Pizza Pilgrims at Berwick Street Market

In the interests of full disclosure and all that, I should state that one third of the Pizza Pilgrims (Thom) is a friend and we worked together. When I heard he was leaving the company to start a pizza van I was full of admiration (and, I'll admit, a little envy). I watched their Twitter stream and their Facebook status updates as well as YouTube videos as they made their way around Italy, learning to make pizza from the masters and picking up their Piaggio Ape van that was to house their pizza oven.

I think I've managed to remain unbiased though and you should really believe me when I say their pizza is indeed excellent. But given my previous disclaimer you may not, but it'll only cost you £6 to find out. The pizza I had was dotted with 'Nduja, a spicy spreadable sausage much like the Spanish chorizo. From Calabria, it is typically made with fatty parts of pork shoulder. Dotted sparsely on the pizza, its oils flavoured the dough well and leaves a lingering kick on the palate.

The dough was rolled thin and cooked until the crusts puffed and the insides stayed soft and pliable. On the day we visited on their first week, it took around 10 minutes from placing my order and receiving my pizza. I watched with fascination at the pizza oven built into their tiny van. I ate it then and there in the sunshine, melty cheese strands dangling out of my mouth and a small glob of basil-scented tomato sauce on my chin.

They are there Monday - Friday lunchtimes.

Pizzas and Salads

As I mentioned last week in this post, the people at cooks&Co recently sent me a lovely assortment of their newest oils to try out. I've been very busy over the past week or two trying them out in a myriad of ways and enjoying myself quite a lot in the process!
I've long been a great fan of the cooks&Co products, having used their condiments and peppers etc quite often over the past few years and always with great results. I do believe that cooks&Co have become synonymous with quality products in my estimation!

They sent me a lovely assortment including the following:

Cooks & Co Virgin Sesame Oil (RSP: £2.99, 250ml) is a high quality virgin oil, Cold pressed from selected sesame seeds which is delicious in salad dressings and vinaigrettes, as well as in stir fry and oriental dishes.

Cooks & Co Walnut Infused Oil (RSP: £2.85, 250ml) is made using high quality walnuts and has a delicate nutty flavour that is excellent drizzled over salad and as an ingredient in cakes and Cookies.

Cooks & Co Hazelnut Oil (RSP: £3.99, 250ml) is a great tasting oil made using only the highest quality hazelnuts. It has a fantastic nutty aroma and is perfect for use in cakes, Cookies and salads.

Cooks & Co Roast Peanut Oil (RSP: £3.39, 250ml) is made from selected roasted peanuts and is excellent in dressings as well as homemade mayonnaise and dips.

Cooks & Co Grapeseed Oil (RSP: 3.99, 500ml) is very versatile due to its delicate flavour and is ideal for all types of Cooking, including for use in stir fries, fondues and sauces thanks to its higher burning point than other oils.

Cooks & Co’s Olive Oil with Chilli (RSP: £2.99, 250ml) is the classic Condiment, which will add a kick of heat from whole Birds Eye Chillies, which infuse this delicious olive oil, to homemade pizzas, pasta, dressings and grilled meat.



Last week I used some of the lovely Grapeseed Oil in this beautiful Treacle Gingerbread Loaf, and it was gorgeous. The original recipe had called for olive oil, but the grapeseed oil worked perfectly well, the end result being a very moist and moreish loaf cake.

Since then I have been putting the oils through their paces in a variety of ways!

Today I used some of the chilli oil and made some delicious Ciabatta Pizzas, drizzling some of the oil over the finished pizzas. It added a lovely depth of heat without overpowering the pizzas.



*Ciabatta Pizzas*
Multiply to create as many or as few as you want
Printable Recipe

Delicious and quick! Amounts will be given for one serving. You can easily adapt to more.

