pizza Archives - labeet.dk

Am now back, don’t know yet if it’s with a vengeance, but it’s with something very innocent, namely a food recipe.

First I’ll just tell you briefly what’s been going on in the meantime:

I haven’t been well – will get back to that later, if I don’t end up deeming it too private/boring for the public eye.

I wrote my Bachelor dissertation with my friend Mikkel. Here’s a picture of it…

Name means: Why dont they just go and do it? — Titel means: Why don't they just go and do it?

We had a Bar Mitzvah in the family. Great big party for a lovely boy. Here’s a picture of the rabbi’s legs:

Cool shoes, dont you think? — Cool shoes, don't you think?

We also had a wedding in the family. The reception was at our house. The happy couple wants to keep the pictures private, so here’s a picture of me and young Dane on the day:

And my older son Emil has been visiting, so blogging was sort of bottom of the list, you see!

We went for a walk at Winkworth Arboretum

Oh yes, and it was young son’s 8th b’day. Here’s a picture of the cakes and the rolls, which we served on the day.

Traditional bday rolls as per family recipe — Avocado/Strawberry b'day layer cake

Traditional Danish bday rolls as per family recipe — Traditional Danish b'day rolls as per family recipe

And for the patient Twitterati is here finally the recipe for:

Avocado/strawberry layer cake – ideal for summer b’days

You’ll need a plain sponge cake, which you’ll then split in three for each cake. Either bake or order at baker’s.

Per cake you’ll need approximately:

2 avocados, must be ripe
2 pounds of strawberries
icing sugar
2 unwaxed lemons
1/2 l double cream
inside of 1/2 – 1 vanilla pod

This cake can be made the evening before if you 1) have room in your fridge 2) wait with decorating the top till just before serving. It gets better that way, the gooey strawberry mash soaks nicely into the sponge…

Have the sponges at the ready with bottom ones on cake platters.

Make avocado cream: Put avocado flesh, icing sugar (a little to begin with, add to taste), lemon juice & vanilla into blender and mix. When thoroughly mixed, add cream. Hold some back to make sure you get the right consistency. It must be like quite thick cream.

Now make strawberry mash. Use half the berries, mash them with icing sugar. Again, use sugar to taste.

Slice the rest of the strawberries in 3-4 lengthwise, keep some which you only halve for decorating the sides.

Now you’re ready to make the cake:

With a spatula, spread a layer of strawberry mash onto bottom layer. A layer of avocado cream goes on top. Then a layer of sliced strawberries in a nice pattern. Repeat with second layer. If you’re making the cake a day ahead, finish with top bit of sponge, film and stick in fridge. Avocado cream must be in airtight container in fridge.

Next day just before serving, you decorate your cake with more avocado cream and more strawberries. Depending on occasion, you can now decorate with candles etc. or for a more grown-up feel with strawberries or redcurrants on the stalks, dipped in egg white and then dusted with icing sugar. Very pretty. These need to rest on kitchen towels for a few hours before they are ready.

Thanks to Danish chef, food writer, organics pioneer & chief feminist Camilla Plum for this lovely and original recipe!

On Twitter I promised @titianred a recipe for Italian style potato pizza. It’s here (you’ll have to read all of it to get to the potato part).

Why buy horrible pizzas at Pizza Hut? Make them yourself, it’s easy and VERY satisfactory. I swear your family will love it:

To my horror I discovered that I have NO pictures of any pizza I ever baked. Will correct that on next baking session. Till then, here’s a picture from Flickr.

Pizza dough for four pizzas:

2-3 tsp dry yeast (depending on proving time)
4 dl. lukewarm water
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
app. 700 gr “00” flour or very strong white flour

Mix everything together (mix the dry yeast in with the flour or alternatively dissolve it first in the water. If you dissolve you’ll need a shorter proving time). Mix & knead till smooth but firm dough. Leave to prove for app. one hour on kitchen counter in cloth-covered bowl. Cut the dough in 4 pieces. (At this point in time the dough can be frozen. Wrap in cling film and stick in freezer. When you take pizza dough out of the freezer, unwrap immediately, then leave to thaw on kitchen counter covered with damp cloth for 4-5 hours). Let the dough balls prove for another hour on the kitchen counter covered by wet tea towel. To be sure that your pizza dough is ready, do the prodding test. Prod the dough. If it raises immediately, it’s not yet ready. If your fingerprint stays for a while, your dough is ready. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin. You’ll need extra flour for this, but don’t use too much. If you use a coarser kind of flour for the rolling, it’ll be easier.
A super simple tomato sauce for your pizza is this:
1 can of peeled, diced tomatoes
a small handful of Basil leaves
a bit of olive oil
salt, pepper

Blend, spread on pizza. Add cheese. Pizza toppings such as grilled peppers, aubergines or halved artichoke hearts go on top of the cheese, before baking. But toppings such as parma ham, rocket or pepperoni should not be added until after the pizza is baked. But then it must happen immediately. A really good and very Italian pizza is potato pizza. It has no tomato sauce and no cheese. Cover with thin slices of lightly parboiled potatoes, add a generous sprinkle of olive oil and chopped rosemary.
Bake in a 250° hot oven. Make sure that the surface on which you bake the pizza it pre-heated. This is important! If you’re not the happy owner of a so-called pizza-stone, you can do it like this: Have two sheets at the ready. Heat one in the oven and put a sheet of baking paper on top of the other one. Once the pizza is rolled out, but before you add any toppings, put it on the baking paper. Then when the pizza is ready and the oven (and the sheet that’s in the oven) has reached 250°, slide the pizza over on the hot sheet. You can’t time the baking. You must keep an eye on the pizza. Ovens vary and people’s taste in pizza also vary. It will rarely take more than 10 minutes, so make sure the table’s laid and your family is ready once the pizzas start going in the oven! Each pizza will feed one hungry person.

This recipe and these guidelines and ideas are all nicked from an Italian pizza-baker in Copenhagen, once interviewed in a foodie magazine. That’s probably why they work!

If you try this, why not let me know how you fare?

Tag: pizza

Silence is now officially broken

Avocado/strawberry layer cake – ideal for summer b’days

On popular demand… Pizza for dummies