While the Husband mucked out Daisy the campervan, I plonked the kids in the bath, and made us a healthy and nutritious meal of sausage mash and beans. I feel like I’ve been on the back foot ever since.
Yesterday morning, I managed to cobble together the packed lunches using the leftovers from the weekend – some meat loaf, a bit of cheese, and was saved by the freezer for supper. Last week, we had pizza pie which I made loosely following a recipe in an old Good Food magazine . My version made a huge pie, so I put half of it in the freezer. I can't tell you how pleased I was when I remembered this. It heated up nicely in the oven and I served it with raw carrot sticks. That’s how enthusiastic I was feeling yesterday. My version of the recipe is as follows:
Spinach, tomato, ham and olive pizza pie
Ingredients:
For the bread base: 500g strong white flour, 1 sachet yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil made up to just over 300ml mark in a measuring jug with warm water.
For the filling: 1 can chopped tomatoes, a colander full of spinach (probably around 200g), 1 clive of garlic, crushed, 4 slices of ham, chopped, 4 tablespoons of crème fraiche, a small can of pitted black olives, chopped, grated cheddar.
Method:
First make the bread mix up – combine the dry ingredients, then mix in the wet ingredients, first with a fork then as they come together, knead with your hands or with a dough hook on a Kenwood or other type of mixer until smooth. Set aside. I made my dough up before I went to collect the kids from school and left it – it doesn’t need to rise in the same way as you would for a loaf of bread.
To make the filling, put the chopped tomatoes and crushed garlic in a pan and bring to a simmer. Chuck in the spinach and cook till the spinach is wilted. Whizz it up into a puree with a stick blender. If it’s a bit watery, bring back to a simmer and let it reduce for a little. Pre-heat the oven to 2000/1800 fan/gas mark 6.
Divide the dough in half and roll out into a circle so that the dough is still thick enough to handle, but not too thick. Transfer onto an oiled baking sheet – I have a square one which was good for this – if I was going to use a rectangular one, I would change the shape of the dough. Spread as much of the tomato and spinach filling onto the base, leaving a 2 cm rim around the edge, scatter with the olives, dollop on the crème fraiche, sprinkle the ham and grated cheese over the top, then roll the remaining dough into a similar size as the base, brush water round the 2 cm rim of the base that you left free of the tomato base, then carefully lay the second circle of dough onto the base. Press down the edges, make 2 slits in the top and bake for 25-30 minutes, till golden brown.
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