1 ciabatta bun, sliced in half horizontally
2 TBS good quality Basil Pesto
3 full sices of gouda cheese, cut into halves diagonally
2 TBS grated parmesn cheese
2 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 roasted pepper (from a jar) torn into bits
4 dry cured pitted black olives, halved
4 dry cured pitted green olives, halved
a few basil leaves torn
Chili oil to drizzle on the finished pizzas

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.

Place the two ciabatta halves onto a baking tray. Spread each with 1 TBs of the pesto. Top each with 3 half slices of the gouda cheese, placing on diagonally. Sprinkle each with 1 TBS of the Parmesan Cheese. Divide the cherry tomatoes, roasted pepper and olives between the two. Scatter the basil leaves over top. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the pizzas are heated through and crispy on the edges. Remove from the oven, drizzle with the chili oil and serve.

Another day I used some of the Virgin Sesame Oil to make a delicious dressing for a Thai Beef Salad. Oh my but it was some good. Sometimes Sesame Oil can be quite strong, but this was just right.



*Thai Beef and Sprout Salad*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Serve some lime wedges with this refreshing salad to squeeze over top and some rice crackers on the side. Delicious!

8 ounces thinly sliced deli roast beef, torn (1/2 pound)
1 200g bag of fresh beansprouts, washed well and drained (About 2 cups)
1 bunch of spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
50g of sugar snap peas, sliced (1 small package, about 1 cup sliced)
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into match sticks

For the Dressing:
2 TBS crunchy peanut butter
1 TBS rice wine vinegar
2 TBS sesame oil
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp runny clear honey
the zest and juice of one lime
2 TBS chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Fresh lime wedges to serve

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl to combine. Set aside.

Place the beef, sprouts, spring onions, carrots and snap peas in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

Another day it was a delicious Supper Pizza, which I shared with the Toddster . . . just to show I'm not totally selfish. I know he doesn't like pizza, or he says he doesn't anyways, but he did eat what I gave him, so can't complain . . .



*Pizza Fiorentina*
Serves 1
Printable Recipe

A hearty pizza supper for one, but if you are feeling generous, break two eggs on top instead of one and share it with your partner.

one 9 inch ready made pizza base (or make and bake your own)
5 TBS tomato passata (North American tomato sauce)
2 ounces spinach, cooked and drained (1 1/2 cups packed leaves)
3 wafer thin slices of deli ham, halved
2 ounces mozzarella cheese diced (1/2 cup)
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (2 1/2 TBS)
chili oil to drizzle (to taste)
1 to 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced (to taste)
1/2 tsp oregano flakes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large free range egg

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/gas mark 7. Cover the pizza base with passata and then top with the spinach and ham, scattering it over top. Sprinkle over the mozzarella chunks along with the grated Parmesan cheese, the chili oil, garlic and oregano flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and make a well in the centre of the pizza. Break in the egg. Return to the oven and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes, until the egg is cooked through. If desired drizzle with some additional chili oil or basil oil and serve.

Other than that I have been using the grapeseed oil for the small amount of browning etc that I do from time to time, the walnut oil and peanut oil have both been used in vinaigrette salad dressings and I've been really impressed with each of the oils. The only down side of any of them would be that nut oil can turn rancid very quickly once opened and one has to be prepared to use them up within a short period of time. If anyone knows any different than this, let me know, also if you have any information on how you can store them safely for longer periods of time. Would freezing work?

I'm still looking for a cookie recipe that I can use some of either the walnut or peanut oil in so if anyone has one let me know!

Many thanks to cooks&Co for affording me this wonderful opportunity and also Simon for sending them to me.

Pizza Sauce – Let’s Play ‘Hide the Little Fish’

I can assure you that the anchovies in this pizza sauce recipe are there for the subtle saltiness and unique savoriness they provide, and not just so you can tell your friend (the one who really hates anchovies) that they just ate some. Could it be for both? Sure.

This pizza sauce recipe represents a new and improved version of the one we posted way back in 2007. We snuck in some of the aforementioned fish, and we’re also using both fresh and dried oregano. I love this sauce. If there’s a tastier, all-purpose pizza sauce recipe out there, I haven’t tried it.

