Pizza (Round 2)

So... lots of people are quick to dismiss the notion of trying something new it seems. I posted a recipe for pizza with a cauliflower base a couple of weeks ago, and several people were quick to jump to the conclusion that it wouldn't taste as good as 'real' pizza...I can honestly say, it was really good, not quite like a standard pizza crust, but good all the same.

Bear with me here...when you order a pizza, it's the toppings that concern you right? You like just cheese, or you're into meat sweats and order every meat topping known to man.. Honestly, have you ever given much thought to the base? It's just a way to hold all the fillings in place when you lift a slice. I'm pretty sure nobody has ever said 'WOW the wheat in my pizza base really made it taste amazing'.

Ever heard the expression 'tastes like chicken'? Well it's usually used to refer to foods that have a bland, hard to describe flavour..Very few people can actually say they don't like chicken, since it's pretty inoffensive. Yep, you guessed it... we're using chicken for the base!

BEST.IDEA.EVER!!!!

For the base:

• 1 cooked chicken breast
• 1 large egg white (reserve yolk for mayonnaise or freeze it... just don't throw it out... they're really useful!) 
• fresh parsley
• sea salt

You'll have noticed my penchant for simple recipes.. this is far easier than making a traditional yeast base, and you'll feel positively virtuous (and less bloated!) afterwards
Start by pulsing the chicken breast until finely shredded (don't overdo it, you don't want chicken puree)

Add in remaining ingredients and pulse until combined.

Spread out chicken base in even layer on a non stick baking tray (I used a 9 inch base from a springform cake tin). If food tends to stick to your baking trays, it's time to replace them but for now just grease the tray lightly with a little coconut oil.

Bake at 160d for 10 minutes until firm. Flip the base over to crisp up the other side (about about 5 minutes should do it) This isn't an exact science... you'll know when it's done because it's golden, firm and holding shape.

Once baked, remove from the oven and be generous with your favourite toppings. I used:

• Organic passata
• leftover chicken and bacon 
• mushrooms
• cherry tomatoes
• spinach 
• St Tola raw milk goats cheese (I may be addicted, it's so good!) 

I'm honestly not sure I can articulate how AMAZING this pizza is. Seriously, you're missing out on nothing by not having a standard base. The chicken base holds up great, and you can lift it like a normal slice. 

This felt like such a treat meal, but really it's pretty damn healthy. Protein shakes are great and all... but why have a shake, when you could have pizza???

Bacon Cordon Bleu...

Yeah that's right... the bacon is the star attraction, so no Chicken Cordon Bleu here...We're stuffing the chicken with bacon and goats cheese, and because we don't eat grains we're wrapping it in, yes you guessed it... bacon! If that doesn't appeal to you, well then I'm sorry there's something wrong with you.

Let me repeat it just to be sure... chicken, stuffed with bacon and then wrapped in bacon..Yep I knew you'd approve! 

• 1 large chicken breast
• 2 pieces of smoked streaky bacon
• 50g St Tola Raw Goats Milk Cheese ...I've said it before, and I'll no doubt say it again... I always try to buy Irish (must be cos I'm a farmer's daughter!), and prefer raw cheese so St Tola is an absolute must-have in my fridge. 

Start by butterflying your chicken breast to create a pocket for the cheese and bacon. 

Place a piece of cling film over the chicken, and using a rolling pin or meat mallet, bash the chicken until flattened. Season with freshly cracked black pepper. 

Next, do the same with the bacon.. just cover with cling film and roll it to flatten slightly. 

Stuff chicken breast with crumbled goats cheese and 1/2 the bacon.

Roll up tightly, and wrap in the remaining bacon to seal. (You can use cocktail sticks to secure the chicken if you need to). 

Top with a little coconut oil, and place in preheated oven for 20 minutes until the bacon is golden and crispy. 

Serve with a crispy salad or some steamed vegetables. 

This is a delicious protein packed dinner that is really simple to make. The smoked bacon really compliments the chicken...and well all that gooey melted goats cheese is seriously just amazing! To save time you can make a few together and freeze some or cook them all and keep in the fridge for a cold snack, or lunch on the go.

Meatloaf with extra meat...

I've only had meatloaf once...it doesn't stir up happy memories! It was dry, tasteless and contained unidentifiable minced meat. You'd wonder why I decided to make it since I clearly hated it first time round.. Well, magic did not happen in the canteen when I was in boarding school, so I try not to let it impair my judgement too much.

I like the idea of meat loaf since it's one of those dishes that any leftovers will be great cold as a high protein snack on the go. Since I can't leave well enough alone, I had to make posh meatloaf...but don't worry, there has been no scrimping on the meat content... A lot of meat loaf recipes use flour or breadcrumbs as a binder, but since I exclude grains from my diet, I just left it out. You could add in some almond flour if you feel the meatloaf is a little sticky. 

Meatloaf: 

1lb minced pork

1lb minced turkey 

1 red onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

100g oyster mushrooms

2 eggs

100g Boyne Valley Blue (unpasteurised blue goats cheese) If you're strictly Paleo, just leave this out. 

100g spinach leaves

1 small tin organic tomato paste

8 thick cut smoked pieces of bacon

basil, oregano, sea salt, pepper

Start by sweating onion, garlic, mushrooms and herbs in a dry wok. There's no need to add oil, as the natural juices will keep them moist. Cook for 5 mins, tossing regularly. 

Add in 4tbsp of organic tomato paste, and mix to combine.

Next add minced meat to large bowl with the above seasoning mix, and 2 eggs.

 Mix until well combined. 

