Summer Pizza

Lovely big bunches of fresh basil transform into jars of pesto that lie in wait in our refrigerator. The Pesto is mixed through pasta, spread on toast with goats cheese, becomes a sandwich filling with grilled summer vegetables... and even tops a pizza from time to time. I make it with a big bunch of washed and dried basil, couple of cloves of garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and freshly grated parmesan (or other hard Italian cheese). If I find myself out of pine nuts, then I sometimes use walnuts. This is one of those foods that the kids love to help with - whizzing the blender and having several 'taste tests' along the way. Quantities are totally optional and so no two pestos are ever the same. 

I often slow-roast cherry tomatoes in the oven - especially as it cools after cooking something else. Coated with some olive oil and a light grind of salt (and sometimes pepper), I roast the halved tomatoes at around 350℉ for 30 minutes, then at around 200℉ for another hour or so... depending upon how 'dry' I want them to be. These become sweet and are oh-so-good thrown through pasta (sometimes with pesto), a salad or included on hors d'oeuvres. 

With some pesto and roasted tomatoes on hand, I decided to make a pizza. I was always a little scared of making my own pizza dough... until we got a mixer. Since being somewhat upset after burning out a motor of a handheld mixer, our KitchenAid (with dough hook), makes light work if it! I use a dough recipe from A Cooks Companion. 

Basic Pizza Dough 
Ingredients: 
2 sachets dried yeast (8.75g each)
1 tsp Salt 
400g flour
20ml Olive Oil
250ml Water (lukewarm)  

Method: 
Mix yeast, salt and flour using an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix water and oil into dry ingredients and knead for about 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. (Knead for 10-15 minutes if doing by hand). 
Grease a large bowl with olive oil (1 to 2 tsp). Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap or tea towel. Keep in a warm, draught-free place and allow to rise to double size (approx. 90 minutes). 
Knock back dough, gently fold in 4. Cover and allow to rise again for another 30 to 45 minutes. 

Notes: 
I like using a combination of flour - All Purpose / White Wheat / Wholegrain / Bread Flour - dependent upon whim and desired flavor. Paul prefers heavier use of white flour as he likes the 'bready' taste and rise of the dough. I usually compromise with a 50/50 mix of All-Purpose and Wholewheat. 

Pesto Pizza 
I flattened the dough onto a baking tray and spread with Pesto. I then covered the dough with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese and topped with the slow roasted tomatoes. A quick grind of black pepper, drizzled oil (leftover from the tomatoes) and into a very hot oven for 10 minutes. We have a pizza stone - so I transferred the pizza to this to bake for another 5 to 8 minutes. The size was a little too hard to manage - and I ended up cutting the pizza in two to place on pizza stone. 
I topped the finished pizza with some torn basil leaves, slices of fresh tomato from the garden and a very light drizzle of balsamic vinegar. 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the attempt to get more whole grains into classic foods... that the kids will not object to, I have been playing around with some ingredients. 

This recipe is loosely based on the recipe I found here. I used imperial cup measurements - but this should translate well to metric. 

CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) butter
¼ cup white sugar
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup wholegrain flour
1 ¼ cup rolled oats
½ cup golden flaxseed meal
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 325℉.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. 

Using a blender, pulse the oats a few times until they look like course crumbs. 

Mix flour, blended oats, flaxseed, baking soda and salt together to combine. Fold into butter-sugar mix and mix through until a firm dough is formed. Stir through chocolate chips. 

Using a scoop (I use a ½ oz or 15ml tbsp measuring spoon), portion cookie dough and roll into balls. Place dough balls on cookie tray and slightly flatten. Bake for approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on tray before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. 

Note: 
Using a 15ml measure, this recipe makes approximately 28 cookies. 

Chopped walnuts would be a great addition - ½ to ¾ cup added with the chocolate chips. 

I will try these again with some 'unblended' oats - perhaps half the amount blended and mixed with the flour and the other half unblended and added with the chocolate chips. 

Zucchini Slice

Summer vegetables are appearing. YES! Some oversize zucchinis became a dinner last week - in the form of a Zucchini Slice. The recipe given to me is very imprecise - and I am attempting to quantify it. Watching my sister cook it over the weekend has given me a few ideas to experiment with. Stay tuned for a recipe...

I served the Slice with steamed asparagus and tomatoes dressed with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I like this slice with something sweet and spicy. A simple salad made with sliced tomato, torn basil, thinly sliced red onion, sprinkled with a little salt and freshly ground pepper (dressed with EVOO and balsamic vinegar) would have been perfect. Otherwise, a spicy ketchup, sweet chili sauce or Sriracha sauce might be good according to taste. It is a perfect picnic food and I have even made it as individual muffins. 

