Just Dough It

We all know food tastes better home made and is healthier than ready-made products; but lack of time, know how, ingredients or perceived skill are common reasons we fall victim to supermarket convenience.  I want to share a simple, quick pizza dough recipe that anyone can master and will hopefully encourage you to try some more recipes from scratch. 

If the thought of waiting 30mins for dough to rise doesn't take your fancy, make it when you have a bit of extra time on your hands, roll it out and freeze it.  It is well worth the indulgently crisp and luscious pizza you get to devour as a reward.  I used a basic dough recipe from taste.com, always a winner when you're trying a recipe for the first time.  I have made a few changes and added some handy tips:  

Pizza dough
makes 4 bases

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 7g sachet dried yeast
Pinch of caster sugar
4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for brushing

1. Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes or until foamy

2. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and oil. Use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until combined. 

3. Use your hands to bring the dough together. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  When kneading fold dough towards you then push away with the palm of your hand.  If dough is sticky add more flour to surface and knead into dough.

4. Lightly brush some oil onto inside of a bowl.  Place dough in bowl and turn to coat in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draught-free place to rise for 30mins - 1hr or until dough doubles in size.

5. Divide dough into 4 portions and flatten with a floured rolling pin.

6. Add your toppings and bake at 200°C for about 15mins each

Have fun and experiment with toppings.  For bases I made a pesto and tomato sauce.  For toppings I used capsicum, mushrooms, roasted pumpkin, bocchini, purple onion, olives, spinach.  Go nuts!

Photos: Glenn Althor

Thanks to Bec and Glenn for being delightful dinner company, and a special thanks to Glenn for taking these fantastic photos.

I would love to hear what basic recipes you make from scratch and if there is anything you would like me to try and write about.

Elise xo

P.S I giggled to myself when choosing this title.  It isn't really that amusing I know, but the simple things always get me.  Paul suggested 'Roll roll roll your dough' :p

Pop-Up Restaurants and Picnics

`Le Diner en Blanc’ (Dinners in White), is an exclusive, elegant picnic, the location only revealed at the last minute to friends and acquaintances.  It's a secret society for foodies, with strict guidelines "Participants must wear white and be dressed elegantly", guests must bring "a picnic basket comprised of quality menu items and a china dinner service including proper stemware and flatware".

The concept was born over 20 years ago in Paris by a group of friends, and now close to 15,000 people attend the  Paris' Dîner en Blanc.  This 'chic picnic' is coming to a public space near you as Brisbane becomes the first Australian city to host the secret event, after numerous stints all over the world.  Celebrating a love of beauty and good taste this event is inspiring!  I have joined the wait list as I'm not fortunate enough to know anyone in the know.    

Another extraordinary event I love and wanted to share is Finland's Restaurant Day. Have you ever dreamed of opening your very own restaurant, cafe or bar - styled by you, serving the food and drinks you love?  Well in Finland, you can!  On Restaurant Day (occurs 4 times a year), anyone can set up their very own restaurant, cafe or bar in their home, office, street, park... wherever you want...and you will get real customers.  The pop-up venues are listed on the event website and away you go sharing fun food experiences. 

Photo: Roy Bäckström

Photo: Roy Bäckström

It's fantastic to see all these creative ideas motivated by the passion for good food and good company.  I love cooking for friends and family.  I can only dream of one day hosting dinner parties for 15,000.  Maybe a pop-up restaurant in Finland is more realistic.

Baking Finale

If you thought the most fun you could have with scones is serving them with jam and cream, think again.  For my final instalment of Gourmet Garden recipes I decided to have a bake day and make some yummy scones with a herb yoghurt cream to serve. I love fresh baked scones, they are my favourite afternoon treat, savoury or sweet. Thanks to my Gourmet Garden squeeze tube friends - basil, thyme and garlic I made a scrumptious, savoury delight.

Herb Scones

3 cups self-raising flour

1 tsp salt

pinch cayenne pepper

50g butter, chopped

1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs (I used oregano, rosemary and chives), finely chopped

1/3 cup grated tasty cheese

1 cup milk

To serve, combine the following ingredients

1/3 cup natural yoghurt

1 tsp Gourmet Garden Basil

1 tsp Gourmet Garden Thyme

1 tsp Gourmet Garden Chunky Garlic

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Sift flour into a large bowl, add salt and cayenne pepper. Mix well to combine. Add butter. Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Add herbs and cheese to flour mixture, stir well. Add milk, mix with a flat-bladed knife to form a soft dough.

4. Knead lightly on a floured surface.  Roll into a log and cut 5cm diameter rounds.  Place close together on tray.

5. Bake for 12-15 mins, or until golden.  Cool slightly.

6. Serve with herb yoghurt and ham if desired.  Makes 12.

Mmm the smell of scones straight out of the oven is divine.  The taste, even better!

