Unsurprisingly pizza is one of husband's boys favourite foods. Show me a teenager who doesn't love pizza and I - well I don't know what I'll do - burst into song maybe or at least be very surprised.

For some reason I haven't done pizza that often, and we never order takeaway pizza. I am not a fan of fast food or takeaways for many reasons, but mainly because I'd rather cook myself. So kids only get takeaway at ours when I'm away and they are alone with their dad. So I bet they are already looking forward to my next trip to Finland which will leave husband defenceless to their pleas for a takeaway dinner.

Although come breakfast they will miss me as I always do a big hot Sunday breakfast which poor husband just can't match. And who will bake them biscuits when I'm not here. NO ONE!

I made them gooey chocolate chip ones this time.

I don't want the kids to think this is some kind of crazy health farm (gooey chocolate chip cookies seem to help), but I want to give them a good example for life like I got from my parents; a lifestyle of moderation (and moderation in moderation), appreciation of homemade food, occasional treats, respect for food and eating together as a family.

And I also want them to be active and not spend their days on the sofa with their headphones on playing on their smartphones. So this weekend I took them and husband hiking in Epping Forest (any Finn must get into a forest every once in awhile). I was so happy surrounded by the trees and the quiet and the smell of the forest. I exclaimed to the kids making slightly insane sweeping gestures with my arms "with this, who needs Xbox?!" Their faces seemed to imply they still saw a need for the Xbox. But they enjoyed it, had a bit of a sprinting competition and even climbed a few trees, all of them, husband included.

This homemade pizza is a happy medium which in future we will definitely do more often. It's fun when everyone can top their own with what they like. They are so tasty, much better than any takeaway pizza and you know exactly what goes in them so even if not exactly health food, they're ok.

I made a bit of a buffet of toppings that everyone could choose from. I roasted some red onion and orange and red peppers fully realising that these would be for just husband and me. And I made a tasty tomato sauce with fresh herbs, the rest of which I will use for a pasta dish during the week.

These were the fillings in our pizza bar

• ham
• grilled chicken 
• pepperoni
• roast red onion, red and orange pepper with fresh rosemary
• black and green olives
• jalopenos
• anchovies
• blue cheese
• mix of grated mozzarella, cheddar, edam and monterey jack
• tomato slices
• fresh basil

And some rocket leaves to sprinkle over them once out of the oven. All for me, it turned out.

Husband is the pizza pro but he was busy with the kids so I was left in charge of the dough making this time. I did the base according to his instructions though as best I could.

Recipe: Professional Thin crust pizza (makes four 12 inch / 30 cm round pizzas)

800 g all purpose flour (or white bread flour)
250 ml lukewarm water
100 ml lukewarm milk
1 sachet dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Mix all ingredients together, I use a wooden spoon at this stage because the dough will stick everywhere like there's no tomorrow. Once it starts forming a sort of a ball tip the dough onto a well floured work surface. Start kneading adding more flour as necessary until the dough forms a smooth and elastic ball. I found myself adding quite a bit of flour in the process.

Divide into four equal sized pieces and form into balls. The balls should feel quite tight and springy, I am not going to use husbands metaphor of 18 year old's boobs here. Oops. Wrap each pert ball individually into cling film tightly and refrigerate until needed.

When ready to assemble your pizzas heat oven to 250C.  On a floured surface open the each dough ball into a flat round using your fingers. If you want you can use a rolling pin, but professionals do it all by hand. Keep pushing the dough out until you are happy with the size and thinness. Move onto a pizza pan and pound slightly with a meat tenderiser. This will stop the base from bubbling.

Spread a generous layer of tomato sauce on top leaving about half an inch of the rim of the crust uncovered. Then add on your toppings and finish with grated cheese and fresh tomato slices. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese is bubbling and crust is looking light brown and crispy.

Recipe: Homemade tomato sauce with fresh herbs 

(makes quite a lot so rest can be used for a pasta dish or frozen for later)

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves
500ml passata (or canned tomatoes, if using fresh you will need about 650g tomatoes)
2 tbsp tomato paste
salt
pepper
sprinkling of sugar
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
(or 2 + 2 of dried)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar (optional)
3 tbsp grated pecorino romano (or parmesan)

Heat oil in a lidded sauce pan. Saute the chopped onions for a few minutes. Add the minced garlic and continue sauteing for another couple of minutes. Add the tomato passata and paste, salt and pepper, a sprinkling of sugar and the herbs. Cook on a low heat for about 30 minutes. If you want it very smooth you can blitz with a hand blender.

