Egg Mayonnaise

Contrary to what I may have led people to believe, there are a fair few meals in our house which can result in havoc: shouting, tears, threats of toys being captured and taken hostage for days. Worse still, my gals are so strong willed that the havoc can actually last well over an hour, making for rather stressful days. We've discussed ways to deal with this. I suggested a time limit - this applies particularly to Booboo, who chews every mouthful a thousand times whether she likes it or not, but when she takes a dislike to food the result can be painful. Seriously, though, I actually think she forgets to swallow. We've thought about just taking food away or not giving pudding, but I have issues with all of those solutions. My gals, like many the world over, are spoilt rotten by their grannies, aunties and elder cousins, all who forget that obesity isn't good, nor are black teeth. So puddings at the Madhouse are mostly fruit or fruit based, with the odd yoghurt or cheese thrown in. If I ban them, I'm banning goodness. So havoc wins every time. Anyway, today havoc reigned at lunchtime. The culprit? Egg mayonnaise wraps. My goodness.

But have I mentioned they both love fish?!

On to this evening: it's Friday, and that means pizza. Today we're having the seafood pizza that up until high cholesterol was diagnosed I wouldn't have touched with a barge pole*. But, I'm not a fool and when something's good, I admit it, even if I don't really want to!

My pizza base is easy and is based on a Jamie's Italy recipe. I put 200g of strong bread flour in with 50g of semolina flour, a sachet of easy use yeast and then a pinch or two of salt and sugar. I use about 200ml of warm water then to make a dough and extra flour to knead. My difference with Jamie stops there. He kneads his dough for about ten minutes. If I reach five minutes I'd give myself a crown - two minutes is absolutely fine, I even do it one handed now. After about half an hour covered with a towel to rise, I then roll it with a rolling pin (though I have used a wine bottle when the rolling pin wasn't available) until it is just larger than my pizza tray (sorry Jamie, I tried oiled tin foil, but it's no good) and place it carefully on it, hand stretching if needed (a little authenticity there).

That's the base! Then I crush three or four (depends on the mood, never less than this) cloves of garlic and mix with about half a tube of tomato puree - and that's the sauce. I spread that on the pizza base and cover with pre-grated mozzarella. I even use a basic supermarket brand, and it is just as nice as the fancy stuff. Clearly toppings vary, but on the seafood pizza I slice a red onion and then add pre-cooked prawns and calamari, usually. Sometimes I get a mix with a few mussels in, like tonight.

The pièce de résistance for this pizza is the final topping. I cook the pizza at about 170 - 180 for about twenty minutes and then drizzle a dressing of chopped basil and lemon gratings mixed with a good extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. I love it.

Before and after (sorry having formatting troubles):

*I would point out that the pizza as a whole is not necessarily good for cholesterol with all of the cheese, however a seafood topping is way better than a three cheese (only on very special occasions) or a salami (only when very rushed) and so should be thought as a 'healthier' option ;-)