Pizza!!

I knew I wasn't going to get off entirely "scott free" in the pizza department this week.  It was Mr. CCC's birthday earlier this week - I asked him several times what he wanted as his "birthday dinner treat" - but never really got an answer, so I didn't plan ahead - figured I would wing it when he made a decision.

As it turned out we went out for lunch, and had a very lovely seafood platter.  We had oysters kilpatrick, and scallops on the half shell served two ways, one with a pesto type sauce, and another with a crab and lime type of "salad" on top of the scallops, BBQ octopus, salt and pepper calamari and panko crumbed prawns!  It was all really very nice - and the best thing was as we had ordered two entrees, there were no french fries!!!  It was all seafood!! Joy oh joy!!  There are benefits in having two entrees instead of a main - you get to sample more types of food!!!

Anyway, having had our lovely seafood lunch we were not that hungry, and definitely didn't want a big main meal that night - so what did he want - pizza!! prawn pizza!!!

As you may recall I made a seafood platter a little while ago, and I still had some of that great Ginger, Chilli, Shallot sauce in a bottle in the fridge - right, that was going to be the marinade for the prawns.  "The Darlings" wanted a meatlovers pizza - but there was only one problem "precious" had eaten the leftover swedish meatballs!!  Dig around in the freezer - had some Italian sausages - would make meatballs out of them - we were almost there!!  I only had to duck up to the fish shop to get some prawns and we were in business.

So here is what I constructed from things I had in the fridge for our lovely birthday pizzas!!

Meatlovers Pizza

Italian sausages (500g gave me enough for 2 pizzas) freeze cooked leftovers for another night!
Ham, cut into small pieces
Pizza sauce *
BBQ sauce
mozzarella cheese
bocconcini cheese
balsamic tomatoes **


* Pizza Sauce


400g can of whole tomatoes
dried oregano
freshly ground black pepper


Place the tomatoes in a food processor/blender, season to taste with the oregano and black pepper.  There you have the best pizza sauce - lovely and light - its really all you need.


Now back to the pizza.  Cut the end off the sausages, so that you can squeeze small "meatball" amounts of sausage meat out into a frypan.  Gently fry until golden, drain on a paper towel.

Spread the pizza base with the pizza sauce and a good squirt of BBQ sauce, top with meatballs, ham and balsamic tomatoes.  Sprinkle over a generous amount of mozzarella cheese, add a few pieces of torn up bocconcini cheese.


Bake in your pizza oven until cooked, and lovely and golden.

**To get the recipe for the Balsamic Tomatoes go to the condiments section, then click on the recipe for Crumbed Parmesan Chicken with Basil Sauce.  These Balsamic Tomatoes come in very handy once you have them in your repertoire - add them to salads, grilled meats, pizzas......

Prawn Pizza

500-600g green prawns (this is "with" shell weight), shelled
balsamic tomatoes
bocconcini cheese
parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese
pizza sauce
Ginger Chilli Shallot Sauce ***


Marinate the prawns in the Ginger, Chilli Shallot sauce for at least 20 minutes - longer if you have time.

Drain off the prawns and lightly pan fry them in a frypan over medium high heat, until they just change colour.  Remove from the pan, allow to cool slightly.


Spread the pizza base with the pizza sauce.  Top with the prawns and balsamic tomatoes.  Top with a small amount of parmesan cheese, then some torn up bocconcini cheese and a small amount of mozzarella cheese.




Bake in your pizza oven until cooked and golden!!

***To find the recipe for the Ginger, Chilli Shallot sauce go to the seafood section, then the recipe for the Seafood Platter.  This sauce is a lovely sauce to have on hand - I have used it twice now, and I gave some to my brother, and he used it in a chicken stir fry.  It is a little spicy, but you could make it milder by reducing the amount chilli (or taking out the seeds)  - but if you love the heat - you will love this sauce!!  Make a batch up and keep it in the fridge it lasts for up to 6 weeks!!

So there you have it - birthday pizzas - they were good too!!  Having one of those electric pizza ovens makes it so easy - I don't think we have bought a gourmet pizza for years now!  Of course every once in a while someone - "the Darlings" will get a hankering for one of those "cardboard commercially produced crappy ones" - you know the ones - but for the most part - homemade pizzas are the way to go in this house!!!

Pizzas and Ribs always seem to get the "birthday dinner treat" request in this house.  So Dear Readers what type of requests do you get for your birthday dinner treats?