Convention wisdom says that great pizza is all about the crust. Which is certainly a huge factor, but if you were given the choice between a great crust topped with a bad sauce, and a grocery store crust made with a delicious, world-class sauce, which would you prefer?

Texture aside, no mater how they're combined, flour, water, and yeast can only taste so bad. But, a terrible sauce can actually make a slice of pizza inedible. I can’t remember ever not eating a piece of pizza because the crust was so awful, but I've given up after biting into an inferior sauce before.

Of course, around these parts the argument is completely academic since we’ve not only provided you with a plan for perfect sauce, but given you several great pizza dough recipes, like our famous no-knead pizza dough, as well as the venerable Wolfgang Puck California-style dough recipe. I hope you make pizza soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes about 3 cups):

3 tbsp olive oil

2 anchovy filets

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled “San Marzano” tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

very small pinch baking soda

Rumpled Pizza Buns

I am a HUGE fan of pizza. I could eat it every day and never get tired of it . . . breakfast, lunch dinner . . ., anytime at all. When you consider that I had never tasted pizza until I was about 15 years old that is amazing to me. How did I ever get that far in life without it! It's just so good . . . it's pity I live with a pizza/pasta hating man. It's just not natural . . . I keep telling him that, but he refuses to budge. Oh well, all the more for me!



I have this guy to thank for my love of pizza. He alone is responsible for introducing me to it . . . don't laugh. It was all we had in them there days. A cardboard box containing a tin of pizza sauce and a packet of pizza dough . . . oh . . . and a small packet of crummy tasting Parmesan Cheese . . . but what did we know??? We were so innocent and ignorant of the culinary delights which actually existed in the rest of the world. Life in a small town . . .



Anyways, once I got out into the real world, I discovered the delights of take out pizza and never looked back. In Winnipeg we used to buy pizza's from a place called RJ's Pizza . . . and that was pretty bad too, but strangely addictive. The crust was only ever half cooked, but for some reason we always went back for more.



In Calgary we discovered great pizza's made by a Greek fella that were fabulous! Light and fluffy crust and that sauce . . . . mwha!!! Perfecto!



I pretty much make my own pizza's from scratch these days . . . and I know there are Italian purists out there would argue and say that what counts for pizza in my kitchen isn't really pizza . . . that's ok. But . . . it is MY kitchen and I decide what or what doesn't pass for pizza in it. umm . . . so there!



Yesterday I decided to make some pizza buns. They were supposed to come out looking all ruffely, like the edges of a clam and well . . . they didn't, but they were some good, even if I don't say so myself. Kind of like a loosely constructed calzone . . . but without any runny sauce . . . the rich tomato flavour comes from sun roasted tomatoes with a few herbs and spices.



You can vary the filling according to whatever you have to hand. Cooked ground beef, mushrooms, chorizo, bacon . . . whatever floats your boat!



Me . . . I like olives and cheese . . . and lots of them. These were fab, and so easy to make. I used the breadmaker for the dough part, because . . . well, basically I am not that good at doing yeast doughs. It worked fabulously and the rest was easy peasy, lemon squeasy!



I hope you'll give them a try! If you like pizza, you'll LOVE these!



*Rumpled Pizza Buns*
Makes 8 buns
Printable Recipe

A deliciously different way to have your pizza! You can vary the filling ingredients as you wish. They work well in either tiny loaf tins or custard cups/ramekins.

