Roast Potato, Emmenthal & Rosemary Pizza

Let's talk potatoes. Thin slivers of soft carby goodness on the inside and golden-brown almost-crispiness on the outside. With the occasional crunch of some fleur de sel. You in? Now let's add some gently caramelised onions, a smattering of rosemary and pile it on top of a pillowy, crusty pizza base. You still in?

Because if you're not, that's totally cool with me. You know, in a totally grown-up not at all great!-more-for-me way. I've been toying with the potato pizza idea for quite some time now, but it has been rejected over and over in favour of more bold, out-there toppings. Ah... the folly of youth. I couldn't see what was right in front of me. 

Down-to-earth ingredients, lovingly prepared in the best way possible, glazed with olive oil and pared with cheese. Carb overload in the best possible way. And perfect for Meat Free Mondays.

Roast Potato, Emmenthal & Rosemary Pizza
Makes 8 slices

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 small potatoes, scrubbed & thinly sliced
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 
1/2 pizza base recipe 
3 tbsp tomato paste
100g mozzarella cheese, grated
emmenthal, sliced
1 sprig rosemary 

1. Heat half the oil in a frying pan and saute the onion over low heat with balsamic vinegar until caramelised. This will take around 20 - 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile place the potato slices onto a baking tray, drizzle with the remainder of the olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until cooked through and slightly crisp on top. Leave oven on and increase heat to 220C.
3. Roll dough out, place on a pizza stone (or oiled piece of heavy duty foil) spread with tomato paste and scatter with mozzarella cheese. Top with caramelised onions, potatoes, emmenthal and rosemary.
4. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake in oven at 220C for 12 minutes.

Nutritional info (per slice): Calories 230.3 , Total fat 8.8 g, Saturated fat 3.0 g, Polyunsaturated fat 0.6 g, Monounsaturated fat 3.1 g, Cholesterol 6.9 mg, Sodium 202.7 mg, Potassium 242.1 mg, Total carbohydrate 28.9 g, Dietary fiber 1.7 g, Sugars 1.9 g, Protein 8.9 g

Good source of: Selenium 17.5 %, Thiamin 16.9 %, Manganese 15.0 %, Niacin 12.9 %, Folate 11.8 %, Vitamin C 10.5 %

Rosemary, Grape and Blue Cheese Focaccia

I actually made this a while ago, but then the photo got "lost" in my archives and I somehow never got around to posting it. Unlike my organisational system though, this focaccia is truly excellent! Soft and chewy, with a great flavour hit from the grapes and blue cheese. It is gooooooooooooood. 

Let me repeat that, because you need to believe it: It.Is.GOOD. 




If you've ever doubted this combo, do yourself a favour and give it a try. You will not look back. And if you phone now... well, since this is not an infomercial you won't get an extra hunk of cheese, but you will get some pretty awesome compliments from whomever gets to taste this. And that's a moneyback guarantee.

(For my fellow South Africans: This would make a kickass substitute for the usual braaibroodjies on a lazy summer day)

Rosemary, Grape and Blue Cheese Focaccia
Adapted from Food & Wine

Makes 1 x 25cm diameter focaccia
Serves 2 - 4 as snack or light lunch

1 1/2 - 2 cups white bread flour
10g instant dry yeast
3/4 cup luke warm water
1 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
a bunch of seedless red grapes, halved
70g blue cheese
1 tsp olive oil, to drizzle
a handful of fresh chives, chopped

1. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of flour together with the yeast, water, rosemary, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Turn out onto a floured surface, and, adding the rest of the flour gradually, knead until smoothForm dough into a ball, grease with olive oil and transfer back into a clean bowl. Cover bowl with clingwrap and allow to rise for 1 - 2 hours. Dough should be double in volume.
2. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 220C. Grease a 25cm diameter round pie dish, then pull and stretch the dough to fit snugly into the dish. Make indentations haphazardly all over the surface of the dough with your fingers, then place the grapes into the indentations. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt.
3. Place focaccia into the oven and bake for 12 minutes, or until it is golden. Sprinkle blue cheese on top, and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Return to the oven for 2 or 3 minutes to melt the cheese.
4. Remove from oven, sprinkle with chives and cut into wedges. Serve while still warm.

