turkish pizza

Last night both PD and I felt like cooking, so a compromise was reached with matching pizzas on the menu. His meaty extravaganza of a pizza was spiced and fragrant and deeply satisfying, while my zucchini and ricotta version provided a perfect foil with lighter, cheesy goodness. The ideal way to eat them is with alternate slices – crazy good. If you fancy, you could garnish the Turkish pizza with a sprinkling of finely chopped parsley, and mint on the zucchini one. We didn’t, but maybe next time – they were delicious either way. If you just want to do the Turkish pizza, it would also be bloody fabulous with a bowl of garlicky yoghurt, and a small salad of shaved zucchini dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, mint and chilli, served as sides.

The day before we had returned from extended NYE celebrations, spent on Waiheke Island with my oldest and dearest friends, featuring raucous 80s music appreciation and movie nights peppered with crosswords and reading, and of course delicious food and drinks. We have swum all but one day – even today, between squalls in suboptimal conditions, emerging from the sea feeling near re-born with energy. What a perfect break it has been enjoying all of the good things – cooking, laughing, swimming and reading the days away. And now our combined holiday has come to an end, PD has headed off to prepare for time spent beachside with his children, while I am back to work next Thursday and will enjoy a few days of quiet puddling before the onslaught begins anew – washing the car, forward planning, mowing the lawn, dropping the dry cleaning in and generally getting my ducks in a row.

2025 feels like its going to be a big year and I can’t wait to crack into it, time to get ready!

turkish lamb or beef pizza

1 shallot, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley
300g beef or lamb mince
1/2 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp each chilli flakes, paprika, allspice, sea salt and cumin
1/2 tsp each cinnamon and cayenne pepper
1 large, thick, Turkish pizza base
lemon wedges to serve

Preheat the oven to 200˚C fan bake

Put the shallot, garlic and parsley in a food processor and whiz to combine. Add the remaining topping ingredients to the food processor and whiz again to combine. Spread the meat topping over the pizza and cook 12-15 minutes until sizzling and delicious. Serve with a good drizzle of lemon juice.

zucchini and ricotta pizza

200g ricotta
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp sea salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2/3 cup grated parmesan
1 large or 2 small zucchini, finely sliced
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
125g ball buffalo mozzarella, drained
freshly ground black pepper
1 large, thick, Turkish pizza base

Preheat the oven to 200˚C fan bake

Mix the ricotta, lemon zest, chilli flakes, salt and garlic together and spread over the pizza base. Layer with parmesan then zucchini slices then grated mozzarella and top with buffalo mozzarella, torn into smallish chunks. Season well with sea salt and pepper and cook for 12 minutes until golden.