Tag Archives: courgette

What makes a pizza a pizza?

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I’m not really sure. Must you have the tomato base and/or some sort of cheese to be able to call a pizza a pizza? Either way, these two little beauties are, in the first case, a recipe taught to me by Marco and Elisabetta Nervi back in France (so I’m going to suggest that it is a pizza) and in the second case, some sort of approximation to pisaladiere, but without the olives or anchovies (and therefore probably not a pizza). They both are lovely though and well worth trying.

In other news, Wimbledon is on and every tennis court in the land is feeling the love of the two-week-a-year tennis pros – tops off, bellies out and ball skills severely lacking. Oh, and a big thanks to London for the BBC Radio 1 Hackney weekend last Sunday – what a fantastic day.

Courgette Pizza

So simple. Use a standard pizza base and roll it very thin (with semolina for extra crispiness). Then lay thinly sliced courgettes across the whole base slightly overlapping, along with whatever herbs you like (I’d go for thyme, finely chopped). generously season and give it some good olive oil action. For extra excitement you could add a little finely chopped red chilli and garlic. Cook in the hottest possible oven for about 10 mins.

Onion Pizza-ish

Even simpler: Same base. Whole chopped onion. Same herbs. Same seasoning. Same olive oil. Same option on the chilli-garlic flourish. Same oven. Same temperature. Same time. Same adoring crowd…

 

Back with a herring and a mandoline

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I used to turn over to those shopping channels from time to time and smirk at the infomercials selling the new “wonderchopper pro” a device so innovative that it would change your life by slicing, julienning(?) and chopping the hell out of anything that you dare to pass through its plastic protected jaws, but as far as I was concerned a good knife was all you needed to prepare anything you want. Year after year however, I’ve been gradually worn down to the point where I have come to the conclusion that a decent quality mandoline is probably a good idea. And so it was that this morning I succumbed and got myself one – not on the shopping channel – god no – but from somewhere probably just as bad – so bad in fact that I dare not speak its name.

Anyway, armed with mandoline and a desire to chop, I got myself some veg and a fish and set out trying to decide what to do with them. This is what I came up with:

Pan fried herring with courgette, onion and chilli salad

You need a herring for each person. Gut and fillet the herring and slice across the skin with a sharp knife (so that when you fry it, it doesn’t curl), then season the fillets and set aside.

Now take a courgette and julienne it, then put it in a bowl with finely sliced red onion, red chilli and basil or coriander leaves. Season well and add the juice of a lime and plenty of olive oil.

Fry the herring and when it’s ready serve with the courgette salad.

It’s very light indeed so would work well as a starter or with two fish for a main course. So light in fact that I’m still hungry…