Hi foodies!
I was chatting to one of my patient’s mums in clinic this week and she was telling me that she had been checking out the blog (yay!). I think the general gist of the conversation was that the Kid’s Health blog posts were helpful, and the Food blog posts looked yummy, BUT perhaps a little complicated for her to try.
I can totally understand that. Time is limited, especially with kids… However, I am food OBSESSED so when it comes to getting something right and tasting as perfect as possible, I will go to all lengths to get there.
BUT yummy DOES not necessarily mean a recipe has to be complex! You cannot get a simpler recipe than this!! So Jo, this one is just for you!!
Years ago… gosh, I don’t even remember how many years it would have been (POST SCRIPT EDIT: Rosie tells me it was 2002)… anyhoo, the FIRST time I ever saved all my scrappy little pennies as a student and used them to head to Europe with on one of my BFFs (Rosie) to visit two of my other BFFs in London (Steggles, Maggie). The trip, as expected was an absolute blast (and there have been several subsequent trips since!). We partied, saw the sights, stayed out late, had the time of our lives of course (oh and not to mention that time we nearly missed our plane after a particularly massive night out with Steggles and Tim (?Goldschläger shots??), and the taxi driver that drove at about 170km/hr to get us to the airport on time. We actually thought we might die (although in retrospect that may have been the combination of the taxi speed AND our respective hangovers at the time)). Anyway, I digress again…
Rosie and I at SOME POINT during this trip were in Rome. We legged it round the city (and generally got up to a LOT of mischief), were starving, and we stopped at this dingy little hole-in-the-wall shop that sold pizza. WELL. That was a decision that would change my perspective on pizza forever. I think we both ordered the zucchini pizza. It would not have been expensive (we were poor students, travelling on a shoestring) but MAN was it TAAAAAAAAAAAASTY!!! And the most striking thing about all the pizzas there, was the SIMPLICITY of the ingredients. Usually only 1-2 ingredients on any one pizza.
This time, the only toppings were zucchini and cheese! As soon as I got home I tried it. Supermarket bought pizza bases are too thick. I do not doubt that if you made your OWN pizza dough/base and made it lovely and thin – it would be way better than this version, but as a student I didn’t have time for that, so I used Lebanese bread.
This is a meal I had more often that I care to recall when I was at uni. It was cheap, easy, fast AND pretty healthy (ish – depending on how heavy you went on the cheese!). Perfect student meal. I STILL make it all the time!! Oh and ***BONUS: Kids LOVE to help make their own pizzas (and thus are much more likely to eat them without a fight).
Here goes:
INGREDIENTS
- Packet of Lebanese bread (I like the Bazaar brand)
- A large zucchini – grated
- Shredded light tasty cheese
- Olive oil spray (or you can use olive oil and a pastry brush)
- Salt and pepper
METHOD
- Preheat your oven to moderate (about 150 degrees)
- Spray olive oil spray onto your Lebanese bread base and season with salt and pepper.
- Pop in the oven for about 5 min to crisp up a bit (if you are pressed for time, you can skip this step)
- Grate the zucchini and spread over the base
- Sprinkle with cheese
- Bake in oven for ~10-15 min, until cheese is melted and a little golden on top
THAT. IS. IT.
Now you can do any kind of variations you like. Sometimes adding a teeny bit of crushed garlic to the oil you brush on the base is also nice.
The pictures in the gallery above are:
- Simple zucchini and cheese
- Prawn and ricotta (+ light tasty cheese and parsley)
- Chorizo and zucchini
- Champagne leg ham and cheese
- Button mushroom, tasty cheese and Parmesan
Easiest and fastest meal ever and so satisfying.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Let me know if you try it and post me a pic and comment!!
Happy eating!
xxDr Megs
