A 30-Minute Home-Made Pizza that’ll Arrive Faster than Dominos and Taste Thrice as Delicious

Most Canadian pizza chains are the pits. Dominos went through this whole makeover in the US because their crust tasted like cardboard and their sauce was both too bland and too sickeningly sweet, but in Canada we’ve had no such luck. The pizza chain owned by the vehemently pro-life Tom Monaghan hasn’t changed a lick north of the border. (Although they do have a half-assed new app that makes ordering pizzas…fun?) I have the same criticisms for Pizza Pizza: awful crust, awful sauce, awful toppings. So, here at casa Marmaduke (what we’ve nicknamed our new digs) we’ve decided to boycott the big chains and make our own pizza. But seeing as we’re all busy people, we don’t always have time to make our own crust. (Although Yves does have a great recipe that substitutes beer for yeast, which I promise to share.)

What You’ll Need:

$2.00 pre-made dough from No Frills
1 onion (mere ¢ents!)
3 cloves of garlic ¢
1 handful of kalamata olives, half for the sauce and half to garnish the pizza
1 tbs of capers  ¢
1 can of crushed tomatoes ($1.00)
2 tbs oregano
1 tbs thyme
1 ball of mozzarella ($2.50)

What We Used to Garnish:

Eggplant, cut into slices, brushed with olive oil, salted and baked at 375· for 15 mins, flipping once ($1.00)
4 mushrooms ¢
1 banana pepper ($0.25)
1 tomato sliced ($0.35)

The Steps

1. In a deep pan sauté diced onions & crushed garlic until silken.
2. Throw in half of the olives, the capers, the crushed tomatoes, and 1 tbs of thyme, 1 tbs of oregano and let simmer for 15 minutes on low.
3. Decant sauce into a bowl, and with a hand blender, and blend away!
4. Oil your pizza tray (we used olive oil), then stretch out the dough, and sprinkle with 1 tbs of oregano.
5. Sauce up the pizza!
6. Grate the cheese and sprinkle!
7. Adorn with garnishes!
8. Baked our delicious disc of molten-cheesy goodness at 375· for 20 minutes, and then we broiled it for 5, but you should watch your pizza like a hawk while it broils.

Enjoy!

Miss Cora’s Not Missing a Beat

A healthy hearty lunch for five dollars has become nearly myth in Toronto. Now, imagine a place where you could not only get lunch for five dollars, but lunch with a sweet mouthful of dessert and fifty cents change left over for… Well, ok, fifty cents won’t get you far these days. So, let’s recap—I am promising you lunch, desert, and a phone call for the sum total of five dollars. But where is this mythic provider of reasonably priced lunch foods and other goodies? Right in the heart of Kensington Market.

Miss Cora’s Kitchen settled into the heart of Kensington three years ago and have found themselves comfortably at home in the market. Cora’s soul warming food focuses on organic ingredients sourced from the market. A note to the waist wise: it’s healthy because it’s wholesome, not because it’s particularly diet friendly. If I only had one word to describe the effervescent proprietor it would be: epicurean.  Miss Cora’s philosophy is that food is about striking a balance between nourishing the body and nourishing the senses and the soul. Ultimately, according to Cora, it’s “about knowing that what you are eating was made using fresh ingredients, by a real person with love” and deriving pleasure from the experience.

Miss Cora’s Kitchen’s primary focus is catering, but when not feeding office meetings and wedding parties they’ll gladly prepare a few mouthwatering bites for those strolling through the market. Their daily offerings run the gamut from sickeningly sweet to salty and savory.

On the savory front Cora offers a daily soup, a handful sandwiches (5$), and an eclectic array of pizzas(3$), and if you come at the right times, hot mains like homemade pasta with marinara sauce (5$) or Mahogany Beef Stew. The sandwich bread leaves something to be desired, but their fillings steal the show.

The BRIE.L.T, is simple, but delicious. With a healthy serving of brie cheese, accompanied by spinach, a touch of mayo, and ripe roma tomatoes; it’ll satisfy even the loudest of lunchtime stomach growls. The pizzas are unorthodox, made on whole-wheat Persian barberi flatbread (and the tomato sauce is, of course, homemade, and fantastic).

Pizza toppings change to reflect what’s available in season and available in the market. It’s hard to guess what Cora’s next pizza creation will be, but past pizzas have included: chicken breast, with grilled artichoke, and mozzarella; goat cheese, sundried tomato, and baby zucchini; BBQ roast chicken, roasted bell pepper, and basil; steak, blue cheese, and onions.

