HAPPY YEASTER! YEAST-FREE PIZZA DOUGH

Call me strange, but I'm not a massive fan of yeast - the idea of it has always creeped me out. But herein lies a problem, it's a part of so many delicious things like bread and bread and did I mention, bread?

It's also in most pizza doughs. But then I discovered a nice way to make a pizza base minus the yeast. The result? A fluffy cross between a thin and a pan pizza that tastes a bit like a scone too. This dough can make one big pizza, two medium ones, or break it into four portions, flatten out and use it to make small calzones. Seriously it's dough good.

HAPPY YEASTER PIZZA DOUGH
Makes one large pizza or two medium ones.

Ingredients

1.5 cups of self-raising flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup of milk
Pinch of salt

Method

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or a bowl with a wooden spoon if you're old-fashioned) put self-raising flour and a pinch of salt.

Make a little indent in the middle of your flour and salt mixture and crack your egg into this pocket.  Add your olive oil. Turn on your mixer (or start mixing with that spoon) then gradually pour in milk.

Combine it all together until it resembles a lovely slightly sticky dough. With a bit of extra flour, flour your bench or board and roll out. If you're making a large pizza roll your dough till it's about 1.5 centimetres thick.

Top with your favourite ingredients and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked.

Tip: This makes a great garlic pizza base, so just add a bit of crushed garlic, some oregano, sea salt and a good drizzling of olive oil to make a delicious side bread for a pasta or salad dish.

A LOVELY CHICK'S CHICKPEA ROGAN JOSH

 This Tweatery entry comes from the delicious and babelicious (lame, I know) Reneé - here's what she had to say about this lovely vego curry:


This recipe is great for a meat free Monday or any other day for that matter. The lime adds a burst of flavour, which instantly makes you forget that there was no meat in the first place.

Chickpeas are a major source of protein for vegetarians and soak up all the ingredients.

The recipe makes a decent amount; it fed two of us on Sunday night and has given me two more meals since. Great to take for lunch, beware of jealous co-workers.

Spinach, tomato and chickpea Rogan Josh
Serves a curry-load

Ingredients

1 Clove garlic, minced or finely chopped
1 Medium brown onion, diced
2 Cans chickpeas rinse well and drain
4 Ripe tomatoes diced
3 Tbsp. Rogan Josh paste
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Vegetable stock cube
400g Baby spinach leaves, rinsed
Juice of 1 lime
3 Kaffir lime leaves
Pinch sea salt
Coriander to serve
Low fat natural yoghurt to serve

How to do it.

Heat a non-stick frying pan with oil add onion and cook for a minute or so until translucent. Throw in the garlic and stir for another minute.

Add rinsed chickpeas and tomatoes and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Now it’s time for some flavour, crumble the vegetable stock cube, tomato paste and Rogan Josh paste.

Throw in your spinach in batches so as not to lose it over the edge. Squeeze in your lime juice, kaffir lime leaves and sea salt, reduce heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Serve in a deep bowl with a dollop of natural yoghurt and a scattering of coriander.

I prefer to go without carbs however a little brown rice helps to soak up the juices at the bottom and occasionally I add a cheeky naan bread or roti on the side which I usually grab from my local Indian takeout.

SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE CAKE

I'm not exactly always in the ktichen, in fact, sometimes I barely want to venture into it. Sometimes it's just all too daunting. But then the phone rings. It's a friend and they're thinking about coming over in the afternoon. Trained by my mother that a full friend is a happy one (and trained by Max Brenner that chocolate definitely makes you feel better) I always* knock up this chocolate cake for guests.

*A NOTE TO GUESTS WHO COME TO MY HOUSE - I may not always make this chocolate cake, so please don't visit me expecting a slice of it straight out of the oven.  But you might be lucky. Maybe.

SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE CAKE
(Serves 8 - or 4 really hungry greedy chocolate addicts)

• 150g butter, softened
• 1½ cups of brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1½ teaspoon of bicarb soda
• 350mls of milk
• 2¼ cups of sifted plain flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder also sifted
• ½ cup of dark chocolate cocoa powder sifted (I used Hershey's)
  
  Cream Icing
  (If you're serving this in the afternoon I like to use a fresh cream topping instead of an icing sugar-based one because 
• 3/4 cup of thickened cream
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 4 tsps cocoa powder
• 2 tbsps peanut butter (This gives it a nutty taste)
• Crushed hazelnuts (or your favourite nuts) to decorate
  
  
  

So this batter is a real lick-the-bowl kind of thing but don't lck too much of it or you won't have enough to fill the tin. Preheat your oven to about 170ºC.


