IS THIS PIZZA?!?!?
My twist on sweet and savoury
Top quality Lidl tomato selection🍅, flakey pastry🥐, paprika🌶, brown sugar🟤, salt🧂, butter🧈
Topped with:
- Basil🌿, prosciutto🍖, caramelised onions🧅, feta cheese🧀
- Sweet cinnamon cream cheese🫕
According to the Oxford dictionary, Pizza is defined as a dish consisting a flat base of dough baked with a topping of tomatoes and cheese. This pie completely satisfies this definition, but yet it’s flavours and textures does not identify with the profile of the classic tomato cheese pizza.
Made with the same approach I would with a fruit galette, with my choice of fruit being tomato. Topped with ones choice of cheese and basil and a touch of salty paprika.
In this case, I have a theoretically achieved a uniquely light and fresh dessert pizza, dramatically contrasting the nowadays sickly popular chocolate sweet topped dessert “not pizza”.
This plate convolutes the line between savoury and sweet. When topped with prosciutto, caramelised onions, basil and feta, it reads like an artisan pastry pizza; when topped with sweet cinnamon cream cheese and maple syrup, it reads like a delightful fruit galette with the unique flavour profiles of the tomato.
So is this a savoury pizza? A fruit desert? Both? Or non of the above……
The Golden Apple v.6
My personal twist on the classic apple crumble
Caramelised red apples from the local Halal shop🍎, crusted with Special K cornflakes🥣, with a Digestive Biscuits bottom🍪, cinnamon almond crumble🌰, and with a cold caramel🍮 and whipped cream🍦 filling.
Ingredients cost per plate: around £2
This has been a delightful improvement over the last attempt with some changes. The hot custard centre is changed to a cold whipped cream to balance out the apples’ hot tartness. The skin is also left on for a more rustic aesthetic and better caramelisation.
To improve next time some citrusy sorbet, lemon juice and salt could be used for balance.
“Yellow Submarine”
Whole scallops🐚, crab paste🦀, uni, caviar with pasta🍝served on shell
All of the ingredients sourced from Billingsgate seafood market. Inspired by the book “Nose to Tail eating”, every single part of the scallop is utilised. The gills are mixed into the sauce adding an extra depth of flavour and the shells are presented as plates adding a theatrical aspect that is much needed in a playful dish like this!
Miso Kimchi Pasta
A flavourful budget friendly vegan meal!
Rosa’s kimchi🥬 and miso🥣, supermarket spaghetti🍝, toasted peanuts🥜 and chilli flakes🌶, sesame oil🛢and Limoncello shots🍋
This plate is an example of food that I believe in and the meals I have at uni. Bastardisation of food is not necessarily a negative thing. In my opinion, there is fine line between food culture inappropriation and the creation of unique flavours through different perspectives! As a student with a tight budget, my priority is to make fulfilling and satisfying meals while utilising limited ingredients/ leftovers; this may mean that I don’t follow recipes and sometimes traditions. This leads me to these little experiments that allows me to discover deliciously new flavour and texture combinations!
Roast Chicken
Whole chicken marinated with honey🍯, lemon🍋, paparika🌶, black pepper⚫️, fresh parsley🌿 on a bed of Brussels sprouts🥬 and red potatoes🥔
Tips for a delightful roast chicken:
1. Poke some holes on the skin to allow excess moisture to escape and skin to get crispy
2. Marinating under the skin to allow the marinade to marinate of the flesh (wow that’s a whole lot of marination)
3. Stuff the chicken with vegetables and aromatics to hold its shape and for extra depth of flavour
Black Aglio Olio
With squid🦑, Thai red chillis🌶, fresh lemon juice🍋, garlic🧄, onions🧅, squid ink⚫️, parsley🌿 and olive oil🫒.
Ingredients cost per plate: around £3
A bit unorthodox but I experiments with a drop of soy sauce with the squid ink and it turned out great. The soy sauce adds to colour but also contrasted the lemon juice and made the sauce more umami.
Sun-dried Tomatoes Risotto
With tomato paste🥫, Spanish chorizo bits 🥓, multi coloured peppers 🫑, arborio rice 🍚 and Pecorino Romano 🧀
The addition of chorizo and tomato paste made it taste a bit like a Paella with an Italian twist.
Apple Pie Waffles
With leftover apple crumble fillings🍎, cinnamon waffles 🧇 and vanilla cream🍨
Brought a new set of black plates, was very excited to try them out.
The Golden Apple
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My personal take on the classic apple crumble
Caramelised Fuji apples🍎 crusted with homemade crumbs🥧, molten custard core🍮, toped with crispy mint leaves🍃 and edible chocolate soil🍫
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I had whole lot of fun creating this desert and was please with the way it turned out. The flavours and texture captured the classic apple crumble with its own twist. The apple could do with a bit more citrus to balance out the sweetness of the caramel. The molten custard core gave the desert the theatrical element that I was looking for. The plating did lack color, maybe a drop of red food colouring could help make the apple stand out. I would definitely keep on developing this desert.
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Dm for the recipe
#applecrumble #custardapple #desert #foodie
