Kofta Style Pizzas

Now I know on the surface this looks a lot like the pizza I made last week - The Middle Eastern Meatball one - but there is a difference!  Last week's pizza was a receptacle for leftovers - this week's is purpose built!!!

While I was flicking through the latest edition of the MasterChef Magazine I saw in the Masterclass section, a recipe for George's Open Beef Koftas.  They looked really good so I decided I would make them this weekend instead of the usual "leftovers" pizza.  There was only one problem - when I went out to buy the ingredients I was unable to find the spices the recipe called for (my usual little Asian shop had closed down!! - I looked in all the other usual places - but couldn't get cumin or coriander seeds!!).  So while I set off to make the original recipe I have as usual, deviated and turned it into something else (but in a good way I think).

Kofta Style Pizza
Adapted from a recipe in MasterChef Magazine December issue

Makes 2-3 pizzas

2 french eschalots, finely diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
the roots of 1 bunch of coriander, washed, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
rind of 1 lemon
1 red chilli, finely chopped
500g lean beef mince

Lebanese bread
marinated bocconcini cheese
hommus
tabbouli
BBQ sauce
avocado
sour cream or greek style yoghurt
chilli sauce

Firstly to make the beef mixture.  Heat a frypan over medium high heat, add a small amount of olive oil.  Cook the eschalots and garlic, stirring for 2-3 minutes, or until the eschalots start to soften.  Add the mince, and cook quickly, breaking up any lumps.  Once all the mince has browned add the spices, lemon zest and chilli.  Keep warm.

Spread hommus over the lebanese bread, then drizzle with BBQ sauce.  Top with the mince mixture.  Place a few ripped up bocconcini on top of the mince (not too much - this pizza is not about the cheese!!)

Cook for 5 minutes - or until the base is crispy, the cheese is melted, and it is nice and hot.

Top with pieces of avocado, dollops of sour cream, and tabbouli.  Add chilli sauce if desired.

So while it looks nothing like George's Open Koftas - his recipe was the inspiration for these little beauties!!

So Dear Readers do you deviate and turn a recipe into something else somewhere along the way?

Leftover Pizzas

As promised - the leftover Popcorn chicken returned in the form of Popcorn Chicken Pizza - this was a very simple pizza for "The Darlings" - just chicken and cheese......

.......and then those that wanted it added avocado.

The Middle Eastern Style Meatballs also made an encore appearance.  The pizza base was lebanese bread, then topped with tomato and BBQ sauces.  Sliced meatballs, that were then topped with cheese.  When it was cooked I added tabbouli, avocado and sour cream (and hot sauce for me!).

It was kind of like a flat crispy kebab!! Very yummy!

So Dear Readers what do you do with your leftovers????

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?

Turkish Lamb Pide and Labne

Last night I stumbled across the perfect pizza dough!!!

Combining a tip I learned at the Good Food and Wine Show and pure laziness led to the perfect dough!  The laziness part is when I looked in the cupboard and found that I didn't have enough 00 flour - so I decided to use what I had left and combine it with plain flour.  A perfect combination???  Or perhaps the dough would have been even better with all 00 flour - will have to try that next time.

So the dough I made gave me enough to make 8 individual pizzas.  What I did instead, was divide the dough in half - make 4 small bases, and the other half made 2 pide.

Here is the recipe for the dough.

My Perfect Pizza Dough


Makes 8 individual pizzas


7g yeast
500ml warm water
800g flour ( I used 200g "00", 600g plain flour)
2 tsp salt


Polenta


Combine the yeast, salt and flour in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Pour the water in slowly, and mix together until combined.


Once mixed, turn the mixture out onto a very lightly floured bench (don't add too much flour!!)  Knead the mixture for 15 minutes, make sure it is nice and smooth and elastic.


Place the dough in a large lightly oiled bowl (make sure it will hold double the size of the dough at least!) Cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place for 2 hours.


After 2 hours punch down the dough and cut into the sections you are using.    Roll into a balls.  


Scatter a small amount of polenta on the bench and roll the dough to size.  Using polenta gives the base added "crunchiness" and stops the addition of more flour into the mixture.


Place the rolled dough onto baking paper.  Allow to sit for 15-20 minutes before you bake.


Make the pizzas up on the baking paper.  Use the baking paper as a "go between" - ie place directly onto your oven rack/terracotta tile/pizza oven.  Leave it there for approximately 1 minute (or until the base has firmed up, then remove it.  If you are freezing the dough, layer baking paper between the  bases.

Perfect!!

