Dukkah Crusted Labne and Lamb Backstrap Pizza

An awesome ex-student of mine gave me some dukkah and lamb herbs for Christmas last year and I finally got around to using them. This was delicious and simple and I can thoroughly recommend giving it a go yourself. Labne is a cheese you make from yoghurt (seriously this only takes 10 minutes). The fiddliest part of this is rolling the cheese into balls and then dusting them but even then, that only takes 15 minutes. I made my own pizza bases here but I would imagine that using toasted Turkish bread or kebab bread would be just as great. The amount of oil used will seem terrifying but its only for marinating and can be re-used as part of a salad dressing, used in pesto (a nod to Tracey), or used in confit (a nod to JP). Next time I use dukkah, I think I am going to make my own. You will need to make the labne three days in advance.

1 kg natural yoghurt
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp salt for the labne
45g packet of dukkah (mine was lemon and herb)
1.5 litres of extra virgin olive oil
1 lamb backstrap
Lamb herbs
Individual pizza bases
Garlic oil
Parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley
Mozzarella
Rocket
Salt and pepper
A little red wine vinegar
Some fresh parsley

Combine the salt and crushed garlic for the labne into the yoghurt. Place a muslin wrap over a bowl doubled over, pour in the yoghurt. Bring the sides of the muslin wrap in and tie around a wooden spoon then hang in a bowl. Place in the fridge for three days re-adjusting the height of the bag if necessary so that the yoghurt is not sitting in the extracted liquid.

Remove the yoghurt from the hanging bag into a clean bowl. Pinch tablespoon sized quantities out and roll into a balls, place onto a clean plate. It helps if from time to time you rinse and dry your hands, the
yoghurt does become sticky. Roll each cheese ball in the labne then place carefully into another clean bowl, throw in a little fresh parsley then cover with the olive oil.

Pre-heat an oven to 180C. Paint the pizza bases with garlic oil, sprinkle on some chopped parsley, grate over some parmesan then top with a little mozzarella. Bake until they have great colour.

Season the lamb fillet with some lamb herbs, salt and pepper. Sear on a barbecue to your liking (mine were rare). Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes under some foil then slice very thinly. While this is happening dress the rocket in some garlic oil, some more grated parmesan and a little red wine vinegar.

Smear a labne ball on a pizza base, load up some lamb and rocket then tuck in.

Prawn, Sweet Potato and Mushroom Pizza

So good.
If you like this recipe, try these.

300gm green prawns shelled

4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 bunch parsley minced
1/4 of a sweet potato
300 gms mushroom minced
Basil leaves
1 onion finely sliced
Mozzerella
4 pizza bases
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
Tomato passatta

Preheat an oven to 220C. Chop the green prawns into thumb nail size pieces and combine with the extra virgin, salt and pepper, half of the garlic and the lemon juice. Hack at the sweet potato with a vegetable peeler making a pile of very thin slices. Spread 1 or 2 tbs of passatta over each base, sprinkle over the garlic, tear on the basil leaves, divide out mushrooms and a light sprinkling of mozarella. Top with the sweet potato slices and prawn followed by as much cheese as you like. Bake for 10 or 15 minutes.
I like to serve mine with chilli slices and dressed rocket on top.

Pulled Slow Roasted Lamb for Pizza

A fair chunk of this didn't make it to the pizza - we ate it well before then. This gear would work equally well to finish a risotto, to fill ravioli, go through pasta, sit on crusty bread or fill pasties/empanadas. The pizzas had either garlic oil and passata bases, included roasted sweet potato and basil leaves and were finished with yoghurt once cooked. One I filled as a calzone. Stuffing around is worth it sometimes.

1 kg lamb pieces

3 or 4 shallots

4 cloves garlic

Fresh thyme

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tbs olive oil

Salt and cracked pepper

1 cup red wine

Mix the olive oil, balsamic, thyme and enough salt and cracked pepper for all of the lamb in a large bowl. Add the lamb to the bowl and rub all over then transfer to something suitable for roasting in. Place the lamb in a preheated 200C oven for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 140C and roast uncovered for 2 hours. Take from the oven and remove the meat, garlic and shallots to a clean bowl and allow to cool. Return your pan to the stove top over a medium heat. Deglaze with the red wine and quickly scrape up any bits. Pour the liquid into a bowl until ready. When the meat has cooled enough to handle, cut from the bone and either chop with a knife or pull apart with two forks. Remove the garlic and shallots from their skins, chop.  Remove it all to a large clean bowl and stir through the wine gear. Use as you see fit.

Pizza Topping Suggestions

Its endless. If you like 4 kinds of cheese do it, if you like swine in 5 varieties do it. The only real key is not to over crowd. Apart from the regulars (mushroom, tomato, semi-dried tomato, onion, bacon etc), these are some of the toppings we use.

