Sourdough Pizza Margherita

I thought it might be slightly wacky to make a sourdough pizza base but then found out that traditional and authentic pizza is actually made of sourdough. So there!

Decided to push the boat out a bit and use real buffalo milk mozzarella from Campania - it melts and runs in a way which is incompatible somehow. However, it's a bit pricey and you could easily get away with a cow's milk mozzarella imitation for at least half the price.

I've tried to get back to the humble heart and soul of the traditional pizza here - a minimum of ingredients. No pineapple here, I'm afraid. Sorry.

Serves: 4

Cost per person: 3.75 zl (0.75 GBP, 0.90 Euros)

You'll need:

- 3 heaped tsp of sourdough starter in a cup of tepid water

- 400g ish of plain white flour

- 1 tsp each of salt and sugar

- a splash or two of olive oil

- 1 tin of tomatoes

- 1 clove of roughly chopped garlic

- salt to taste

- 250g of mozzarella (buffalo milk if you want to keep it real)

Let's cook!

1. Mix 3 good tsp of sourdough starter into a cup of tepid water

2. Mix the flour in a bowl with the salt and sugar

3. Mix in the sourdough starter water mix. Add some extra water if necessary to form a wettish dough.

4. Glug in some olive oil

5. Knead for around 10 minutes

6. Leave in a bowl overnight, covered.

7. Meanwhile, get the sauce ready! Start by top and tailing whole tinned tomatoes (you don't want the nasty bits on your pizza!). Then chop up finely. 

8. Chop up the garlic and lightly fry in olive oil for a minute. Sort of half-cook it. Don't let it burn - that will ruin the taste. 

9. Add the tomatoes and any remaining tomato juice from the tin and cook down for 5-10 minutes. Season with a little salt. Done!

10. ..... and the dough has been rising and rising and 10 hours later looks like this:

11. Divide up into smaller balls on well-floured surface.

12. Heat the oven up to max. Make sure whatever tray you'll be using for the pizza is in there as well. I prefer just the flat metal tray that comes with the oven.

13. Keeping the surface well-floured, roll out the dough into a rough circle, not too thick. Slightly prick the surface a few times with a fork.

14. When the oven's up to temperature, pull out the tray, put the base on it and transfer back to the oven for a minute or so. You see, traditionally pizza's are cooked for a minute or less at 500 degrees. You can't achieve those kind of temperatures at home so we need to cook the pizza in 2 stages. This first stage firms up the base a bit. If you miss this stage, you risk a soggy base. Flip it over after a minute just to see if it's firm. If so, proceed.

15. Add a little sauce, leaving the edges unsauced. Rip a little mozzarella over. Then back into the oven for around 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling away nicely.

16. Enjoy!

Costing:

- Mozzarella: 13 zl

- Tomatoes: 2 zl

- Flour and the rest: 1 zl

Total: 15 zl

Serves: 4

Per person: 3.75 zl

Melanzane Fournou (aubergines baked in a tomato sauce with cheese)

This was the star dish from my recent Greek trip so I'll have a stab at recreating it here... It turned out quite well and really tasted like the original. I merged together 2 slightly different approaches here. One school of thought might use feta mixed in with sauce and then baked; another approach might be to top the dish with some grated cheese such as Gruyere. I decided to do both, except I used cheddar instead of Gruyere just because that's what I had in. 

You need to go for tomatoes which have been ripened and kissed by the sun - that's why they taste so good in Greece. If they're not in season, maybe tinned ones might work. NEVER EVER buy tomatoes in winter - they'll be the tasteless artificial ones imported from Holland. No thanks!

Serves: 2
Cost per person: 6.50 zl 

Damn! I'm over budget!! Oh well......

Ingredients:

- 2 medium aubergines
- 2 big ripe juicy tomatoes, skinned and pureed
- 1 onion sliced
- 1-2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
- a pinch of dried thyme (or fresh if you've got it)
- a pinch of dried oregano (or fresh if you've got it)
- a couple of sprigs of rosemary
- lashings of olive oil!
- a handful of crumbled feta
- a handful of grated cheddar/ Gruyere
- a baguette/ whatever bread you fancy

Let's prep and cook!

1. Remove the skins from the tomatoes and puree
2. Slice up the aubergines fairly thick and salt them in a bowl for 30 minutes. Rinse

3. Slice up the onions and chop up the garlic

4. Heat up a pan. Glug in some olive oil and get the onions in. Medium heat. 

5. After around 5-7 minutes, get the garlic in. Cook down till the onions start to slightly brown.

6. Tomato puree in. Herbs. Season with black pepper. Add a pinch of salt too if necessary. Cover and cook down for around 10 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, wash and drain the aubergines. Glug some olive oil over them.

8. Spread them on a baking tray. Glug a little more oil over them. Don't be shy! Add a couple of sprigs of rosemary - this will infuse a nice flavour while baking. Put in the oven under the grill setting (good and hot!) for about 5 minutes each side.

9. After around 5 minutes, turn over and grill the other side.

10. Glug a little olive oil into a baking dish. Add a little of the tomato sauce.

11. Layer in around half the aubergines with the crumbled feta.

12. Layer in some more sauce, the rest of the aubergines and then the rest of the sauce. Top with the grated cheddar.

13. Bake at 180 degrees until the cheese has melted and the whole dish is bubbling away happily.

14. Enjoy with some baguette to mop up those juices! Yum!

Costs:

- aubergines: 4 zl
- tomatoes: 4 zl
- baguette: 1 zl
- cheese: 2.5 zl
- the rest: 1.5 zl

Total: 13 zl
Serves: 2
Per person: 6.50 zl

Aloo Saag

Aloo - potato
Saag - greens

Aloo Saag - potatoes cooked in greens and spices.

What are "greens"? Well, could be spinach, for example. Or any leaf. In this recipe I'll be using beetroot greens because they're in season right now. Buy the whole vegetable and use the roots for other dishes, why not.

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 1.5 zl (0.29 British Pounds, 29 Indian Rupees)

We'll need:

- a good bunch of beetroot greens 
- 2 onions finely sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
- 2 green chillies finely chopped
- 1/3 kg small new potatoes
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp onion seeds (kalonji)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- a good splash of vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/3 tsp chilli
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp methi leaves
- rice to serve

Let's make a move!

1. Wash the potatoes and cut into 2 cm pieces if necessary or use whole if really small. 

2. Oil in the pan. Heat. Onion seeds and cumin seeds in

3. Potatoes in. Medium heat. 10-15 minutes until nice and golden. Season with salt along the way.

4. Now, you've got some time so prep the other stuff. Slice up the onions. Chop the garlic and chillies.

5. Prep the spices

6. Wash the greens well

7. When the potatoes are done (golden), remove from the pan leaving the oil behind. Set aside.

8. Add the onions to the same oil in the same pan. Cook down for around 10 minutes until golden brown. Season with salt along the way.

9. Now, you've got some time again so now's a good moment to chop up the greens as finely as you can manage.

10. After around 5 minutes, throw the garlic into the pan.

11. Cook it all down till golden

12. Turmeric, coriander, chilli powder - in!

13. Beetroot greens and green chillies - in! Sweat down the greens for a few minutes. 

14. Squeeze in the lemon juice

15. Add the potatoes and a splash of water. Chuck in the garam masala and methi leaves. Check the seasoning. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Done!

16. Enjoy!

Costing:

- Beetroot greens: 1.25 zl

- Potatoes: 1.35 zl

- rice: 2.40 zl

- rest: 1 zl

Total: 6 zl

Serves: 4

Per person: 1.5 zl