Cooking for one: Nigella's Naan Pizza

I absolutely love pizza and enjoy making it from scratch when I don't have anything better to do, but when in a rush and strapped for cash, Nigella's Naan Pizza is a great way to have pizza quickly and inexpensively using ingredients you can have stored in the cupboard for a rainy day. The naan bread also gives the pizza an unusual but lovely fragrant flavour. Use whichever toppings you please but here is my creation using Italian buffalo mozzarella, my third and final mozzarella recipe this week.
Preheat the oven too 220°C. Simply take one naan bread, and spread a thin cover of perhaps one or two tablespoons of any plain pasta tomato sauce. Then add thin slices of a third of 1 buffalo mozzarella ball and some sprigs of fresh thyme. Place on a baking tray in the oven for 5 minutes or until melted and slightly golden. When out of the oven, add a couple of slices of torn up Parma ham, slice and enjoy. A little bit of heart-warming goodness on a miserable January afternoon!

Cooking for One: Herb & Mozzarella Burger

Ditch the plastic cheese slice for a delicious cheese-filled burger made with the finest fresh ingredients from Andrews. The picture really doesn't do this burger justice. The smells that filled the kitchen were incredible and as for the taste, you're going to have to make it yourself to experience it...
Ingredients

For the burger:
100g mince beef
1/3 of a buffalo mozzarella ball
Teaspoon of dried oregano/mixed herbs
1 clove garlic peeled and crushed
1 shallot peeled and finely chopped
Olive oil, salt and pepper
To serve:
burger bun or roll sliced open
mixed lettuce leaves
mayonnaise
ground paprika (optional)
1 smoked bacon rasher


Pre-heat the grill to 220°C. Mix together the mince beef, onion, herbs and garlic in a bowl. Add enough olive oil to help bind the mixture and season with salt and pepper before mixing again. Pat the mixture in your hand, keeping it in a round shape making it as thin as possible. Judge how much mozzarella you think will fit inside the burger, the meat might not wrap around if you use too much. Place the mozzarella in the middle of your burger patty and wrap the meat around the cheese, making sure all edges are sealed and working into a good burger shape, (left).

Place a sheet of tin foil on your grill pan and cook your burger for 8 minutes, 4 minutes each side. In the meanwhile, make your paprika mayonnaise. In a small bowl or glass, mix 1-2 tbsp mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon paprika, set to one side. When it gets to 4 minutes, carefully turn over the burger, add your burger bun pieces (inner side up), and your bacon rasher. After 4 minutes remove everything from the grill and assemble. Spread plenty of mayonnaise on the bread, add burger then salad, then bacon.

Cooking For One: Buffalo Clementine Salad

Cooking for one at uni, I'm normally obliged to not buy certain things if I'm not going to be able to eat it all, especially if it's expensive and I don't want to be eating the same meal for three nights in a row. Buffalo Mozzarella might not seem exciting but when it's really good quality, like the one we sell at Andrews, its smells and tastes divine. This week I'm going to create 3 delicious yet different meals to make the expense worth it.

My first creation: Mozzarella, Clementine and Parma Ham salad. This combination, admittedly stolen from J.O, is great as all three different textures work really well together. I simply tore up some mixed salad leaves and rocket (the rest to be used later in the week), tore up two slices of Parma ham and sliced one clementine into segments. I want to make the mozzarella last three meals so made a small slit in the top of the bag and poured the 'milk' into a small bowl. I then split the mozzarella into three and placed  two pieces into the bowl, covered and put in the fridge. The milk is necessary to keep the cheese from going dry. The remaining third was again torn and arranged on the plate. A small amount of extra virgin oil can be drizzled over with a sprinkling of black pepper.

Behind The Scenes

Growing up I was always shocked when people asked what my Dad actually did all day as if cuts of meat magically find their way on to the counter; but its understandable when they hadn't seen him walk through the front door every night exhausted and ready for bed like I had. And if ever is a good example of how hard butchers work, it is Christmas. While my eight day week was a shock to the system, I had the glamorous job of serving our lovely customers. Working in the freezing cold for up to 14 hours they're consistently juggling the preparation of an inconceivable amount of meat for 800+ orders and for the counter, with serving the shop full of customers we're so pleased to see. Here's a lovely picture of them all working in the early hours of the morning while most of us were still tucked up.

Pigs in Blankets

Last night I caught up with  friends and had a lovely Christmas roast with chicken, all the trimmings, plenty of wine and an amazing chocolate cheesecake for dessert. My friend made a delicious stuffing with sausage meat that I hope to nab the recipe for and post soon! My favourite part had to be the pigs and blankets, a Christmas Roast wouldn't be the same without them. Just buy enough for two Andrew's Original Pork Chipolatas per person and enough streaky bacon to wrap round, one rasher per chipolata. It can be a fun task for kids to prepare while you're doing the cooking and will be sure to disappear as soon as they're placed on the table. At Andrew's we sell large chickens to order at Christmas that are full of flavour and a great alternative to the traditional turkey.

Joyeuses Fêtes

I'm absolutely in love with the packaging on the Le Rustique Camembert this Christmas. We're selling this delicious Camembert in mini or large whole cheeses, or alternatively by the slice on demand. They would make for the perfect present in a Christmas hamper or look great brought out whole to slice at a dinner party with wine, crackers and grapes. Alternatively why not try out this festive whole baked camembert recipe, from Jamie Oliver one of my favourite chefs, it looks deliciously easy but would certainly impress at Christmas parties.

Chinese Roast Duck

I am a big fan of Chinese food, but when it comes to cooking it myself I don't get much further than a decent stir-fry... The dishes we eat in the restaurant just seem inaccessible back in my own kitchen. I have bad memories of stringing a duck up in the dining room desperately trying to dry it out- needless to say that one did not work out! So I absolutely loved watching Gok Wan Cooks Chinese recently that aims to make Chinese cooking easy. Of course I was keen to revisit the classic Peking Duck with pancakes, however, as one of my family has to stick to a gluten free diet, pancakes were out of the question. Instead I roasted the duck in Gok's style and cooked it with my own fried rice recipe and pak choi. The key to the recipe is the lovely combination of typically Chinese ingredients that are placed inside the duck before roasting- no complicated cooking techniques needed at all. For the full original recipe click here.