The divine dough

I know I'm very fond of saying that recipes are only meant to be a guide and so not set in stone – here's another of my favourites – rules are meant to be broken.

My favourite style of pizza is a calzone – you know the one I mean, you cover the whole base with sauce then half the base with toppings of your choice and fold it – it always reminds me of an Italian version of a Cornish pasty – which is meant to be a huge compliment to both iconic delicacies!

The best place to start is at the beginning and the base, or more accurately, the dough. Finally I think I have found the answer … The Northern Dough Co. (click here for more info!)  gives you two individually wrapped balls of dough each giving you a 12 inch pizza whether classically flat or folded into a calzone. The dough is the best texture, not too sticky and after lightly dusting your surface with flour it does exactly what it says on the box – you can roll, push, cajole and persuade into your shape of choice. The dough comes ready frozen so check out your freezer aisle. You can defrost in your fridge and then roll out or you can microwave – whichever method suits you best.

Here are the photos so far :

The Northern Pizza Dough Co.

A divine dough ball – ta dah!

Lets talk about pizza …

… what is there to say - plenty! Everyone has their own idea of the perfect pizza and made well it's the best “fast food” whether you prefer a thin, thick or stuffed crust.

We covered Monday to Friday suppers in our “multi-tasking morning” aka making the most of your oven when cooking a Sunday roast! Before we resume with a few more ideas for your working week suppers you deserve a night off!

Saturday night should be designated “slob night” - by slob I mean lazy – feet up in front of your favourite film at the weekend, so easy, uncomplicated but tasty food is required and I don't mean reaching for your favourite takeaway that I know you have on speed dial!

Those who are kind enough to have been reading my blog for a while will know that my mission is to make your life in the kitchen easy and so am not averse to recommending, for example, using a puff pastry sheet instead of making your own. Why not, when there's a quality product available! Which brings me to pizza bases. They are available in all sorts of guises from ready cooked bases where you add your own pizza toppings – probably more suitable as a Frisbee – to packet mixes and dough mixes and then there's the ready rolled dough i.e. just like a puff pastry sheet but pizza dough in a box.

I'm on a mission, which is to find the most convenient and delicious pizza base – if you like it's a half way house for my Saturday slob, not home-made but freshly baked with a decent product. Everyone deserves a night off!

Next comes my confession – I get bored with the same old pizza toppings and, bizarrely, I have hated tomatoes all my life but will tolerate the passata style topping that is used for pizzas. My plan is to have some fun with a wacky pizza using flavours and textures I like.

What's the worst that can happen?

The finale – dessert

I had to put on my thinking cap and consider the lactose intolerance.

Every now and again you strike it lucky and a dessert you've served in the recent past comes up trumps. At the end of last year I gave you “Sticky Toffee Orange”. The downside is that I couldn't serve the sticky toffee sauce, the upside – there's always an alternative!

My alternative was the sticky toffee loaf cake, fresh orange segments, an orange drizzle and a praline sprinkle.

If you'd like the recipe for the cake and a photo guide segmenting an orange check out Saturday 1 December 2018 Radio Recipes- 3rd December 2018 – How to segment an orange and Resourceful and creative desserts. Check out 13th December 2018 for the Praline recipe and a photo guide.

The orange drizzle is a piece of cake – sorry!

Orange Drizzle

200g icing sugar

250ml orange juice – no bits

Put the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan and heat gently so that the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes.

All four elements I made ahead and all perfect for the lactose intolerant! I served my Dil her bowlful with Arla Lacto Free Cream suitable for whipping, cooking and pouring – suitable for vegetarians too.

My Dil loved it, particularly the cake which she could not believe contained dates. You can always tell how well your food is received when people remember what they've eaten. I received a message from my Dil after she had arrived home … here's a snippet “… the cake was ****** lovely … actually the past two days have been ****** lovely”.

If you want a gem of an addition to your treasure trove then may I suggest you make a sticky toffee loaf cake and freeze it, preferably in half, just in case you don't use a whole cake – very funny. Actually you can make and freeze the drizzle and praline too!

