BURRATA PIZZA PIE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 recipe Homemade Pizza Dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 8 ounces burrata cheese
• 1 3-ounce package prosciutto
• handful of fresh basil, fried or torn into pieces
• red pepper flakes

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees.
2. Thirty minutes before cooking the pizza, put your pizza stone in the oven.
3. Stretch out your pizza dough using your hands in a circular motion, then lay it on a flat surface and flatten it out using a rolling pin. If you have a pizza peel, sprinkle some flour on it and place the stretched out dough on the peel.
4. Once your dough is flat and ready to be heated, use a spoon to spread the pizza sauce all around the dough leaving a little bit for the crust.
5. Pop your pizza peel in the oven and slide it over the stone for ten minutes.
6. After ten minutes, pull out the pizza and sprinkle the creamy burrata on top of the pie.
7. Put your pizza back in the oven for another 3-4 minutes.
8. When the cheese is just starting to melt, take it out and top with prosciutto and the fried basil, salt, and red pepper flakes. Cut into 6-8 slices and serve immediately.

Homemade Pizza Dough

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon 00 flour
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine flours and salt.
2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together about 1 cup lukewarm tap water, the yeast and the olive oil. Pour it into flour mixture. Knead with your hands until just combined, approximately 2-3 minutes, then let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.
3. Knead the rested dough for 3 minutes until smooth. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with dampened clean kitchen towel, and let rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature. Alternatively, if you're making the dough a day before use, you can let it rest and rise for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
4. To make pizza, make sure the dough is at room temperature and place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares. Top and bake.

Chicken Rollatini

Ingredients

• 8 thin chicken cutlets, 3 oz each
• 1 cup Panko crumbs
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ⅓ cup + ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
• ½ cup egg beaters
• 1 egg
• ½ cup frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry of any liquid
• ½ cup ricotta cheese
• 8 slices fresh mozzarella
• non-stick spray
• 1 cup pomodoro sauce or your favorite marinara sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.
2. Combine breadcrumbs, oregano, basil and ⅓ cup grated cheese in one bowl and egg beaters or beaten eggs/milk in another.
3. In another bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, ¼ cup parmesan cheese and 1 egg, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Lay chicken cutlets down on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of spinach-cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one and keep seam side down.
5. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down in a baking dish. This is where it gets messy! Just roll with it! Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray top of coated chicken with non stick spray.
6. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven, top with mariner sauce then cheese.
7. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3 more minutes. Serve with additional sauce on the side and grated cheese.

GARLIC HERB AND CHEESE BREAD

Ingredients

• 500g plain flour
• 1/2 tablespoon dried yeast granules
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon bread improver
• 325ml water at room temperature
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/3 cup chopped continental parsley
• 1/3 cup chopped basil
• 1/4 cup chopped rosemary leaves
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 200g Grated Philly and Tasty cheese

Instructions

1. Mix the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and bread improver together in a large bowl. Add half of the water to the dry ingredients and then mix, slowly adding the remaining water whilst mixing. When all mixed together the ingredients should come together in a ball at this point transfer to a floured bench top.
2. Add the olive oil to the ball of dough and knead it in. If necessary, add extra flour if it becomes too sticky and continue working dough. The kneading is extremely important as it is a necessary technique to ensure the dough will rise and be fluffy. You want to kneed the dough till the texture is smooth and elastic.
3. Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with glad wrap and then a tea towel and keep warm until the mixture doubles in size – this can take 1 – 1.5 hours depending on the weather.
4. When risen, knock the dough back in the bowl and then take it out, cut it in half and roll each half out to a large rectangle about 50cm x 25cm, then trim the edges to straighten.
5. Spread the top of each with 1/2 butter then scatter the crushed garlic, herb mixture and grated philly and tasty cheese over both rectangles.
6. Cut each rectangle into strips, to the height of your loaf tins, with a very sharp knife and lay the strips on top of each and cut the layered strips into squares the width of your tins.
7. Grease or line your loaf tins, and then stack the squares on top of each other, turn the stack on its side and place them into the tins. Cover the tins in glad wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.
8. At this stage, if you want to freeze the loafs you can.
9. Preheat oven to 190° Celsius.
10. Remove the glad wrap from the loaf tins and bake in the over for 55 minutes until the tops are golden. Remove from pan and let it rest for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and serving warm.

Roasted Vegetable lasagna

Ingredients

Marinara Sauce

• 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes (use the juice)
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil

Roasted Vegetables

• 3 zucchini, cut into small chunks
• 2 eggplants, sliced, then chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

• 3 cups marinara sauce (store bought or homemade)
• 3 cups ricotta (store bought or homemade)
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb lasagna noodles
• 10 oz bag frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of all moisture

Instructions

Marinara Sauce

1. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and add chopped onion. Saute for a few minutes until onion starts to become translucent. Add the garlic and sautee for another 30 seconds.
2. Add the red wine, then the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Stir, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to low and let simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.
3. Add sauce to a blender and blend for about 1 minute.
4. Pour sauce back into the saucepan and add the dried oregano and fresh basil.
5. Sauce is ready to serve or save for later.
6. Store in the fridge up to 1 week or freeze for a few months.

Roasted Vegetables

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss the vegetables with oil, salt and pepper.
3. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on 2 lightly greased baking sheets. Turn the vegetables once about half way through. Bake until they’re tender, lightly browned about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and set aside.
5. Roasted veggies can be stored in the fridge for a few days prior to using them for the lasagna.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, minced garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with non stick spray.
4. Pour 1/2 cup of marinara sauce onto the bottom of the dish (just a thin layer).
5. Cover the marinara with a layer of lasagna noodles.
6. Top the noodles with 1/2 of the thawed spinach, 1/2 of the roasted vegetables, 1/2 of the ricotta, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, and 3/4 cup marinara sauce.

Repeat layering

1. Noodles, remaining spinach, remaining roasted vegetables, remaining ricotta, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, 3/4 cup marinara sauce.

Final layer

1. Noodles, 1 cup marinara, remaining mozzarella, 1/2 cup grated parmesan.
2. Bake until the lasagna for about 1 hour, until it’s bubbling along the edges and golden brown.
3. Let to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

WATERMELON BRUSCHETTA WITH WHIPPED FETA, BASIL, AND BALSAMIC DRIZZLE

INGREDIENTS

• 2½ cups of fresh seedless watermelon, chopped
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup feta cheese crumbles
• ¼ cup part skim ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
• 1 baguette cut into 1½ thick slices
• Freshly cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet under the broiler and toast for a few minutes, until slightly crispy.
2. In a medium-sized saucepan, mix the balsamic vinegar and honey and heat over medium-high. Stir regularly and let the mixture reach a simmer, and then reduce heat slightly to keep at simmering point.
3. Stir occasionally and remove from heat once the mixture has reduced by half and the mixture is thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Combine the feta and ricotta in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Add additional ricotta or feta if necessary to reach your desired consistency.
5. Spread the whipped feta on the toasted bread and top with the finely chopped watermelon. Sprinkle with the black pepper, basil, and chives. Drizzle the reduced balsamic over the bruschetta.