“These are a few of my favourite things…”

The Sound of Music is a classic and one of my favourite films of all times! The simple mix of romantic storylines set against a backdrop of Nazi invasion across Europe, mixed effortlessly with beautiful melodies makes it impossible not to enjoy. So, going against my recent blog posts which attempt to combine new flavours and textures, I’m taking my cooking back to its humble roots and presenting a recipe of every-day ingredients that my family loves to eat – hope you enjoy.

To make the bases for this pizza, please click here.

Ingredients:

180g of garlic and herb soft cheese

1 leek

300g of mushrooms

6 rashers of bacon

Method:

1.      As the bases come to the end of their time proving, the bacon and veg can be prepared. Start of by cleaning the mushrooms, chopping them finely. Wash the leek, and again, slice into small pieces.

2.      Under a grill – or however you prefer to cook your bacon – let the rashers turn a delicious sizzling deep pink. Leave to cool slightly so these can be cut into small strips – I find scissors work best!

3.      When the bases have finished proving, take them out.

4.      As the oven warms up to 210°C, spread the soft cheese over the bases – a nice change from tomato I’ve found!

5.      Next add the bacon, followed by the mushrooms and leek.

6.      Bake in the oven for 10 minutes before enjoying!

7.      Buon appetito!

Thyme to Relax

In our ever busy lives, it can be difficult to avoid making mealtimes samey and uninspiring. Recipes seem to be getting more complicated and taking up more precious time in the evening to prepare. Therefore, I have decided to try to combat such issues with this particular pizza! The herbs add an extra twist to the punchy flavour of the goat’s cheese, while all the prep that is required is the frying of a few mushrooms. So sit back, and take some thyme to relax… ;)

To make the bases for this pizza, please click here.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp tomato purée

Sprinkling of oregano

Sprinkling of thyme

300g of mushrooms

100g of goat’s cheese

2 handfuls of sundried tomatoes

10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Method:

1.      When the bases have finished proving, take them out and let the oven warm up to 210°C.

2.      Clean the mushrooms and slice before frying them in a saucepan.

3.      Spread the tomato purée over the bases and sprinkle over the oregano, then add the fried mushrooms.

4.      Dot over the two types of tomatoes, then finish off by crumbling over the goat’s cheese and adding a generous sprinkling of thyme. And it’s as simple as that!

5.      Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and then serve.

6.      Buon appetito!

The Pink Pizza

I wouldn’t say I was a particularly girly girl – I’ve never been obsessed by make-up or boy bands… In fact, I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy. Mum could never get me in a dress and I was always out doing some sport in one form or another! I enjoyed spending time with dad though on little building projects in the garage – on one occasion we even made a wooden kart I could speed down our road in! The only typically girly thing that I did like was the colour pink – so here’s a recipe for the prettiest-looking pizza out there!

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

Ingredients:

300g beetroot, pickled in sweet malt vinegar

150g haloumi

100g hazelnuts

100g honey-roasted, wafer-thin ham

Method:

1. This pizza is one of the simplest and quickest of all my recipes to make. So I recommend that you don’t start preparing the topping until the bases have finished proving and they have been taken out of the oven. Whilst the oven warms up to 210°C, complete steps 2-4.
2. Using a liquidiser (or if you’re like me and have a hand-held blitzer – perfect for soups!), reduce the beetroot to a pulp and then spread this over the bases. I find beetroot is a nice alternative to the traditional tomato purée – and gives a lovely deep pink colour of course!
3. Next, tear pieces of ham and sprinkle these on top, followed by the haloumi.
4.  Dot over the hazelnuts.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, which is just enough time for the haloumi and hazelnuts to be toasted perfection.
6. Serve immediately and buon appetito!

Pesto Pizza

Pesto. Food of the Gods. I love the stuff! So much so that pesto pasta has become one of my all-time favourite dishes and is probably the one I’m best known for making (aside from pizzas of course!). The ease and simplicity combined with its deliciousness mean I make it at least once a fortnight. It goes in sandwiches, pastry tarts, salads, you name it! Which got me thinking… high time it went on one of my pizzas!