Cook uncovered to concentrate it a little until you are happy with the thickness of the sauce, add the vinegar if using. Check the taste and add salt or pepper if needed.

Some weeks ago over our regular mezze lunch at our favourite little Iranian restaurant Manoush in Bayswater (very friendly service, delicious food, and we always get huge portions because we are regulars, or maybe because the waiter has a crush on my friend, sometimes he actually forgets to bring my food or drink altogether) in Bayswater with my friend I came up with this fantastic idea. At least I think I did, it may have been my friend, but I'm totally taking the credit.

My friend is not the greatest of cooks. Putting it mildly (in case she reads this). She is just generally not the world's most practical person. I have put together her flat-pack furniture and she's the one with the engineering degree for God's sakes. She's the person you really wouldn't want as your survival buddy on a desert island. A great friend and inspiring company if your want to discuss science, acupuncture, politics, spirituality or relationships. Building huts, cracking open coconuts, fishing with sticks, lighting fires with flints. Not so much.

She also reads books by first reading the last couple of pages and then she just randomly reads a few pages here and there and that's it. She's done. I've never seen anything like it. I think I read in a Paul Auster book that when you read you should pay each word as much attention as the author has done when writing them down. I think I didn't manage to finish the book because apart from that one quote I actually had no idea what was going on. Despite having carefully read each word so far.

So back to cooking troubles. Into aid rides Arctic Cloudberry with her trusted pans and pots and some chicken thighs. My friend sometimes comes over for lunch on a Sunday anyway, so why not cook the lunch together so she can learn in a safe, fun and encouraging environment. I promised not to whack her in the head with a pan if it all goes horribly wrong.

And I hoped she would not whack me in the head with a pan if I got too bossy. She is a very nonviolent person, which is good as I can't guarantee to completely quench my natural bossyness.

My friend has a couple of nice dishes in her repertoire. She makes a very delicious salmon flan and a great chilli con quorn which I personally have witnessed. I thought she also did a nice baked cod, but when I asked her about it now, she said it was an absolute disaster.

I asked her what she would like to learn to cook, and she said chicken. She has been very scared of salmonella and campylobacter and has therefore not ever cooked chicken at home. I put together a little list of tips on how to safely cook chicken. Having had campylobacter once (not from own cooking) and  knowing how awful it is, I'm always very cautious when handling and cooking chicken.

And we both thought you can't really live in England respectably without knowing how to do nice roast potatoes.
Dessert wise I think she's also slightly limited. I was once cooking us lunch and she was supposed to bring the dessert. Her mum had just taught her to make a Swiss roll and she had managed to get it right on her own once, she told me very proudly. That time though it all fell to pieces somehow, maybe even literally. No details were communicated, but no Swiss roll was introduced and we happily finished our meal with some chocolates and strawberries and never mentioned the Swiss roll again.

So I decided that we'd bake a cake together. I have this easy robust recipe that I have never managed to mess up and I'm not the world's greatest baker. It includes sour cream which keeps it moist and juicy. I have made it with blueberries, but it works great with apple too. Original recipe is here. Or use pear or mango or whatever the hell you like, go crazy, it's a great cake!

This is the menu we cooked - not because it is a great combination of things but because it worked as a great curriculum for learning some basics.

Hummus (just because we both love hummus, who doesn't love hummus?)
Fried chicken strips with basil salad (because my friend needed to learn how to fry chicken)
Blue cheese salad dressing (because I had some lovely blue cheese)
Toasted baguette slices (to migrate the hummus from bowl to mouth with, baguette was shop bought though. I think bread baking is some way off for her)

Lemon and herb chicken with feta and bell pepper (lovely easy but impressive looking and delicious chicken main course)
Roast potatoes with Greek herbs (must know how to do if want to call oneself woman, just kidding)

Apple cake (forget about the Swiss roll)
Ice-Cream (shop-bought, because she has worked in an ice-cream kiosk and can do the perfect ice-cream balls, so worked as a confidence booster, also fab with the warm cake)

We had a fun time cooking. Whilst frying the chicken she exclaimed excitedly "I'm frying chicken!" in manner of someone jumping out of a plane screaming "I'm flying".

