Messy Red Apron

Well if this isn't the simplest pizza to make, then this isn't Messy Red Apron.

The pizza sauce in this recipe is a 'what you got' type of homemade pizza sauce. The kind where you reach deep into the overstocked shelves of your pantry & pull out varying ingredients to use and hope for the best.  You can really make something great in these moments.

Here's what you'll need:
Pizza Sauce:
4-5 ripened roma tomatoes (diced roughly)
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 tsp sambal olek (or to taste)
handful of fresh oregano (roughly chopped)
couple of generous pinches of sugar

Rest of the pizza ingredients:
Pizza base of your choice (homemade, store bought)
Garlic clove
Bocconcini
Mozzarella (grated)
fresh Basil

Here's how to do it:
Preheat oven to 220degrees.

To make the pizza sauce: In a medium saucepan, add tomatoes, soy sauce, tomato paste, sambal olek, oregano & sugar.  Cook over medium to low heat until tomato mixture starts to reduce.  Simmer over low heat until it reaches your desired consistency.  That simple.  Be aware...this pizza sauce has a decent kick to it.

To assemble the pizza: Rub garlic over pizza base.  Spread a few generous tablespoons of pizza sauce over base.  Place 6-7 cherries of bocconcini over pizza sauce and top with mozzarella.  Cook in 220 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese has melted and base is crispy.

Remove from oven and sprinkle over roughly torn basil leaves.  Cut to your preferred slice size and enjoy.

This really was a simple yet tasty margherita pizza.  Everyone should try it.






Margherita pizza

  
(I have to confess.  This isn't the picture of the pizza I made, I got this picture from here. Our pizza looked so tasty that we couldn't wait to tuck in!  It was gone in seconds.)

My very first post to this blog was a homemade version of Hungry Jack's alfresco whopper.  Well guess what, Mcdonald's came out with a beaut of a burger and H2B and I had to try it at home.

Here's your shopping list: 
burger buns
wagyu beef patties
cheese
tomato
lettuce
tomato relish (we used Aussie bush sauce - we got a bottle from the Ekka)
aioli

Here's how to do it:
Get your man to cook the wagyu beef patties over a nice hot flame on the barbie.  Just before he decides it's cooked, wack on a slice of cheese and allow it to melt slightly.  Lightly toast buns on barbie aswell.

Once ready, load your bun in the following order; beef patty with cheese, tomato, lettuce, bush sauce, aioli.

It really is that simple.  The wagyu beef patty was sublime and melted in your mouth.

Our version:

Wagyu beef burger with bush sauce and aioli

Mcdonald's version:

Angus the third



Nacho taco



nacho taco

stand and stuff taco

Tomato & Basil and  Garlic Mushroom

Camembert and pesto stuffed chicken

Spiced barramundi with beer battered wedges

barramundi & mayo on bruschetta

marinated pork ribs with sweet potato mash

Friday night - tandoori chicken with naan

tandoori chicken with naan

There is nothing on that weeks meal plan that I would not have again, it was gastronomically awesome.

Serves 8
Ingredients:
Base:
300g choc ripple biscuits
80g butter, melted
Filling
2x 250g packs Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup castor sugar
300g white choc melts
1 tablespoon gelatine
1 1/2 tablespoones hot water
1/2 cup whipped cream
300g raspberries

Here's how to do it:
In a food processor, process biscuits until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.  Add butter and process until combined.  Press mixture into a 9" spring-form tin and refrigerate while preparing the filling.

Melt choc bits and set aside to cool slightly.

Beat cream cheese until soft, add sugar and melted chocolate and combine until smooth and sugar dissolved.  In a separate bowl whisk gelatine and hot water until dissolved, add to filling and beat until combined.  Fold in whipped cream.

Separate mixture into two bowls.  In one bowl add raspberries and fold through then pour onto the base.  Pour remaining mixture on top of raspberry filling and using a bamboo stick swirl both mixtures together.

Cover and refrigerate until set.

Variations:
Replace biscuit base for sponge cake
Exchange berries for passionfruit or maltesers

I had some issues with my choice of raspberries.  I opted to get frozen rather than fresh and found them to be soggy and mushy.  The original recipe was to add half the raspberries to the filling and the remaining on raspberries on top.  I did this and it ended up looking like a bright pink cheesecake with mushy raspberries.  Next time I will divide the mixture in two as mentioned in the recipe above.

Visual appeal aside, the cheesecake went down well with the family.

Enjoy!