Naan Pizza

When the craving for soft or crispy dough topped by tangy tomato and gloriously stringy cheese hits I find that it is often at an inconvenient hour. And given that I sadly don’t live in an urban area where pizza-by-the-slice is readily available even at the witching hour, I need to resort to other measures.

Making pizza at home is often fraught with problems, thick premade pizza bases are often doughy with an unpleasant chemical aftertaste, and fail entirely to replicate the italian heaven I so often crave. Ready rolled dough is also available, and though it is ultimately inoffensive in itself, conventional household ovens rarely get hot enough for the dough to crispen and brown, leaving an unfortunate soggy bottom. If your passion for pizza is so great that you have installed a wood fired pizza oven in your garden, and are willing to light it whenever the craving hits, then by all means use ready-rolled pizza dough.

For those of us without such dedication, Naan bread makes a fantastic substitute for pizza dough, it is already cooked, so these flatbread pizzas will cook in no time. I try to always have naan breads and a tin of tomatoes in my pantry, so as to be prepared whenever the craving hits. As for the rest of the ingredients, I have given an example here, but you can of course use whatever you have leftover in your fridge, this recipe is but a guide and an idea.

Start by spreading the naan bread with the tomato puree, drain the chopped tomatoes and top the naan with two tablespoons of the tomato. Roughly dice the courgette and fry it lightly in olive oil, and add this to the pizza.

Finally add the cheese, peel the mozzarella ball into thin leaves and strew them atop the naan, and finally top with grated cheese. Place in a hot oven straight onto the oven rack for about 3 minutes, or until the naan has crisped and the cheese has melted, and serve

Ingredients

1 Naan bread
2 tbsps tomato puree

1 can chopped tomatoes, drained

1 courgette

1 mozzarella ball

50g grated cheese

Polenta Napoletana

I am usually somewhat a purist when it comes to pizza, taking something as delicious as pizza and substituting the delicious chewy dough base, browned and bubbling, for some ground up cauliflower, arguably the blandest vegetable. That said, this recipe, which uses baked polenta is wonderful, and I give it a pass because its creation came not from a desire to cut out carbs or to lose weight, but simply because it is so delicious.

Start by heating a litre of water in a large saucepan to a rolling boil, and dissolve in two stock cubes, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some dried oregano, sprinkle in the polenta whisking rapidly until the polenta is smooth and the whisk will stand up in the polenta without falling over.

Spread the polenta over an oiled swiss roll tin, with a palette knife until it is smooth and covers the whole tine, and bake it in a very hot oven for about half an hour until it is crisp and the top has hardened slightly.

For the topping you can choose pretty much whatever you want, I use a concentrated tomato puree as the base, and cover it with cherry tomatoes, cut in half and placed cut side up.

For the other toppings, you pretty much let your imagination run wild, This can be a good dish to use whatever you have in the fridge, here I use mushrooms, black olives, feta cheese, and then a couple of balls of torn mozzarella. Drizzle with extra virgin oil and season with some sea salt flakes, and some freshly ground pepper.

Bake again in a hot oven until the tomatoes have become burnished and shiny, and the cheese is melted. Serve cut into wedges with a fresh green salad.

ingredients

for the polenta base:
250g dry polenta
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp dried Oregano
salt & pepper, to taste

for the topping:
tomato concentrate
mushrooms, sliced
feta cheese, crumbled
pitted black olives
cherry tomatoes, halved
mozzarella balls, torn
olive oil
salt & pepper

For the Love of Pizza

The history of pizza is long and contested, some say that it originates with the greeks, who topped their bread with oils and herbs, and sometimes cheese, the more accepted story, is that it was created in Naples, where it evolved from the garlic, cheese and basil topped flatbreads which somewhat resemble modern focaccia.

Popular legend holds that the modern neapolitan pizza was created in 1889 when, in honour of the visiting Queen Margherita, a local pizzaiolo created a pizza in her honour, which he swathed in the colours of the italian flag, using red tomato sauce, white mozzarella and green basil. According to recent research, this story is total baloney, but it's a rather nice tale nonetheless.

I am not a food snob, my love of pub grub and greasy spoons is well documented and is mostly lampooned by my friends, however, I will admit that when it comes to pizza, I prefer something slightly more refined than your average take-away can deliver. Maybe living in Italy for a year has destroyed my ability to enjoy doughy take-out pie, but after living in a country where you can buy the most amazing pizza on the street for a mere euro, it is difficult to spend a tenner for a pizza that usually ends up being a thorough disappointment.

My ideal pizza is always topped with artichoke hearts, I am almost addicted to these as a topping, they are simply fabulous, and have been my favorite for as long as I can remember. Also brilliant is asparagus. I am fairly indifferent to asparagus generally, except in this case. Rocket is also great when added after the pizza has been cooked, adding a crunchy freshness to the pizza.

Finally, egg. Egg makes the most wonderful pizza topping, baked on top of the pizza so that the white has cooked and the yolk is still runny, providing some much needed lubrication. The use of egg on pizza is highly controversial in my family, and for those who haven't tried it is sounds bizarre and horrific, but it's one of my favorites.