In which we do a 30 minute Jamie "spesh"

Mr SE and I are quite fond of watching the Jamie Oliver programmes that are on TV here in Australia at the moment.... They are his 30 minute special suppers and to quote Mr. O are prepared and served in "Well undah firty minites"
They are on fairly early each evening at 6.30pm so we record them and then watch them in a batch and last week we had a go at the Pizza served with a trio of salads - a mozzarella and pesto one , tomatoes with basil and balsamic dressing and rocket and lemon salad... Here above are the fruits of our labour all together...

And here the focus on the main dish the PIZZA. Have to say this is the first time I have made one completely from scratch including the base and we were impressed - it was so easy and also very quick too.

If you want to have a go at Jamie's pizza here is the recipe :

PIZZA
1½ mugs of self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
½ mug of tepid water

TOPPING
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
A few sprigs of fresh basil
½ a clove of garlic
Red wine vinegar
½ a 125g (4½oz) ball of buffalo mozzarella
Parmesan cheese, for grating over
8 slices of salami
1tsp fennel seeds
½ a fresh red chilli
PIZZA: Turn the heat under the frying pan up to high and dust a clean surface with flour. Put 1½ mugs' worth of flour into a food processor, then half-fill the same mug with tepid water and add to the flour with a pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil.
Whizz until smooth, then tip on to the floured board. Sprinkle the top of the dough and the rolling pin with flour (the dough will be quite wet, so be generous with the flour).
Roll the dough to a 1cm (½in) thickness. Drizzle olive oil into the pan, then dust the dough with flour again and very lightly fold it over into a halfmoon shape.
Lightly fold the half-moon in half, then move the dough to the pan and unfold it, pushing it down into the sides of the pan. If you don't have a pan this big, don't cook all of the dough at once, halve it and make two pizzas.
TOPPING: Put a third of the tinned tomatoes into a liquidiser with a few sprigs of basil, ½ a peeled clove of garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Whizz until smooth. Pour over the middle of the pizza base and spread out evenly.
Tear ½ a mozzarella ball into small pieces and dot around the base. Finely grate a layer of Parmesan over, then top with the salami slices. I like to bash the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar and finely chop the chilli, then scatter them over the pizza.
Put the pan under the hot grill for 4 or 5 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

Quite DELISH and if you wanted the rest of the bits that went with the pizza -click on this link :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1316918/Jamie-Olivers-30-minute-meals-Cheats-pizza-delish-salads-squashed-cherries-vanilla-mascarpone-cream.html

On other notes to tell you. As I type my MOTHER IN LAW is winging her way over the skies to Australia to stay for a few weeks... (No, no I did not say on a broomstick!) . Those long time readers of the blog will know that she (the MIL) is rather a force to be reckoned with and is a little outspoken to say the least. Will keep you updated as we go!

Hope you all had (or are having) a wonderful weekend.