turkish pizza

This is a wonderful pizza style dish inspired by the Turkish pide and lahmacun. I am led to believe from my Turkish friends that you place your salad on top of the pide/lahmacun then roll it up. A variation on this recipe would be to break an egg on to the top of the lamb mince a few minutes before it has finished cooking. Also, if lamb isn't your thing you would no doubt get some excellent results using minced beef, perhaps even minced turkey. You could use any basic bread or pizza dough for the base, mine is below.

The dough
1 kg strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
14g fast action dried yeast
4 tbsp olive oil
approx 600-700ml warm water

Topping
500g minced lamb
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1/2 green pepper, finely diced
4 small tomatoes, skinned and finely diced
bunch each of fresh parsley and dill (about 3 tbsps of each when chopped)
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp all spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pine nuts (optional)

Salad
Roughly equal quantities of the following, all finely diced/sliced according to your preference:
1/4 cucumber
10 radishes
5 tomatoes
2 spring onions
large bunch of flat leaf parsley
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Put all the dry dough ingredients into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the oil, Using a butter knife or your hands start to bring the ingredients together. Gradually add the water, little by little, until you have a rough dough. You may not use all the water or you may need to add a little more. Knead the dough in between each addition.
2. Once you have a rough dough turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes or until you have a smooth springy dough. 
3. Place dough in a bowl, cover with lightly oiled cling film then leave in a warm place to rise for about and hour or so.
4. In the mean time combine all the topping ingredients in a large bowl until evenly mixed. Cover and set to one side until needed.
5. Once the dough has risen uncover it, knock it back and divide into your required number of portions. I split mine into four balls. Each ball will serve 2-3 people generously. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, 2mm is ideal, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brush with a little olive oil then leave to rise for another 15 mins. In the mean time preheat the oven to 210C.
6. Cover the dough base with an even scattering of the mince topping, sprinkle over a few pine nuts if you wish then bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden and cooked completely.
7. Prepare your salad while the pizza is in the oven. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl then set to one side.
8. Serve topped with salad, roll it up and eat with your hands. Delicious.

blue cheese meatloaf

This is a great comfort food recipe, easy to put together and perfect for a family weekend dinner. The resulting meatloaf has a subtle blue cheese flavour and is perfectly moist. The polenta helps to firm up the texture of the loaf so that excess moisture is soaked up and makes for easier slicing. If you don't have any you can always experiment with oatmeal or breadbrumbs. If you have any left overs you could always make yourself a meatloaf sandwich using the kaiser rolls.



Ingredients
700g lean mince (I used 50/50 pork and beef)
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 sticks of celery, finely diced
100g blue cheese
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly ground if you like
1 tsp dried rosemary
freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
70g cornmeal/polenta

1. Preheat oven to 150C (fan oven). 
2. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together until thoroughly combined but take care not to over mix otherwise you'll end up with a tough meatloaf. Place the mixture in a 1lb loaf tin, cover loosely with foil then bake in the oven for around 1 hour 30 minutes. About 30 minutes before the end of the time, remove the foil lid, carefully drain off the excess fat and return to the oven to colour up.
3. Once the meat loaf is cooked remove from the oven, turn out on to a serving plate and slice up ready to serve. I served mine without any additional sauce or gravy but with butter bean and potato mash and slow cooker red cabbage as sides. Feel free to add a sauce if you like though.