pizza bianca

pizza thinner. people happier. rosemary garlic and olive oil as a base is a very good place to start anything you do in your day. and this, the macbook of pizzas, is sexy and lovely and cant ever be wrong. sure there were a few bumps in the road, photographical ones mainly, but in the immortal words of churchill… keep buggering on. so here it is…better than the last, pizza bianca.

ingredients

1 pizza base

garlic, olive oil, pinch of sea salt, sprig of rosemary (this bashed in a mortar and pestle will be spread on the base of your pizza. call it a flavoured oil if you must.)

1 waxy potato sliced as fine as humanly possible

some fresh peccorino (and/or some mozzarella. i went with and)

some rosemary

pinch of salt and pepper

olive oil

first finely slice your potatoes. rinse them in cold water and then pat them dry with some kitchen paper. place in a bowl with 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper and some rosemary. make sure they are all coated. set aside

in a mortar and pestle bash up one clove of garlic, with some salt, rosemary and 4 tbsp olive oil. set aside. thinly slice (as thin as the potato if possible) some peccorino and tear up your mozzarella if using.

preheat oven to hottest it will go. then smear the pizza base with the garlic oil, then lay out potatoes, then place the peccorino in the gaps and put some mozzarella on top. then give it some rosemary. season with salt and pepper and give it a final drizzle with the garlic oil if you are so incline.

put in the oven for about ten minutes until spectacular.

roasted asparagus & roasted cherry tomatoes

this entire 24 hours was in part driven by my desire to oven roast some cherry tomatoes (a 4 hour process and one frowned upon by those concerned with the footprint they leave on this earth). so instead i thought about roasting in a more general and socially conscious sense and the dizzying highs that such moderation and restraint can bring. besides, who wants to spend over 4 hours, watching with anxious anticipation as the flavour of a cherry tomato slowly and shriveledly concentrates itself? its not like id find transformation on a molecular or gastronomic level fascinating. and its not like id later write a passive aggressive post about the whys and hows it never came to pass. instead, what i came up with was this. i dont feel i need to go into too much detail because roasting is not rocket science. alongside the fish were some palate-ally and aesthetically pleasing vegetables. use whatever you have. i went with a couple of potatoes on account of total lack of imagination (though i did have an inkling, a bit of a feeling, that they would take to my romesco like a hungry harold saxon to a piece of red meat), tomatoes and asparagus…for the colours, for the properties but mainly because i enjoy the staggered entry into the oven when working with vegetables of such varying proportions and densities.

roasted vegetables – ingredients

2 new potatoes (par boiled in boiling salted water for 20 minutes

2 bunches of asparagus

1 vine of cherry tomatoes

4 cloves garlic

olive oil

salt/pepper

bunch of basil

rosemary

first par-boil the potatoes in boiling salted water for 20 minutes. drain them and cut into discs (slices to you and me) – about 2-3cm thick…depending on the size of your mouth and later your stomach. put on an oven tray. while they are still hot season well with salt and pepper. then toss with olive oil, 2 whole unpeeled cloves of garlic and rosemary and bake in oven at 200 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

remove after 30-40 minutes and place vine of cherry tomatoes along side. score the tops toss tomatoes in some olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped, some torn up basil and season with salt and pepper. put the tray back into the oven to roast for another 15 minutes.

finally, the asparagus only needs about 5-10 minutes so put this in last. place on the same tray as potatoes and tomatoes and toss in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. i like to dot it with butter…generally no ones watching and even if they are, what youre doing is probably of little interest.

cod with romesco crust

…for joy (creator of snow) and for tomorrows dinner

dinner proper never looked like this. it was where cooking met chefing met eating and where fish met spain met summertime. and although, as i recently discovered, fish isnt exactly my area of expertise (this moment of clarity came in the market on a fine saturday morning when a stench, a dozen bellowing fishmongers, one boisterous fish man, and a lovely but disgruntled boy, nearly brought this whole operation to its knees), anything topped with this sublime culinary embodiment of the mediterranean will generally be ok. just make sure to cook the fish through. because no, that is correct, we are not japanese.

romesco ingredients

3 red peppers roasted, skins removed

1tbsp rosemary

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp olive oil

50g blanched almonds roasted

50g dry white breadcrumbs (feel free to toast these off in some olive oil flavoured with rosemary and garlic)

2 portions cod/hake…whatever you can get

to make the romesco crust its best to have a food processor. if you only have your pounding implement then by all means but you are aiming for sandy consistency to make a crust for the fish…with the mortar and pestle i was able to achieve a wet sand but having done this before in a processor dry sand is preferable. first roast your peppers under very hot grill until the skins are black. put them into a plastic bag for a few minutes and then take them out to remove the skins…which should peel away very easily. put them in a bowl with some garlic, rosemary and olive oil and stir to combine. then in processor, or whichever way you choose to go, mix up the peppers, 1 clove of garlic, almonds, bread crumbs and salt and pepper. set this aside while you cook your fish.

put some olive oil in a pan over a high heat. add the fish, skin-side down and cook for 2-3 minutes

then transfer to a baking sheet, skin side up and crumble over the romesco topping. bake this in the oven for 7 minutes or until cooked through.