Fruity Fruit Cake... and Fudge Sauce!

I absolutely LOVE Fruitcake. So does my husband. My mother makes the best fruitcakes. I remember her spending hours preparing, cooking, icing (marzipan and royal icing) and decorating Christmas cakes for both sets of grandparents. I also have memories of mum in tears one year as we woke to the smell of burnt cake. The automatic oven cut-off failed to work and so many expensive ingredients - that mum had to travel far to procure - literally went up in smoke. 

We were somewhat taken aback to find that Fruitcake is looked upon with some scorn in the US. Fruitcake is a seasonal item and it is one of those Christmas gifts supposed to cause some chagrin! We however, miss it. We can't even get a Lions Club cake! Fruitcake has therefore been added to our repertoire of food that we have had to learn to cook ourselves. 

Mum gave me a recipe that she referred to as Diabetic Fruit Cake. It has no added sugar and relies upon the sweetness of the dried fruit... a whole lot of dried fruit! I have made a few alterations to incorporate more whole wheat and have increased the cooking time as it always seemed to come out underdone. I think there is still some scope for revision of ingredients, quantities and cooking time. I will keep experimenting :-) 

Our family enjoys this cake - with a cup of tea or as a lunchbox treat. 

FRUITY FRUIT CAKE 
Ingredients: 
1 kg Mixed Dried Fruit* 
70 ml Port or Brandy
250 ml Water 
1 tsp Baking Soda 

300 g White Wheat Flour 
2 tsp Baking Powder 
1 tsp Mixed Spice

220 ml Evaporated Milk 

Method: 
Place the fruit, water port/brandy and Baking Soda in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and boil for 3 minutes. Cool (for at least an hour).
Preheat oven to 150℃/ 300℉. Grease and line a 20cm Springform pan. 
Mix and sift together the Flour, Baking Powder and Mixed Spice. 
When the fruit has cooled, add the Flour mix. Add the Evaporated Milk and mix together. 
Place cake mixture into pan and smooth the top. 
Bake for approximately 1½ to 2 hours. 
Cool in tin. 

Note: 
* A mix of Raisins, Sultanas/Golden Raisins, Currants, Mixed Glacé Citrus Peel or Fruit. 
I typically use a full box of raisins, then make up the rest of the weight with Golden Raisins and Currants. It is difficult to find glacé citrus peel in the US. Omit if it can't be found. It is also not easy to find Mixed Spice. Note that this is a mix of spices and should not be confused with Allspice (which is a spice in itself). There is a recipe for Mixed Spice here. If I can't find it, I omit the Mace and add a little more nutmeg. 
If you can't find White Wheat Flour - use a mix of half Whole Grain and half All-Purpose/Plain Flour. 


FUDGE SAUCE 
The Fudge Sauce is NOT served with the Fruit cake... it is merely a means of using the leftover Evaporated Milk I have after opening a large can. This recipe has been adapted from the recipe here. We find this quantity more than enough for all of us - warmed and poured over icecream - or to make banana splits.  

Ingredients: 
3 tbls Salted Butter
1 ½ oz unsweetened cooking chocolate 
1 cup sugar
⅔ cup (4 to 5 oz) Evaporated Milk

Method: 

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a double boiler (I use a glass bowl over a saucepan of water. Don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. 

Once the butter and chocolate have melted, add the sugar ¼ cup at a time, ensuring sugar is incorporated before next addition. The mixture will be thick and grainy at this stage. 

Continue to stir over heat and add the Evaporated Milk - around 1 oz at a time. Stir between additions until well combined. Dependent upon how thick you like sauce, 4oz will probably be ample. 

Notes: 

I use salted butter - and do not add any extra salt. 

Banananananana

Our household banana consumption ebbs and flows. The boys won't touch fresh bananas - having had some nightmarish past bad-banana experience. As bananas often pass optimum-eating-conditions, we are frequently left with bananas that are in various stages of blackening and disintegrating into a slovenly mess.

Bananas in this state are perfect for banana cakes and breads as the flavor is much more intense and there is little effort to convert bananas to a mashed form. I had three such bananas today - perfect for a Banana Bread. I like the recipe for Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread. This recipe uses a White Wheat flour - a whole wheat with a lighter texture than a more traditional whole wheat flour. This recipe always produces good results. The site's interface is great as it allows ingredient measurements to be listed in grams or volume - great for switching between as I always like to weigh dry ingredients. 

Another way we like to use overripe (but not yet mushy) bananas, is to rub peeled bananas with a little butter, place them in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over some soft brown sugar and a generous splash of dark rum (Bundaberg is perfect). We then bake these in the oven for around 20 to 30 minutes at approx 180℃ / 360℉. The rum, butter and sugar combine to make a rich rummy caramel sauce - perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Yum.