For the dough:
450g of strong bread flour (a generous 4 1/2 cups)
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 sachet of easy blend dried yeast ( 7g or a heaped teaspoon)
3/4 fluid ounces extra virgin olive oil (about 2 TBS)
9 fluid ounces of warm water
1 tsp of tomato puree (tomato paste)

For the filling
1 small red pepper, trimmed, seeded and chopped
1 small gree pepper, trimmed, seeded and chopped
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
a handful of black pitted olives, chopped (I like to use the dried spanish ones. They have
lots of flavour)
a handful of green pitted olives, chopped (I used Greek Haduki in oil)
100g of sun dried tomatoes chopped (about 1/2 cup packed) (I used Merchant Gourmet, oven roasted, 1 pack)
a bit of olive oil to moisten (about 1 TBS)
1 heaped tsp of dried oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white or black pepper
1/2 pound of grated Mozzarella or mature Cheddar Cheese
about 4 TBS grated Parmesan Cheese
some olive oil for brushing

Place all the dough ingredients into a mixing bowl and combine with the dough hook on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes until you have a soft dough that doesn't smear the bottom of the bowl. You may need to add a bit more flour or warm water to get the right consistency.

Mix on speed for 2 to 10 minutes, making sure that the dough stays at the right consistency. Add a bit more flour if necessary.

Remove the dough from the mixer and kead a few times. Shape into a ball and place into a clean mixing bowl which you have oiled, turning to coat the dough. cover with a teatowel and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Mix together the filling ingredients with the exception of the cheese. Allow to sit and marinate until you are ready to use them.

Uncover the dough, punch down and mould it back into a ball. Cover and allow to rise for another 30 minutes, until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 8 3-oz portions. Shape each into a round ball and then let rest for about 5 minutes. While the dough is resting butter and flour 8 mini loaf pans or ramekins.

Roll each the dough balls out on a floured surface to a flat 6 inch rounds. Mix the cheese into the filling and then place an equal portion onto each round, keeping it fairly central. Fold all the rounds in half, witout sealing them. Brush the tops with some oil. Carefully Pick up one of the folded rou8nds and keeping all the edges of the folded round to the top, gently place it into a mini loaf tin. You want them to gape open and have rumpled edges, the more folds and bits of filling showing the better! Repeat with all of the rounds.

Place the mini loaf tins onto a baking tray and lightly cover with some plastic cling film. Allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Bake the pizza buns for 20 to 22 minutes until golden brown and crisp on the bottoms and outsides. Transfer to a wire rack for them to cool somewhat before eating. Any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator or you can freeze them for another time.

Note: You can make the dough in your bread machine according to your bread machine instructions.



I only have 6 mini bread pans and so I cooked two in ramekins and they turned out cutely round and every bit as delicious. I don't know which ones I liked the looks of more. They both looked incredibly scrummy!!



Over in The Cottage today, some delicious Ham and Egg Buns.

The Big Red

Whoever looked at the space between a pub and a railway bridge and thought "I know, I'll park a bus up there and serve pizzas" was a little genius. Thanks to The Deptford Dame, I found about about The Big Red and dragged six of my mates there to try it out.

Deptford is no stranger to restaurants in strange confines. Though I haven't been, The Deptford Project looks like a perfect brunch place housed in a train carriage and now we have pizzas from another mode of transport. But you don't have to sit on a bus; a patio with tables and chairs, as well as big squidgy couches were where we chose to sit.

We got right stuck into a few jugs of sangria which were packed full of fruit and tasted dangerously unboozy.

As there were so many of us, we managed to order pretty much everything on the menu. A slight mix up in the ordering meant that we also got a starter of bread with nuggets of chorizo and black pudding - the black pudding in particular drew gasps of appreciation, as the sausages were split open to reveal soft creamy insides.

I went for the special veg pizza with extra Spanish anchovies. The bases were crisp and light, though not too thin that they'd shatter. They held the toppings of red onion, courgette, olives, peppers, capers and tomatoes well. The anchovies were obviously of top quality as rather than being overwhelmingly salty or fishy, they were just right.

Pepperoni and mushroom pizza was great - just the right amount of pepperoni and not overly greasy. Around the table, the Flamenco (with black pudding and chorizo) was hugely commended, as well as the seafood pizza. Even the Margherita, which I usually find a bit dull, was excellent. As we digested our food, huge satisfied grins beamed around the table. With a red heatlamp bearing down on us and the music at a happy 'it's Friday night' level, we all had to remind each other that we were sitting under the Deptford railway bridge, and were not in fact, on holiday. We fell in love with the place.

