Friday 10 August 2012

The Best Things in Life are Three!

Tre Pizzettini Sfiziosi
3 Little Pizza's with Caramelized Peppers, Ajvar and Burrata


Who was it that said "it's the little things in life that make it worth living" ? Well, I am impressed- because obviously they said that before tasting my little "pizzi" this evening and STILL got it right! Respect!

This is really nothing special- just quick and easy snack-time pizza tonight, but I decided to do 3 slightly different variations on the same theme, to try out different ways of presenting pizza for a party say, or as a little appetizer maybe. Basically, they are tomato-free, pepper-based snacks made of bell peppers on Ajvar, with a little onion, garlic, herbs and spice and a touch of creamy Burrata that I had left over from yesterday. A great combination! Easy, delicious and fun!


It had been a long day and I was just plain tired and hungry- though not necessarily in that order! So out came a roll of pizza dough, on went the oven at the top heat, and on went my frying pan onto the stove! I was in no mood for messing! I was in the mood for eating!

I sliced the green bell pepper and put the strips into a hot pan with just a tiny amount of olive oil, just enough to coat them slightly. I salted and peppered them and sautéed them for 4-5 minutes until they softened a little and began to brown. I then added a sprinkle of sugar and continued for 2-3 minutes until the pepper strips had a lovely caramel glaze to them... delicious!


I cut and formed the dough into ovals of around 6x8" and spread them with Ajvar. I wanted a different favor to regular pizza... like I said, I wanted to have some fun- and I just love Ajvar anyway! I sliced a couple of Spring onions on the diagonal and sprinkled them evenly around the pizza, then seasoned with a salt that I ground up especially- made of sea salt, a pinch of sugar, rosemary, garlic, caraway seed, black pepper and a little grated orange zest. I ground these up with a mortar and pestle and used it as my seasoning- pretty amazing stuff!

One of the pizzas I simply left open and I spread little bits of burrata out evenly on it- not too much as it melts very quickly, becomes really runny and will just make the pizza too soggy. You may love loads of melted cheese and can feel free to do so... but I prefer to have less... there! I've said it!

The other pizza also had mozzarella added, but then I folded it shut, from left and right, overlapping the the middle. To this one I added a little more cheese and a few onions on the outside too, and of course the seasoned salt- yum-yum!

The last pizza got the bell peppers but NO cheese, it was still folded shut and seasoned, but I only added the cheese AFTEr it was baked and had cooled down, so that the cheese didn't melt at all. To this one I added a little tender rosemary and a drop of olive oil as a slight contrast to the crispy dough, the tangy Ajvar and juicy bell peppers...

... and all three were so delicious it it really impossible to say which one I liked best! Poor me- what a dilemma! Ah well, wanting to behave like a professional I simply forced myself to eat all three :-) and I recommend that you do too!

No comments:

Post a Comment