Quick Pan Pizza

Everybody loves pizza.  It’s unpretentious, simple, honest food.  It also comes in many guises: from the incredibly thin, crisp pizza base found in Italy, spread lightly with intense tomato sauce and strewn with slices of mozzarella, to the thick, stuffed crust of the commercial English version; there is a pizza type out there to suit everyone.  Everyone, perhaps, except for the food intolerants of this world.  I’ve long been working on a gluten, egg, dairy and yeast free pizza crust that would remind me of my 6 months spent in Italy, where, on a student budget, we ate slices of pizza, cut fresh from a giant, baking hot base that was lifted from the clay oven set in the wall before our eyes.  The price was the equivalent to about a pound a slice and your choice was between the much loved (and in my eyes, the best) margarita or whatever the vendor felt like creating that day: sometimes mushrooms, sometimes pepperoni, once, on a heady day, anchovies and olives.  We ate there every single day and never, ever grew tired of it.  So I understand the importance of a good pizza, but I also understand the sometime need for a quick and simple fix.

This pizza is not the traditional affair but a cheating little number that can be whipped up in minutes.  The base is made from a light dough that can be rolled out to any thickness you like, and the topping is quite literally, anything you want it to be.  For me, I want an intense tomato sauce and then a selection of what can only be described as antipasti, to decorate the top.  I also like to scatter over toasted pine nuts to give a savoury flavour that mimics that of parmesan or pecorino cheese and add a bit of rocket for a peppery kick.  Whatever your choice, this base can be built on to satisfy any pizza craving you might have and makes a brilliant midweek supper when served with a large green salad.

This makes one 8 inch pizza which is a good meal for one or serves two if served with accompaniments.  If you want to make two pizzas simply double the recipe quantities and then divide the dough into two balls, rolling them out and pan frying them separately, before transferring to the oven to cook together.

QUICK PAN PIZZA

Makes 1 eight inch pizza

For the pizza base

110g/4oz Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

¼ tsp xantham gum

1 tbsp olive oil

4 – 6 tbsp warm water

A good pinch of sea salt

For the pizza sauce

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp garlic oil or good olive oil

½ tsp lemon juice

½ tsp soft brown sugar

½ tsp dried oregano

A few basil leaves, torn up

For the topping

A selection of antipasti: chargrilled artichokes, olives, roasted peppers

A handful of rocket

A small handful of pine nuts

Drain the juice from the tomatoes, discarding the liquid and placing the remaining tomatoes in a small saucepan.  Add the tomato puree, oil, lemon juice, sugar and oregano the tomatoes, season well and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir in the torn basil leaves, season to taste and set aside to cool down slightly.

Preheat the oven to 200c.  Using a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, water, xantham gum, sea salt and oil until you have a stiff dough – add a little more water if the mixture is not coming together but remember that you don’t want it to become sticky.  Pull the dough together with your hands and knead lightly, just stretching the dough a little to allow the xanthan gum to bind, for a few minutes.  Roll the dough into a smoo

Roll the dough into a smooth ball and lay it between two pieces of clingfilm.  Roll it out into a circle, approximately 8 inches in diameter and 5mm thick, shaping the edges with your fingers.  Heat a large frying pan or flat griddle until very hot.  Once rolled, lay the pizza base into the pan and cook until browned on one side – about 3 minutes.  Transfer the pizza to a flat baking sheet, cooked side down, and then lightly spread over the tomato sauce and layer over your chosen toppings.  Place in the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the base is crisp and slightly coloured.  Serve immediately.

Natoora and Pesto New Potatoes

Recently, I was lucky enough to receive an absolute bounty of fruit and vegetables from the kind people at Natoora.  Natoora is an online grocers that specialises in sourcing and providing the best quality foods and groceries and delivering them directly to your door.  They are driven by a passion for top quality, fresh, seasonal food and it is that drive and dedication that has led them to supply some of the best restaurants in the country including The Greenhouse and The River Cafe.

With a focus on food as a pleasure and joy, rather than just fuel, the people at Natoora go out of their way to find the finest quality produce and suppliers in England, France and Italy.  This means that you can buy organic, hand reared meats, ripe and juicy strawberries and saffron risotto rice direct from England, France and Italy, all at the click of a button.  I received their spring taster box which was jam packed with delicious looking and fragrant fruit and vegetables.  My haul included:

Jersey Royal New Potatoes

Thin tipped Asparagus

Purple Asparagus

Camone Tomatoes

A huge bunch of basil

Fresh peas

Strawberries from Marsala

Loquats

The quality of the fruit and vegetables I received was unbelievable.  I cannot expound enough on the intensity and savour of my spring box and oh, the options and inspiration it produced.  I immediately set to podding the peas and have to hold up my hands and say that I managed to eat most of them before they got to the bowl!  I love fresh peas and, had I the self control; I probably would have kept them raw, fried a little streaky, smoked bacon until crisp then cooked a vat of gluten free spaghetti and added the bacon, peas and a little lemon zest with a dribbling of the cooking water to keep the spaghetti fluid.  Delicious.  The tomatoes and two types of asparagus I set aside in lieu of making a Superfood Salad: roasted lemon and olive oil asparagus, diced tomato, alfalfa sprouts, chives, cooked and sliced beetroot, a few tablespoons of cooked quinoa, toasted pine nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and barely steamed broccoli makes for the ultimate in salads.  It gives you energy, sustenance and tastes utterly divine; it’s the kind of salad empires (friendly, whole foods, peace loving empires I might add!) were built on and I love making a big batch of it and then slowly working my way through it throughout the week.

The recipe that I have chosen to make for you is an absolute favourite of mine.  Pesto Potato Salad sounds incredibly simple and well, it is, but no less appetising for it, in fact I would go to say that its simplicity is its secret weapon.  With so few ingredients the flavours stand proud and demand to be noticed, and when you are using fresh, high quality and seasonal ingredients it makes sense to keep the fuss to a minimum and let the food do the talking.  I love this pesto; by toasting the pine nuts first it takes on a little of the nutty, intensity of parmesan cheese and lends the pesto a superior flavour that means that you just want to put it with everything.  It works superbly when spread on rye bread, or stirred in to pasta or rice; I use it as a filling for stuffed peppers (with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes) or with a little added olive oil as a dressing for salads.  The options are endless but my favourite means of use is to add it to steaming hot new potatoes, especially when they are the Rolls Royce of new potatoes; jersey royals.  Because of their straight from the heat temperature, the potatoes suck up the pesto so that when bitten into, their tender, creamy flesh yields a porous layer of nutty, salty, basil pesto.  Heaven.

PESTO NEW POTATOES

Serves 4

100g/4oz pine nuts

A large bunch of basil

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of sea salt flakes

450g/1lb new potatoes

Preheat the oven to 200c (180c Fan).  Toast the pine nuts on a baking tray until they are golden.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool down.

Combine the toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, salt and olive oil in a food processor and blitz until the mixture is a smooth pesto puree.  Season to taste and add a little more olive oil if you think it’s necessary.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the new potatoes – a tip worth knowing is to always add new potatoes to boiling water whereas old potatoes should always be placed in the water when cold and then brought to the boil - cook until completely tender to a knife point.  Drain and, while hot, fold in the fresh pesto and serve.