Pizza Express Cook at Home Margherita Pizza

We were very excited when we learnt that Pizza Express were finally bringing out a Gluten Free pizza to be sold alongside their other chiller cabinet offering... admittedly, only being stocked in Sainsbury's at the moment. 

The pizzas were launched in certain stores last week and our Saturday supermarket shop revealed a disappointingly empty 'slot' for the product.  Not to be dissuaded, we went to another store on Monday and were successful in locating stock... trying to be reasonable,  and leave some for others, we bought three pizzas (selling at £4 each).

Sous Chef J was delighted when he was shown the packs... and requested a 'speedy taste test'... which was easy to deliver!

We checked the cooking instructions, pre-heated the oven to 200ºC, unpackaged the pizzas and cooked them for 7 minutes.  Checking them we decided they needed a little longer to brown and set the timer for a further 2 minutes.

Removing them from the oven there was the 'classic' Pizza Express aroma and it wasn't long before SCJ was happily diving in and getting his hands dirty....

The pizza is about 10" in diameter.

VERDICT: Just like in the restaurant, the topping is tasty, the base is thin and crispy and the pizza didn't last long!  Perfect for a quick and easy teatime.

We sincerely hope Sainsbury's are able to keep the pizzas in stock in the chillers... and that we aren't disappointed by poor reliability of availability.  We'll definitely buy again and will stock our freezer next time.

Chocolate Pizza & Snowy Bites

We were looking for a 'healthy' option for a chocolate snack... and Sous Chef J decided on a "pizza" with fruity bits.

So, chocolate types were gathered.








The  dark and white chocolates were melted, separately, and a disk of dark chocolate was spread on silicone paper. It was about 15cm (6") diameter - you could make mini ones as individual petit four style morsels.

Next, Sous Chef J sprinkled the toppings on - he used mixed dried fruit, roughly chopped walnuts, dark, white and milk choc drops, chocolate flakes and chocolate strands.

When all the toppings had been added, the pizza was left to cool before slicing and eating!

Other toppings that could be used (according to your likes/dietary requirements) are - mini marshmallows, dried strawberries/cranberries, meringue pieces, crumbled crunchies, chocolate buttons, sugar strands, popping candy, Twirl bites... the list goes on.

With the melted white chocolate, we took a silicone ice cube tray and planned to use the snowman and snowflake designs.  Some decorations were dropped into the base of the moulds before the melted chocolate was drizzled in.

When the chocolate had set, the chocs were popped out of the moulds.



And that was it... a selection of home made, marvellous mouthfuls of chocolate - perfect as a gift for pals over the coming Christmas days!

Last year we made Christmas Chocolate Stirrers using the silicone mould and are planning to give them another go this year.  Sous Chef J is keen to try mixed chocolate colours and popping candy within.

Pizza with friends

After seeing many tweets about the new gluten free pizza bases on offer at Pizza Hut, we finally got to try them out for ourselves last week.  Sous Chef J was having a busy time attending a block placement at Megan Baker House in Herefordshire and was shattered at the end of each day's session.  We decided to reward his hard work by meeting some pals, who now live in the area, at Pizza Hut in Hereford.

Having read a few posts on twitter about the availability of bases, we did pop into the restaurant at lunch time to ask if they had stock and were advised to book a table.  This was a good move.  When we returned for our 4.30pm booking, the place was heaving.

Our friends had not been to Pizza Hut "for years since a bad experience" at their previous town's 'Hut.  They were delighted to see there was a midweek 3-5pm £6 deal (clearly the reason for the busy-ness) and proceeded to make the most of it.  Despite witnessing some rather antisocial behaviour by one of the other diners in the restaurant at the salad bar, we're assured they will return to Hereford Pizza Hut.

 

Sous Chef J spotted the gluten free base listed on the menu and went for a safe tomato and cheese.  Also chosen was a simple pepperoni topped pizza.  Our pizzas arrived on black square platters, each with their own pizza cutter.  Sous Chef J managed a few slices of his pizza saying "it's nice" but could not be persuaded to visit the salad bar... it was a step too far for his first time there!

 

We shared the two 9" square gluten free pizzas between the three of us.  It would be too much for Sous Chef J to eat a whole pizza but the two shared ones worked well for our first visit.  Next time we will be trying different toppings and may even get J to the salad bar.  We paid alot more than the £6 a head our pals did (and they had vastly more food too) but it was a good place to meet friends and catch up over a meal.

