Morning, afternoon, whatever the time of day may be with you!
My kitchen currently resembles something of a mess, my magimix has been working overtime and everything has a slight covering of strong bread flour.
P is listening to music trying to ignore my occasional shouts of ‘COCK IT’, ‘DAGNAMMIT’and even at one point ‘HELP ME! P IT’S DRIBBLING IN MY SHOE!!’
What on earth can you possibly be doing? I hear you ask yourselves, well my friends, let me enlighten you.
I have set myself a challenge this week that I will try and make one thing I never have before from scratch.
Monday – Pesto.
I am never buying pesto again. It is so easy, tastes so much better and you can experiment all over with it changing herbs, adding bits and bobs, and it tastes so much better. Oh I said that.
I have even bought a basil plant to feed this ever growing obsession, P has named it Basil and is nurturing it much like a family pet. He feels guilt over the fate of Robert, our house plant who despite our best efforts continues to sicken and try heartily to die. He is the elephant in the room.
So Pesto: Basil leaves, olive oil, one clove of garlic (add as you wish) parmesan freshly grated (a good handful here, I love cheese) pine nuts, a wee dusting of salt and pepper, aaaaaaaaaand you’re done.
Tear the basil leaves as this produces the most wonderful smell and stains your hands with the smell of holiday, put in a blender with your garlic and the salt and pepper and pulse. If you are a massive puritan then do it with a pestle and mortar but you have to spend a phenomenal amount of time chopping. then transfer to a bowl and add the cheese and olive oil little by little until it has the flavour and consistency you want.
I made a rather good tart last night of which my pesto was a rather fabulous and fundamental feature.
Ready to roll puff pastry cut into four and laid on lightly oiled baking paper, with the oven set at a rather hot 220 degrees C. Score lightly round the edge of the oblongs and prick the bases with a fork. I then spread the pesto on the base. I sauteed some leeks and pan fried some turkey breast together and then spooned this mix on to the puff pastry bases, sprinkle the top with feta cheese and add some halved cherry tomatoes then put in the oven for 20 minutes on 190 or so. This makes 4 and P and I took one each for lunch today, they’re just as wonderful cold as they are straight out of the oven.
Tuesday – Pizza
This was possibly my most ambitious project to date. It’s not particularly difficult, it is hugely time consuming however.
You need special flour, Tipo 00 or strong white bread flour – a kilo of the stuff no less seived with a tablespoon of salt on a clean work surface.
14g dried yeast, 4 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp golden caster sugar mixed with 650mls lukewarm water.
You then make a well in the middle (don’t make my mistake and make high sides with a small well, make a lot of space in the middle) then pour in the yeasty mixture and slowly stir the flour into the mix. Then it SHOULD become smooth and elastic the more you kneed it. FOR GOD’S SAKE MAKE SURE YOU FLOUR YOUR HANDS.
The when the dough is ready put it in a floured bowl and sprinkle flour on the top. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place somewhere warm – I chose the heater in my bathroom – for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
Kneed it once again on a floured surface to get the air out of it and then roll it out. This should make 4-6 medium pizzas so tear the dough into as many balls as you want pizzas. If you want to save some wrap it in clingfilm and either put in the fridge of freezer depending on how long you want to save it for.
I used pesto on the base (now i know how to make it i can’t get enough, then topped it with goat cheese red onion, cherry tomatoes and rocket. It was amazing. I am now stuffed.
hungrygillies 