Mushroom, Spinach and Ham Pizza

I have a confession – I cannot make bread. Any I make is truly rubbish. But I have a trick to making pizza dough – I leave make it the night before and leave it to prove in the fridge for the best part of 24 hours. It requires a bit of forethought but is fairly simple and easy. It would probably work for bread but, oddly, I’m not so organised on that front.

I usually have home-made tomato sauce in the freeze, but shop bought or even tomato puree would do the job. Obviously ham is not vegetarian but really you could top the pizza with anything you fancy.

Dough
300g flour
200ml water – hand hot
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp quick yeast
2tbps olive oil

Topping
3 tbsp tomato sauce
6 mushrooms, sliced
Knob butter
1 handful spinach
2 slices Serrano ham (optional)
1 ball mozzarella

To make the dough – mix the yeast, sugar and water in a jug and leave for a couple of minutes. Put the flour and salt in a bowl and pour in the water. Scrap it all together into a rough dough, add the olive oil and knead for about 10 minutes. Put it into an oiled bowl, covered with cling film and stick in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to make the pizza, preheat your oven to about 230C.

Slice the mushrooms and fry in a little butter until just soft. Set to one side and then wilt the spinach in the same pan (for no reason than to reduce washing up).

Dust a work surface with plenty of flour put the dough in the middle and top with a layer of cling film. Roll out as thin as you can and as best you can (it has a tendency to shrink back). Place (carefully) on a large baking tray m- I always struggle and stretch the dough at this point to if you have any clever ways to do it please let me know. Smear with tomato sauce right up to the edges, then top with the spinach, mushrooms and Serrano ham. Finally finish by tearing the mozzarella over the top.

Place in the hot over for about 20 minutes, until golden.

Serves two.

Vegetable Fajitas

This is surprisingly quick and very tasty. I make the fajita spice mix by the jar – I then forget the exact quantities make up another batch which is slightly different. The vegetables also vary – onions, pepper and garlic are pretty much a requirement, but the rest changes depending on what I have, what’s in season, what I fancy. Sometimes I add a tin of beans, sometimes tofu, usually some mushrooms, then courgettes, aubergine, tomatoes…take your pick.

I do take a few shortcuts – a bottle of lime juice, frozen coriander, bought tortillas (of course) and a grinder filled with dried chilli, garlic, pepper and salt, but on a Thursday night speed is of the essence.
To serve you need about 6 tortillas, some grated cheese and soured cream and lettuce if you want.

Fajita spice mix
Paprika
Oregano
Mild chilli powder
Salt

Fajitas
1 tbsp oil
150g tofu, cubed
1 small red onion, sliced
½ red pepper, sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
½ courgette, cut into about 1cm chunks
6 mushrooms, quartered
8 cherry tomatoes
1 chilli, finely chopped
Cube frozen coriander or a small handful of fresh
1 tbsp fajita spice mix
Salt and pepper
1 lime or about a tablespoon of juice

Guacamole
1 ripe avocado
1 tsp fajita spice mix
Squeeze of lime juice
Grind of salt, pepper, chilli and garlic (or each separately)

For the fajita spice mix - mix about equal quantities of all the ingredients – make as much as you like, store it in a jar and use as required.

For the guacamole - mash all the ingredients together with a fork, taste for seasoning. The lime juice should stop the avocado going brown.

For the fajitas - start by frying the tofu in a wok until golden brown then set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium, add the onions and fry until soft and just going golden. Next add the peppers and garlic, and fry for about 4 minutes. Add the tofu, vegetables, beans if you are using them, and the coriander (if you are using fresh add it with the lime juice). Fry for about 5 minutes, add the fajita spice mix, season and cook for another couple of minutes.

To finish add the lime juice. Stir one last time and check the seasoning.

To serve smear a tortilla with guacamole and soured cream if you want, add a bit of lettuce, pile in some of the vegetables, top with some grated cheese and roll it all up in the tortilla. Eat with juice dripping attractively down your chin.

Serves 2.

Lemon Linguine

In the bleak mid winter…you need a bit of sunshine. You know when you leave for work, and it’s dark, and set off for home, and it’s dark, and you barely see sunlight in between. This is the food for those days, in my book at least, this counts as sunshine food. I think it’s because of the lemons - all yellow and happy – and the rocket - a crown of green loveliness…I think the lack of sun might be going to my head!

3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium potato, in about 1 cm cubes
Linguine – for two
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 small handful of sunflower kernels or pine nuts
1 lemon, zest and juice
50g Parmesan, grated
Bag of rocket

Start by putting a pan of salted water on to boil and heating a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot add the cubes of potato to fry and turn the heat down to medium hot – stir frequently.

Once the water comes up to the boil add the linguine and cook according to packet instructions. Drain when cooked, reserving a cup of the cooking water.

Once the potato is golden brown and cooked right through – about 5-10 minutes - turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic to the pan. After about a minute add the sunflower kernels or pine nuts and fry briefly. Next add the juice and zest of the lemon and the remaining oil. Plonk the linguine in after them, season well with salt and pepper (remembering that the parmesan is quite salty) and give everything a good stir and adding some of the reserve liquid if its needed.
Serve in two warmed bowls, sprinkle liberally with the parmesan and top with a good handful of rocket – sunshine in a bowl.