WOOD FIRED SAN MANZANO PIZZA

Wood Fired Pizza's 

There is nothing more satisfying than making your own SAN Manzano Pizza and cooking it in your own wood fired pizza oven.  My mum built this pizza oven herself and is very proud of it.  Check out her blog Flower pot kitchen build your own wood fired oven.  

The secret to the most amazing pizza dough is in the ingredients and proving method, the professionals make their dough using the very best Italian 00 flour and leaving the dough to slowly prove in the fridge, YES the fridge over 24hrs, this is actually a easy method giving you more control over time.

Ingredients 

(Makes 6 pizza's)

The Dough

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g sea salt

50ml olive oil

320g water room temperature

Toppings 

San manzano tomatoes 

Di Campaina Buffalo mozzarella 

Fresh basil leaves 

First make your dough, you can once made leave to prove in a warm kitchen for around one hour tomprove, then your dough is ready to go the difference in proving your dough slowly in the fridge for 24 hrs is the improved texture in the dough when cooked as the slow proving gives you a crispier base.  Also the added bonus of being ahead on the day!

BONUS

Once your dough has proved you can now FREEZE the dough in portion balls so that all you have to do to be ready to go I whip out the dough, leave to defrost and come up to room temperature for about one hour and your a pizza a go go!

Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, in the measuring jug of water add the yeast and leave for a couple of minutes, its woth noting that if salt comes in contact with dried yeast before mixing it can de activate the yeast which will result in a low proven heavy dough.

Add the oil to the mixing bowl along with the water and yeast, mix bringing together to form a dough ball, either by hand or with a dough hook on a mixer knead the dough for seven minutes until smooth and elastic.  

Prove how you want to, when ready to use roll out on a slightly 00 floured work top and top with your favourite toppings and cook, these take a couple of minutes in a wood fired oven or if using a pizza stone in your oven around 8-10 minutes.  Enjoy.

LOUISIANA ALLIGATOR FRY

Crispy Cajun seasoned fillet of alligator tail succulent and melt in the mouth tender, great on its own but even better tossed in Louisiana hot sauce and served with a rich creamy blue cheese dip.

1 pack Louisiana alligator fillet

1 box Cajun seasoned fish fry coating

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

1 bottle Louisiana hot sauce

1 bottle blue cheese sauce

Heat your oil to 350 F / 180 C toss the alligator chunks in the Cajun fish fry coating, then fry the alligator for around 3 minutes until cooked all the way through, drain on kitchen paper and serve hot as they are or tossed through Louisiana hot sauce with a side of blue cheese dip.

DEEP FRIED BUTTER BALLS

These balls of hot seasoned garlic butter are awesome, the crispy shell gives way to a burst of intense creamy buttery flavour, these are a once a year treat and well worth the wait.  I saw these on the food network program at the Texas State fair and though while I’m in the states I am going to have to make these, they went down really well and everyone loved them.

Ingredients 

(Makes 16)

4 sticks butter softened

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp crushed red chillies 

1 box fish fry coating

2 eggs beaten

1 cup seasoned flour

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

Mix the garlic, chillies into the butter, using two teaspoons, form the butter mix in to small one mouthful bite size balls, place on a tray and pop in the freezer for a hour.  Set up your dredging station with three bowls, one with the eggs, one with the flour and one with the fry coating.  

Take the butter balls from the freezer once frozen and roll in the flour, then the egg and lastly the fish fry coating, place the balls back on the tray and back in to the freezer.  Once the coating has frozen the balls are ready to fry. 

Heat your peanut oil to 350 F / 180 C and fry the balls for approx 30 seconds, as soon as you get a little spatter of butter breaking out of the crispy shell remove the balls and place on kitchen paper.  Eat with caution as hot butter can burn.

CATFISH FRY CAJUN TACOS

Melt in the mouth tender succulent Cajun coated catfish served in a white soft corn taco with all the fixings.  No noodling required for this catfish fry!  

