The first thing I have to say is I can actually cook.
I just don’t do it very often.
So for me to enter a kitchen with culinary intent, there has to be a pretty darn good reason.
Raising money for the Times Colonist Christmas Fund while being part of a “celebrity chef” event is one of the absolute best reasons I can think of.
The fund, which dates back to 1956, helps those in need at Christmas and brought in over $1.12 million last year from more than 3,000 individual donations.
The fund’s 2024 campaign officially begins Nov. 12, but donations are gratefully accepted all year round at tcchristmasfund.com.
The celebrity chef extravaganza is a creative idea from the people at the Sawmill Taphouse & Grill, which has locations in Colwood and Chemainus.
Pizza is a big deal at both sites, so a group of individuals from the community was put together to come up with pizza recipes to raise funds for good causes.
I’m not the first pseudo-chef in the lineup, and there’s been some pretty impressive participants for me to measure up to.
One is Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi, the initial celebrity chef back in April, who concocted a pizza with ingredients like aged white cheddar, cilantro and an avocado crema. Sawmill executive chef Darcy Creamore worked with him to make them all come together as deliciously as possible.
With $5 from each pizza going to the mayor’s charity of choice, his concoction earned $750 for the Pacific Centre Family Services Association.
In June, celebrity chef Max Wilson from the Victoria Shamrocks produced a double-meat pizza that generated $1,355 for the Canadian Cancer Society.
After Googling things like “weird pizza” in an effort to come up with something worthy of being a feature pizza, I went with a recipe from my friend Mike Grover (now there’s a guy who can cook) that has been dubbed pierogi pizza.
It should come as no surprise that it includes bacon and potato, and there’s also white sauce, caramelized onions, mozzarella — and chili flakes to give it a little hum.
It’s on the menu all this month, with $5 from every pierogi pizza going to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund.
I hope you like it.