Nutritional info (for the whole focaccia): Calories 421.3, Total fat 9.6 g, Saturated fat 4.8 g, Polyunsaturated fat 1.0 g, Monounsaturated fat 3.0 g, Cholesterol 17.5 mg, Sodium 327.9 mg, Potassium 198.2 mg, Total carbohydrate 68.4 g, Dietary fiber 2.0 g, Sugars 9.0 g, Protein 14.8 g


Good source of: Selenium 50.4 %, Thiamin 43.9 %, Folate 33.3 %, Manganese 33.0 %, Niacin 31.5 %, Riboflavin 29.5 %, Iron 20.4 %,Calcium 14.0 %

Daring Cooks - Mezze

People adopt smug smiles for various reasons. Maybe you know something that no-one else does. A juicy secret definitely ups the smug factor (or at least it does for me!) Smug smiles can also be caused by the knowledge that you are somewhat (in some way at least) superior to someone else.



Sometimes you are not necessarily good at something, but certainly better than the average person out there. Something a whole slew of people realised in this past week with the whole facebook login fiasco. If you don't know what I'm talking about now - Daring Fireball has a great summary of the events that ensued when ReadWriteWeb wrote an article about facebook which resulted in unintentionally hilarious comments from confused facebook users.  It's one of those things that can make even the most un-savvy computer user feel like Bill Gates . Smugness on tap!

The 2010 February Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid. Our mezze had to include (but was not limited to): pita Bread (from scratch) and hummus. My hummus was a dismal FAIL, so I won't include a recipe for that. The pita bread though, was a HUGE success. I don't think I'll ever go back to buying ready made pita again.

And if you've never felt smug in your life, I can almost guarantee you that a bout of bread making will rectify that. Not because it's very complicated or even difficult. It's just that hardly anyone still does it anymore. And as such it has become quite awe-inspiring when someone does venture into the kitchen to exercise their kneading prowess.

Fast is not a word I'd use to describe making pita bread from scratch. But in the same breath, it's very low-maintenance. Mix, let rest, knead, let rest, roll out & bake for a few minutes. Active time is probably 30 minutes tops. The rest is just sitting back and waiting for the yeast to do the work. Producing perfectly fresh chewy, pillowy pita bread with (almost) no effort. Now that's something to feel smug about.

Pita Bread
Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Makes 8

2 tsp instant dry yeast

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

2 cups white bread flour

1 cup brown bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

1. In a large bowl combine yeast, water and half of the flour. Stir 100 times in the same direction to activate the gluten. Cover and allow to rest for 1 1/2 hours.

2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well, then gradually add more flour until the dough comes together. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic. Roll dough into a ball, lightly coat with olive oil, place in large bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to rise until double in volume (45 mins to 1 hour)

3. Preheat oven to 230C. Gently punch down the dough, and divide in 8 equal pieces. Flatten each piece and roll out to a circle approx 1/2 cm thick. Lay the rolled out pita dough pieces next to each other (not on top of each other) and cover with a dish towel until ready to bake. 

4. Place two pita rounds at a time (or more if you have a large enough oven) onto a rectangle of heavy duty foil (or baking sheet or pizza stone), then place on oven rack. Bake for 2 - 3 minutes, or until bread puffs up like a balloon. Remove fom oven and wrap in a large kitchen towel to keep warm and soft while you bake the remaining breads. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

 

Nutritional info (per pita): Calories 142.9, Total fat 2.3 g, Saturated fat 0.3 g, Polyunsaturated fat0.3 g, Monounsaturated fat 1.3 g, Cholesterol 0.0 mg, Sodium 436.5 mg, Potassium 21.5 mg, Total carbohydrate 26.5 g, Dietary fiber 2.3 g, Sugars 0.0 g, Protein 4.6 g