The Best Pizza Dough & Pizza Sauce

There is an unbreakable ritual in my family, which is that on fridays we eat pizza......and I don´t mean the bought kind, it has to be home made. As I moved away from home 10 years ago I have tried to honor the ritual with my family as my brothers and sisters try the same thing with their families. There is nothing better than kicking back with you family and eating a home made pizza and drinking a glass of wine with the friday TV entertainment..................right??..:)

I don´t think that I have to remind you guys that this is really easy to make, and don´t be affraid to make your own pizza dough at home becouse it will taste so much better. If you try out this recipe you could leave out the pine nuts and use 200g of corn flour to 800g of plain flour. It will give a really cool yellowish color to the dough and a slight more Italian flavor.

For the Pizza Doug

1kg all-purpose flour

12g dry yeast

150ml white wine

480ml lukewarm water

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

handful of toasted pine nuts, chopped (optional)

Pour a mount of flour on a smooth work surface and create a well in the middle of the flour.
Add the yeast into the well, along with white wine, pine nuts (optional), olive oil and a portion of salted lukewarm water.
Work flour slowly, adding the rest of the salted lukewarm water as needed until it turns into uniform dough. Knead well and form a ball.
Dust the inside of a bowl with a little flour, add the pizza dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest to rise for about 45 minutes at room temperature. For the Pizza Sauce

3 tins chopped tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, chopped

handful fresh basil

salt and pepper

Add olive oil to a pan. Fry the garlic and basil for 30 seconds. Add the tin tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

Pour the sauce through a sive and push the sauce through with the back of a spoon. Throw away the leftover basil and garlic...they have done their job. Add the sauce back to the pan and let simmer on low heat for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Greek yogurt – with mango and banana purré

This is a recipe from my book which i am working on with my friend Marius Johannessen. The book will feature 50 desserts and they will be linked to the four seasons of the year. This is a fresh and healthy dessert, which can also be a sunday morning treat and for those who live in iceland, you can replace the greek yogurt with skyr...........Enjoy:)

2 mangos
2 bananas
4 tsp honey
3 dl orange juice
300g greek yogurt
3 tbsp vanilla sugar, (sugar and seeds from 1 vanilla pod)
1 tbsp honey
25g pistachio nuts, chopped

6 servings

1. Peel and dice the mangos and the bananas and freeze for 1 hour. Then put the frozen fruit, honey and orange juce into a food processer. Mix until smooth.

2. Mix the yogurt, vanilla sugar and honey in a bowl. .

3. First put the friut smoothie in the bottom of the glas and then the greek yogurt, and so on. Sprinkle the chopped pistachio nuts on the top.

Meringue with Pears, hazelnuts and Ginger Chocolate

This is one of many different ways of making this type of marengue dessert. You can use other fruits like bananas or peaches and you can flavor the chocolate sauce by adding some liquor in stead of the candied ginger. In whatever way you choose to go I can promise that it will taste fuc... wonderful and you will be a star at your next dinner party.

• 4 egg whites
  pinch of salt
  200g caster sugar
  
• 2 handfuls of hazelnuts
  
• 1 large or 2 small tins of pears
  
• 200g dark chocolate
  zest from ½ orange
  2 pieces candied ginger (condenced ginger)
  
• 2 dl double cream
  1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
  1tbsp icing sugar
  

Preheat oven to 150˚C. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt and gradually add the caster sugar. Whisk untill it forms stiff peaks. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 60 minutes. When ready, set aside to cool.

Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 10 minutes.

Melt the chocolate over simmering water and add the orange zest and chopped ginger.

Whip the cream with the vanilla seeds and icing sugar.

Cut the pears into halves and scatter over the baked merangue. Spread the whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top. Roughly chopp the hazelnuts and scatter over the whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

Pain perdu with caramelised pears

This is my version of pain perdu, which is french for "eggy bread" and it´s sooooo good. Serve with a dollop of ice cream and you are in seventh heaven. Make sure you get firm pears or they will just break down when you cook them in the caramel. You can also use some other fruits like peaches, apples or bananas.
4 ripe and firm pears
80g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 large eggs, beaten
4 tbsp milk
4 tbsp double cream
1/2 a vanilla pod

4 thick slices of white bread
Handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped

1. Halve the pears and remove the core, halve again into quarters and then halve again into little pieces. Heat 3 tablespoons of the sugar in a heavy-based ovenproof pan, when it begins to caramelize place the pears, cut-side down in the caramel. Add another tablespoon of sugar on top and cook for a few minutes. As the sugar starts to disappear add 15 grams of butter and let it cook down in the sauce. When the sauce is thick and syrupy, take off the heat and set to one side

2. Melt the remaining butter in a wide pan until it begins to foam. Whisk the eggs, milk, cream and remaining sugar together. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the egg mixture with the finely chopped mint and mix together. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and fry in the butter for a minute or two on each side until golden brown. Place each slice on a serving plate.

3. To serve, lift the pears onto the pain perdu. Dust with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche or mascarpone.

And if you are extra greedy person.....like me, you can make a sandwich version of the pain perdu

Beef Fillet with Duxelle Mushroom Gratin

2 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp olive oil
200g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
1dl sherry wine
2 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
½ dl double cream
1 large egg yolk
handful of bread crumbs
zest of 1 lemon
4 fillet steaks, about 180g and 4cm thick
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan

To prepare the topping, gently sauté the shallots and garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 5 minutes until nicely softened. Add a further 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the mushrooms over a high heat, stirring frequently, add the cherry and cook for about 5 minutes. The mixture should be quite dry. If necessary, tip it into a sieve to drain off any remaining liquid. Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl, allow to cool.

Whip the cream until softly stiff. Fold in the mushrooms along with the egg yolk, herbs, lemon zest, bread crumbs and a tablespoon of the grated Parmesan, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Season the steaks all over with salt and pepper. Heat a large non-stick frying pan until you can feel a strong heat rising. Cook the steaks for about 2-3 minutes, turning them to seal all over. Remove from the pan. Put the steaks on a shallow baking tray. Pile the mushroom mixture on top of the steaks and dust with the remaining parmesan. Cook in the oven for about 5-7 minutes until the topping is bubbling and golden