Chuck the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds until the butter softens a bit, put it in a bowl with your sugar and beat together until creamy. Into your cup of milk add your bicarb soda and mix in until it froths then pour into the butter and sugar mix.

Sift your flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a big bowl then add the milk and butter mix and then beat it together until lovely and combined. Your mix should look a little chocolate mousse.

Get a deep round cake tin and coat with cooking spray, spoon your mix into the tin and then put in the oven. Bake for a 45-50 minutes. The best thing you can do to check if it's cooked after about 40 minutes is to put a skewer in the middle. If it comes out dirty it's still a bit undercooked, if it comes out relatively clean then you're good to go.

Let the cake cool on a rack for a good 30 minutes. For your icing, whip the cream with sugar together and cocoa powder until thick (add peanut butter here if you want an extra nutty taste). Spread the topping on the cake so it's thick and creamy and then add crushed nuts on top.  An alternate topping (as pictured right up the top) is without peanut butter and instead has chocolate curls.

OHMYGODIAMSOSLACK ... SAUCE

'Scuse the title of this post but really it stands for two things - first, I'm REALLY sorry to all you loyal readers because I've been REALLY slack with Tweatery lately. What can I say? Life happens. I've been busy busy with work and I had a quick trip overseas for work to Austin, Texas (OMG THE FOOD) and well if it wasn't a text from a friend/reader earlier tonight I probably wouldn't be doing this post right now.

That being said for my first post back in over 2 months I decided to do a really fitting sauce for a pasta dish that matches my 'ohmygodIamsoslack' feeling. That's because quite simply this sauce is really quick, really easy - in fact it's so quit it's barely a recipe. But it's delicious on filled pasta (ravioli, tortellini) or a wide fettuccine.





OhmgodIamsoslack Sauce
The Recipe (Coats about 500g of fettucine or 350g of filled pasta)

•  3 tablespoons butter
• 1 bunch of fresh sage, washed
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp olive oil

With a few minutes to go on your pasta, put olive oil and salt in a pan. Rinse fresh sage really well and then rip in half. Add to pan and start to cook until slightly crispy. Take off heat for a few seconds and put your butter and salt in the frying pan.

Let the butter and sage go a slight slight brown and then add your cooked pasta. Put your 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese in and extra salt to season. Coat the pasta well ensuring it's all covered in the burnt butter and sage sauce. Serve immediately (and make sure you've got a bit of crusty bread left over to wipe up the delicious sauce)

I RELISH CHILLI

I get the feeling I'm going to run out of corny headlines soon but I might as well enjoy it while it lasts. This is a simple recipe for a very simple thing - relish. This chilli tomato relish adds a little kick and a bucket load of flavour to the simplest things - I love this relish on hamburgers, on ham sandwiches or even as a nice spread on crusty bread with some cheese.

The great thing about this spread is, if stored correctly, it'll last for just over a month in the fridge. Which means days and days of food you'll really er.... relish.

CHILLI TOMATO RELISH
Serves heaps

Ingredients

• 1 brown onion finely chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
• 600g mini roma tomatoes - quartered (or 600g standard) - quarters
• 1 x Red capsicum cut in strips
• 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar
• 1.5 cups of brown sugar
• 2 tbsp of chopped chilli paste

The Method

Put 1 tbsp virgin olive oil in a frying pan and heat. Add your chopped onion and stir and cook till translucent and melty looking. Add garlic, capsicum and stir until your veggies are cooked and softened

Add your quartered tomatoes and brown sugar and stir through. Make a center well in the pan with your tomatoes and slowly pour in your white wine vinegar. Once it's all poured in, stir through the mix. Finally add your chilli paste in and stir through.

Put on simmer on a very low head and go put a movie on. 2 hours later  the result should be a lovely thick and jammy relish.

Get a clean sterile glass jar / container, put your relish in the jar and then put a paper towel over it while it's cooling down - so no bugs or nasties get in. It's important you don't put a lid on this until it's totally cooled down - collecting moisture is really bad for this. Add a secure lid and put in the fridge.

LIKE WARM APPLE PIE

If Jason Biggs were made to choose just one Apple pie to spend the night with I'm sure he'd chose this one. This recipe was handed down to me by a family member and I tweaked it a bit and it ended up coming out lovely and amazing - not that the original wasn't, this one I just think is better.