I think you'll be glad you did.

The main – step by step photo guide continued

the mould packed and covered with cling film

the moulds, packed and stacked

the timbale

a personal gravy boat – or should it be jus boat!

it was worth the effort

As for me – a stress free cook and very happy with a main course served with love and a smile. It went down a storm, as they say!

The final flourish – dessert – on its way.

The main – step by step photo guide

We have loads of photos to get through :

the lined dariole mould

the tamper – a great piece of kit!

the stripped lamb

the stripped lamb, finely chopped

the lined mould, packed with the lamb

More about the main

Before I continue with the lamb and the jus I have to decide what to serve with it. I have deliberately spread the “evening” meal beginning at 5pm with the starter. I have a dessert to serve too and so do not want too heavy a dish. Keep it simple – three elements, or four including the jus – roast potatoes and oven roasted lemon glazed carrots. The carrots are as easy as falling off a log! Peel and cut four carrots into small batons of a similar size and place on a large sheet of foil placed on a baking tray. Season with salt and black pepper, add a couple of knobs of unsalted butter and a glug or two of lemon juice. Wrap up tightly into a parcel and you're ready to roast.

Once again the joy of both these elements is that they can be prepped and part roasted ahead. If you roast your potatoes and carrots for 30 minutes either the day before or on the morning if you're around (I'm out for breakfast!) your entire main course will take 30 minutes to finish off and you'll be ready to serve.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Gently ease the cling filmed lamb out of the dariole moulds, peel off the cling film and place upside down in the shape of a tower on a baking tray. You'll have the tray of lamb timbales, a tray of foil wrapped carrots and a dish of roast potatoes – cook for the remaining 30 minutes.

The only item on your hob is the saucepan of jus you've removed and uncovered from the fridge, ready to warm through. Decide how you're serving – I recently treated myself to miniature gravy boats, very convenient for your guests.

Step by step photo guide up next.

The main … posh lamb!

This is a dish I first mentioned way back in 2016 under the label on the blog “Posh lamb”. At that time I used lamb shanks – this time around I'm using shoulder of lamb and there's a step by step photo guide too. The dish also uses the dariole moulds for a savoury dish.

As a guide – a shoulder weighing 1.8kg. I asked my butcher to cut the shoulder into four pieces – it's much easier to brown and then fit into the slow cooker. Seal and season (with salt and black pepper) the pieces of shoulder on all sides and then place into your slow cooker with lamb stock and garlic paste if you wish and cook for six hours.

Whilst your lamb is cooking prepare the dariole moulds. Using a pastry brush grease the inside of the moulds. How many dariole moulds you want to use depends on how many you're serving. Two timbales per person is filling but you may want three if you've large appetites to satisfy. To be safe I prepared nine – any leftovers can be frozen for another time. Line each greased mould with cling film ensuring you've an overlap.

Take the lamb out of the slow cooker and set aside in a large dish – I used a foil version – to cool. Using a knife and fork, strip the shoulder and place on a sheet of foil. Discard the remaining bones and bits.

At this point wrap the stripped lamb in foil and fridge it. When time permits chop your lamb finely. Next up is a very useful piece of kit – a wooden pastry tamper, aka a pastry pusher – its actual use is to form tart shells with the large end and for mini baking tins for canapés or bite sized pies with the small end. In this instance it's the perfect tool to press the lamb tightly into the mould, you'll probably need to fill and press twice, so that each mould is two thirds full. When the moulds are full cover with the overlapped cling film. Return the moulds to the fridge and stack in twos.

Now for the Redcurrant and Port jus :

227g jar of redcurrant jelly

200ml of Port

Melt the jelly in a pan over a gentle heat, add the port and bring to the boil, uncovered for 10-12 minutes until syrupy. Leave to cool then cover and fridge until ready for use. You can freeze the jus ahead if you prefer, it will keep for a month. Defrost it at room temperature and re-heat to serve.

All prepped ahead and ready when I am!