Emergency freezer food - pizza pie

We went camping at the weekend. There was plenty of weather – we had wind, we had rain we had cold, but we also had a fantastic afternoon on the beach on Sunday so the rest of it was worth it. As a result of the vagaries of the traffic flow on the A303, it took us 4 hours to get home on Monday afternoon – we were only saved from longer because the Husband knows the roads that crisscross Salisbury Plain like the back of his hand after his time defending the realm, so as we hit yet another queue coming up to the infamous Countess services, we could detour.

While the Husband mucked out Daisy the campervan, I plonked the kids in the bath, and made us a healthy and nutritious meal of sausage mash and beans. I feel like I’ve been on the back foot ever since.

Yesterday morning, I managed to cobble together the packed lunches using the leftovers from the weekend – some meat loaf, a bit of cheese, and  was saved by the freezer for supper. Last week, we had pizza pie which I made loosely following a recipe in an old Good Food magazine . My version made a huge pie, so I put half of it in the freezer. I can't tell you how pleased I was when I remembered this. It heated up nicely in the oven and I served it with raw carrot sticks. That’s how enthusiastic I was feeling yesterday.

My version of the recipe is as follows:

Spinach, tomato, ham and olive pizza pie

Ingredients:

For the bread base: 500g strong white flour, 1 sachet yeast, 1 tsp salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil made up to just over 300ml mark in a measuring jug with warm water.

For the filling: 1 can chopped tomatoes, a colander full of spinach (probably around 200g), 1 clive of garlic, crushed, 4 slices of ham, chopped, 4 tablespoons of crème fraiche, a small can of pitted black olives, chopped, grated cheddar.

Method:

First make the bread mix up – combine the dry ingredients, then mix in the wet ingredients, first with a fork then as they come together, knead with your hands or with a dough hook on a Kenwood or other type of mixer until smooth. Set aside. I made my dough up before I went to collect the kids from school and left it – it doesn’t need to rise in the same way as you would for a loaf of bread.

To make the filling, put the chopped tomatoes and crushed garlic in a pan and bring to a simmer. Chuck in the spinach and cook till the spinach is wilted. Whizz it up into a puree with a stick blender. If it’s a bit watery, bring back to a simmer and let it reduce for a little. Pre-heat the oven to 200⁰/180⁰ fan/gas mark 6.

Divide the dough in half and roll out into a circle so that the dough is still thick enough to handle, but not too thick. Transfer onto an oiled baking sheet – I have a square one which was good for this – if I was going to use a rectangular one, I would change the shape of the dough. Spread as much of the tomato and spinach filling onto the base, leaving a 2 cm rim around the edge, scatter with the olives, dollop on the crème fraiche, sprinkle the ham and grated cheese over the top, then roll the remaining dough into a similar size as the base, brush water round the 2 cm rim of the base that you left free of the tomato base, then carefully lay the second circle of dough onto the base. Press down the edges, make 2 slits in the top and bake for 25-30 minutes, till golden brown. 

If you can be bothered, it’s good with a green salad, but carrot sticks work just as well…