Hummus

400g can of canned chickpeas (drained, reserve the liquid)
2 tablespoons tahini
1 garlic clove, crushed (you can leave it out if you have a hot date planned)
½ teaspoon of ground cumin (optional)
½ teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
3-4 tablespoon  of chickpea liquid or water
1/2 freshly squeezed lemon
Ground paprika (optional for decoration)
Parsley leaves (optional for decoration)

Drain the chickpeas reserving some of the liquid and tip into the food processor. Add the tahini, crushed or minced garlic, oil, salt, lemon juice and some of the reserved chickpea liquid (or water). Turn on the food processor and run until smooth adding liquid / water if it looks too thick. Process less if you like it crunchy or more if you like it smooth. Obviously.

Drizzle with some olive oil, decorate with a few whole chickpeas. Sprinkle with paprika and fresh parsley.

Blue cheese dip or salad dressing (serves 2)

1 heaped tablespoon of blue cheese (Stilton or similar)
3 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
1-2 tablespoons of milk

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork until smooth.

You can do this also with feta, goat cheese or other soft cheese if you're not a fan of blue cheese. Serve as a dip or salad dressing.



Pan-fried Chicken strips (serves 2)


1 tablespoon of oil
3 chicken thigh fillets (boneless and skinless)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/3 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of dried herbs (you can use a dried mediterranean herb mix, provencal herb mix or just dried basil or oregano)
Juice of half a lemon

Cut the chicken thigh fillets into finger sized strips with scissors. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the chicken strips, salt, black pepper and whatever herb you are using. Fry on medium to high heat until nice and brown outside and done all the way through. When you cut a piece into two, it should cut easily and not be opaque / pink inside.

Once the chicken is cooked squeeze half a lemon on top.

Serving suggestions
- Serve on top of a bed of salad with tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and fresh basil
- Cook some pasta, add a couple of spoons of pesto and the chicken.
- Stir fry a ready made vegetable stir-fry mix and add the cooked chicken to the vegetables and serve with basmati rice

Easy herby roast potatoes (serves 2)

5-6 large roasting potatoes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
4 tablespoons of oil
1-2 tsp of mixed herbs
Preheat oven to 200C

Peel the potatoes and cut into about 1 inch chunks. Par-boil in lightly salted water for about 5-10 minutes until the potatoes have softened but are not completely done. Drain the potatoes in a colander and tip onto an oven tray.

Drizzle over the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and herbs and mix with hands so that all potatoes are nicely covered with oil on all sides. Pop into the oven. After about 30 flip the potatoes over so that they brown evenly on both sides.

Once crispy and brown on the outside take out and serve immediately. This will take about 40 minutes.

Herby Chicken with feta and lemon (serves 4)

1kg boneless chicken thigh fillets (you can use breast fillet, but I find thigh tastier and less dry)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dry)
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dry)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt (feta will add more salt)
1/2-1 tsp pepper
Zest and juice of half a large lemon

1/2 red and 1/2 yellow bell pepper
1 cup cubed feta

Place the chicken in a bowl (remove any extra bits of fat with scissors). Add the herbs (you can use other herbs if you like, a herb mix or basil for instance), oil, salt, pepper and lemon zest and juice. Rub it all over the chicken pieces and refrigerate to marinate for a couple of hours if you have time. But you can also cook immediately.

Place in an oven dish, top with strips of bell pepper, I had red and orange, and feta cubes. Bake in 200C oven for about 40-50 min until the chicken is cooked through.

Fail-safe Apple cake

175g soft room temperature butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
140 ml sour cream
2 apples (soft & sweet, golden delicious or similar) (you can use 150g of blueberries instead of the apple)

Preheat the oven to fan 160C. Butter a loose-based 22cm round cake tin and line the bottom with non-stick baking paper buttering the paper also.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric hand beater until lighter in colour, about 3 minutes (at this stage you can't overbeat). Break the eggs to a glass or bowl and add one at a time beating lightly just to incorporate (don't overbeat). Mix in the sour cream and the vanilla.

Once the sour cream and the vanilla are incorporated get rid of the electric beater. Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl and mix into the batter with a spoon until everything is mixed well.

Peel and core the apples and cut into small cubes. Fold in the chopped apple into the cake mix and pour the mix in the prepared cake tin and spread it level.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed. It shouldn't stick to a toothpick or knife when inserted. Cool for 20 minutes, then take out of the tin and peel off the paper lining in the bottom. Serve warm with ice-cream or leave to cool and serve with warm custard.