Italian Sausages in Korea; Pizza

I didn’t used to be the biggest fan of Itaewon. Part of it was just living so far away for my first five years in the country — when the weekends rolled around, and I had an opportunity to go do or see or eat something new, the crappy, overpriced Mexican food place down from the station wasn’t what I was up for.

That place is long, long gone now, and the culinary development around the fringes of Itaewon proper, in Gyeongnidan and Hannam-dong, has put pressure on the neighborhood to get it together, deliciously speaking. Plus, depending on which way I go, it is now smack in the middle of my way home from work.

So, I’m a bit of a High Street Market rookie. But I’m learning.

One thing I will say is that shopping at High Street Market is heavily aided by being aware of exactly what you can get from other sources and for what price. A lot of their product is bought in bulk from perfectly accessible retailers, repackaged and repriced with a significant markup. When I think about it, it’s not completely unreasonable — I remember living alone in Incheon with my tiny dorm room fridge, how trips to Costco miles away to haul home huge packages of stuff I had no hope of storing, let alone consuming, were out of the question. In a way, the repackaging is a service in itself to those who are in a similar situation. Like so many things, it pays to do the triangulation of those three crucial factors — convenience, quality and price. A lot of things at the market don’t make the cut for me.

But I don’t go there for those things. I’m in it for the spices, sauces and meat. Mostly the meat.

This weekend, after scooping up some Grana Padano two for one, I wanted to make pizza with proper sausage, so after work on Friday I met B in front of the market. We found some lovely handmade spicy Italian sausages and even some Mozzarella di Bufala Campana. That was me set.

I tried a new thing with the pizza sauce this time because I’ve never been happy with mine. It’s always been just kinda there. This time, I subbed honey in for sugar and added cayenne and 고추가루 (gochu-garu — Korean red pepper powder) to try to spruce it up a bit. I also used the wild porcini sea salt I got from Dean & DeLuca yet again, because I can’t think of any reason not to put it in everything I cook until it’s gone, basically.  If you don’t want to shell out for the stuff, you can get 표고버섯가루 (pyogo-beoseot-garu — shiitake mushroom powder) pretty much anywhere, which will give your sauce that rich mushroom kick. I also added quite a bit of chopped basil, because our basil plant is becoming a monster and needed trimming. It was really good. I don’t think I’ll be fooling with this recipe anytime soon. It was quite spicy, though, so I would cut either the cayenne or the gochu-garu if that’s not your thing. High Street Market also sells non-spicy handmade Italian sausages, if spicy is really, really not your thing.

(Also, the man in the photography shop looked at me like I was a nut this weekend when it was clear I was a complete amateur trying to buy expensive lighting equipment. He then tried to sell me a 500,000 won light, like I didn’t know my place in the world. I went for the cheap — and I quote — “China model,” because I am currently at a cheap China model level. These pizza photos were taken at a leisurely pace, sometime past 10pm, and look fine, for a blogger learning how to take photos via Youtube video, thank you. I’m not an amateur at life, sir.)

Recipes. Right.

Pizza Sauce

• 2 (6 0z) cans tomato paste
• 12 oz water (use the paste cans to measure)
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon wild porcini sea salt OR 1/2 tablespoon sea salt and 1/2 tablespoon mushroom powder (버섯가루)
• 1/4 teaspoon gochu-garu
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 c basil, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon oregano
• 1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

The sauce is easy. You can either combine all ingredients, mix well and leave in a bowl to mingle until you are ready to sauce your pizza, or you can give the sauce a little heat to help the ingredients release their flavor a little more. I prefer the latter, so I put everything in my slow cooker and set it on low until I’m ready to put the pizza together. Without a slow cooker, you can just barely simmer the sauce in a pan over low heat for about 10 minutes. The sauce will be cooked in the oven, so you don’t want to overdo it.

Pizza Dough

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (통밀가루)
• 1 3/4 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 cup warm water (hot to the touch, but not too hot to bear)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 envelope instant dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix the sugar and warm water in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. The sugar and the warmth of the water will both help to activate the yeast, but if your water is too hot, it can kill it off, so you should be able to put your finger in the water for several seconds without discomfort.
2. Add the yeast and mix well; let stand for five minutes. When the yeast is active, little bubbles should form on the surface. Add the olive oil and mix.
3. Mix together the two flours and the salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture in portions, pausing in between to mix. Continue to mix until the dough forms a solid ball in the bowl.
4. Turn the dough out on a floured surface, flour your hands and knead for about 5 minutes.
5. Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough inside, making sure the surface of the dough is lightly oiled as well to prevent it from drying out. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and place in a warm place to rise.
6. When the dough has doubled in size, after about an hour, punch the dough down and divide into two (for medium pizzas) or three (for small pizzas) portions. Shape the portions into balls, set on a floured surface and cover with a kitchen towel to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to desired thickness, or shape with your hands.

I topped these pizzas with a generous amount of sauce, a sprinkling of Grana Parano, the buffalo mozzarella, chopped red onion, shiitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and the sausages, which I browned off in a skillet and sliced. Whacked them in the oven, which was very well preheated, at 475 degrees F (about 250 degrees C) for about 10 minutes.

This recipe made 3 small pizzas (toaster oven size), with a little sauce leftover to freeze for next time.