Ingredients 

(makes 4)

4 white raw corn tacos

1 catfish fillet

1 box Cajun seasoned fish fry coating

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

1 tomato finely diced

1 fresh jalapeño finely diced

1/4 green pepper diced

2 tbsp chopped coriander 

AMERICAN BLUEBERRY PIE

RUSTIC

I made this for my friend Troy, he lives in Australia and was over visiting and I asked what pie he would like thinking chicken and mushroom or steak, but No he wanted blue berry pie and we Troy returns later this year he has put a forward order in for chocolate eclairs! 

Ingredients 

(makes two pies)

The Pastry

450g plain flour

110g grated lard

110g grated butter

1 pinch of Himalayan sea salt 

180ml cold water

The Pie Filling

300g blueberries

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

Make the Pastry first as this will need to chill in the fridge for half an hour.  Place all the ingredients except the water in a large bowl and gently mix evenly, add the water and bring to a ball, wrap in cling film, press the ball flatter in to a disk and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Place the sugar, vanilla and blueberries in a saucepan over a low medium heat and cook until they resemble blueberry jam, remove from the pan and leave to cool.

Cut the pastry in half and one half can be frozen for your next batch.  Cut the remaining half in half again and shap into balls, roll out to the thickness of a pound coin.  Line the pie tin with the pastry, and trim off any excess, I like to crimp the top edges of the pastry for that rustic farmhouse look.  Line the inside of the pastry with baking paper and baking beans, 

Pre heat your oven 180 degrees C and bake for 15 minutes, remove the baking beans and parchment paper and bake for a further 5 minutes, add the pie filling and finish of baking for a further 10 minutes, serve warm with cream.

RICE CUSTARD PUDDDING

I made this for my dad after watching a Michelin Star chef do it for his restaurant and why yes this has taking rice pudding to a whole other level it is not your traditional rice pudding and scare blue!  There was not skin!  

This is much richer and more of a creme englaise custard rice pudding, in its own right a gorgeous pudding but the main reason is that the skin is missing, and I know for some of you traditionalist this is a big part of your rice pudding, this I will work on, yuk! from my dad’s point of view it is the best bit and essential.  But with all that said, my family still gobbled it all down with delight.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

90g pudding rice

90g sugar

250ml double cream

250ml full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

5 egg yolks

Wash the rice several times and place in a pan with the cream and milk, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for approx 20 minutes until the rice is cooked, meanwhile place the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla paste in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy.

Take two ladles of the rice milk from the cooker and add to the egg yolks mixture, whisk quickly to incorporate, add the rest of the rice milk and mix well, add everything back to the saucepan and cook gently for a further 2 minutes and then serve.  If you want a hint of skin place the rice pudding under the grill for a couple of minutes, this will not give you that traditional thick baked skin but might be a compromise.

HOMEMADE HOT PIRI PIRI SAUCE

Homemade Piri Piri Sauce

This fabulous hot sauce is a great favourite of mine, I like to marinate chicken in this sauce and will serve it as Piri Piri chicken burgers, roast Piri Piri chicken, which is great in salads, tacos and wraps.

Homemade Piri Piri Sauce

2 red peppers roasted 

1 red onion charred

4 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1 habanero or scotch bonnet chilli (more for hotter)

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

11/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

Finishing ingredients 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 lemon zested 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup olive oil

Roast the peppers and onions on a plancher flat top or skillet, charring all over, deseed the peppers, in a blender purée the charred peppers and onion, add the garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, habanero, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, purée to a smooth sauce.  Pour the puréed sauce in to a saucepan add the bay leaf and gently simmer for half an hour, remove from the heat and leave to cool, transfer the sauce back to the blender, add the remaining finishing ingredients the lemon juice, lemon zest, apple cider vinegar, purée and finally drizzle in the olive oil while the blender is still running.  That's it, adjust the seasoning if needed and keep any left over in the fridge.