The richest and most delicious treat imaginable. But it’s hard to eat more than three. Sorry.
It is not often that I make something that is so delicious, yet can;t be finished because it is so rich in flavour.
I am not calling this my gourmet grilled cheese, simply because I could think of better cheeses to use.
Take a pantry and fridge worth of leftovers, and create this wonderful pizza with it. Mmmmmmm Pesto.
There comes a time were even I run out of things in my pantry, and have to make whats known in my house, as a throw together dinner.
So, I had some leftover Wholemeal Pizza Dough, and some leftover Pesto, and came up with this beauty of a meal.
Triple D gives me a tasty treat when using leftover Foccaccia!!
I must admit that I am not afraid to spend a lot of my time watching Cookery shows.
One of my favourites is Diners, Drive ins & Dives, which is were I first saw this, deep dish pizza on display.
So I give you my version, the FatLad Foccacia Pizza!
Foccacia
450g Strong Flour
7g Yeast
1tsp Salt
1tsp Sugar
3tbsp Olive Oil
300ml Water
Tomato Sauce
1 Tin of Tomatoes
1tsp Onion Powder
1tsp Garlic Powder
1tsp Basil
1tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
For the Pizza
Salami slices
Pepperoni Slices
1/2 Mozzarella Ball
1tsp Oregano
1tsp Chili Flakes
1. Following my Garlic Foccacia recipe, make the bread as instructed, using oil and rosemary, instead of the garlic butter.
Once baked, allow it to cool down.
2. Put all of the tomato sauce ingredients into a liquidiser, and blitz until the sauce is completely mixed.
3. Cut the Foccacia in half.
4. Cover in the tomato sauce.
5. Cover in the sliced meats.
6. Cut the mozzarella up and drape over the Pizza.
7. Put in the oven and cook for 15mins.
Enjoy with some garlic bread or some BBQ sauce on the side.
My favourite of all of the Italian meals (outside of pizza), the humble lasagne is best made by my lady, but I think this is a close second.
I make Lasagne every other month or so, and have also made many other vegetarian alternatives to this meal in the past.
But I have never really gotten the consistency right, it always ends up being too watery, so the sauces don’t mix together really well.
Until now. This one is a belter, and uses my favourite Vegetarian Mince Meat recipe, that I am sure by now, you are sick of hearing about. So make it and I’ll stop.
Vegetarian Mince Meat
Tomato Sauce
The Roux
For the Lasagne
Making the Mince Meat
Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 5
1. Put the mushrooms in a baking tray and cover and coat with Olive Oil.
2. Chop the garlic cloves, and spread evenly amongst the mushrooms.
3. Cut the butter into cubes, and dot around the mushrooms.
4. Place into the oven, and cook for 30mins.
5. When cooked, put the mushrooms and all of the butter and garlic, into the food processor.
6. Pulse five times to cut the mushrooms up a bit.
7. Add the spinach in, and blitz until it resembles black breadcrumbs. Do not blitz to a paste so take your time.
For the Tomato Sauce
1. Chop up the garlic and add to a saucepan on a medium hob heat, frying gently in Olive Oil for a few minutes.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes to the saucepan, stirring in the garlic and leave to heat up to a boil.
3. Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat to a simmer as it wants to cook for around 45mins to an hour.
4. At this point, add in the Balsamic Vinegar and the sugar and mix thoroughly. Leave the sauce to cook for 30mins on a medium to low heat, allowing it to simmer.
5. At the end of cooking, add salt and pepper to taste, along with the basil.
Making the Roux
1. Add the butter into a saucepan and put it on the hob, on a high heat. Using a whisk, melt the butter entirely.
2. Add the flour. mixing both together to create what resembles yellow ectoplasm. Whisk continually for two minutes until the flour is cooked out, as per the picture below:
3. Continuing to mix with the whisk, add the milk a little at a time. Continue whisking until the sauce becomes thick. Keep going in this fashion, adding the milk each time, until you have used it all.
4. Take the Roux off the hob and add seasoning as required, depending on what you are actually making the Roux for.
The final build
PreHeat your oven to200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.
1. Get a square/rectangle baking dish, and add half of the vegetable ragu mix to the bottom.
2. Grate over parmesan until covered.
3. Put the lasagne Pasta over the top of this in one layer.
4. Cover with a third of the Roux.
5. Cover with spinach.
6. Redo steps 1-5 two more times, missing out the spinach on the last layer.
Cover the top of the lasagne in the mozzarella and a generous grating of parmesan.
Bake in the oven for at least 45mins, to ensure the pasta is cooked throughout.
Serve with a salad on the side or maybe a little bit of Garlic Bread!
Lasagne originated in Italy, traditionally ascribed to the city of Naples (Campania), where the first modern recipe was created in the Middle Ages and published in Liber de Coquina (The Book of Cookery), and became a traditional dish. Traditional lasagne is made by interleaving layers of pasta with layers of sauce, made with ragù, bechamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. In other regions and outside of Italy it is common to find lasagne made with ricotta or mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, various meats (e.g., ground beef, pork or chicken), miscellaneous vegetables (e.g., spinach, zucchini, mushrooms) and typically flavored with wine, garlic, onion, and oregano. In all cases the lasagne are oven-baked.
Traditionally, pasta dough prepared in Southern Italy used semolina and water and in the northern regions, where semolina was not available, flour and eggs. Today in Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durum wheat, commercial lasagne are made of semolina (from durum wheat).
Emilia-Romagna’s intensive farming economy in the northern region of Italy results in plentiful dairy and meat products, and their commonality in regional cooking – more so than the olive oil found in southern regions of Italy. Pastas from Emilia-Romagna and its capital, Bologna, are almost always served with a ragù, a thick sauce made from ingredients such as onions, carrots, finely ground pork and beef, celery, butter, and tomatoes.
Info courtesy of Wikipedia
I take my favourite meal and put it into a Grilled Cheese. Whats not to love!
I have been coming up with new grilled cheese recipes weekly, ever since I came across them, via my lovely lady.
I mean, cheese and bacon/ham is pretty hard to beat.
But then I thought, if it’s cheesed based, and it is good meat, then theoretically it could work.
Take a bit of brisket, and turn it into a monster meal for two!
One of the nicest things about barbecue, is that there is always leftovers. I mean, who charcoals a barbecue just to cook sausages?
I must admit I have never had Brisket of beef before, and I have been quite looking forward to it, although we can barbecue at the moment due to the rain.
The easy way to make pizza on a budget, as well as on a tight schedule.
I do make a full scale version of my pizza recipe, using previously posted recipes, but I am a person who works heavily, and doesn’t always have the time to prove bread, etc.
In that case., I have a quick base recipe that really works, and allows me to eat pizza whenever I want.
Continue reading “Cheats Pizza”
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