Lazy Sundays, cozy sunny afternoons and a mind blowing hunger with way too many leftovers going on from the past week.
So I decided to be the extra lazy cook today, and holiday season a part, bring on the calories, the carbs, the cheesy fat of this thing I cooked, plus all the vegetables to feel just a tad less guilty.
One of the leftovers I most adore to play with? Bread. After a day or two, fresh bread takes a hike and turns into a semi dry clump of dough with not much to do about it (except make croutons or something boringly simple). The leftover bread I used was a Chouriço bread, cut in half where each was topped with tomato sauce, cheese and veg (no meat needed, chouriço already present). Portuguese love bread, you can find the chouriço one available at many fairs, events, specially a winter thing as freshly baked warms any soul (and fills any belly). If you want to give it a try, make your fave bread dough recipe, thinly spread it and lay (loads) of slices of chouriço, roll up and bake till crispy. Brioche goes very well with the salty goodness of the cured meat.
Any leftovers for next day’s lunch is a piece of cake (or pizza in this case) – just slightly heat and eat.
This post was inspired by a recipe my friend Daiane Lopes and I made a few months back, homemade roast tomato sauce pizza with veggies and fresh basil. If you are a dough making type of person – this is the starting-from-scratch recipe you should try.
Check out her blog for some delightful recipes and this pizza post that was published in Umbigo Magazine.
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 200 grams all purpose flour
- 7 grams dry yeast
- 110 grams warm water
- 30g olive oil
- Salt
Sauce:
1 kg ripe tomatoes
150 grams green pepper
220 grams onions
4 cloves of garlic
5 grams sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Fresh rosemary
Fresh basil
Topping the pizza:
- 200 grams mozzarella (feel free to mix with other cheeses, like stilton/roquefort/gorgonzola, parmesan or pecorino)
- Cherry tomatoes (halved)
- Thinly sliced eggplant
- Fresh basil
- Oregano
Prepping the dough:
Mix the ingredients with the dough paddle of a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes. Make a ball, set in a bowl greased with olive oil and let rise for 1 1/2 hour, covered, in a warm place.
Prepping the sauce:
Half the tomatoes, season with salt, pepper, oilve oil and rosemary. Roast for 50 minutes at 160ºC.
Slightly fry the onions, garlic and green peppers, add the roasted tomatoes and add a pinch of sugar if the acidity of the tomatoes is too high (and tart)..
Make sure to make an extra smooth sauce with a food processor.
Any leftover sauce can be frozen into ice cube trays and later on used for flavoring several dishes.
Prepping the pizza:
Pre-heat your oven on max temperature (usually >250ºC). This is highly important for a crispy crust. Most issues with making home made pizza is really the temperature at which it is cooked in the first place – even at 200ºC, the dough can become soggy and bready.
The second step into getting a perfect dough is blind baking it for 5 minutes, before adding the sauce, cheese and diverse toppings.
Note: for extra extra crispiness, making the dough the previous night and letting it cool in the fridge after rising, will relax the gluten and harden the structure once it is cooked.
Mel's Vittles 