I was going to save this one for National Apple Pie Appreciation Day (for those of you playing at home that's May 12 in Australia and May 13 in the States) but I just couldn't wait that long! I'd serve this one with some cool custard or vanilla ice cream - just make sure the only body part that comes into contact with it is your tongue.

LIKE WARM APPLE PIE
Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of plain flour
• 250g unsalted butter
• 6 tsp cold water
• 2 egg yolks
• 6 tbsp white sugar
• 3 large apples - I used Royal Gala
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar and extra for sprinkling

Chuck your plain flour in a bowl and chunk up the butter into squares. Add it to the bowl of flour. Add the white sugar in.

Put the egg yolks in a bowl, add the water into the egg yolk and stir through well, then add to the flour mix. Stir through quickly with a wooden spoon and then get your hands in there and get them dirty. This is your luvverly dough.

Flour the surface and roll the dough out. Get a normal size dinner plate and use it as a template to cut the top and the base. You should have 2 circles of dough - one's the top, one's the bottom.

Grease the pie dish. Press one circle of the dough into the base of the dish. Add a layer of baking paper and add the uncooked rice and blind bake for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove paper and rice and bake again.

Peel and chunk up your apples. While your base is baking, in a frying pan add the butter and melt until brown. Add your apples in and then one cup of brown sugar. Coat the apples and cook them until they're soft and lovely looking. Set it aside for 30 minutes or so to cool slightly.

Take your baked base, add your warm apple filling. Get the top layer of dough - pat it over the pie and seal the edge - crimp them in. Any leftover dough can be used to decorate the pie on top. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar on the top.

Put into the oven on 180 and bake for a further 30 minutes.

SERVE IT UP!

NAKED MEXICAN

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How good is Mexican food? Seriously. I can't get enough of that combination of avocado, lime, red onion, chicken and cheese. It's pretty amazing really. So inspired by the idea of eating the BEST burrito ever but without the burrito wrap bit, I decided to make the most awesome mexican salad ever.

Seriously, I doubt you could fit more salad veggies in this if you tried. This is what you'd call a layered salad - it all goes together in lovely little nacho-like layers but then by the time you take a mouthful of it I reckon you'll be tearing into it like a crazy donkey.

Naked Burrito Salad
Serves 6 - or make one big one for a party
Ingredients:

• 1/2 iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1/2 red cabbage, shredded
• 2 large tomatoes 
• 1 can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 can of corn kernels, drained and rinsed
• 1 red capsicum sliced thinly 
• 1 small red chilli, de-seeded and sliced thinly
• 1 medium green chilli, de-sedded and sliced thinly
• 1/2 red onion, finely  diced
• 1 slightly firm avocado cubed
• 500g chicken breast, cubed
• Burrito packet seasoning (cheat!) or use a bit of smoked paprika, some salt, some pepper and mexican seasoning and do it yourself.
• 2 strips of bacon (optional)
• 1 lime cut into eighths
• 1 small handful of mexican jack or asadero cheese
• 1 small bunch of corriander

For the dressing:

• A good drizzle of olive oil
• 1 big tbsp of honey
• 1 tsp of chopped chilli
• A squeeze of lime juice
• Pulp from the centre of the tomatoes used in the salad
• Salt

The Method

In a frying pan, heat oil and add chicken and burrito packet seasoning (or the one you made yourself) and cook until browned - in fact if you get a bit of black on your chicken even better, crispy is good. In the same frying pan cook your bacon until its nice and crispy. Put on a paper towel to drain. Once it's cooled down break up the bacon into tiny flecks to put through your salad later.

Now comes 30 minutes of chopping, shredding and peeling. Shred your lettuce, red cabbage and put in a bowl. Slice the capsicum and chilli, wash and set aside. Cut your tomatoes into small squares and discard the center pulpy bits of the tomato. Drain corn and beans and set aside. Peel and cube your avocado, squeeze a bit of lime juice on it so it doesn't brown before it gets its chance to join your salad.

In a bowl add all the ingredients of your dressing including tomato pulp and stir vigorously.

In individual bowls (or one big bowl) start layering your salad. Add iceberg lettuce first, then red cabbage on top, then kidney beans, then corn, then tomatoes, then capsicum, then avocado. In the centre create a small indent and add a handful of shredded cheese and some of the real bacon bits. Add a generous scoop of chicken and then drizzle your dressing over the layers. Top with a bit of coriander and a lime wedge or two.

A word of warning, it'll look pretty now but to get the dressing through you'll have to mix it up when you're eating it. I hope you enjoy a bit of mexico in your bowl - I sure did.