After an espresso to get us moving, we paid up the very reasonable £18 each with service (we had at least 4 jugs of sangria, at £12 per jug) and waddled off to a nearby pub.

The Big Red

30 Deptford Church Street
London SE8 4RZ

Tel: 020 3490 8346

The New Cross House

Outside

Inside - very Capital Pubs-esque

Buttermilk fried chicken

Decor

Enormous pizza oven

Bar

Beer garden

Inside at the outside beer garden...

Upstairs of the beer garden

Capital Pubs have done it again; in what seems like yesterday since the Meateasy closed, they've transformed the desperately grimy Goldsmith's Tavern into a sleek new outfit. In our sneak preview, we saw that wallpaper to mimic original tiling decorate the walls. Booth seating, seen in many Capital Pubs, line one side of the pub and an enormous pizza oven sizzles thin-based pizzas that I know I'll be stuffing myself with in the future.

But perhaps the best bit (especially for a dirty smoker like me) is outside; plenty of seating on the patio decking and a wood burner to keep people warm. Upstairs in the mezzanine is like being on holiday; ivy frames the window frames and sun spills onto the wooden frames.

Time will tell what the atmosphere will be like; predominantly student-heavy, from nearby Goldsmiths? Yummy mummy Brockleyites? Local young professionals, like me and my friends? An amalgamation, I imagine.

Opens MONDAY 9th MAY 2011.

New Cross House

316 New Cross Road,
New Cross,
London,
SE14 6A

Deptford Dame reports here.

Brockley Central reports here.

Barbequed Turkey Pizza

I opened up the fridge today and looked in at all the leftovers I still have from Christmas . . .



What do you do when you still have Turkey in the fridge, needing to be used . . . and you are fed up to the eyeballs with turkey pot pies, soup and casseroles . . . when all you really want for supper is Pizza . . . but you don't want to waste the turkey???




Of course one answer is to just freeze the turkey and take it out to enjoy in a few weeks time . . . but . . . it just never tastes the same to me once it's been frozen . . . it kinda gets all stringy and yukky too . . .



Why not turn it into something unsual and different . . . combine your love of turkey and pizza together???



Why not indeed! You've heard of Barbequed Chicken Pizza, I am sure . . . but here is a delicious Barbequed Turkey version with a sauce that is to die for!!!!



A wonderful homemade crust slathered with a delicious cranberry barbeque sauce, and then topped with balsamic caramelized red onions, chopped turkey breast and a combination of tasty cheeses . . . mozzarella, cheddar, gouda and Parmesan!



Oh mama mia . . . this is fantastic! That sauce is to die for . . . and the caramalized onions . . . so so good! Sometimes I even surprise myself!



*Barbequed Turkey Pizza*
Makes 1 (12 inch) pizza
Printable Recipe

A delicious pizza that is perfect for using up some more of that leftover Christmas Turkey!


For the dough:
250ml warm water ( 1 cup)
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp active dry yeast
13 ounced white bread flour ( 3 cups)

For the caramelized onions:
2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
a glug of olive oil
seasalt and freshly ground black pepper
1 TBS balsamic vinegar

For the sauce:
4 fluid ounces of barbeque sauce
a dessertspoon of whole berry cranberry sauce

To Top:
8 ounces cubed cooked turkey breast (1/2 pound)
8 ounces mixed grated cheeses (mozzarella, gouda and cheddar)
2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Put the dough ingredients into your automatic breadmaker according to the directions for your particular breadmaker, following the dough cycle. In the meantime heat a bit of oil in a frying pan. Add the onions. Cook and stir over medium heat until they begin to wilt. Add some seasoning and the balsamic vinegar. Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally until golden and caramelized. Set aside to cool.