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

To make the pesto:

In a food processor, blitz together 150ml olive oil, 50g parmesan cheese, 50g pine nuts and a handful of basil leaves – it couldn’t be simpler! Then again, supermarket jars of the stuff run a pretty close second…

Other ingredients:

6tbsp tomato purée

200g chicken strips

260g green beans

20 cherry tomatoes

Method:

1. Towards the end of the proving time for the bases, fry the chicken until cooked. Discard the ends of the green beans and cut the veg into smaller, more bitesize pieces. Boil these until tender.
2. When the bases have finished, take them out and turn the oven up to 210°C.
3. Top the bases with the tomato purée, adding the chicken and beans.
4. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and pop these on top also so that they become nicely roasted in the oven.
5. Bake the pizzas for 10 minutes.
6. Before serving spatter over your (hopefully homemade!) pesto as the crowning glory!
7. Buon appetito!

The Love Pizza

As I sit down with my fiancé at the weekend to plan out some more details for our wedding, I realise how lucky I am to be surrounded by love. The love of my ever supportive family. The love of my wonderful friends. And, of course, the love of the man sitting next to me carefully working out the order and timings of our reception playlist. As Hugh Grant so rightly quotes in Love Actually: “If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around”.

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

Ingredients:

6tbsp tomato purée

200g chicken strips

150g feta cheese

2 handfuls artichokes hearts antipasti

2 handfuls sundried tomatoes

Drizzling of red pesto

Method:

1.      When the bases have finished proving, take them out and turn the oven up to 210°C.

2.      While the oven is heating up, fry the chicken until cooked.

3.      Top the bases with the tomato purée and then add the chicken.

4.      Dot over the artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes.

5.      Crumble over the feta cheese and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

6.      Before serving, drizzle over the red pesto – in my opinion the more generous, the better!

7.      Buon appetito!

Gary’s Protein-Packed Pizza

Now, my brother-in-law, Gary, LOVES pizza so it was only right that I dedicated one of my recipes to him. Like the rest of the family he’s big into his sport, but particularly cycling. If he’s not out beating a personal best, he’s either building a bike from scratch or tinkering with the mechanics of it – I don’t know anyone who knows more about the inner workings than he does! As with anyone serious about sporting performance, Gary is also big into his nutrition and so this recipe is packed full of protein to help speed up the recovery of those leggies! This one’s for you Big Bro J

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

Ingredients:

6 tbsp tomato purée

2 160g cans of tuna, 1 for each pizza

1 red onion

1 400g can of five bean salad

100g cheddar cheese, grated

Method:

1.      This is a simple pizza to make as there’s not much preparation needed because most of the ingredients come in a can! All that can really be done is to slice the red onion and fry in a saucepan until tender.

2.      When the bases have finished proving, take them out and turn the oven up to 210°C so it has time to heat up.

3.      Spread the tomato purée over the bases and then the red onion.

4.      Drain the tuna and add this to the pizza as well.

5.      Do the same with the can of five bean salad.

6.      Sprinkle over the grated cheddar and pop in the oven for 10 minutes.

7.      Buon appetito!

A Festive Pizza for Libby

I am confident that there is no one in the world who loves Christmas more than my big sister Libby! Although she’s nine years older than me, as soon as she hears ‘Jingle Bells’ on the radio or watches ‘Elf’ on the TV, she immediately reverts back to being a big kid! And I know we’re still months away from December and the first dusting of snow, but I couldn’t resist spreading a bit of festive cheer – if shops can start shoving Christmas down our throats when we’re still in flip flops, then so can I! So Merry Christmas my Little Big Sis J

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

As with Dad's sweet and savoury pizza recipe, this one also uses some braised red cabbage with apples. For instructions on how to prepare this, please click here.

