WOOD FIRED PEPPERONI PIZZA

I love cooking in my family’s home made wood fired Pizza oven this is one of my favourite things to do with my mates and family, we make a great mess but have the best pizzas ever!  They only take two minutes to cook and my mum helps me make up loads of dough so we can make as many pizzas as we like, this is also good as sometimes we go wrong!  

I am a Pizzaiolo!



Best Ever Pizza Dough

Ingredients 

500g 00 blue caputo Italian flour

10g Himalayan sea salt 

50g extra virgin olive oil 

15g yeast

320g water

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and either by hand or by machine with a dough hook mix for seven minutes, then dust a little flour over the dough mix and gently form into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm area to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size if you want to use immediately, then other options are leave to prove slowly in the fridge for 24hrs, this is what I do as it gives me much more control over time and usage, this will keep for 48hrs in the fridge ready to go when you are, you can also freeze any left over dough at this stage, then when ready to use remove from the freezer defrost and once up to room temperature use as you would fresh.

Pizza Ingredients 

1 can san manzano tomato’s 

1 onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 bag pizza cheese Mozzarella super melty 

1 pack sliced pepperoni 

Make the pizza tomato base sauce by gently softening the onions and garlic in the olive oil, add the tomato and bring to a simmer, take off the heat and blitz to a smooth sauce, stir in the oregano and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Now your ready to rock and roll, divide the dough into 6 portions roll out each dough ball into a thin pizza base, spread a ladle of the San Marzano sauce over the base, top with torn pieces of the mozzarella and finish of with pepperoni, place on your pizza stone or in your pizza oven and cook for 2-3 minutes in a wood fired oven or 15-20 on a pizza stone in the oven, as a rule when the cheese is bubbling all over that's it Ta da done...

My friends have lots of different combinations of their favourite pizzas, BBQ chicken and spicy meatballs and of course the Hawaiian, where as nan loves peppers, onions and garlic, Grandad is just cheese and tomato with olive oil and Mum and Dad love a original Margarita with fresh basil.

QUESADILLA SWEET CHILLI GOOEY CHEESE

Serious gooey melty cheese pull, charred sautéed peppers and caramelised red onions with sweet chilli sauce this is so darn good make plenty as it's not a dish for sharing 

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 1-2)

2 large soft flour tortillas 

200g grated mozzarella cheese

50ml sweet chilli sauce 

1 glug olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1/4 red pepper diced

1/4 green pepper diced

1 small red onion sliced

1 small bunch fresh coriander chopped

1 tub sour cream

To Cook

Heat a skillet medium hot, add the olive oil, peppers and onions, sauté for five minutes until slightly caramelised, remove from the skillet, place the skillet back on the heat, lower to a medium heat, add the butter to melt.  Place one flour tortilla in the skillet, sprinkle with half the cheese, all the peppers and onions, some fresh coriander, the sweet chilli sauce and finish off with a final layer of cheese, place the remaining flour tortilla on top, leave to gently cook for approx five minutes, to turn over place a plate on top of the skillet and turn over so that the quesadilla is now on the plate, slide the quesadilla back in to the skillet and leave to gently cook for the remaining five minutes ensuring that all the cheese has melted.

To serve drizzle with sour cream more sweet chilli sauce and the remaining fresh coriander, serve cut in to quarters and enjoy

BUTTERMILK CREAM SCONES

Best Scones Ever...

Light delicate melt in your mouth scones with a puff pastry technique that allows the scones to rise up high with a crispy cheese crust and light layers throughout loaded with cheese.

