Coca - Catalan Pizza

Flatbread

• 225g strong flour plus extra for dusting
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried yeast
• 150ml tepid water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Place salt and flour in a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the water and add oil to the water. Tip the liquid into the flour and mix in with fingers to form a ball of dough. Tip dough onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Smear a little oil in a bowl and roll the dough ball around in the oil, cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour or 2 until doubled in size. Punch down then divide in half and roll each out very thinly.

Place on a hot pizza stone or oven tray, add topping (below) and bake for 10 minutes at the highest temperature your oven can go until the base is crispy. Remove from heat, drizzle the saved olive oil over the top and serve immediately.

Topping

• 1 medium aubergine or eggplant chopped into 1cm dice,
• 1 zucchini - thinly sliced,
• 2 medium onions - thinly sliced
• 2 capsicums or red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds removed and thinly sliced,
• 1 heaped tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
• 150ml olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped,
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt.

Sprinkle the aubergine with salt and set aside. Gently saute the onions and a pinch of salt in the olive oil in a heavy based frying pan for about 15 minutes until soft. Add the capsicums and garlic and continue to saute for another 10 minutes until the capsicums are soft and sweet and the onions a golden colour. 

Drain the aubergine and pat dry then add with the zuchinni and rosemary to the onions.Cook for a further 10-15 minutes stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat, move the filling to one side of the pan and leave to rest on a slight angle to drain excess oil away from the filling. Don't throw away the oil!

Parmigiana di Melanzane

Baked eggplant with Mozzarella

Intro

One Christmas Day my mate Dave rang me from some Balkan hell-hole, Pristina I think, and I started crying over some bloke who'd stood me up the night before (turns out his Mother had been rushed to hospital with a heart attack). Anyway one thing led to another and Dave, who was quite distressed that I was crying, suggested that what I needed was a nice week in Naples and why didn't I pop over and he'd meet me there. Lack of money was no problem - he would pay. 

So 8 days later I found myself in Rome, exploring on foot, feasting my eyes and soul on the glorious churches and galleries. I truly didn't have much money at all and I used to squirrel away a spare bread roll from the Youth Hostel breakfast buffet to get me through the day. On the last day I had to choose between visiting the Colosseum or buying a slice of pizza for tea. The Colosseum won - of course. 

That evening I hopped on a train to Naples, I'd bought the ticket when I'd arrived, and made my way to the prearranged 'hotel', a particularly seedy one with very dodgy stains on the wallpaper, run by a a pair of old ladies with hairy legs and men's socks. And then I got an email from Dave; he was stuck in Kosovo, snowed in and didn't know when he would be able to get over..... so I went for a walk. And you know what, sometimes the universe just provides because I found a large note in the gutter and had enough money for the few days until Dave managed to hitch a ride over with the Italian army. 

Dave is a kindred soul; we both love food and drink and it was a glorious week in Naples. I ordered this dish in a little trattoria across the street from our 'hotel' and it was breathtakingly, heartbreakingly, divine. 

PS I foolishly entered into an agreement that in exchange for the trip of a lifetime to Naples, which cost Dave an enormous amount of money because we both had a very good time and we drank a lot of laphroaig, I would provide him with a lifetime of wine.....

Recipe

• 1 kg aubergine (eggplant)
• salt
• oil for frying
• 300g mozzarella, thinly sliced
• quarter cup fresh basil leaves
• Italian tomato pasta sauce

Slice the aubergine into 1cm rounds. Sprinkle both sides with salt and place on a rack or sloping plate or sieve so the juices drains away. Leave for 1 - 2 hours (I often miss this step if I'm in a rush and it doesn't seem to matter much). Drain and pat dry. Shallow fry the slices on both sides in smoking hot oil until golden brown - don't crowd the pan. Drain on paper towels. Spread a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a small gratin dish, put a layer of aubergine slices in next, then a layer of mozzarella and a few basil leaves, then sauce and keep layering again until ingredients are used, finishing with a few basil leaves. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees (200 celcius) and serve hot with crusty bread to sop up the juices.