THURSDAY NIGHT COOKING CLASS.......PIZZA FROM SCRATCH

Carol returned from her caravan trek to Queensland , new grandma Gayle returned the week prior from a trip to the motherland , our adventurous other  Gayle went camping for a weekend with her daughter  Meaghan on the banks of a river in crocodile ridden Northern Territory .
Robyn is a nurse . Deanna is in food services at Federation Uni  and off to Bali during the week . Heather is pharmacy assistant.  Sam is office administrator with GHD Morwell. Jenny is Lady Mayoress  of Churchill. Leica has just returned from an exotic beach resort in Queensland
I don`t get out much  ( ha ha ) ..... so listening to and sharing  all their adventures over the kitchen bench is always enjoyable .


Thursday night was so much fun ...The ultimate fingerfood ..Pizza


500 gm of 00 flour  ( in anticipation to the most asked questions " what`s 00 flour ...it is fine flour ...if you are reading this you have the ability to look it up...type it in 00 flour !....While you are looking it up ..do a search for semolina flour...... we use it as well and I`m guessing you may not have used it before ....I use it in my no potato gnocchi ...its a course flour .....)
Back on track....
.
4 gm of yeast...you can purchase them pre packaged
330 ml of luke warm water
Oven temp set at 220 deg C
Mix all of the above in  a bowl and form to a dough
Spread your bench with semolina flour
Knead for 10 minutes ...
the dough will become smooth and elastic .


Turn the bowl upside down over your dough and let it sit for 10 minutes.


Divide your dough into 2
500gm of 00 flour will make 2  x 12 inch  pizzas .
Dust the dough lightly with semolina flour
Cover with cling wrap and rest for 10 minutes at room temp.
These can be stored in a refrigerator if you are using the dough the next day..


Roll out your dough , on a lightly floured surface  to  1 cm thickness ...less if you want a thinner base.
Place the dough on an oiled pizza tray..
Dock your pizza base  with a fork
Add your toppings
For a crisper base , brush the dough with oil to prevent moisture from your topping seeping through the dough.


Be creative ...try a sweet pizza ...use a jam or chocolate spread on the base


I used a sweet chilli jam over the base , then topped with sliced banana , buerre boc pear, and apple .
Sprinkling the layers with cinnamon sugar.
Popped it in the oven till it coloured  and then drizzled it with moscato grape must glaze ..
Mmmm


I spread horseradish paste over the base of my savoury pizza and topped with whole grape tomatoes ,a good amount of Kebia Bulgarian  White Sheep`s milk cheese in broken pieces  and folded rounds of thinly sliced salami tucked in between the cheese pieces
I also drizzled the moscato grape must glaze  over the top .
It was a great combination of savoury with a hint of sweetness.
Really Yum.

A SOFT BOILED EGG

Seriously it is not rocket science .
Put your eggs into a saucepan ..it is not about the size of the saucepan......
Now cover the eggs making sure the water is about an inch higher than the top of the eggs...
Are you with me so far ?
Now switch on your stove top and bring the cold water to a brisk simmer ....it is at this point that you start to time your cooking time ....Got it ?
Maintain the heat to keep the water simmering briskly .
Soft boiled eggs will be done with 2 minutes of cooking in a brisk simmer.
This will produce a solid white with a runny yolk.
See simple !

TRARALGON SECONDARY COLLEGE

Well done to the year 12 VCAL cooking class ...at Traralgon Secondary College , not one of you want a career in the food industry you just want to know how to cook ....How refreshingly honest !
So from my high moral  stance on knowing the basics of cooking ...we made scones !


There were no sifters , rolling pins or wooden spoons allowed .Forbidden was lemonade , soda water , cream , sugar  and eggs.
We only needed 4  ingredients on the work stations
..S.R flour , salt , milk and  butter .
Along with a bowl , scales , a measuring cup and a bread knife ....
The end result was fantastic batches of scones ....


