Pizza and a Salad

Tonight's dinner again came from my new Donna Hay magazine purchase and utilized last night's homemade tomato sauce and I am pleased to say that the results were a lot better. I decided to make the goat's cheese pita pizza's from the same feature article that I used for the chicken and zucchini salad yesterday. It utilized the same tomato sauce, which I think was even better today, as well as goats cheese...which I love....and fresh herbs. Yum!! I served it with Nigella's Ricotta and pine nut salad, which I found in last month's Delicious magazine. Also very yummy and a great accompaniment to this pizza. This was a perfect, quick, healthy weeknight meal, which Rich also loved and said was very tasty.

Donna Hay Tomato Sauce
(Makes 2 3/4 cups)

2 1/4 lbs ripe roma tomatoes
5 cloves garlic
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp castor sugar
salt and cracked black pepper
1 cup basil leaves

1. Pre-heat oven to 390F. Cut a shallow cross in the base of each tomato. Place tomatoes and garlic in a baking dish and roast for 15-20 minutes or until the skin starts to peel away and tomatoes are tender.

2. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Peel tomatoes and garlic and roughly chop.. Place them in a bowl and add oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and basil. Stir well to combine.




Spicy Goat's Cheese Pita Pizza
(Makes 6)

1 quantity of tomato sauce (see above)
6 small pita rounds
7oz goat's cheese, crumbled
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 cup oregano leaves
sea salt and cracked black pepper
basil leaves to serve

1. Preheat oven to 355F. Spoon tomato sauce over the bread and top with goat's cheese, chilli, oregano, salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 10-15 minutes or until bread is crispy. Top with basil and serve.




Ricotta and Pine Nut Salad
(Serves 8)

2 cups fresh ricotta
1/3 cup loosely packed basil leaves
3/4 cup pine nuts
8 loosely packed cups of mixed salad leaves
2 heads of Belgian endive
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of paprika to dust

1. Place ricotta in a bowl and break up with a fork. Tear basil into pieces and toss with the ricotta. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a small dry frying pan over medium heat and add pine nuts. Stir constantly until pine nuts are golden. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

3. Arrange salad leaves and endive in a bowl or platter. Combine oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and sprinkle over the salad. Toss to combine, then spread pine nuts evenly over the greens. Drop small mounds of ricotta onto the greens, then dust with paprika.