Quizza
Definitely not a dish for purists, but more a
pizza-style object stripped to its bare essentials to
make a relatively quick snack for the kids. The only
justification for including it in a compendium of
seafood recipes is that it contains anchovy
- that staple flavouring handed down from ancient
Mediterranean times, and popularised by the Roman
Empire in the form of garum
* or liquamen
* - a salty
fermented fish sauce. Come to think of it, just about
every Southeast Asian dish could probably be included
in a compendium of fish recipes as well, since
fermented fish sauce is such a common flavour base in
those cuisines.
Ingredients
For scone pastry base (no messy, time-consuming,
and hard-to-cook-perfectly bread base here folks.
Unfortunately no bread flavour either):
- 2 cups white flour (although I usually use 1½
cups white and ½ cup wholemeal);
- One third of a cup of fat (butter, margarine,
lard, dripping, vaseline or sump oil) (Note: No liability is accepted
for any damage, illness, or homicidal
behaviour resulting from a too-literal
interpretation of any of these recipes)
- 3 teaspoons of baking powder, or other
patented raising agent;
- 1 teaspoon salt;
- Around two-thirds of a cup of milk, or enough
make a pliable dough.
Mix all of the ingredients together & mix to a
smooth dough by adding just sufficient milk at the
end. If the dough turns out a little sticky just
leave it for a few minutes for the flour to absorb a
little of the liquid. If still sticky then add more
flour duhh. Roll it out and mash it onto a 30-35cm
diameter pizza dish or baking tray.
Ingredients for topping, in order of application:
- Tomato sauce: This can be as simple as tomato
ketchup. Kids like it, but it is too sweet
for most adult tastes. I use a prepared
bottled tomato sauce - any of the cook-in
tomato-based sauces will probably do. Enough
to smear over the pastry base - say a quarter-cup.
Add a bit of chilli sauce if your audience
can take it;
- Grated cheese: Whatever you fancy, as long as
it melts. I use a mixture of tasty cheddar
and mozzarella, but Gruyère is also
satisfyingly glutinous. Not too much - it
doesn't have to absolutely smother everything
- 150 g or 1 cup grated will probably do the
trick;
- Small cubes of ham and/or bacon. Be generous;
- Piquant garnish. The idea is to get something
interesting, and a mixture of flavours in
each bite. Anchovies are essential, but cut
them finely otherwise they will be too strong
& the sprogs will complain. I also use
capers and crushed pickled green peppercorns.
The younger your guests, the more finely
these garnishes should be chopped and
scattered. Taste-buds wear out as they age.
- One or two roughly-whisked eggs should be
poured over the top before you stick it in
the oven. This presupposes that there are no
holes in the pastry base, and that your
baking tray has a lip, otherwise you will be
in for an interesting oven-cleaning
experience. The eggs mix with the cheese and
produce a quiche-like texture in the final
product, hence the title "Quizza".
However the eggs can be omitted without
detracting from the result. It just produces
a different dish.
Put this in a medium oven (preferably an oak wood-fired
oven) for 20-30 minutes, or until the top has puffed
up a bit (if you have not omitted the egg) and/or the
pastry base is browned. You'll probably find that the
base doesn't appear completely cooked on the top,
because it has been covered with runny stuff. Don't
worry about it too much, as long as it is almost
completely cooked. You could always blind-bake
the pastry for 10 minutes before you add the topping,
but the whole point of this dish is to keep it as
simple as possible.
Tim Adams
Noumea 2002
Adapted from Blind Freddie's Guide to
Fishery Management (Tim Adams: in prep) .
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