Community-Aided Cooking

In the complejo, I’m surrounded by many people who cook exciting recipes with high-quality ingredients in a well-done manner. This factor coupled with seeing homemade pizza as multiple peoples’ lunch inspired me to make my foray into cooking here in El Salvador. Friday after school while I was in the grocery store, I made a mental list of the things I would need to make homemade pizza without actually consulting any recipes (not recommended) and ended up with Bisquick for the crust, spaghetti sauce for the marinara and a nice variety of veggies and cheese for the topping. I felt confident that I had the ingredients necessary to produce homemade pizza!

I stopped by friend #1’s house who happens to be a foodie and mentioned that I was attempting pizza crust from Bisquick and while she was skeptical, she googled if it was possible and realized that there’s a recipe online, therefore doable! When I arrived home, I realized that I didn’t have a pizza pan, so I had to go over and borrow one from friend #2’s house (I’d bought a brownie pan and she’d bought a jelly roll pan to share!). As I began to measure out the 3 cups of Bisquick, I realized that I didn’t have any measuring cups, but I channeled my Nigerian skills of estimating amounts from a drinking glass and pressed on. After pressing the somewhat biscuit-like dough (surprise, surprise!) into the pan, I reached for the spaghetti sauce and realized it was a can which needed a can opener, so I went next door to neighbor #3 for a can opener and was informed I should be using tomato paste instead (which I may have known had I consulted a recipe before purchasing ingredients). I decided to borrow a little oregano and call it pizza sauce! They were leery about this Bisquick/spaghetti sauce pizza, but I assured them with forced confidence it would be good.

After loading the pizza up with green and red peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives and plenty of cheese I actually convinced myself it was going to be good. To my satisfaction, as I took it out of the oven, it smelled heavenly! Now, the crust was a little on the biscuity side, but it was delicious! I’m already thinking about different toppings I can use on my next one and how to maybe try a real flour crust. Nevertheless, I’ll proudly bring my pizza to lunch tomorrow to display the fruits of a community endeavor. While it may lack authenticity, it is seasoned with the joy of the process which couldn’t be more delectable. :)

(I now have accumulated quite a list of both foods and cooking utensils to aid in the success of the next endeavor!)