Mushroom, Spinach and Feta Pizza

New toppings for a classic pizza! I used a slightly spicier tomato sauce by adding a pinch of chilli pepper flakes to our usual recipe at the start, so it became imbued with a lovely warmth. The sauce went straight on the base, then sliced and sauteed field mushrooms and finally cubed goat feta - the sharpest we can find in Australia. After 15 minutes, we threw on a handful of spinach for the final five minutes' baking in order to gently wilt it and bring out the earthy flavour. A quick season and it was ready for devouring.

Maybe a little bit more than a handful of spinach...

Red Pepper and Goat's Cheese Pizza

A quick end-of-week pizza using up some roasted red peppers and lovely crumbly sharp goats cheese. A handful of rocket on top and we're good to go!

BBQ Challenge Week: Day 4: Mushroom, Ricotta and Prosciutto Calzone

I bought some large field mushrooms in the market at the weekend, thinking we'd perhaps marinade them and have them on toasted buns with some cheese. But I'm a bit under the weather at the moment so quite forgot to put the marinade on, and they were looking quite sad when I got home, so I knew they wouldn't last much longer in the fridge. Some friends at work were asking me today how I come up with my recipes, and this was a classic example. The thought process went somewhat along the lines of

juicy bbq'd mushrooms -- yum but plain -- inna bun? -- no time to cook buns -- besides I suck at making buns -- salad? -- hot mushrooms make leaves wilt -- what else do I have? -- ooh, ricotta! -- ricotta-stuffed mushrooms? -- what is this, the 70s? -- would go so well in cannelloni -- but I can't use the oven -- what can I put them in? -- pizza? -- they would go very dry -- calzone??

And at that point I felt I was on to something, so I switched the laptop on and googled for 'bbq calzone' recipes, as I'd never made one before, let alone made one on the barbie. I found this hilarious American youtube video where they make a calzone that would quintuple your risk of pancreatic cancer in a single mouthful. But it had great tips for the basic method, and after another foray into the fridge and storecupboard I was ready to get going. This is enough for two; we doubled it so we'd have lunch ready for another day. I'm sure you could use any fillings you like, but this is what we made.

Ingredients:

• Your favourite pizza dough
• 4 large field mushrooms
• 3 generous tbsp of tomato puree
• 150g ricotta or mozzarella cheese
• a small handful of parsley
• a roasted red pepper, deskinned
• 3 slices of prosciutto or spicy salami
• salt n pepper n flour n olive oil

Let the dough rise up for 15-60  minutes after kneading - longer time will give you better flavour and airier crust. Meanwhile, grill or bbq the mushrooms until tender and juicy, then cut into fat slices. Finely chop the parsley and combine with the cheese, then season well with salt and pepper. Tear the red pepper into strips. Heat a pizza stone on your bbq - or get the flat plate hot but indirectly heated.

When ready, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface into a 30cm x 30cm square piece. Leaving an inch gap around the edge, spread the tomato puree evenly over the surface. On the half closest to you, lay the mushroom slices down, then the pepper strips, then the cheese mixture, and finally cover with slices of prosciutto. Fold the other half over the toppings toward you, then pinch closed around the edges,  making sure it's a good seal. Get a giant spatula, breadboard or plate, and flour well, then put the calzone on and transfer to an again well-floured pizza stone. Cook for 15 minutes on the first side, then 10 on the second, then leave for 10 minutes to rest. If you don't, you will end up with explosive hot sauces going everywhere, and the flavours will be too hot to taste properly. In the meantime you can make a nice salad to go alongside :)

Pissaladiere

I'm re-purposing snorkel gear in the kitchen.

Ma plus jeune soeur a passé les derniers mois à Paris sur un placement, au cours de laquelle elle a échantillonné de nombreux délices français, y compris de grandes quantités de vin rouge ;) Son petit ami sait une excellente recette de la pizza, de sa région à la frontière espagnole.

Translation: this is totally delish!

Ingredients:

• your favourite pizza dough
• three large white onions
• 20-25 anchovies
• 3-4 tablespoons of capers, drained
• a couple handfuls of green olives, halved
• a few pinches of dried oregano

YUM.

Finely slice the onions, preferably into rings. Fry gently for 15 minutes, until golden, caramelised and soft. Roll out your pizza dough as thinly as possible and place on a pizza stone. Was the anchovies if they are particularly salty. Lay over the fried onions, then decorate with the rest of the ingredients, sprinkling over the oregano at the end, then season well with black pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or so, until the pizza has risen and the onion edges are just beginning to curl.