At this stage, you can pop the meat mixture into a loaf tin, top with some tomato paste and bacon, and cook for 45 minutes... OR......

Spread meat into a square about 1 inch thick onto a piece of tin foil.

Top with spinach leaves and 3/4 of the blue goats cheese. 

Next, take the edge of the tin foil closest to you, and lifting gently, roll into a roulade. This is actually really easy, you just need to lift the tin foil slowly, and the meat will fall into this shape naturally. 

Transfer to a pyrex baking dish. 

Coat the outside with the remaining tomato paste and crumbled blue cheese. 

Next wrap the meatloaf in bacon, overlapping at the edges. 

Cover loosely with tin foil, and bake for 40 minutes. 

Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes until the bacon is nicely browned and crispy.

This isn't like the meatloaf I remember from school, it's full of flavour, and really moist. Whether you bake it in a loaf tin, without the blue cheese and spinach, or you make it into slightly fancier roulade, I've no doubt you'll love how simple this is to make.

Cut into slices and serve with lots of fresh salad.

Leftovers are great eaten cold or warm, and this will also freeze great as a healthy dinner back up for busy days..

Pizza!!!!

This is rapidly turning into the best blog EVER! A pizza recipe that is healthy and actually tastes like pizza... My work here is done!

Traditional pizzas don't exactly fit in with a Primal/Paleo lifestyle, so I felt it was absolutely time to see if I could change that. It's a running joke with a friend of mine, that it's been so long since I had pizza, I'll eventually cave and break into Dominos. No need for that thankfully, since I've found a pizza base that is actually firm enough to lift up a slice without it crumbling apart. 

I need you to bear with me when I tell you what it's made of though...no snap judgements that it'll smell like old person or feet (just two of the more tame reactions received!) I can't take credit (or blame depending on who you ask) for this, there are lots of similar recipes online, I've basically just worked on this for a while to make sure it's not just edible, that it tastes bloody good too.. 

Ok so the secret ingredient is..... 

Come back!!!! I swear it works well!

For the base (makes a 9" pizza)

• 1/4 head of cauliflower
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tbsp almond flour (this will be packaged as ground almonds in the baking aisle, or you'll get certified gluten free in the health food stores)
• 2 tbsp ground flax seed (most good supermarkets will stock this)
• 1 tsp gluten free baking powder
• 1 egg
• sea salt
• oregano (dried is fine) 

Good, you're still here! It's only a cauliflower... stop being such a whine!

Start by pulsing the cauliflower and garlic clove in the food processor until you have fine, rice-like grains. Careful not to overdo it or you'll end up with cauliflower purée, and sorry that is kind of gross.

Microwave for 5 minutes in a heat proof bowl (or a non microwave safe bowl like I did, burn your hand and curse loudly and often) Actually, just use the heat resistant dish.

Set aside to cool.

Add flour, flax, baking powder, egg and season as much as you want.

Mix until just combined. You're looking for a firm, pliable dough. If it's sticky you need to add more flour, and if it's dry a few drops of water.

Once the dough is made, it's a good idea to let it rest for 15 minutes in the fridge. It gives the flour time to absorb the liquid, and just makes a more firm base. If you don't have the time, or you're really hungry, you can skip this step.

Meanwhile, place baking tray in oven preheated to 170d to warm up.

Roll dough out  to about 1/2 inch thick onto a piece of parchment paper. Do NOT place the dough directly onto the tray..

Once you've preheated the oven, place the base (including the parchment) on the hot tray and bake for 10 minutes until firm and golden.

Now, you're going to be glad you used the parchment paper... you need to flip the base upside down to bake the other side for 10 mins. It's far easier to do if you've the parchment to help you. If you don't do this, you're going to end up with a sticky base. Not pizza like at all... and we want pizza for dinner right?
When you have an evenly baked, firm base, remove from the oven and set aside.

Now it's simple... you need to add meat. Ok fine, add some other stuff too. But don't be mean with the meat. I hadn't got any bacon when I was making this pizza, I felt a bit cheated even though I had half a dead cow. I honestly did consider putting a fried egg on top...just cos...

I'm in no doubt that there are people reading this thinking....but... 'red meat is bad', 'eggs are bad for your heart', 'frying eggs is terrible'... Sorry, but you're wrong. Meat is great, you need protein. End of... chances are, you're not eating enough protein, so go snack on some meat. Fried eggs are also amazing.. fat WILL NOT make you fat. (I promise to rant more about this later...lucky you!)

Sorry... I digress..

Toppings:

These are just what I threw on, obviously you can use whatever you have/feel like.

• Organic tomato paste
• Meat, with some extra meat. I use cooked steak. Mainly because I felt like steak and pizza for dinner so this ended up being the resulting compromise
• Spinach (you really should have spinach in your diet, it's full of vitamins, flavenoids, iron and is an excellent anti-inflammatory) 
• Peppers 
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Mushrooms 
• Goats cheese (St Tola raw milk goats cheese is so unbelievably good!) If you're strict Paleo or lactose intolerant, leave this out.. but please don't add a 'cheese substitute', they're full of additives and basically not healthy at all. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I have no issue with cheese (once it's not sold in a triangle with a laughing cow on it), so I'm happy to add a raw milk cheese to my meals. 
• Fresh parsley

Piled high with fresh ingredients...hardly compares to that frozen pizza you have been eating now does it?!

Place back in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden and all your toppings are cooked and warmed through. 

I think this will really surprise a lot of people when they try it. The base is firm and crispy like a thin base pizza. Best of all... there no grains to leave you feeling bloated afterwards. 

Hope you enjoy...