by Irfan Shah

Created on: January 12, 2010

Vegetarian Pizza Recipe

 This vegetarian pizza has lustre. This isn’t something usually associated with pizzas, but the combination of colours and textures really creates something ravishing.

There are certain bold strokes pulled here – instead of the stately restraint, in terms of taste, possessed by mozzarella freshened with basil, we have Dutch Gouda and Red Leicester cheese. These cheeses, rich in taste and colour, combine to create an almost sweet, glutinous bedding for the piles of fresh vegetables that are piled on top until your pizza has the shapes and textures of a twelve year old’s make-a-miniature-island-out-of-paper-mache homework project!

And yet, despite its brashness, there are subtle presences in the taste. The pesto di volcano, essentially very hot chilli pesto, is mixed incredibly sparingly into the tomato sauce so that every mouthful of pizza will be shot through with a peppery fizz; and the herbs de provence are a faint spray of taste through which the oregano pierces.

Now, a word about ketchup. It is here in this recipe, a rich, sweet dimension, a vulgar uncle that, to your horror, has gate crashed your dinner party only to prove an uproarious hit, getting your more refined guests happily drunk. So don’t be a snob – let it in and see what it can bring to your meal!

Finally, regarding the recipe below. Specific measurements are supplied for the core ingredients. As we move towards the topping however, it becomes more slapdash.

Your mission, should you accept it, is to think less and less in terms of pounds, ounces and grams and more and more in terms of handfuls, dollops and dashes; to look at the second hand of the clock less and to smell, lick and dip more.

This is a lovely recipe that has all the emotional comfort of a long distance call from your mum. Enjoy it!

Ingredients:

(Makes around three-four medium pizzas)

For the tomato sauce

2 tins of chopped tomatoes
½ tspn of pesto di volcano
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tspn sugar
Ketchup
Oregano
Herbs de Provence
3-5 cloves of garlic chopped

For the topping

Half a green pepper, chopped
Chopped onion
Gouda cheese
Red Leicester cheese
(Or, your favourite cheeses!)
Sweet corn chunks

For the pizza base

400g bread flour
½ tbspn salt
7g packet of yeast
½ tbspn sugar
325ml of lukewarm water

Method

1)      Turn on the radio!

2)      Put the yeast and sugar into a measuring jug of lukewarm

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