Eggy Pizza

This is pretty much the same recipe as I've blogged before, but with slightly different toppings and the use of a pizza stone. The lovely SO also had the nice idea of making two shallow depressions in the other toppings, so that when you add the eggs, they do not flow all over the pizza. Unfortunately we broke one!  We tried one of the Australian mozzarellas, which are yellower and less 'fresh' than the mozarella I used to buy in the UK. It worked better on the pizza, whereas I always felt that using fresh UK mozarella was a bit of a waste, as it is so wonderful 'raw'. It takes about an hour to make the dough, at least if you want it to rise and taste nice, and another twenty minutes in the oven.

Ingredients:

• one pizza base
• half a tin of tomato puree
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• a handful of ham or prosciutto
• a handful of asparagus, tough parts snapped off
• a handful of olives, pitted and halved
• a tbsp of capers
• a ~250g ball of mozzarella
• two eggs

Roll out the pizza base, leaving a slightly thicker crust. Spoon on the tomato puree and smooth out over the crust. Sprinkle over the oregano and bake for 15 minutes, until the crust has slightly risen. Add the rest of the toppings, breaking the eggs over last. Bake again for 10 minutes, or until the eggs are done to your liking. (Hint: runny is sunny! :)

Pumpkin, Feta and Rosemary Pizza

A few weekends ago we were out shopping in Cannington, which we've found a useful place to buy pretty much any and all non-food items. This time we were at a barbecue store, ostensibly to pick up barbecue tools, but as it turned out, mainly to buy random new things like skewers and a pizza stone! We had a little trouble with it at first as the instructions are impossibe: you're supposed to heat it in the oven, and meanwhile make your pizza completely, with toppings etc on top of the raw dough. Then you take the hot stone out of the oven and "with a quick flick of the wrist" transfer the raw pizza to the stone. Or in our case, "with a lot of cursing, and burning, clutching hands, transfer a messy goop of what used to be a pizza to the stone". The first one wasn't worth photographing.

This time we cheated and made the pizza ON the stone, then put the whole thing in the oven. It came out a little soggy on the base, so this isn't the best solution either. I think what we'll do next time is put the stone in the oven, roll out the base and prepare the toppings separately, then bring the hot stone out, put the base on, and THEN add all the toppings. In the meantime here is one of our favourite pizza recipes.

Ingredients:

• One pizza base
• 250g tasty eating pumpkin
• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary
• a fat clove of garlic
• 2-3 tomatoes
• 1 tsp oregano
• 150g feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Peel and chop the pumpkin into smallish dice (about 1cm on a side). Place in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and tuck in the sprigs of rosemary. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden and tender. Meanwhile, finely dice the tomatoes, then crush the garlic into a frying pan with some olive oil and fry for one minute, then add the tomatoes, and the oregano. Sautee until the tomatoes have collapsed and most of the liquid has evaporated; about 7 minutes. Dice the feta cheese into the same cube size as the pumpkin. Roll out your pizza dough, place on the stone, spread over the tomato sauce, then add the pumpkin and feta. Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is risen and golden and the toppings are beginning to crisp.

Pizza

We often make this midweek, putting the dough on in the breadmaker before walking to the shops to pick up some fresh topping. The asparagus season is still on and tonight we find a reasonable bunch at our local shop, combining them with fresh mozzarella and a few tomatoes to make a delicious spring topping. In winter I tend to make a 'proper' tomato sauce with onions, garlic and tinned tomatoes, and beef up the topping with a broken egg or some parma ham. We keep things simple tonight, making one square 30cm-side pizza for the two of us, with some salad.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 50 ml boiling water
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 100 ml cold water
• 1/2 tbsp active dried yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 250g strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp salt

For the topping:

• a bunch of asparagus
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp oregano
• olive oil
• a big ball of mozzarella
• fresh basil

In the breadmaker bucket, or a big bowl, dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, then dilute to body heat with the cold water and add the yeast. Leave for 5-10 minutes until active and frothy. Add the rest of the dough ingredients and set your breadmaker to dough cycle. Or, combine well, then knead for 10 minutes, rest for 20, knead again for 5 and rest again for 30 minutes.

While the dough is proving, slice the asparagus into bite-sized pieces, cutting any fat stalks in half if they are of uneven size. Steam for 3 minutes over a rolling boil until just al dente, and remove from the heat and uncover. Slice the tomatoes into thin circles.

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Roll the dough out on a lightly-floured surface until thin and flat; try to make it about 1cm larger than your baking tray to allow for some contraction and to leave a crust. If you want a thick-crust pizza, leave it in a warm place, covered with a damp tea towel for half an hour.

Place the rolled dough on a pizza pan, hot stone or baking tray, and spread over the tomato puree, sprinkle with oregano and then add the thin slices of tomato. Bake for 15 minutes, remove and add the asparagus pieces and tear over the mozzarella. Brush the crust with a little olive oil and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until the mozzarella is done to your liking. Personally I like mine runny rather than golden :) Tear over the fresh basil and serve with a simple salad.