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Michael Van de Elzen: Twisted vege pizza

Author
Michael Van de Elzen ,
Publish Date
Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 8:58AM

Michael Van de Elzen: Twisted vege pizza

Author
Michael Van de Elzen ,
Publish Date
Sun, 26 Feb 2017, 8:58AM

This weekend I'm down at a wedding in Hot Water Beach, Coromandel whilst enjoying the last days of the summer sun!

At this time of the year as a chef I think, eggplants, courgettes, cherry tomatoes and most of all PIZZAS.

So let me share with you my 'made from scratch" pizza recipe.

The question is, are you a thin base or thick-pan base pizza lover?

Tips:

Love thin bases: Roll out dough with rolling pin, make up your pizza and throw onto a preheated oven tray and into a hot oven.

Love thick bases: Roll out pizza base 1.5 cm thick and make up pizza. Take a heavy based cast iron pan and heat on element. When hot place add 2 Tbsp olive followed by the pizza and straight into a hot oven.

 

Twisted vege pizza

 

Pizza dough (makes 8)

200ml warm water

10g dried yeast

9g sugar

115g wholemeal flour

250g high grade flour

12g salt

20ml olive oil

 

Place warm water in a small bowl and crumble yeast into it. Add sugar and leave to ferment for 10 minutes. Combine flours and salt in an electric mixer bowl. Add oil to fermenting yeast, then add this to flour mix. Mix with dough hook for 4 minutes. Place dough in a clean bowl and cover with a damp, clean tea towel. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size. Knock dough back and form into 100g balls. Cover and rest for 10 minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll balls out into pizza bases and place on baking trays or in pizza trays. 

 

Pizza topping

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

pinch salt

pinch pepper

1 x 400g tin lentils in springwater, drained

2 courgettes

200g fresh buffalo mozzarella

1 cup fresh oregano leaves

50g pecorino, finely grated

2 cups flat leaf rocket

 

Preheat oven to 220 C. Place tomatoes in roasting dish with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until skins begin to burst. Using a julienne peeler, peel courgettes into long “noodles”.  Spread pizza sauce (either store bought or homemade - see recipe below) over bases. Add lentils, chunks of mozzarella, courgette noodles, cherry tomatoes and oregano leaves. Finely grate pecorino over pizzas, season, and cook in oven for 10 minutes. Garnish with rocket then top with more finely grated pecorino.

 

Chunky pizza tomato sauce (makes about 1 cup)

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 x 400g tin whole peeled tomatoes

leaves from 1 sprig rosemary

1 tbsp honey

pinch salt

pinch pepper

 

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Simmer for 15 minutes or until reduced by about one third.

 

Enjoy you summer pizza!

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