So the World Cup has kicked off (literally) with full force, and like my pal at work says, you certainly cannot beat them, so you may as well join em.
Personally, I quite like the World Cup. I never watch football and support no team really (I am one of the few lucky ladies in England who is not a football widow, Will has no favourite team) but every 4 years I like to make an exception. I think a lot of my love - well maybe that is too strong a word, let's say "contented tolerance" - of the World Cup bonanza comes from my Dad, and his clever scheme to get a house full of women not interested in sport into the world cup.
Every 4 years he would hold a family sweepstake, dividing the teams into 4 pots with relatively equal chances to win, so most of the time everyone had at least a couple of teams make it out of the group stage (and thus he got a house of people not complaining they would prefer to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer over on Sky 1 all the way through the tournament). The prize, a family day of your choice. So when France beat Brazil in 1998, we went to Chessington World of Adventures (with the included £10 spending money well spent on watersnakes) and when Germany beat Argentina last round, we went and saw Dolly Parton at the o2.
Aside from all the family fun, I also quite like the world cup because of the attractive men (albeit many with some overdone and high maintenance haircuts) running around, and also the food. I mean if I am honest my favourite thing about sports in general is that the act of watching some fit and healthy people exercising pretty hard is normally accompanied with you eating junk food. A hot dog at a baseball campaign, a beer and a burger at a rugby match, pimms and strawberries at Wimbledon: food and sport go well together.
So when you're hosting your do to celebrate England being in the errr final, get the gang round, get the beers out and upgrade the Dominos for some homemade pizza:
Both of these pizzas were made in my £100 Aldi pizza oven I bought last year (which I really recommend if you fancy investing in one of the many cheap pizza ovens on the market this year, they're really fun!) but you could make them in a normal oven too, just crank the heat right up. If you're oven gets as hot as 250-300 degrees celcius, it will probably take 8-10 minutes to bake, turning at 5 minutes. If you're making it in a pizza oven you know the drill.
Dough: I really like Jamie Oliver's dough recipe but if I am honest, I am normally too lazy myself to make dough 24 hours before (less the dough making, more the having to chip it all off my kitchen work surface after my yeast has exploded overnight) and since I went and bought frozen pizza pucks from our local wholesalers it has revolutionised my pizza eating life (our whole freezer bottom draw is full of them!) Either way, obvs you will need some dough to make this pizza. Ingredients are envisaging pizzas which are one person size, so double, quadruple, octuple up as needed!
1. Spinach, asparagus & ricotta (title picture)
Ingredients
Spinach (enough for 2 handfuls of fresh spinach per pizza)
Asparagus (enough for 4 asparagus per pizza)
Ricotta (50g - about a tablespoon - per pizza)
Pinenuts (a couple of teaspoons per pizza)
Basil (a small handful per pizza)
Cherry tomatoes (3 per pizza)
Passata (25g ish per pizza - 2 - 3 tablespoons)
Mozzarella (50g - about a tablespoon - per pizza)
Pepper, salt and chilli flakes for seasoning
Olive oil for cooking
Parmesan for finishing
Method (well assembling really):
In a frying pan, wilt your spinach in a drizzle of olive oil, and as cooking add a pinch of chilli flakes, cracked black pepper and salt. You can do this well ahead of time if you like.
When you're ready to assemble, your oven is on and hot, roll out your dough on a well floured surface, making sure it is not so thin that any toppings you place on it will cause it to collapse through! If you haven't got a pizza paddle and are going to bake it in the oven, it would be worth transferring the base to the baking tray once you've done this (as once you start placing toppings on it, it gets tricky to move!)
Cover the dough in your passata sauce. Add your spinach, allowing it to get collect in blobs across the base. In between these clumps of spinach add the ricotta.
Finish by placing halved cherry tomatoes and whole asparagus evenly across the base. Tear the mozzarella and evenly distribute this on top, before adding a few leaves of basil.
Place in the oven (pizza or normal) and cook, turning half way through and waiting until the cheese starts to bubble and brown, at which point it is probably done.
Finish with a grind or 2 of pepper, and a grating of parmesan (I like to use a vegetable peeler for long curly strips). And ta da - a light and delicious, summery and green pizza.
2. Parma ham & fig
Ingredients
Parma ham (enough for 2 sheets per pizza)
Figs (1 per pizza)
Mozzarella (50g - approx 1 tablespoon - per pizza)
Basil (a small handful per pizza)
Passata (25g ish - 2-3 tablespoons - per pizza)
Pomegranta molasses (or balsamic vinegar) (a drizzle per pizza, optional)
Parmesan and pepper for finishing
Method
Get your dough, passata and oven ready as before.
This time, if you fancy it give a drizzle of pomegranta molasses or balsamic vinegar on top of the passata. Not too much, but it gives a sweet bitterness which works nicely with the salty ham.
Tear over the mozzarella, distributing evenly.
Pop in the oven.
As it begins to cook slice your fig into 4-5 even slim slices. Get your parma ham and basil ready.
About half way through, when you'd be thinking about turning your pizza and your cheese has began to melt, add your parma ham, figs and basil, distributing them evenly across the base.
Place back in the oven for the final minutes, watching as the parma ham starts to crisp just slightly at the edges, but should still be soft and parma ham like in the middle.
Once out the oven, finish with some parmesan and pepper. Watch as your friends think you are the classiest host in the world for feeding them this salty, sweet and creamy pizza. Yum.
PS. More of a barbecue than pizza oven person, and a chill tequila cocktail them beer sort of girl (or boy)? a Mexican and Italian themed barbecue, and Soho House's picante de le casa recipe.
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