As well as the aforementioned salad bar unpleasantness we witnessed, I noticed there were croutons in the iceberg lettuce and the chance of cross contamination problems at the salad bar does seem high.  If you have strict dietary needs then remember to raise them with your server to ensure they are met... don't rely on other diners being as careful as you are with hygiene and food!

Lots of Lunchbox Loveliness... and all Gluten Free!

The other day, Sous Chef J was asking about what food he'd be having for lunch.  We came up with so many options that we started to make a list... and it kept getting longer!  In fact, it contains so many ideas that it's going to take more than one post, but this is a starting point.

As a fast sandwich option, when we can source it, we use Genius Gluten Free Seeded Bread to make sandwiches - Sous Chef J likes grated cheese and homemade chutney (or if he's making them he chooses jam) as fillings.  To follow he may have an individual, home made, gluten free Lemon Drizzle Cake (sliced) or mini muffin. 

In warmer weather, a firm favourite is dip and dippers.  Avocado dip is an easy one to make, is full of 'goodness' and the range of dippers that can be used is wide - (Burt's) crisps, vegetable crisps, sticks of cheese, vegetable sticks, sliced peppers, gluten free mini breadsticks, slices of apple and so on.  Parmesan crisps are also good for dipping...

If we've made pizza, we try to freeze some slices for use in lunchboxes.  It's ready to be grabbed, put in the bag and will be defrosted by lunchtime.  Sous Chef J likes it with gluten free mayo.

When there's time, and we are planning days out, then some nut crackers will be made.  These go well with cheddar cheese, coleslaw and apple to make our own version of a gluten free ploughman's lunch.

Slices of our pastryless quiche are also good for lunchboxes.  Served with some coleslaw and a packet of Burt's chips and Sous Chef J is very happy indeed.

We have ventured into the realms of purpose made savoury lunch/brunch muffins and they were a hearty option.  Although Sous Chef J preferred them warm, they were eaten speedily with an accompanying sachet of tomato ketchup.

Recently Sous Chef J has been experimenting with lunchtime toast... a big success was grated cheese on Genius Seeded Toast with mango chutney.  So long as the toast was presented cut into 'soldiers' he was delighted with his concoction.  If making them for a lunchbox, he will "just do the cheese on toast and take a small pot of the mango chutney for dipping purposes".

Sweet things to take out and about with us are a little easier to sort out when we've had a batch baking weekend... like the one we've just had.  We made lemon drizzle loaf and two mini lemon drizzle loaves (see the top pic to see what these look like sliced!) as well as a whole tray of mini chocolate muffins (using our quick mix chocolate cake recipe and chocolate fudge icing).  Half of all we baked were cooled, bagged, labelled and frozen for easy lunchbox fixes over the coming days.

We hope the things that work for us provide ideas and inspiration to you - we have more to cover in a later post so watch this space!

Proper Pizza

Having searched through the cupboard in readiness for a baking session this afternoon, we came across a packet of Isabel's 4 Pizza Base Mix... it told us that all that was required to make "4 delicious thin crust Italian style pizza bases" was the packet contents, 200ml cold water, 3 Tbsp olive oil and one large egg... all of which we had. So a plan was formulated and my son decided he wanted a "proper" pizza for tea. I was instructed to make the topping and he gathered together the required equipment and ingredients.

To make the topping, I sliced two small onions and fried them in a small amount of rapeseed oil until they were soft. To this was added a big dollop (about 350g) passata and the two were left to simmer and reduce over a low heat whilst the dough making began.

Having gathered all the required ingredients together, the dough making got underway... at this point my trusty sous chef decided he was not going to get his hands in the mix (under the guise of saving them for photos!) So, I was given the task of kneading the dough after he'd made a start on the mixing...



Once the dough was ready, it was spread out onto a non-stick baking sheet and rolled into a pirate island shape... this was then baked in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes, it was turned over half way through (per packet instructions), removed from the oven and the tomato and onion topping was added...



as was some grated cheese.

This was the result after another 10 minutes in the oven.


It was declared to be a perfect pizza and, sadly, we have no way of knowing how well it tastes when cold as it was eaten as soon as it was served up!



We made two other, smaller, bases which have been frozen for future use. If they work as well as the large one did then they won't last long, that's for sure.