Veggie Week Part 3 - Pizza Fiorentina

Greetings foodies!

Tonight has been a bit boring, my wife had to work late so I was pretty much feeding myself. The recipe for the Pizza I have done today with a pre-made base and sauce, since its a weeknight tea just for me. A bit more special and better I'm sure with a home made pizza base and a delicious rich home made tomato sauce, both of which are easy enough to do. Just seemed a little too much fuss for just my tea, so I've posted it as it was. Quality was pretty good for shop bought ingredients anyway! Want it a bit more special though? Make your own base and sauce - rewarding and extra delicious.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
200g Fresh Baby Spinach
1 Pizza base, 12" or so. Shop bought will do the job.
1 Portion of home made tomato sauce (if you make batches and freeze it like me) or a small jar of pizza sauce
Whole Nutmeg
150g Mozzarella Cheese
1 Egg
50g Gruyere Cheese, grated

Method:

Heat half the oil in a pan. Fry the onion gently for around 5 minutes, until soft, then add the spinach and stir gently for 2 minutes until wilted. Grate in a good amount of nutmeg, Pour off any excess liquid then rest for a minute or 2.

Spread your tomato sauce on the pizza base. Add the spinach mix and mozzarella, season, and place in a pre-heated 220 oven for 8 minutes.

Take out, and make a well in the middle of the toppings. Crack your egg into the well, top the whole thing with the Gruyere, then back into the oven for a further 6-7 minutes.

Serve straight away with Crusty home made Garlic Bread if you wish, or just your favourite crisp Italian White Wine.

Must admit it was very tasty, and I even prepped a second one which the wife had at 1:30am when she finally got in from work. I'll be glad when my fortune comes in as a famous chef so she doesn't have to work these hours anymore! In the meantime I'll just enjoy the new 50" HD 3D TV we just bought with her pay rise :-)

Night folks, best wishes

Tony

Coming soon...

Evening all!

I've been laid up this evening with a migraine, so I'm afraid anyone coming back for part 3 of veggie week is going to be disappointed - I didn't cook a thing tonight I've been in bed. Back to normal service tomorrow, meantime I thought I would let you all in on some of the plans for the blog this year.

The rest of this week will continue the veggie week theme, including recipes like Fiorentina Pizza, Mexican Tortilla Parcels, Souffle Omlette and a Frittata with Leeks and Red Pepper. Other themed weeks will be coming too, so please comment or email with any suggestions and we will be happy to take them forward.

We are hoping to start some guest recipes soon too. Anyone who would like to get involved please drop us an email and we will be happy to sort it out. My little brother Richard has already agreed to pop one on, and as someone who has worked as a chef in the past it should be a good one! Eventually we will be looking to extend this to pro chefs and maybe even feature personalised recipes by some of the more famous stars of the food world, so watch this space!

June will see me take on a professional cooking course with top chef Richard Bertinet, in the classic French Bistro style. It was a 30th birthday present from my amazing wife Sam and I will make sure I share with you all any tips, tricks, recipes and anything else I pick up from the time with him.

Later in the year we should really take off. October 2011 the very lucky Anthony will be marrying his lovely fiance Nadine, and they will be visiting Wales for the honeymoon and catching up with her family. This means Ant and I can really get cooking! There will be mystery box challenges (a la Masterchef!), food tours, adventures, major recipes and of course plenty of blogs to keep everyone involved. We are also planning a visit to France and will of course be popping to some fine French Bistro's for ideas to share with our readers.

So... sorry again about the lack of a recipe for today, but check back tomorrow and hopefully this will just wet your appetite for more cooking with your friends at The BBQ'd Leek.

Good health!

Tony