Now for the Pide

Turkish Lamb Pide


Makes 2


olive oil


1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove crushed garlic
500g minced lamb
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp hungarian paprika
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 tomatoes, diced
mozzarella cheese


Heat a non stick frypan over medium high heat, cook the onion and garlic for approximately 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft.  Add the mince and cook, breaking up the mince until it is browned all over. Add the spices and the lemon juice.  Mix to combine.  Add the chopped tomatoes and the chicken stock, cook gently for approximately 5-10 minutes, or until most of the moisture has evaporated.


To assemble the pide, roll the pizza dough out into an oval shape.


Place the dough onto baking paper.  Place the filling in the centre and fold the sides to partially enclose the filling.  Top with a little mozzarella cheese.  Squeeze the dough together at each end.


Bake for about 20 minutes, or until crisp and golden.

I topped mine with tzatziki that I had left over from our Greek night on Friday, and with a little Labne that I had made.  You could also top with a little chilli sauce, and chopped mint.

Labne

Now if you are interested in making some labne - it is incredibly easy.  All you need to do is place some greek yoghurt that you have seasoned with a little salt in some muslin and suspend it over a bowl for 3 days (this is the same procedure that you use for making the tzatziki - just longer - look in the "dip" section for the recipe)  After 3 days the yoghurt will become quite firm.  Simply make small balls and roll them in some soft herbs such as oregano, chives or mint.  Place the balls on a plate and put in the fridge for an hour or so - this helps them to harden a little before you put them into oil.  After an hour place the balls in a screwtop jar and cover them with olive oil.  To the oil add 4-5 whole black peppercorns and 2 cloves or garlic.  There you have home made labne!!!  Very impressive!!

Tomato Soup with Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs & Calzones

Last night I got "The Darlings" to eat soup!!!   That might not seem like such a big deal to you - but believe me it is.  To say they are "food challenged" is probably an understatement.  I take little steps, and try to encourage them to try more.

I looked at this recipe - all the components were things they would eat - and the best part - sooo easy to make!!!

Tomato Soup with Spaghetti and Chicken Meatballs


Serve 4-6


1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbs tomato paste
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1.25L (5 cups) chicken stock
500g thin chicken sausages
200g thin spaghetti, broken into 5cm lengths


Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.  Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until softened.  Add the garlic and the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for a further 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, while you are making the meatballs.


Place the remaining 2 /12 cups of chicken stock into a large saucepan.  For the meatballs,  make a cut in the end of the sausages, and gently squeeze off small balls of sausage meat into the stock.  Should make approximately 30 small meatballs.  Bring the stock to the boil and, then simmer gently for approximately 10 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.  With a slotted spoon, remove the meatballs to a plate.  Return the stock to the boil, and then add the spaghetti.  Cook until the spaghetti is al dente (approximately 10 minutes).  I found that there was not really too much liquid left at this point so I didn't bother draining the spaghetti.


At this point use a stick blender to puree the tomato mixture until smooth.  Add the meatballs and the spaghetti to the tomato mixture and bring back to the boil.


Serve garnished with chopped basil and parmesan cheese.


It took a little convincing but they all ate it!!!

To go with the soup there was home made Calzones.  It was the first time I have made them - they were a little rustic - and the dough was quite gooey and so it tended to break open in places - but they were pretty good.

Chicken Meatball and Ham Calzone


Serves 4


250ml warm water
2 tsp (7g / 1 sachet) dried yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
2 1/2 cups plain flour (I used the Italian 00 flour)
pinch of salt
1 tbs olive oil, plus extra to grease
400g chicken sausages - make meatballs like we did for the soup, gently fry them to cook
100g shredded ham
1/2 red capsicum, thinly sliced and then dry pan fried until very soft and slightly "charred"
pizza sauce
mozzarella cheese
garlic olive oil to spray


Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a jug - leave in a warm place for 5 minutes, or until frothy.


Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Make a well in the centre.  Add the yeast mixture and oil.  Use a spoon to stir until well combined.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.


Brush the bowl with a little oil, place the dough in the bowl.  Cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (1-2 hours).


Divide the dough into 4 equal portions.


Preheat the oven to 230C.  Line a large baking try with non stick baking paper.


Roll the dough out into circles - place pizza sauce, meatballs, ham and mozzarella cheese over half of the dough, then fold over and to enclose the filling.  Transfer to the baking tray.  Lightly spray with the olive oil spray.  Repeat with the remaining dough.


Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden.

Pizza again!!

The origin of the word pizza is unclear but it appears to have become a part of the medieval latin vernacular by 997.  It was originally a baker's tool - a dough that was used the verify the temperature of the oven.

During the 16th Century in Naples a flat Galette was referred to as a pizza.  It was considered a dish of the poor people and was sold on the street.  It was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time.

