Homemade Pizza ... Take Two

Making pizza is nothing new to me, back in my high school days I used to make it quite often after the one I brought home from Home Ec class went down a treat.  I posted a recipe for homemade pizza late last year and although it was good, it just didn't quite do it for me.  So quite a few weekends ago (I'm a bit behind with my posts!!!) I gave this recipe a whirl.

Simple Pizza Base
600g string white bread flour, plus plenty for rolling
1/2 tsp dried yeast
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Semolina, for dusting

Put the flour, yeast and 1 tsp salt into a large bowl.  Stir in 500ml of slightly warm water and the oil.  You should end up with a wettish dough that is rough and lumpy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with a tea towel and if your kitchen is cool keep it out, but if it is warm put it in the bottom of the fridge.  Leave the dough to rise for at least 6 hours or until doubled in size.

When ready to cook, bring the dough to room temp.  heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C.  Dust 2-4 baking sheets with semolina.  Dust the work surface with flour, then divide the dough into 2 or 4 pieces.  Knead each piece on the floured surface, incorporating enough flour to stop the dough being sticky.

Roll each piece into a pizza shape and lift onto baking sheets.  Leave to rise for 10 mins while you sort toppings (see below).  Top the bases with your chosen ingredients, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake for 18 mins for a large pizza or 12 mins of an individual pizza, or until the crust is crisp and the top is bubbling.

Makes 2 large or 4 individual pizzas
Good Food Magazine, March 11

* You can prove the dough overnight or during the day. 
* If the dough looks like it might climb out of the bowl, squash it down. 
* It will be sticky when you roll it out, but with a little kneading on a floured surface it will become smooth and pliable. 
* Cook two large pizzas at a time, swapping oven positions halfway through, or cook individual pizzas in two batches.

Wild Mushroom and Mascarpone Pizza Topping
Soak a large handful of dried wild mushrooms in boiling water until soft.  Meanwhile, mix 6 tbsp mascarpone with a crushed garlic clove and season well.

Heat 2 tsp olive oil and fry 6 sliced cap mushrooms until just starting to soften, then add the drained soaked mushrooms and 1 tsp thyme leaves.  Spread the mascarpone mix on the pizza base and top with the mushrooms.

Bake for 12 for individual pizzas or 18 mins for a large pizza, then remove from the oven and sprinkle with 4 tbsp grated Parmesan.  Return to the oven for 1 min and finish with extra thyme leaves.

Makes enough topping for 1 large pizza or two small pizzas
Good Food Mag, March 11

This is my all time favourite pizza topping now!  I love the creamy mascarpone sauce instead of the normal tomato one.  Heaven!!!

Hubby had a 'Meat Eaters Feast' complete with chicken, pepperoni and chorizo!!  Sis-In-Law was here to help us munch our way through the pizza's too, the overall winner was the Wild Mushroom ;0)

BBQ Banquet

I reckon if all my main meals could be cooked on a barbie that I would enjoy cooking as much as I do baking.  I don't know what it is about cooking outdoors, especially in this wonderful weather that has greeted the start of British summer time!  It was very chilly standing on the balcony last night flipping burgers!  It seems that we are developing a bit of a Good Friday barbie tradition though, I remember flat sitting for sis-in-law a couple of years ago and trying to make a decent barbie on her terrace with one of those disposable BBQ's you can get from M&S.  It was an interesting experience!  When we moved into our new flat with a balcony I knew I had to get a proper BBQ and my webber arrived just in time for moving day and its not failed us yet!

In addition to the usual burger and snags (that's Aussie slang for sausages!) we also had Chicken with Chorizo and Mozzarella.  We also had Jacket Sweet Potato and a very yummy Soy Glazed Tuna for me!

Soy Glazed Tuna Steaks
50ml soy sauce

4 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
½ tsp sesame oil
4 tuna steaks

Put the soy sauce and brown sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the garlic and sesame oil, remove from the heat and cool. Cover the tuna steaks with the marinade and leave for 1 hour.

BBQ the tuna steaks for 1 min each side for rare, 2 for medium, basting constantly with the marinade, until charred and sticky on the outside.

* This marinade can also be used with salmon or white fish.

Serves 4

Not sure where I got this one from, I've had the recipe for a few years now!

