Flat breads with country salad 
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
GARLIC BUTTER TOPPING
4 T (60 ml) butter, softened
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
½ t (2,5 l) Ina Paarman's Garlic & Herb Seasoning
Mix all the ingredients together and spread over the rolled out breads. Bake for ± 15 minutes until golden.
OLIVE & ROSEMARY TOPPING 2 T (30 ml) Ina Paarman's Olive Pesto
2 rosemary sprigs
Spread pesto over flat breads, sprinkle with rosemary needles and bake for 15 minutes until crisp and golden.
This is an outstanding salad and it improves (with dressing on) in the fridge.
2 red bell peppers
2 orange or yellow bell peppers
750 g very ripe tomatoes (use a mixture of roma and cherry)
Ina Paarman's Garlic & Herb Seasoning
50 g tin of anchovy fillets rolled with capers, in oil
2-3 T (30-45 ml) caper berries
± 1 cup (250 ml) Ina Paarman's Tuscan Tomato or Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 red onion peeled, sliced in half from stem end to root end, then finely sliced into half-moon slices
Roast the peppers at 200°C until black and blistered. Put them in a mixing bowl, cover with cling film and leave to stand until cool. Peel. Remove core, stem and pips and slice into strips.
Cut the bigger tomatoes into small wedges, cut cherry tomatoes in half and season all with the Garlic & Herb Seasoning. Toss peppers, tomatoes, anchovies and caper berries together lightly. Dress with the vinaigrette of your choice. Serve with chunks of flat bread.
Basic pizza dough
Makes 3 pizzas and 4 flatbreadsDuring my leave I found it very useful to have some prepared yeast dough in the fridge to use for pizza, for flat breads and pot bread. To make the dough is dead easy, it will rise slowly in the fridge - just punch it down every day and it will keep for three days.
1 kg (± 6½ cups) bread flour
2 T (30 ml) sugar
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman's Seasoned Sea Salt
1 x 10 g pkt instant yeast
± 2 cups (500 ml) lukewarm water
2 T (30 ml) olive oil
In a biggish mixing bowl measure the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Toss together with your fingers. Add lukewarm water. Bring dough together with one hand and knead to form a soft pliable dough. Add a little more water depending on consistency. *Divide dough into two.
Divide olive oil between two big mixing bowls. Turn the dough balls in the oil to coat them lightly. Cover with cling film. Leave to stand at room temperature for an hour or two until the dough has doubled in size. Knead it once more. If not using straight away store in the fridge.
TO SHAPE PIZZA
- Divide into four.
- Flatten between layers of baking paper with a dinner plate.
- Roll to required size and shape.
Tomato and Basil Pizza with Chorizo
¼ pizza dough
1 pkt Ina Paarman's Tomato Pesto
1 cup (250 ml) grated mozzarella cheese
10-12 very fine slices of chorizo sausage or salami
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
Fresh basil
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Roll out the pizza dough on well floured baking paper. Roll the dough out very thinly to a rough rectangular shape.
Spread the Pesto over the dough right to the edges and bake on a preheated pan for ± 7 minutes until the dough is nicely puffed and just beginning to colour on the edges. Remove it from the oven. Sprinkle the cheese over the base. Dot sliced chorizo over the pizza. Season halved cherry tomatoes with Green Onion Seasoning and dot over the pizza. Tear fresh basil leaves and add some before and the rest after baking.
Bake for a further 10 minutes until base is nicely browned and crisp.
Cut into wedges with a pizza wheel.
VARIATION
Drizzle a little of our Basil Pesto over before serving.
Grilled Eggplant, Courgette, Olive and Mozarella Mini Pizzas
¼ pizza dough
1 large eggplant
6 courgettes, sliced lengthways
Ina Paarman's Seasoned Sea Salt
olive oil
1 x 125 mlk pkt Ina Paarman's Olive Pesto
¾ cup (180 ml) mozzarella cheese, grated
½ cup (125 ml) cherry tomatoes, quartered
Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
calamata olives (optional)
Preheat oven to 200°C. Slice the aubergines about ½ cm thick, pack out on a large oiled baking tray. Slice the courgettes lengthways into 4 strips. Season vegetables very lightly with Seasoned Sea Salt.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Divide the dough into eight. Flatten the balls between layers of well floured baking paper, using a dinner plate to press down on the dough to flatten it. Roll each round thinly into a rough circle.
Spread the Olive Pesto over the pizzas and bake on a pre-heated pan for ± 7 minutes until the dough is nicely puffed and just beginning to discolour on the edges.
Remove the dough from the oven, sprinkle with half the grated cheese and arrange a generous layer of the grilled, oiled, vegetables over the pizzas. Season the halved cherry tomatoes with Green Onion Seasoning and scatter over the vegetables. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over and dot with olives if using.
Bake for a further 10 minutes until the base is nice and crisp.
Bacon and Brie Pizza with Mushrooms
¼ pizza dough
1 packet (125 ml) Ina Paarman's Sundried Tomato Pesto
1 T (15 ml) oil
6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
1 T (15 ml) butter
1 punnet sliced mushrooms
Ina Paarman's Garlic Pepper Seasoning
1 wedge (125 g) of Brie or Camembert
fresh sage or a few rosemary needles
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Roll out the pizza dough on well floured baking paper, ± 30 cm long. Roll the dough out very thinly to a rough rectangular shape. Spread the Sundried Tomato Pesto over the dough right to the edges and bake on a pre-heated pan for ± 7 minutes.
Cut the bacon into shorter lengths and half-cook in the oil in a frying pan. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and keep on one side.
Add butter to the bacon fat in the pan, add mushrooms and stir-fry them over high heat until beginning to soften. Season generously with Garlic Pepper Seasoning.
Remove the half baked pizza from the oven. Sprinkle cooked mushrooms over, dot with small pieces of cheese and half-cooked bacon. Scatter herbs over.
Bake for a further 10 minutes until base is nicely browned and crisp. Cut into wedges with a pizza wheel.
VARIATION
Breakfast pizza. Make hollows in the mushroom topping and break four eggs into the hollows. Bake as before.
Cherry Cheesecake
Serves 10
This Cherry Cheesecake looks so pretty and using a packet of jelly to set the cherries is a time saver. The Cheesecake will keep very well in the fridge (covered) for a week.
CHEESECAKE
1 cup (250 ml) cold tap water
1 x 250g Ina Paarman's Lemon Cheesecake Mix
1 cup (250 ml) fresh whipping cream
Gently fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake mixture using a spatula or metal spoon and stir until evenly blended. Dish the mixture into a rectangular dish about 26 cm x 14 cm x 4.5 cm deep. Refrigerate.
TOPPING 80 g packet red jelly crystals (cherry, raspberry or strawberry)
1 cup (250 ml) boiling water
425 g can of black cherries in syrup
Combine the jelly crystals and boiling water in a medium size mixing bowl. When the jelly has dissolved completely add the tin of cherries with all the syrup. Refrigerate until the jelly is thickened to the consistency of raw egg white. Spoon the jelly with cherries over the cheesecake. Cover and refrigerate overnight.