The innovation that gave us the pizza as we know it today was the tomato.  Tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th Century - Europeans were reluctant to try the tomato as they thought it was poisonous - (it belongs to the nightshade family of fruits - of which some are poisonous).  Prior to this pizza was traditionally covered with white sauce.

By 1889 we began to see the introduction of cheese and the beginnings of the pizza as we know it was born!

Today there are so many different varieties of pizza - where ever there is a flatbread you have a form of pizza - and the toppings - well you are only limited by your imagination!

Last night I made an Indian inspired Pizza

Chicken and Capsicum Naan Bread Pizza


1 red capsicum - roasted and skin removed - cut into thin strips
1 BBQ chicken - meat removed and shredded
Garlic and coriander naan bread
1/3 cup mango chutney
fresh coriander
natural yoghurt

Roast your capsicums under a grill until the skin blackens and blisters.  Leave to cool and then peel skin away.

Spread the naan bread with the chutney.  Top with chicken and capsicum strips.  Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Garnish with coriander leaves and dollops of natural yoghurt.

I thought it was pretty good - but the M.O.T.H (Man Of The House) thought is needed cheese!!

The second pizza was more traditional - although I used lebanese bread as the base.

Ham & Chicken Bocconcini Pizza

Lebanese bread
tomato paste (mixed with BBQ sauce)
Ham
Chicken
Roasted cherry tomatoes - halved
mediterranean style marinated bocconcini cheese
mozzarella

The cherry tomatoes were grilled along side the capsicum until the skin was blistered and black.  They were placed cut side down then grilled.

Spread the lebanese bread base with the tomato paste and BBQ sauce.

Top with ham, chicken, cherry tomatoes, and bocconcini that has been pulled apart.  Top with a small amount of mozzarella.  Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp and golden.

And there you have it - another Sunday Pizza Night in our house!!!

Pizza!!!

Last night on MasterChef the challenge was pizza!!  Have MasterChef been reading my blog and discovered that Sunday night is pizza night here too??

I tried to be inventive last night and make something a little different than our normal "left overs" pizza.  I had seen a recipe for a crab pizza recently and decided to give it a go.  So with this in mind I purposefully bought the ingredients for this particular pizza, but decided to "wing" the others - ie whatever I could find in the fridge.

My crab pizza went a little like this

Pizza base was covered with bechamel sauce, topped with a little parmesan.  On top of this went the crab, then mozzarella.  Caramelised onion, tomato slices then into the pizza oven.  When it came out it was topped with shredded mozzarella.

Not bad, but not the best pizza I have ever had.

Now to the "winged" one.  What was there in the fridge that I could use?

Some frozen green prawns, some pancetta, avocado ... mmmm that sounds ok.

So onto the base this time was a combination of tomato pizza sauce with a small amount of BBQ sauce (I find this gives it a bit more flavour).  The prawns were defrosted and pan fried until they just turned pink with a good amount of garlic.  Bung these onto the base, top with shreds of the pancetta, and now the secret ingredient - there was a  small amount of the becahmel sauce left over from the first pizza so small "dobs" of it were put over the pizza.  This was all topped with mozzarella - then into the oven.  When cooked it was topped with avocado slices.

And the winner was - the prawn and pancetta pizza!

Sometimes going with your instinct and "winging" it works best!!

Dear Readers what is your favourite pizza topping?

By the way I thought my pizzas were better than some I saw on MasterChef!

"Leftovers" Pizza

How to turn a loser into a winner!

Well as you have read - the Slow Cooked Sicilian Lamb was not a winner - not in it's first life anyway!!!

Last night it was resurrected - and became a star in it's own right! It made the best pizza!!

I am not one for "second day lamb" - I think it develops a flavour of it's own (and not in a good way) - just a personal taste mind you - so it was with trepidation that I attempted the "lamb pizza". Being the creative little soul that I am, I thought a bit before embarking on this.

So what did I do.... I cut the slices of lamb into shreds, then gently pan fried them up with a very generous splash of red wine and garlic until the red wine had virtually all gone - this softened it up beautifully, and also helped to disguise the "second day lamb taste". I then caramelised 2 onions with a balsamic and maple sauce. The "leftover smashed potatoes" were placed in the oven to crisp up, and all was ready to go.

So the pizza was - tomato sauce, lamb, sundried tomatoes, caramelised onions, then the crispy potatoes, topped off with parmesan cheese and a small amount of mozzarella. YUM! Who said you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!! They obviously haven't tasted one of my "leftovers pizzas"!! For those in the know - I won "letter of the month" in the current edition of "Good Taste" with my "leftovers pizza" letter. (That wasn't what the letter was about - but with creative editing that is what they made it - who cares I WON THE BAKEWARE!!)