Tomato Sauce Pizza That Even Beginners Can Make and Chicken Wrapped in Sage from a Flour Sack

Photography / Liu Chen-hsiang

Seizing a holiday at the turn of spring and summer, I set about tidying up the abandoned garden, and took the opportunity to cook up something wonderful with the arugula and sage sent over by Tianhe Fresh.

Most people probably have no idea how to cook with sage, but once I got my hands on this organically grown sage, my fingers started itching to get to work. It is good in braised chicken, beef or pork, and with Tianhe's seaweed chicken legs on hand, I wanted to try making Jamie Oliver's chicken wrapped in a floured cloth with sage. The principle is actually much like the Chinese earth-oven chicken, sealing in the original flavors with clay. Unfortunately, my first attempt used too thin a floured cloth, and it was not a whole chicken, so when roasted, the best juices all ran out. The flavor was not bad, but it was a bit off the mark, so I will skip the photos for now. As for the method, I will publish it after I get it completely right next time.

Although the chicken wrapped in a floured cloth with sage was not perfect, these two herbs made a truly stunning pizza. And the Polish smoked sausage and salami that a friend gave to my husband, handmade by the musician Li Tai-kang, added a great deal to the PIZZA. It is said that having once suffered a serious illness, he is very careful about what he eats, searching everywhere for good ingredients to make his own food. This sausage, smoked over red wine made from Taiwan-grown Kyoho grapes, has an excellent texture, not the dead saltiness of ordinary sausage, and the sage lifts its flavor even further. It is really quite flavorful, one bite after another, impossible to stop eating.

I made two kinds of PIZZA, and my little son Zuan was very enthusiastic, actually eating 5 slices himself! He had been clamoring to eat pizza from outside, but I always found it too greasy; once it cools, it is so oily it is hard to swallow. I discussed it with him: [Mom will make it for you with her own hands, and you can make it together too]. My son is very good and also very reasonable, and accepted the suggestion that his appetite be temporarily postponed. Afterward he took great joy in the process of making PIZZA. If I go a while without making it, he says: Mom, you have not made PIZZA in a long time, I really want to eat the PIZZA you make.

The next morning, I got up early, prepared the ingredients, made the dough, and rolled out the crust. It is not hard to do at all, and it is easy to feel a sense of accomplishment. I try to use natural, organic ingredients, so it tastes fresh and clean with no psychological burden. And the PIZZA with arugula and some sage has a slightly bitter taste, yet with a sweet aftertaste. It counts as an adult-flavored pizza, and it was quickly offered up to the temple of the belly by my husband and me. If only I had a baking stone to bake the pizza on, the result would surely be even better!