On the sweet side Cora offers a butter tart your grandmother wishes she could make; flakey, buttery, crusts, filled with a caramel that is neither too runny nor too viscous. This may be butter tart perfection. There is a price to pay for perfection, and it isn’t cheap—2.50$ for these seraphic tarts.

Cora’s was deigned best cupcakes in Toronto by blogto.com. While their cup cakes are good, they’re fairly expensive for a less than euphoric experience. Their mini-cupcakes can often be a little dry, from sitting in the fridge, and lacking in flavour. Their vanilla has a bland cake-bottom and an over vanilla-ed frosting, while their chocolate cupcakes are lacking that ‘wow factor’. Their vegan coconut and their pink velvet cupcakes, however, are dense and absolutely delicious!

1 slice of gourmet pizza with toppings piled high 3$+ 1 mini pink velvet cupcake 1.50$ + 1 phone call = 5$ lunch

Miss Cora’s Kitchen is focused on catering more so than it is its takeaway nibbles, so don’t be too distraught when they run out of sandwiches or other treats, or if something isn’t crafted on the spot for you, there’ll always be tomorrow to sate that sweet tooth.

SERVICE 5/5 — Cora goes the extra mile to make you feel like a welcome friend, instead of a guest, in her kitchen.
AMBIANCE 3½/5 — It’s small, with little sitting room. Three stools to be exact. But the atmosphere is cozy, with butcher’s block counters, warm lighting, and fresh flowers. The kitchen takes up three quarters of the space, but it’s always fun to take a peek at how the magic’s made.
PRESENTATION 3½/5
TASTE 4/5
PRICE ¢
HOURS Monday-Sunday 12-6
LOCATION, LOCATION 69 Kensington Street

Lil’ Bacci: a lil’ lacking

Lil’ Bacci was one of my favourite pizza places in Toronto. Bacci is still a great east end option; one of the few establishments that is both family and date friendly. However, it seems that this once great pizza haunt is on a downhill trajectory.

The restaurant is small, but not claustrophobic, the service is attentive, and the prices are moderate. Dinner for two will run you about 45$. What made Bacci affordable on a student budget was to avoid the wine, split a pizza (14-16$), and if you we’re really hungry, pair your half pizza with an appetizer or salad.

Unfortunately, the establishment’s manager ran off with a few thousand dollars, resulting in a huge staff turn over, from servers to chefs.  It seems their great dough recipe was lost in the shuffle. What was once one of the best thin crust pizza restaurants in Toronto, now serves mediocre artisan pizza. On my most recent visit the pizza’s consistency was appalling; on the outside it was dry and crunchy, while the inner parts of the pizza were undercooked resulting in flaccid pizza slices.

I ordered the Bufala pizza (a simple pizza: tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and basil), and found it under-sauced and over-cheesed.  I would of preferred shredded basil on the pizza, rather than whole leaf, that would have made for better flavour distribution.

Lil’ Bacci has never been amazing when they stray from their pizza forte. The lemon spinach gnocci was possibly the worst dish on their menu, but under new management it has been replaced by three traditional Italian pasta dishes, spaghetti and meatballs, gnocchi in tomato sauce with buffalo mozzarella, and fusili Primavera (around 17$ a plate). 17$ a plate for pasta seem exorbitant to me. Especially since pasta is one of the most cost and time effective dishes you can make.

I will, however, recommend Lil’ Bacci on the quality of their ingridients. Their Prosciutto was lean, with just a hint of fat, and had the perfect balance of dryness and wetness. It tasted like it was loving cured by an Italian nono. Bacci also has the best home preserved chilies in Toronto.

I recommend skipping dinner here, but keep an open mind regarding lunch. Lil’ Bacci has an excellent lunch special. You choose any soup or salad and pair it with any panino, pasta or pizza for 10$. They shrink the pizzas for this lunch special, but for 10$ you really can’t ask for more.

The bottom line: go there for the lunch special, enjoy the ambience, but don’t expect rave-worthy pizza.

SERVICE 3.5/5
AMBIANCE 4/5
PRESENTATION 3/5
TASTE 2.5/5
PRICE $$/$
HOURS Seven days a week 11:30 am- 10 pm
LOCATION, LOCATION 892 Queen Street East