Other ingredients:

250g brussel sprouts, shredded

2 handfuls of flaked almonds

100g goat’s cheese, crumbled

Spattering of ranberry sauce

Method:

1.      With the braised red cabbage already prepared, and the bases in the oven proving, it’s time to turn your attention to the other aspects of this topping.

2.      Grate your brussel sprouts and fry them for 5 minutes with some olive oil.

3.      Take the bases out the oven and turn the oven up to 210°C.

4.      Spread the braised red cabbage over the bases and add the fried, shredded brussel sprouts.

5.      Add the handfuls of flaked almonds so that they can toast nicely whilst in the oven, turning a delicious golden brown.

6.      Crumble over the cheese and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

7.      Before serving, add the icing on the cake to any Christmas meal – the cranberry sauce!

8.   Buon appetito!

Sweet and Savoury, Just for Dad

Maple syrup and bacon, cheese and grape – even strawberry risotto – my dad can’t get enough of a sweet and savoury combo. He’s always open to new ideas and will try anything, so cooking for him can be a real treat – after a recent trip to Rome; I even came back with urge to try out an asparagus and blueberry pasta recipe I’d had whilst out there – and he loved it! So this one’s dedicated to my wonderful Daddy-O, who I hope enjoys this concoction just as much J

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

For the braised red cabbage with apples:

1 red cabbage

1 onion

1 cooking apple

3 tbsp wine vinegar

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 garlic clove

¼ whole nutmeg, freshly grated

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

10g butter

This must be prepared in advance as, although it’s really simple to prepare, it takes between 2.5-3 hours to cook (…believe me, it’s worth it though). Start off by pre-heating the oven to 150°C. Discard the cabbage outer leaves, cut into quarters and remove the tough stalk, then shred. In a casserole, arrange a layer of these shredded leaves, adding another layer on top of this of chopped onions, apples, garlic, spices and sugar. Repeat alternating until everything is in. Pour in the wine vinegar, add the butter and put a lid on the casserole, allowing it to cook very gently. Stir everything once or twice during the cooking.

Other ingredients:

2 apples, grated

2 handfuls of raisins

100g brie, crumbled

Drizzling of balsamic vinegar

Method:

1.      When the bases have finished proving, remove them from the oven and turn the heat up to 210°C.

2.      Spread the braised red cabbage evenly over the two bases.

3.      Grate a couple of apples and add these on top as well.

4.      Next, sprinkle over some raisins and crumble over the cheese.

5.      Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

6.      Before serving, add a drizzling of balsamic vinegar to help balance the sweet with some sour, giving this pizza a bit of an extra kick!

7.      Buon appetito!

Mum’s McDonald’s-Inspired Pizza

If you were to ever ask my mum what her guilty pleasures were, I’m pretty sure the rare treat of a McDonald’s would be high up on that list! Unfortunately for her though, no one else in the family eats them and so when she does tuck into one of her three-times-a-year burgers, it’s usually quite a solitary affair for her… So, this pizza is dedicated to Chef #2, my amazing mum so at least for once, we can all indulge together!

To make the base for this pizza, please click here.

Ingredients:

170g minced beef

400g can of chopped tomatoes

1 red onion

1 beef tomato

100g cheddar cheese

Slices of pickled gherkin

Method:

1. Whilst the bases are in the oven proving, the topping can be prepared.
2.  Start off by slicing the red onion and frying it in a sauce pan with the mince. Then add the can of chopped tomato and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. When the bases have finished proving and you’ve taken them out, turn the oven to 210°C.
4. Spread the beef and tomato sauce evenly over the two bases.
5. Next, slice the beef tomato and place on top of the sauce in a neat pattern of your choosing.
6. Sprinkle over the grated cheese and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. In my opinion, you can’t have a burger at McDonald’s without the gherkin so add the slices at the end as a sort of garnish... Or, if you’re like my mum and just pick them out anyway, skip this step entirely!
7. Buon appetito!