 March 2012 at 9:51 am

            Always have plenty of parmesan in the fridge, including the rinds which i keep for winter casseroles and ragu!

          • charlotteskitchendiary says

            4 March 2012 at 9:53 am

            Excellent planning!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

About Charlotte

Charlotte Pike, award-winning cookbook author, cookery teacher and chef.

Author of five bestselling cookery books, leading independent cookery teacher and private chef, running Charlotte's Kitchen catering company. Charlotte is also the current Chair of the Guild of Food Writers.

Charlotte is known for her recipes that really work, and as a professionally trained chef who writes about food.

Charlotte lives in the English countryside and is passionate about great home cooking using the best seasonal ingredients.

Subscribe to my site

Get in touch

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Archives

Search

Facebook

Buy my cookbooks

Footer

About

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies

Latest Posts

  • Planning a New Kitchen
  • Charlotte’s Online Cookery Classes
  • Chorizo, Butterbean and Cabbage Soup
  • Pandemic Pantry Podcast Returns
  • Introducing Pandemic Pantry Podcast

Books

  • Charlotte's Private Cookery Class £250.00
  • Online Consultation - 30 Minutes £50.00
  • Online Consultation - 60 Minutes £100.00
  • SMOKED by Charlotte Pike £18.99
  • Fermented by Charlotte Pike £18.99

Copyright © 2021 Charlotte Pike.
Website by Callia Web