At the Traralgon Secondary College , the canteen is run by the students themselves , they make hamburgers , toasted sandwiches, sausage rolls and small pizzas . these are made fresh by the students daily. It is an amazing effort . The students do 2 x  20 minute service at morning and afternoon recess and a 20 minute service at lunchtime .
Behind the scenes they do set up in the morning , service and then clean up and prep for the next day as the students work in the canteen on a roster system .
The whole operation is overseen by "Debbie ", who emphasised her role was to help out where needed and to assist with planning and ordering .
The scones we made in class will be taken to the canteen and sold with jam and cream  to staff and students .
All functions at the school are catered for by the students through the canteen .
This is a wonderful program and hopefully more schools will come on board and empower their students with life skills in a practical way.
Well done to students and teachers .

I WILL RETURN

I need organisation and routine to function .
Since March this year my world has turned upside down and my hours of work are all over the shop , I am by no means whinging I love my life and the world of food and public speaking ....but trying to find a routine is impossible when every week is different .
I am learning and exploring new and old concepts with food and  totally hooked on culinary history ...there is so much to learn .
My cooking classes are proving very popular and now I`m getting a mix of males to the classes.
Tuesday class each  deboned a chicken without putting many tears in the skin , in some cases there were no tears at all , they did really well for a first attempt.
Thursday night class requested a lesson on finger food , I have given that some thought and decided to spend the session making the ultimate finger food from scratch ...PIZZA.
We will make 2 pizzas each...... one savoury and one sweet plus the pizza base
I am doing a class at a local secondary college tomorrow ,there is also an order of apple and custard muffins and a raspberry and coconut slice to be made .
I made an absolute beautiful chocolate and beetroot cake on Monday along with a ricotta, lemon and spinach loaf which disappeared very quickly.
I will put the recipes for both cakes up on the blog in the next couple of days.
To my disappointment it is apparent that we are lacking understanding on the basic principles of cooking .......it appears that you are more interested in  downloading recipes from the net that are attached to some super photo that catches your eye .
Just a simple question when the recipe calls for the sugar and eggs to be mixed till they are pale and light ...do you understand the process ?
Do you know how long it takes to boil a soft boiled egg ?
Why do people have trouble making pork crackle ...do you know from what part of the pig gives us crackling .?
What do you do when the custard starts to split ?
Learn the basics people .......!
I will be back tomorrow with lots of new recipes and some tips for  the basic principles of cooking.

A CARROT CAKE IS NOT A HUMMINGBIRD CAKE

A  carrot cake can have the addition of pineapple  and walnut in its construction .
A hummingbird cake is made with coconut and crushed pineapple .
They are two different cakes.

TORTA DI CILIEGE E NOCI..........CHERRY WALNUT CAKE ..

I love this torta .......( Italian for cake , tart or pie...you choose )  and it is so simple.


Preheat your oven to 160 deg C fan forced .
Prepare a square pan with cooking  spray and line with baking paper .approx. 24 cm
In a small mixing bowl combine 2 eggs , 1 cup of castor sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla essence .
Beat these on a medium speed till the mix is light in colour and density  (about 15 minutes.)
In a separate bowl , place 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour  together with 1 tsp  of baking powder  and a 1/2 tsp of salt adding 90 gm of chopped walnuts. and stir to combine.
Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture .
Now add 2 cups of morello pitted cherries
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin .
Level the top and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean , and the top is golden and fudgy.
Remove to a cooling rack.
Cut into squares to serve.


I promise this is dead easy and you will love it

THANK YOU SHAUN

A text message from my son Shaun tonight  ..."I like your blog tonight , just don`t have enough of them "it was in reference to the perfect potato chip blog.
Back in the early to mid nineties , I was a single parent with two little children and three adolescent  sons and the worst thing about that period was the price of potatoes ...they were so expensive .
To supplement the single parent pension I secured work peeling the potatoes at the fish and chip shop at the end of my street . ( Prop ..Yoda and Con . in Euroka Cres , Churchill. ).
Yoda and Con made the " best fish and chips ", in typical Greek tradition they led you to believe they invented this staple diet .
In truth they were the best fish and chips I have ever eaten.
There was a period when Yoda  had a mandatory $2.00 chips wrapped and ready for  collection  by Shaun or Paul at 6.00pm on a daily basis .
Those $2.00 chips supplemented our meal when potatoes were called for as part of the meal.
If Yoda and Con can claim inventing the best fish and chips I will claim inventing the first potato chip  gratin and the vegetable and fried  chip stack .
Financially times were tough , but we always had chips .
Next time you come home Shaun I will make you  , Dee and the boys  chips .
Love you , Mum x