Once the dough cycle has completed on your machine, remove the dogh and punch down. Let rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough out to fit into your pizza pan leaving a bit of an overhang. Butter the pan with some white vegetable shortening. Sprinkle with some fine polenta or cornmeal if desired. Place the crust in the pan, and fold the edge over to make a lip. Stir together the barbecue sauce and cranberry sauce. Spread over the top of the crust. Top with the caramelized onions and chopped turkey breast. Sprinkle with the cheeses and Parmesan.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 5. Bake the pizza on the bottom rack of the oven for about 15 minutes, then move it to the top rack and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.

Optional Topping additions:
Slivered green peppers
sweetcorn kernels
sliced mushrooms
chopped roasted green chillies

No-Knead Pizza Dough (The Remix)

When I posted the no-knead ciabatta bread video last January, I had no idea it would become one of the most watched, most commented-on, and most loved recipes on the blog. So it came as a little bit of a shock when the no-knead pizza dough, which used the same basic technique, did not garner the same outpouring of love.

Many thought it was just too wet, sticky, and hard to work with. Personally, I didn’t have an issue with it, but that's because I have lots of experience, and I know how to use extra flour and a light touch to form the pizzas without any major problems. Unfortunately, for most viewers that was not the case.

So I went back to the drawing board. This new and improved version is less sticky and much easier to work with, yet still produces a very nice pizza crust – flavorful, tender, with just the right amount of chewiness.

Of course the most important feature has not changed – you still don't knead it. There are plenty of websites out there that will explain, in excruciating detail, why exactly this works, but long story short, the tiny amount of yeast grows and ferments very slowly, and it's this long rising time that allows for the gluten strands to form.

Anyway, whether you tried the original no-knead pizza dough recipe and struggled with it, or you are attempting this for the first time, I'm confident you will be very happy with the results. Enjoy!




No-Knead Pizza Dough Ingredients:
2 oz whole wheat flour
16 oz all-purpose flour
*about 4 cups total
1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsps olive oil
1 1/2 cups warm water, if possible, use bottled water as chlorinated water can retard the yeast growth
cornmeal as needed
Note: Rising times will vary based on the temperature. It should probably go at least 14 hours to develop enough gluten, but could take as long as 24 hours to double in size.

Franco Manca

I've heard many, many things about Franco Manca. Many hail it as the best pizza in London, so off I went to sample it myself. There's a danger of the over-hype, and I was conscious of this - I was fully expecting to be completely blown away. Given that it's in Brixton and they only open from 12 - 5pm, it's not the easiest of places to visit, but I finally did.

After about 20 minutes of wandering around with Niamh and Kerri as none of us had printed maps or even noted down the address (oh, for an iPhone!), we settled down at a table outside, in the covered market area. It was cold - coats stayed on for the duration of the meal and my toes froze.The menu is small, and instantly I plumped for the anchovy, caper and olive pizza. It was disappointing that they didn't have the buffalo mozzarella that day but nevertheless, the pizza was indeed, delicious. It had a lovely crust, great flavour and was generous in the toppings. It was a decent size too, something I always look for in a pizza. A well dressed green salad accompanied it.

Home-made lemonade was delicious and tasted a bit like honey, but the white wine (at £7.50 a bottle) was pretty grim. I couldn't drink more than half a glass of it and not just because I was hungover - it was really acidic and tasted quite astringent.

Verdict? Really impressive pizzas, and extremely well priced considering it's all organic (the bill for 3 pizzas, 1 bottle of wine, 2 large bottles of lemonade and a side salad came to £31). I would definitely come again, but perhaps in the summer - I was seriously frozen by the time our meal was finished; get a table indoors if you can. The waiting staff could do with a prod too - we had to fetch our own glasses, fetch the waitress to get the bill, and then correct the waitress on said bill.

Check out Kerri's post here, and Josh over at Cooking the Books went the next day and also posted about it.

Franco Manca

4, Market Row

Electric Lane

Brixton

London, SW9 8LD