I hope you enjoyed my series of Gourmet Garden herb recipes, they really are very convenient and fun to use.  So let loose and be creative in the kitchen, it's the best way to develop an amazing recipe.

An Unexpected Dinner Party

As promised I'm continuing to play with a selection of Gourmet Garden products as part of the Blog Off/ Cook Off competition.  Aside from the stand alone herb tubes, the range also includes special seasoning herb blends; I was thrilled to try the Thai seasoning with lemon grass, ginger, coriander and chilli.  I had a little taste test to get myself in the creative mood - wow what a burst of flavour!  Immediately I decided to make Nuoc Cham (dipping sauce) to accompany Vietnamese rice paper rolls.

If you want a fun, easy recipe when entertaining guests or something different for the family - Vietnamese rice paper rolls are always a winner.  Especially when it's last minute as most of the ingredients are staple.

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

Rice paper rounds and a bowl of warm water to soften them

200g vermicelli, soak in cold water untill soft

150g bean sprouts

1 carrot, sliced into thin match sticks

1 cucumber, shaved into ribbons

1 capsicum, sliced thinly

1/2 green cabbage, roughly diced and sautéed in fry pan with some soy sauce

handful of fresh mint leaves

Nuoc Cham

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup fish sauce

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chunky Garlic

1 tbsp Gourmet Garden Thai Seasoning

1tbsp shallots, finely chopped

1 chilli, finely chopped, if you like it spicy

Combine all ingredients well and serve.  Feel free to add a bit more sugar if too tangy.

This should be enough for 4-6 people but it's easy to cut up more veggies if required.  Once you've prepared all the ingredients you are ready to go.  Arrange on a platter and set a plate and chopsticks at every position.  The idea is everyone helps themselves and makes their rolls from the ingredients in front of them.  That's the fun part! Oh and did I mention this is very healthy, plenty of nutrient rich fresh food! ;)

Gourmet Garden Blog Off/ Cook Off Day One

I love growing my own herbs and veggies, there is something very therapeutic about tending to your garden, admittedly I’m not the best gardener but so far the biggest challenge of keeping my herbs alive are the pesky neighbourhood possums.  They just love a healthy diet of soft leaves such as basil and parsley!  

Thanks to Gourmet Garden’s blog off/ cook off competition I’ve had the opportunity to try their fantastic range of herbs which come in convenient squeeze tubes.  I was very excited to find a selection of Gourmet Garden goodies at my door step when arriving home from work last Friday afternoon.  This week I'll be sharing my cooking adventures with these handy herbs and hopefully inspiring you to add some herby deliciousness to your everyday meals.

First recipe for the week is super simple, quick to make and most importantly tastes amazing.  I love making my own pesto and it's such a versatile flavour you can add it to many recipes or even just spread on a toasted sandwich.  My basil plant doesn't produce nearly enough crop to satisfy my pesto addiction and that's where the Gourmet Garden products come in handy.  One tube of basil paste contains the equivalent of 3 bunches of fresh chopped basil, I've also noted they don't contain artificial colours or flavours and are Australian grown.  So here goes, I used about half a tube of Gourmet Garden Basil, some Chunky Garlic and Hot Chilli to spice things up. 

Pesto Seafood Pasta

250g spiral pasta

200g peeled prawns

200g scallops

2 red capsicums, thinly sliced

1 brown onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp Gourmet Garden Chunky Garlic

1 tbsp Gourmet Garden Hot Chilli

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

basil pesto

1/4 cup pine nuts

3 tbsp Gourmet Garden basil

1 tsp Gourmet Garden Chunky Garlic

3/4 cup grated parmesan

1 tbsp oil

1. Combine prawns and scallops with garlic, chilli and a little salt and pepper in a container; refrigerate.

2. Boil water in medium saucepan, add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside

3. Make pesto: combine pine nuts and parmesan in food processor until coarse crumbs are formed.  Add basil and garlic then gradually add oil.

4. Fry onion and capsicum in large fry pan or wok until aromatic and slightly browned

5. Add seafood mix and fry until seafood is cooked, this won’t take long so be careful not to overcook

6. Reduce heat to low and stir in pasta, pesto and cherry tomatoes

7. Serve with some freshly sliced shallots.

This recipe serves 4.  There is plenty of room to be flexible with quantities and I tend to find cooking a lot more fun when you can guesstimate.  I would also recommend adding a splash of white wine to this dish to enhance the flavours.  A zesty, aromatic Riesling would compliment this dish perfectly.

New Foodie Festival for Brisbane

Delectable is set to put Brisbane on the national and international culinary map.  A fourteen day program of food, music and entertainment will definitely warm you up this winter.  I am excited to hear the festival is all about celebrating local produce, and what an abundance of fresh, quality produce we have in Queensland!

What can you expect?  South Bank transformed into and urban garden, cooking demonstrations from renowned chefs and plenty of good food, wine and entertainment.  I can't wait!

Delectable 16-29th July.