Potato and rosemary: Slice potato very thinly (I recommend using a mandolin), pat dry and toss through some garlic oil and finely chopped rosemary with some salt and pepper. Place on top of the pizza in a single layer only overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with some grated parmesan and a little more oil. Cook until it has a golden colour.

Oven roasted capsicum: Rub some oil over a capsicum and stick it on a shelf in a preheated 180C oven with an oven proof dish underneath to catch the escaping juices (discard these they will burn). Roast until the skin has mostly blackened, remove to a clean bowl, cover with cling wrap and allow to cool. Peel the skin off and slice. Add the leftover juice to a marinade or salad dressing.

Oven roasted pumpkin: Cut into bite sized pieces and coat in a mixture of garlic oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper and roast for 20 minutes or so until tender and with a little colour.

Dressed Rocket: Wash and pat dry some rocket then dress with an acid (balsamic, wine vinegar, lemon etc) and extra virgin olive oil and shavings of parmesan. Put this on after the pizza has been cooked.

Basil leaves: Put 'em on whole, one layer under the cheese.

Barbecued balsamic thyme chicken: We use it heaps.

Grilled prosciutto: Speaks for itself, great with chicken.

Toasted pine nuts: If you haven't used toasted pine nuts you are missing out. Pour half of a small bag of pine nuts into a small saucepan and dry roast until they have a little colour on most sides. Watch carefully that they don't burn. Sprinkle on your pizza.

Lamb: Slow roasted, barbecued, braised, shank, its pretty good. Great with some drops of yoghurt on after cooking.

Oven roasted cherry tomatoes: Also pour a little of the oil over the top afterwards.

Feta: In all of its wonderful guises. If you are using gear in oil, top the finished pizza with a little of the oil.

Sweet potato: Use the same method (or similar) as for the pumpkin or even more easily, get a potato peeler and slash at one raw, above the pizza.

Chilli flakes: We have to put these on afterwards due to the stinkin kids...

Crab: Spend $15 and buy a tub of crab meat, spread over 2 pizzas. Better still, toss it through roasted capsicum juice first.

Pork fillet: Season it with salt and pepper and some herbs and sear in a pan and finish in a 180C oven for 15 mins. Thinly slice and add to the pizza. It should be pink but remember it will continue to cook on the pizza and, as pork fillet has no fat it will dry out terribly if it is over cooked.

Pear: Sounds poxy but it is great with pork. Slice it thinly and scatter.

Egg: Make sure the base has an edge and crack a couple of whole eggs on, give it some diced bacon and stuff.

Caramelised onion: Rad. Use store bought gear (the Always Fresh Caramelised Onion Relish is excellent) or try this caramelised onion recipe. Great with pork and pear and some dressed rocket.

Balsamic thyme chicken, mushroom and asparagus

Pizza Dough

I bought a really great edition of Donna Hay Magazine a couple of years ago that had a special about pizza and since then, we have enjoyed kick ass pizza once a month or so. Prior to that, we used kebab bread as bases or thin crust pizza bases which out here are hard to find. In any case, it takes less time to make your own base then it does to go down to the shop and buy them, is way cheaper and the result is infinitely better. I have even converted my brother to hand made bases who usually mocks me and tells me that what I cook is ghey. A few things to consider:

• the first time you make them, it is a pain but it gets easier.
• make the bases as big or small as you wish.
• fold the bases over to make calzones.
• make more dough then you need, roll out, place between sheets of baking paper, cover in cling wrap and freeze on a flat surface.
• alternatively freeze the dough in balls.
• don't use too many toppings, less is way better and you get a crunchier result.
• don't put cheese all the way to the edge, leave a border.
• save time on making pizza sauce and just use 1 tbs of tomato passatta, (passatta is pureed tomato, its cheap and tasty), if you need more flavour in your pizza, add fresh herbs.
• alternatively use garlic oil on the base
• if you do want to make a lot of effort, try something like this Oven Roasted Cherry Tomato Pizza Sauce

1 cup luke warm water

1 small packet of yeast (2 tsp)

1 tsp sugar

1 pinch salt

375gms plain flour 

1 tbs olive oil

Combine the water sugar and yeast in a bowl/container, allow to sit for about 5 minutes until it bubbles/foams. Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt, oil and yeast water and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Turn out onto a floured bench top and knead for about 5 minutes or until in is shiny and elastic. Watch here for a demo, it's 7 seconds long. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough inside, cover with a tea towel and allow to prove for 30mins. This amount of dough will make 3 large pizza bases or 6 to 8 little ones. Divide into however many portions you want and roll out one at a time. Do this on a floured bench and is easier if you have flour on the rolling pin. Dust you pizza tray with flour or semolina/polenta, top with whatever you want and bake in a hot oven (230C) for about 20mins.

Garlic oil and tomato passatta