Barbecue Baked Sweet Potatoes

4 small ish sweet potatoes

4 tsp olive oil

salt

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

4 sprigs of thyme

Rub each potato with a little oil and salt, then lay a sliced clove of garlic and a sprig of thyme over the top.  Wrap each potato in a double layer of foil.

As soon as the barbecue coals are glowing red, put the potatoes directly on them. Cook for 15 mins, turn with tongs, then cook for 15 mins more. Remove one, unwrap and check it is cooked through.

Once these are cooked you can also peel back the top of the foil from each potato, split open and top with a spoonful of yogurt and a few spring onion slices which is very nice but we didn't worry about that last night.

Serves 4

Adapted from BBC Good Food

Of course the biggest joy I get from cooking a barbie is making way too much food and having to eat it cold for lunch the next day ;0)

Insalata di zucca e cipolle rosse

Again with the Italian!!! I know, Hubby is of the same mind but I just can't stop myself. And who knew that it is so healthy too! I'm not going to rest now until I've made just about every single recipe in the book, might take me a century but I'll get there ;0)

Roast Pumpkin and Red Onion Salad

800g prepared pumpkin or butternut squash, cut into 8 even sized slices

8 garlic cloves, unpeeled, lightly crushed

5 tbsp olive oil (I used fry lite)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

20g pinenuts (optional)

2 red onions, each cut into eight wedges

6 sprigs of thyme

400g spinach (the original recipe uses lettuce), washed

10ml balsamic vinegar

25g parmesan, shaved

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the pumpkin pieces and garlic cloves on a baking tray and drizzle with two tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 20 mins. Meanwhile, dry roast the pinenuts in a frying pan, if using.

Add the onion wedges to the baking tray with a further 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and extra salt and pepper. Tuck the thyme under the onions and pumpkin and cook for another 20 mins, or until the pumpkin is soft and the onions are lightly caramelised. Leave to cool to room temp.

Separate the leaves of the spinach (or lettuce) and dress with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Arrange the pumpkin and onions on top of the leaves, discarding the garlic and thyme (I couldn't bare to discard the garlic and serve the cooked cloves in the salad, that way people can decide if they want to peel and eat it along with the pumpkin red onion or leave it on the side. Roasted garlic is too good to pass up in my book though). Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and a little extra olive oil. Scatter with the parmesan shavings and pinenuts, if using.

Serves 6 as a side

Adapted from 'The Italian Cookery Course'

This salad is so yummy that we eat it as a main meal now, in which case it serves 2 to 3 people.

Funghi Trifolati Alla Giancarlo ...

... or Giancarlo's Mushrooms to you and me!!!

This is Cook Book Challenge number 2 (not quite sure how to say that in Italian) and comes from my most recent purchase 'The Italian Cookery Course' by Katie Caldesi. As you can see I am well and truly immersing myself in my latest culinary fetish and this is the kind of meal I would have paid money for in a restaurant but it was so simple. I made this for dinner last night but if I'd known how quick it was going to be I'd have saved it for one of our week night dinners. I did end up amending the recipe a wee bit though it was just to make it a little healthier for our waist lines.

Gincarlo's Mushrooms

Fry lite (the recipe calls for 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil)

2 garlic cloves crushed

3 large sprigs of thyme

3 sprigs of rosemary

1/2 - 1 red chilli (depending on strength) finely sliced

500g mixed mushrooms (eg white cup, oyster, portobello, crimini, porcini), washed or wiped as necessary, thickly sliced

A generous pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and, when hot, add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, chilli and salt and pepper. Fry for 1 min, then add the mushrooms and cook them, still over a high heat, tossing or stirring frequently. When the water from the mushrooms has evaporated and they have become browned and slightly crisp they are ready.

Makes 300g cooked weight, serves 4 as a side dish

The Italian Cookery Course

To turn this into a main meal I added 4 tbsp of cream (weight watchers would you believe, I wouldn't have known the difference if I hadn't bought the tub myself!) to the pan to make a mushroom sauce. I added the sauce to a pack of freshly cooked gnocchi and heated some panini's in the oven to help mop up the sauce. Mmmmm, will be having this again very soon ;0)

The Italian Job

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm not hung over - honestly! Just not firing on all four cylinders quite yet. Entirely self inflicted, except for the extra generous triple measures of booze certain people were pouring ... you know who you are, hang your heads in shame ... if you can lift them off the pillow that is ;0(

Needless to say last night was great fun. Trying to play 'Scene It' on the X Box and half one in the morning and read the writing on the screen was a bit of a challenge but fun none the less. And as expected, I did forget to take photo's of the finished dishes but I'm still posting them cause they were yummy and I'll want to make them again at some point.

