Last night was another night of using up scraps. We had some bolognese sauce left over from the kids dinner and some salami left over from when my mother and sister visited yesterday. Couple those ingredients with half a lollo rosso and only one thing sprang to mind - pizza.
The pizza base is still a work in progress item, but I seem to be experimenting with a mix of 30% wholemeal and 70% plain flour. The recipe for my pizza base can be found http://swlsk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/fast-food-pizza-potato-and-pepperoni.html
So, I made two pizza's, one kind of like a "Sloppy Giuseppe" should you be familiar with a certain chain of restaurants, and the other a simple tomato, onion, sweetcorn and salami affair. Here they are before cooking:
Pizza must accompany something. I find that, on it's own it can be rather one dimensional. Even if you serve it with some coleslaw, or perhaps some sauerkraut it really perks the flavours up. The crunch of the vegetables against the crunch of the crust and yielding toppings is a great melange of texture.
In this instance I used up the rest of my lettuce and carrot. Freshly grated carrot is fast becoming my favourite salad accessory. Indeed, a salad of exclusively finely grated carrots is amazing when offset with a punchy dressing - something I learned from my travels in Scandinavia.
I am undecided if I should par-bake the base of the pizza in the oven first then add the toppings. I find myself watching "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives" on Food Network quite often, and last night one of the establishments did this. I think it is worth experimenting with a small pizza to see if this negates the possibility of soggy middle.
In an effort to prevent the middle from being a little soggy sometimes I overcompensate and end up with slightly frazzled edges.
They were both tasty, and we have half remaining. This will be cherished by my 4 year old tonight who reserves a special place in his stomach for such delicacies as pizza, sausages and casserole (not all eaten at the same time, though!).
