HANG ON TO YOUR HAT

I'm going to give you the recipe for the best pizza I've ever had.

Pizza, as you may not know, has its origins in Italy and was named after the pizzafocco which is a kind of flat cap worn during the Renaissance between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Initially a form of peasant food because field workers kept their lunch under their hats and during the working hours the foccacia sandwiches they had, in the heat, molded itself to the shape of their hats, pizza soon was seen in restaurants and on dining tables everywhere.

I like making my own pizzas and have a few good variants.
Sometimes I make my own pizza base from scratch because the supermarket offerings are pretty dismal but here in the UK I've found a perfect 'ready to top' pizza base.

The brand is Crosta & Mollica and is made in Italy. I buy it in Waitrose.

It has a nice rim which is crusty on the outside and soft in the centre providing a 'well' for the toppings on a nice thin base.
The texture is more like a croissant than a chewy, bready form and it acts as a vehicle for the toppings rather than being too dominant. Delicious.

The variant that I've developed is a vegetarian one.

On the base, which is already lightly coated with a tomato sauce, I spread a little more tomato concentrate mixed with some sweet chilli sauce and some Lee Kum Lee chilli garlic sauce.

If you don't have this in your pantry as a staple then you'd better get some. We use it in spaghetti sauces, taco mixtures, stews, casseroles, curries - basically anything except desserts but probably only because we haven't tried that yet.

Trim and slice a capsicum (any colour) and gently saute in a pan with fresh garlic in a little oil (only ever use olive oil).
You should have already boiled a small to medium size potato. In UK Piper Maris is best but in New Zealand I'll use Agria. When this is cool or cold, slice it thinly and layer on the pizza base.

Next slice some artichoke hearts. I use bottled ones from the supermarket. I find that they keep well in the fridge if you use them up over a couple of weeks. Layer the slices over the potato.

Spread the sauteed capsicum and garlic across the potato and artichoke layers.

I now use some delicious Piquante Peppers. I buy these in a jar. The brand is Peppadew which I've found in UK and NZ. These have a sweet and spicy taste combined. Not too hot but with a nice 'bite'. Chop them in pieces and mingle with the capsicum.

Olives are next. Only ever use Kalamata olives (Greek or Italian). Don't use those nasty Spanish ones that are chewy and have no flavour. I buy the pitted ones because I don't have an olive pitter, Cut the olives in half or quarters and liberally distribute over the ingredients so far.

I've already put some sweet chiili sauce and some chilli garlic sauce into the base mixture but I like my food with a bite of a 'kick' so, when the Old Girl is away like she is at the moment I add a little bit of hot chilli sauce.
I have some in a bottle I bought from an Asian food store which is surprisingly hot. The brand is Uni Eagle Sriracha.

With this little number you only need a few dribbles across the top (drops even) to do the deed.

I finish with a sprinkle of grated mozzarella cheese - not too much as you want to taste the vegetables and not the cheese. The base can have a few sprinkles as well.

I sometimes use some fresh herbs (basil, rosemary etc) but this is when I haven't used the chilli.

10 minutes in a 220 degree oven and this is ready. I had mine last night with a reasonable NZ Pinot Noir.

(photo off the web. Mine looked much nicer)