Homemade Pasta

250g pasta flour

3 large eggs

Sift the flour into a mound onto a work surface, or into a large bowl. Break the eggs into the centre. Blend eggs into flour with a fork, then use your hand to slowly work in flour until a paste forms in the middle. Keep going, until you have a rough textured dough.

Dust the work surface and your hands with flour. Hold dough with one hand, push down and away from you with the heel of the other hand, then fold back towards you. Repeat for a good 5 mins, then cover and leave for 15 mins.

Cut or shape the pasta for your recipe and spread out on a floured surface until required.

Add salt to a large pan of water and bring to a vigorous boil. Add pasta and continue boiling for 5 -12 mins or until cooked. Drain the pasta, add a dash of olive oil and serve as required.

This recipe made enough to make the lasagne with a lot leftover that I should have thought about drying for later use. The dough itself was really smooth and easy to work with, the jury is still out about the finished product though. I felt it was slightly firmer than the fresh pasta sheets you can buy at the store now days but nobody else knew that the lasagne sheets had been homemade until I told them. I think they were being polite!

Roasted Tomato Salad

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C. Put 500g cherry tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp olive oil and several thyme sprigs into a small roasting tin. Season and mix together. Roast for 5-8 mins, then cool.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Good Food Italian Magazine

The smell of this cooking was amazing. It did take me much longer than the stated 5-8 mins (closer to 15-20 mins) to get the tomatoes to a 'roasted' state but that could be that they weren't as ripe as they maybe should have been. I think I would prefer to have this warm as opposed to cold next time, although for a picnic or a barbie in summer cold would be fine.

I was going to serve the lasagne with a Garlic and Rosemary Bread but I stumbled across a recipe for Pesto Focaccia that just cried out to be made. I'm so glad I did, it was the run away success of the night. I used both Green Pesto and Red Pesto on it as some of our party liked one and not the other, I'm afraid though that you'll have to use your imagination for what the finished bread looked like as I didn't quite get around to taking a photo before we all devoured it!

Easy Homemade Pesto

50g pine nuts

Large bunch basil, leaves and stalks

50g parmesan

150ml olive oil, plus extra for storing

2 garlic cloves

Tip the pine nuts into a frying pan, then toast over a medium heat for about 5 mins, stirring often, until evenly golden. Cool, then put into a food processor with all of the remaining ingredients. Whizz until smooth, then season to taste.

Pour pesto into a jar and cover with a little extra oil, then seal and store.

Makes 250ml

Good Food Italian Magazine

Focaccia with Pesto and Mozzarella

500g strong white bread flour, plus some for dusting

1 1/2 tsp salt

7g sachet fast action yeast

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling

126g ball mozzarella, drained

5 tbsp pesto

Sea salt, to serve (optional)

Put the flour into a bowl and mix in the salt. Mix the yeast into 325ml tepid water. Add the water and oil to the flour, then mix well with a plastic scraper or your hands. When most of the liquid is incorporated, use your hands to bring all the ingredients together into a ball of dough.

Tip the dough out onto a worktop lightly dusted with flour and work it by pulling and stretching for at least 10 mins. Try to get as much air into it as possible. Put the ball of worked dough into a well oiled bowl, cover with a little more oil and a tea towel or cling film. Leave to rest for 1 hour or so in a draught-free warm spot, until doubled in size.

Now stretch the dough out onto a baking sheet until its about 20 x 30cm. Leave the dough to rise again to about half as high again, about 30-40 mins in a warm draught-free place, loosely covered with a tea towel.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C. When the dough has risen, press your fingers into it gently to make some holes. Bake for about 5 mins, then remove from the oven. Tear over the mozzarella, then bake for another 5-10 mins until golden and cooked through. Drizzle over the pesto and scatter with sea salt, if you like. Serve straight away.

Serves 4-6

BBC Good Food Website

Thanks to this recipe I was paid the biggest compliment my cooking has ever received last night. One of our friends works at the new very swanky and posh Italian Hotel and Restaurant that has recently opened in town. He said that this Focaccia Bread was even better than the ones that the Italian Chefs make in the restaurant!!! I was on cloud 9 ;0)