Pizza, Pizza, ooh lovely Pizza

This is the recipe that got me to the finals of the Global Pizza Challenge earlier this month. I love pizza, as it is a wonderful social food, and it is so easy to make.  Most people make it out to be harder than it really is. This ones inspiration comes from our financial manager here at St Francis Links, I think I made it for him for his birthday a year or two ago, it was a special occasion and he really loved it. It is a marriage of some really good flavours from the creamy gorgonzola, sweet onion marmalade, and the wild scent of truffle oil.

I must admit the finals of the pizza challenge was a lot more intimidating than expected – you stand in front of a crowd of about 100 plus, there are video cameras on you the entire time, and you’re competing with some of the biggest chef names in South Africa - needless to say, I had to have a calming beverage before my slot. In the end though it was fantastic and I definitely will do it again. So here is my pizza recipe.

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Makes: 2 Medium sized pizza

Prep time: 30 minutes (plus 3 days for the dough to ferment)

Cooking Time: 5 Minutes (in a pizza oven that is around 320˚c) or 15 minutes in a home oven at 220˚c

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

500g Stone ground MN100 flour (white bread or Italian 00 flour)

5g fresh yeast

15g pure salt (preservative and additive free)

300ml water

Pizza Sauce

1 tin whole peeled tomato

10g Fresh oregano

10g crushed garlic

10g Salt

5g Black Pepper

25ml tobasco sauce

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Pizza Toppings

300g Fillet Steak

2 TBSP black bean paste

4 TBSP Soy Sauce

2 TBSP Honey

1 TBSP Black Pepper crushed

5g fresh garlic

200g Buffalo Mozzarella

200g Dolce Latte Gorgonzola

Rocket Garnish

30g Rocket

10ml White Truffle Oil

3ml Tarragon Vinegar

Onion Marmalade

250g Sliced Red Onions

200ml Dry Red Wine

200g White Sugar

1 Cardomom pod

2 cloves

Zest and juice of 2 oranges

Method

Start with the dough, mix the yeast with the water, mix the salt and the flour, now combine everything and knead until smooth, about 2 minutes, then place in a container at least 2,5 times the size of the dough, cover with a damp tea towel and place in the fridge for 3 days to ferment.

Take out 2 hours before use to come to room temperature.  Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces, be extremely careful to not knock out the air that is in the dough, then with your finger tips gently stretch the dough into shape, it should be quite thin in the middle with about a 1 inch border that is thicker.

This is called a Neapolitan pizza dough, I first ate it at a wonderful pizza restaurant call Buratta in the Old Biscuit Mill in Cape Town, and fell in love straight away, I think it is the best pizza base to use.

 …now for the pizza sauce, cook out the whole peeled tomatoes for about an hour at a very low heat, this is to remove the excess water from the tomatoes, once you have done that, place all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Once you have shaped your pizza base, spread this over it.

….for the filler you will mix all the ingredients together and marinade the fillet for at least 2 hours, then slice the fillet about 5mm thick and arrange over the pizza, the crumble the gorgonzola and tear the mozzarella over the pizza, to make a good layer of cheese.

…take all of your onion marmalade ingredients place in a small pot and simmer until it has reduce down to a syrup and clings to the onions.

….to finish bake the pizza as above, when you take it out and it is still hot arrange the onion marmalade over the top, then mix together the rocket, truffle oil and tarragon vinegar and garnish the pizza with it. Cut and serve.

Bon Appetit!