For us, food is tradition.

Oh hai!

It's time for another food update. Today the topic will be pizza. I love pizza, but it does not love me. But I've found that if you do the pizza a certain way, then it works out! The trick is to get the right ingredients and make it light. And also fresh!

Carla, my best bud, and myself, we have been friends since high school, and since grade 12, we've been getting together with the purpose of eating. In grade 12, I used to make her wraps for lunch at school because she'd always be running late for school and not make one! She's deemed me the food fairy for a long time, now. She has a vlog about life and its craziness, and if anyone is interested, this is the link!

For years we'd get together to eat big, heavy, unhealthy meals. Our favourite was nachos! Nachos with green onion, black olive, tomato, lotsa cheese, chipotle dip and sour cream! Either made at home, or out at Moxie's or something. Occasionally I'd make my "Laura-tastic pasta", which involved linguini, onion, garlic, red pepper, sun dried tomato, half and half cream and a whole lot of parmesan. Usually with garlic bread, and occasionally with home made caesar dressing and croutons on a caesar. It was delicious but so unhealthy!

I discovered this pizza in Ireland when I was living there. One of my friends/brief roommate (or flat-mate, as the Irish/Brits like to call it!) introduced us all to this recipe, as she had made it previously. She was from Texas and liked to say "y'all" a lot. The Irish didn't really understand her, it was funny. Anyway, I suppose this pizza isn't terribly healthy either, but it's a hell of a lot lighter than nachos or "Laura-tastic pasta" and after eating it, we don't end up feeling disgustingly full.

So here we go - Naan bread pizza with pesto, pear and brie cheese! Mmm!

It's simple really... just buy some:
(Serves 2)

Naan or pita bread, preferably whole wheat - 2 pitas/Naan
Basil pesto - approx. 200 grams
1-2 d'Anjou pears
Brie cheese - the stronger tasting, the better - a large triangle piece or half a small round wheel.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay Naan or pita bread on a large cookie sheet, and then spread the pesto on the bread. You'll want a decent amount of pesto because some will dry up in the oven, but not so much that it overpowers the pear and brie. Then slice the pear into thin strips, leaving the skin on, and lay the strips on the Naan/pita. You don't have to cover the pizza in pear, there can be gaps! And finally, cut slices of brie and lay it on the pear. Here you don't need to cover the pizza with cheese because when the brie melts it spreads, and it can often be overpowering if overdone. So what I usually do is lay one slice of brie per strip of pear. Then place in oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. But be attentive to the pizza, it cooks really quickly. It'll be done when the brie has melted and started to bubble around the edges, and the pear's skin has gone brown. Then serve!

We used to get our ingredients for this pizza just at any old grocery store or market, but recently I've started making pointed trips to Granville Island when I know we're going to be making this recipe, because the Naan/pita (sometimes I can't find Naan there so I go for pita) is local, the pesto is freshly made at this Italian deli, I'm not too sure where the pears come from... and the Brie I always get is from Comox on Vancouver Island! I just find it tastes better that way. Anyway, here are pictures!