Prep time 10 mins / Resting time 15 mins / Cooking time 20 mins

Ingredients 

(Makes 12)

190g butter grated

600 plain flour

80g caster sugar

40g baking powder

160g buttermilk

160g double cream

200g grated cheddar cheese

Pre heat your oven to 220 degrees C, then when ready to cook reduce the oven to 200 degrees C.  In a large bowl rub the butter into flour, add the sugar and baking powder then cheese keeping back a little for the tops, then fold in the buttermilk and cream until you have a just combined ball.  Tip out on to your work surface and press the dough out with the heel of your hand to about two inches thick then fold in half, rotate the dough by 90 degrees and press out again then fold in half and rotate again, repeat this twice more so four folds and turns in total.  Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Cut into your scones, place on a stone baking tray, brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and bake for 20 minutes until the scones are golden brown and hollow when tapped on the bottom.

BLUEBERRY RASPBERRY FREE RADICAL ANTIOXIDANT DETOX CRUSH

In a nut shell whenever we eat any food we creat free radicals, these when are allowed to build up from a unbalanced poor diet create oxidative stress on our cells which in turn becomes very harmful can lead to diseases like cancer and heart disease.  This is simple to avoid by eating a balanced diet and introducing plenty of antioxidant foods that scavenge free radicals removing from our bodies giving us the most optimum health benefits.

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

200g blueberries organic 

200g raspberries organic

6 ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in a blender and pulse, blitz until liquid, pour in to you mason jars with a straw and enjoy straight away, that's it!

GOOD TO KNOW

While both raspberries and blueberries are some of the most promising foods to eat with the ability to fight against cancer they both bring strength together to the table.  Blueberries are highest in Vitamin K, while raspberries give 54% of your RDA of Vitamin C and are much higher in fiber.

BLUEBERRIES

Vitamin C, full of photochemical caroteroids, antioxidant, anti inflammatory, rich compounds.

Natural super foods, compounds help your liver protect your body from free radicals and oxidative stress, these are linked to disease and ageing.  Anthouyanin and polyphenols inhibit the proliferation of disease cells in the liver.

RASBERRIES

Antioxidant, anti inflammatory, boosts heart health, lowers risk of coronary heart disease, helps with weight loss, increases metabolism, low on glycemic index with little impact on blood sugar, high in fiber, helps protect against cancer, eases arthritis pain.

ALLIGATOR BITES MADE SNAPPY

While I was over in the states I just had to cook alligator while watching swamp people on History, I fried a whole batch up and the whole family loved it.  I decided on Cajun seasoning as the swamp people are of Cajun origin.  Nice and spicy snappy bites of alligator tail fillet.  These tender melt in your mouth bites were even better with some original Louisiana hot sauce and cool blue cheese dip, I just buffaloed a gator!  

Ingredients

(serves 4)

454g bag Alligator tail fillet

1 tub Cajun spice mix

1 cup AP flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

Heat the oil to 180 degrees C, place the Cajun seasoning, salt and flour in a large bowl and mix to combine.  Dust the alligator bites in the Cajun seasoned flour and gently tap off any excess flour. 

In small batches place the seasoned alligator in the hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden brown, remove from the oil and drain on some kitchen paper, serve hot with sides of Louisiana hot sauce and a creamy blue cheese dip, that’s it.

ALLIGATOR TACOS

Alligator tail fillet tacos, these are awesome!  My dad loved them I seasoned the alligator in Cajun spices and served in a soft corn taco with all the fixings and my Cajun remoulade.

Ingredients

(makes 8)

454g Alligator tail fillet

1 tub Cajun spices 

1 cup AP flour

1 ltr peanut oil for frying

1 bottle of Cajun remoulade

The Fixings

Ice berg salad

Guacamole 

Pico de gallo

Coriander

Chives

Fresh jalapeños

8 soft corn tacos

Heat the oil to 180 degrees C, place the Cajun seasoning and flour in a large bowl and mix to combine.  Dust the alligator bites in the Cajun seasoned flour and gently tap off any excess flour. 

In small batches place the seasoned alligator in the hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until lightly golden brown, remove from the oil and drain on some kitchen paper, pile high on a plate.  Heat the corn tacos till warm.

Serve family style on the table with all the fixings, so everyone can stuff them full of flavour for a lip smacking gorgeous taco.

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.