Showing posts with label salami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salami. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza

Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza
Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza


I have been crazy for pizza lately. For the last few months, we’ve had homemade pizza at least once a week. It’s often on a Sunday, sitting out in the now cooling sunshine with a beer, or a glass of wine. Or, in this case, a glass or bubbles. I love building different flavour profiles in pizza and coming up with something a little fun and novel. The bases have all been the lentil/chickpea flour bases I made in this post here. I love the extra oomph of flavour that the chickpeas give the dough. Feel free to use whatever bases you want, but there really is only a little extra effort in making your own. Mix the dough, leave it to rise for half an hour while you prep the ingredients, then roll and assemble the pizzas.

This pizza was created after a trip to Kakulas without Lance. We have a rule in our house that Lance is not to be in charge of portion control. He instigated that rule himself after he assured me that he could eat a whole mess of herring that we caught on honeymoon. I was sceptical, but cooked it all and nothing else. Just the herring. Luckily. It was a crazy amount of fish. He understood this, and now it’s up to me to decide on portion control. So I think I might have to instigate a rule that I shouldn’t go to Kakulas without Lance. He talks me down and makes me be more sensible with my cheese and cured meats purchases. Without him asking me, repeatedly, if we *really* need that AS WELL, and when will we get to eat all of this cheese, especially when we’re out for meals all weekend and the first few days of the week, well…I get a little bit ridiculous. And my basket gets piled high with various gourmet cheeses and salamis and serrano and…well, you get the idea. And I only went in to get one or two things.

But, I knew I was going to make pizza. And I knew I was going to use roast eggplant and beetroot on the pizza. So I knew that I wanted a gorgeous fennel salami. And some fetta. Do try and get a fennel salami for this, the aniseedy fennel brings out the absolute best of the earthy sweet roast beetroot. And the saltiness of the fetta makes the silky roast eggplant “sauce” come to life, so try make that a good quality one, too. I like sheep/goat’s fetta, as it has a nice creamy texture, rather than a drier, crumblier one.

This was all topped off with some of the orange hollandaise sauce I made for the enoki tacos. It’s seriously next level stuff to drizzle over this pizza. A decadent flavour boost. If you don’t have the time or inclination to make it, serving this with a lemon wedge is a nice idea.

Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza
Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza
Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza


Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza

2 roasted baby beetroot
1 small roasted eggplant
5-6 slices fennel salami, cut into pieces
50g Greek fetta, sliced and ready to crumble
tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
sprig thyme, leaves removed
1 portion pizza dough (my go-to is this one - halve for this pizza, or double the toppings)

to serve

orange hollandaise
lemon wedge

If you don't have any roasted eggplant and beetroot, start by doing that. Heat your oven to 175 and baked whole, scrubbed beetroot wrapped tightly in foil for 45-50 minutes until tender. Roast the eggplant for 30-40 minutes, turning over halfway, until soft. Allow to cool enough to handle, then peel the beetroot and slice.


Make your dough, if you are. Or gather your pizza bases.

Preheat your oven to 175C. Sprinkle a teaspoon of coarse cornmeal on a baking tray to stop it sticking.


Roll your pizza dough out to your desired shape. I tend to go for a rustic rectangle to fit on my baking tray. Slice your beetroot, salami and fetta ready.


Cut the roast eggplant in half and use a fork to shred out the flesh. Spread this over the base of the pizza, top with the other ingredients, adding the fetta last.


Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the dough is golden.


Serve with a drizzle of orange hollandaise, normal hollandaise or a wedge of lemon.



Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza
Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza
Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza
Pizza Party - Beetroot, Eggplant and Salami Pizza


Monday, January 20, 2014

Gifts of Food - Fig, Salami and Ricotta on Cauliflower Gnocchi


Being known as ‘the cook’ definitely has some advantages. And the number one advantage is that sometimes people give me ingredients. Often homegrown ingredients. Having some farm-fresh eggs or backyard tomatoes because they are in season is so awesome. And one free thing that I will never get sick of getting is fresh figs. Figs are one of those things that I love – but never actually buy. So I don’t tend to have them very frequently. So when I was given a handful of figs unexpectedly the other day, I was so stoked. They were my first of the season! Coincidentally, a picture of salted caramel fig trifle came up in my instagram feed that same day and I was drooling, but when I was given the figs my mind was already fixed firmly on what to cook for dinner that night.

