Pizza e Mozzarella

- Alex 2 Comments

Untitled

date of visit: Wed 25 July 2012

It seems like pizza is a bit of an in-thing at the moment in Adelaide. Not that long ago Etica opened (I’m yet to get there) and hot on its heels is Pizza e Mozzarella on Pirie Street.

I was lucky enough to have a work lunch coming up and even more lucky that I seem to be the most food obsessed person on my team (wait, maybe even the whole floor). So when opinions were being canvassed for where we should eat I was jumping up and down suggesting Pizza e Mozzarella (on the basis that “I haven’t been there before!”).

My enthusiasm worked and a group of 14 of us trooped off for lunch. Pizza e Mozzarella is strictly a lunch venue – dinner is offered on a Friday though and it is closed on weekends. Given what I saw on a Wednesday lunch I’d also say that bookings should be considered essential.

As we were such a large group we had one of the banquet menus. We opted for the $30 a head option which was antipasto and pizza. We started with bread (very good bread, I might add – chewy and full of flavour) and prosciutto and this was followed by large platters of antipasto containing all kinds of goodies. Most of it was really delicious but there were a couple of things that let the side down. The marinated aubergine was gorgeous, the pickled green tomatoes were really lovely and the involtini, served warm, made a good counterpoint to all the vegetable treats. The pressed pork terrine type thing (yep – that’s technical Italian food talk!) was disappointing: it didn’t work cold and the pork pieces were quite large so it seemed quite sinewy and gristly. The tortilla (a bit out of place anyway?) was also a bit dull. The little tiny pickled fish (looking over the menu I suspect they were pickled whitebait but they were wee – much smaller than you’d expect whitebait to be) were really good though and something I haven’t had before.

Antipasto mostly demolished a selection of pizzas started coming out. Looking over the pizza menu it appears we had at least one of everything bar the seafood pizza. The pizzas are all very rough and ready in appearance and, like most actual Italian pizzas I’ve had, are not laden with toppings. The dough was thin on the bases but quite thick at the crust. Eating with a knife and fork was quite tricky so most of us just resorted to fingers. The only sensible way to eat pizza anyway, if you ask me! The toppings are simple, tried and true combinations which is no bad thing. I particularly enjoyed the capricciosa (artichoke, ham, anchovy and olive) and around the table there didn’t seem to be any complaints.

The banquet doesn’t include dessert but our table ordered one dessert pizza (an idea I really don’t get). I was quite grateful I was far too full to even consider trying it!

We came out spending just under $50 a head (that included beers and a few bottles of wine). One thing I didn’t like was the fact that we asked for tap water and were told that there was a $1 per person donation to charity for tap water orders. That seems to be a bit iffy to me. That little niggle aside, the service was good: efficient, friendly, helpful. A big tick is a more interesting than average wine list which includes a decent range of Italian reds and whites. I was also quite impressed overhearing some sensible wine advice being offered by the waiting staff.

Décor wise, Pizza e Mozzarella is definitely hitting the trendy/funky mark. It’s a bright, airy, multilevel venue with Riedel glassware complemented by very retro crockery (think stoneware plates and 1950s op-shop water jugs) – and, naturally, an open kitchen.

I’d go back to Pizza e Mozzarella in a flash. If you’re ordering à la carte you could easily spend under the $50 a head mark that we hit. Perhaps not the cheapest pizza you’ll eat but definitely a solid all round experience.

Pizza e Mozzarella Bar on Urbanspoon

How to: microwave pappadums

- Alex 2 Comments

Pappadums

A couple of weeks ago I posted a list of microwave food hacks.

It’s not right to post them without testing them out.  Let’s start at the bottom of the list:  microwaving pappadums.

Traditionally pappadums are cooked in hot oil.  You take the little chickpea based wafers, you take a ton of superheated peanut oil and you give them a quick blast.  In theory, this isn’t fattening because the oil is so hot that the pappadum doesn’t actually absorb any.

