In all cases start with a large pizza base, ideally home made and a preheated oven. Add the toppings, cook and enjoy:
Italian Potato Pizza:
Delicious and filling, this is full of summer flavors and a welcome break from tomato based pizzas.
- New Potatoes; finely sliced ideally with a mandolin of food processor, then parboiled for five minutes
- 2 tubs of Ricotta
- 150g grated Parmesan
- Zest of one lemon
- Leaves from a few sprigs of rosemary
- 3 - 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
Directions:
- Spread the ricotta evenly over the pizza base, seasoning with salt and pepper and then layer on the finely sliced, parboiled potatoes. If these are enough to make a couple of layers, make sure to drizzle some olive oil in between.
- Once the potatoes are used up, sprinkle on the lemon zest, rosemary, Parmesan and finish with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper again, being liberal with the pepper.
- This pizza should be baked in a medium oven; gas mark 6 or about 200 degrees until the potatoes are cooked through. Most pizzas are a bit quicker to cook in a hot oven but this needs a longer, slower baking to ensure that the potatoes cook yet not enough to burn the dough. This balance is why the potatoes need to be sliced so finely to start with. The pizza usually takes about half an hour but check after twenty minutes and also give it a bit longer if needed.
Camembert and Walnut with Caramelized Onions:
This is another good pizza for anyone needing a change from the tomato based variety and it is full of rich, winter flavor. If Camembert is a problem to buy, Brie is a milder substitute. Ripe cheese makes the best topping.
- 4 - 5 onions, sliced
- 100g butter
- 100g brown sugar
- 1tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 small round Camemberts
- 20 walnut halves
- Olive oil for drizzling
- Salt and Pepper
Directions:
- First make the caramelized onion mixture by placing the butter, sugar, onions and balsamic vinegar in a wide pan; a wok or frying pan makes this easy. Stir constantly whilst heating on a medium heat. First the butter and sugar will melt, then the mixture bubbles for a while as the onions cook. Finally the onions are soft and cooked and the juices become sticky, dark brown and sweet smelling. Turn off the heat at this stage or the mixture will quickly burn.
- To assemble the pizza, spread the base with the onion mixture, add slices of Camembert and dot these with the walnut halves.
- Drizzle the pizza with plenty of olive oil making sure that each walnut gets a little of the oil; this ensures that they do not burn. Season with salt and pepper and bake in a hot oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the base is done and the cheese melted.
Really Tasty Vegetarian Pizza:
This topping makes a healthy, hearty, delicious vegetarian pizza and tastes good on a wholemeal base as well as the traditional kind. Add more cheese if desired or non dairy cheese and pesto for vegans. Adjust the stronger flavored ingredients such as olives to taste. Children also like this pizza.
- Tomato Sauce, puree or can of plum tomatoes
- 4 tbsp pesto
- 1 Avocado, sliced
- 1 Large onion, finely sliced
- 6 - 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Black olives to taste
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tbsp frozen sweetcorn
- 50g Pine nuts
- 100g hard cheese of choice e.g cheddar
- Dried oregano
- Olive oil for drizzling
- Salt and Pepper
Spread the pesto followed by the tomato sauce evenly over the base. They will mingle together as you spread but that is fine. Add garlic and onions next then follow with all the other vegetables and pine nuts. Top with cheese, drizzle over olive oil, add herbs and seasoning and bake in a medium hot oven until the vegetables are done and the cheese bubbled and toasted.
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