I am one of those people that sometimes go for the ‘value-size’ option for something, not remembering that there are only two of us eating most nights. So when I saw that I could get twice as much ricotta for only $1 more…I went with the big tub. And after making lentil ricotta patties two nights in a row, and a zucchini and ricotta ‘risotto’ inspired by a pasta in the Wahaca cookbook I got for Christmas…I still had some left. Figs and ricotta are already a classic combination, so I figured they could make a good pasta sauce. Add some salami for salt and kick, defrost some cauliflower gnocchi and I had an amazing summer pasta ready in less than half an hour.

Perfect with a crisp, dry rose.

 
Fig Salami and Ricotta on Cauliflower Gnocchi
200g thinly sliced salami, roughly chopped into 1cm squares
1 medium red capsicum, thinly sliced
4 figs, roughly diced
1 cup ricotta
Enough gnocchi for two people (I used this recipe which I had pre-cooked. If you buy it packaged, you’ll need to follow the package cooking instructions first)

Pecorino, black pepper and lemon zest to serve

Heat a frypan to medium high heat and add the salami, stir to separate the bits and help it render out some of it’s oil. Add the capsicum and stir fry this with the salami for about 5 minutes until it starts to soften.

Add the gnocchi and figs and stir through to coat in the oils. Cook for another 5-10 minutes or so until the figs become a little jammy. Add the ricotta and warm through – approximately 2 minutes.

 Serve, sprinkled with some pecorino (or other sharp, aged cheese) freshly cracked pepper and a little lemon zest.
 

Sunday, May 26, 2013

One Dish, Two Ways - Italian Potato Salad/Italian Potato Bake

My cousin is about to head off on a European adventure, and seeing as she will be away for her birthday, she decided to have a bit of a get together before she went. I offered to bring a dish and was told maybe a potato salad. The rest of the food being served was going to be Italian, which got me thinking. Italian Potato Salad? Does such a thing exist? I've never eaten a potato salad made with Italian flavours - sounds like experiment time!

I guess I should say up front, that I've never been the hugest fan of potato salad. I think because a lot that I've eaten have had a really strong, overly 'mayonnaise-y' ness to them, and not a lot of content beyond boiled potatoes and peas. And boiled potatoes are one of the blandest foods in the world. I like to pimp mine out a bit more. 

The previous night I had fried up some hot salami with slices of garlic for a different dish and thought that was the perfect start for Italian Potato Salad. I didn't have enough potato to make a salad large enough to share, so I added some sweet potato to the mix. And I had an abundance of red capsicums, so I roasted up a few to add a lovely sweetness and new texture to the mix. The sauce was made simply with greek yoghurt, dried oregano, sun dried tomatoes and seeded mustard. The result was pretty darn impressive. Something I would eat a whole plate of as a meal.

Unfortunately (but luckily for me), it was forgotten in the fridge at the party, and I got to take it home with me. Being a cold night, and my husband hoping for a hot dinner asked - could it be heated? Well...yes. The sauce is just greek yoghurt. I don't see why not! I poured the whole thing into an oven dish, added some thinly sliced Provolone cheese and baked it for 20 minutes until warmed through and the cheese was golden. Heaven!

So here's a dinner perfect two ways - Italian Potato Salad and Italian Potato Bake. (I forgot to take photos of it until it was out of the oven. Sorry!)

 
 
 

Italian Potato Salad/Bake
6 baby potatoes, quartered
2 small sweet potatoes, cut to similar size
2 small red capsicum
half hot salami sausage, thinly diced
2 large cloves garlic, sliced
300g Greek Yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
5 sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons whole-seed mustard

Put the potatoes into a pot of water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add the sweet potato. When potatoes are tender, but not completely soft, strain out water and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Store in fresh cold water until ready to assemble.

Meanwhile, roast the capsicums in a hot oven until the skin starts blistering. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to sweat a few minutes so you can peel the skin off. Discard innards and slice into strips. Set aside to cool.

Fry the salami in a medium hot pan, once starting to crispen and release oils, add the garlic slices and cook until everything is toasty. Drain really well on paper towels.

To make the sauce, blend the greek yoghurt, oregano, paprika and sundried tomatoes in a food processor or blender until well mixed and the tomatoes are chopped. Add the mustard and pulse a few times to distribute.

Combine all of the ingredients and add the sauce a bit at a time to ensure it's not too saucy. I ended up with too much sauce. Serve as potato salad.

To make the bake:
Heat oven to 180c
Pour potato salad into a casserole dish, add Provolone slices or thinly sliced/grated cheese of choice over the top and bake for 20 minutes or so until cheese is toasty and the sauce bubbles slightly add the edges.

This photo is of it served to the rear with a super-quick seafood marinara pasta I cooked while the potato salad became a potato bake!