If you’ve ever eaten a pappadum you know that that’s a fair bit of rubbish!

We’ve long been fans of microwaving pappadums (you do, literally, just pop the pappadum in the microwave on some kitchen towel and give it a quick blast on high on both sides) but while they’re tasty they’re only a pale approximation of the real thing.

So when I read that you could brush your pappadum with oil (or melted ghee) before microwaving for a more ‘authentic’ finish I had to give it a go.

I brushed both sides of the pappadum with peanut oil before placing on kitchen towel and microwaving on high.  With the oil on the pappadum needed longer than usual (that is, without) but it still needed rotating and flipping.

Combining this extra cooking time with the bother of brushing the things with oil … was it all worth it?

No.

The pappadums didn’t expand the way they do in hot oil – they just stayed small and the microwaving clearly didn’t get the oil nearly hot enough, so they ended up covered with a slick of grease.  It was really the worst of both worlds:  the oiliness of a pappadum cooked in not hot enough oil combined with the slight raw flour taste you get when you microwave them.

So in future, we’ll be spending the time perfecting our frying technique (get the oil super hot!) when we’ve got time, or using the microwave (without oil) when we’re in a hurry.

Thai Fish Curry Recipe

- Alex 1 Comment

Thai curry paste

While living in England I was lucky (or skilled!) enough to have a recipe published in The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook. Recipes, using Fairtrade ingredients, were submitted from across the UK and the best were published alongside those of celebrities and chefs. The launch party was also excellent.

However, aside from me showing off my recipe to anyone with the time to look, the book has been underutilised. As part of my new weekly meal planning regime (something which is making life very easy indeed), I’m choosing a random recipe from a random cookbook each week.

Last week it was the Thai fish curry which was submitted by Karen Darnton from Somerset. This recipe is a brilliant example of how easily you can make a tasty Thai style curry without resorting to jars or packets.

Begin by making the curry paste. Into a blender, put two red chillis, the juice and zest of one lime, 2 stalks of lemongrass* (roughly chop these first, and the younger and more tender the better), a generous teaspoon of ginger paste, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 small onion (peeled and roughly chopped), one finely sliced kaffir lime leaf (my addition because I happen to have some in the freezer – leave it out if you don’t have any to hand) and a good splash of Thai fish sauce.

Whizzy this up and you have your paste. This you can make in advance – it will keep quite happily in the fridge in a sealed container for a day or two.

When you’re ready to eat, heat a wok with a small amount of oil (peanut oil or other neutrally flavoured oil) and, when hot, add the curry paste and stir fry for a couple of minutes. You want the pan hot so that it sizzles, and you’ll need to stir to stop it from sticking.

Add a tin of coconut milk, mix well and bring to a simmer.

Next – add your fish. The original recipe used cod, I used barramundi (my barra had the skin on – and normally I would advocate this – but for this recipe, prefer skin off). You want a firm white fish that won’t collapse. You could also use prawns or even chicken thighs (although then it would be a Thai chicken curry …). If using fish, choose Australian and sustainably fished.

Simmer the curry until the fish is cooked.

The original recipe at this point starts adding things like mango or pineapple to the curry but that’s not how I roll, at all. I added a single serve of hokkien noodles to the pot and simmered away until the noodles were separated and hot. So now I had some kind of cross between curry and laksa.

Finally, taste the sauce and add fish sauce or lime juice as required.

Finish with a garnish of coriander and serve immediately.

While this was not the most complex (or, probably, authentic!) Thai curry I’ve ever eaten it certainly ticked all the mid-week meal boxes. Prep in advance, quick to assemble when you’re ready to eat, and tasty to boot. Definitely one we’ll return to.

* As an aside, lemongrass freezes. If you buy a packet from the supermarket, freeze the leftover stems in a snaplock bag. They defrost quickly. Freezing does make them a little tough so be sure to remove the outer layers before using.