Beetroot & Pecorino Spelt Pizza with Parsley, Anchovy and Walnut Pesto

This is a delicious alternative to my favourite homemade pizza. Saying that, it is actually a completely different, more virtuous beast. Wholesome, nourishing and full of wintery autumn flavours, each slice is packed with health to fight the cold-weather bugs coming our way: a kick of iron from the parsley, vitamin C from plenty of garlic in the pesto and beetroot to cleanse the system.

For the spelt base
In a bowl combine 500g Organic Spelt - I used Sharpham Park's Seeded Spelt Flour, 2tsp Salt and 7g Instant Active Yeast. Stir in 300ml Warm Water and bring the dough together. Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for for 1-2 hrs.

For the beetroot
Preheat the oven to 180C. Wash and slice 6 large Beetroot into quarters. Toss with 2tbsp melted Coconut Oil, Salt and Pepper and place in a baking tray. Cover with foil and roast for an hour or until soft.

For the parsley, walnut and anchovy pesto
In a food processor blitz together: 1 large bunch of parsley (with stalks), 1 large clove of Garlic, a handful of Walnuts, a handful of grated Pecorino cheese, 6 Anchovies, 1tsp Coconut Oil and seasoning.

To finish
Preheat the oven to 200C. Punch back the dough. Divide into two, and freeze one for another day. Roll the dough into a thin circle or rectangle and place on a baking tray. Spread generously with the pesto, top with the beetroot and shavings of pecorino cheese. Drizzle with oil. Cook for ten minutes until crisp and the beetroot has caramelised.

Buttermilk and Sage Pork Schnitzel with Pickled Cabbage and Potato Salad

Recently I was given a snazzy Lumix LX7 camera. As I haven’t a clue what all the buttons do so I had planned to experiment outside today but the weather was far from ideal: see below my very wet donkeys! At the moment my skills do in no way match such a camera but here are a few attempts:

Nevertheless the duvet-day weather did dictate today’s lunch: Schnitzel. This is my ultimate comfort food and something I could eat over and over again. The idea for marinating the pork comes from the food writer Jane Lawson, and it makes the meat meltingly tender. The addition of almonds into the crust also makes this incredibly moreish and I love the combination of the crispy meat with the smooth comforting potato salad and sharp, caraway-spiked cabbage. It isn’t the prettiest of foods but the taste takes me straight to the snow-capped mountains of Austria!

Serves 6

Taken from Snowflakes and Schnapps by Jane Lawson

• Thinly slice 1 Green Cabbage. Place half in a large non-metallic dish and sprinkle with 3 Tbsp Sea Salt. Cover with the remaining cabbage. Massage the salt into the cabbage until it begins to release water. Mix in 1 tbsp Caraway Seeds, 1 tbsp Juniper Berries, crushed, and 2 Bay Leaves, crumbled. Cover and leave for 24 hrs.

• With a meat mallet, bash 6 Pork Escalopes until very thin. Place in a bowl and cover with 200ml Buttermilk, 1 Tsp English Mustard, 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed, and some chopped Sage. Cover and leave for a minimum 2hrs.
• Melt a knob of Butter with 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil in a large sauté pan. Gently fly 1 Onion, sliced until golden. Rinse the cabbage and take out the bay and berries. Squeeze out the excess moisture and add to the onion, season and cook gently for 20 minutes.
• Mix 200g Ground Almonds with 150g Breadcrumbs. In a separate dish whisk together 3 Eggs. In another dish have ready 200g of Flour, seasoned. Wipe of the majority of the marinade and dip each escalope first in the flour, then the egg, then the almond mix. Chill until ready to cook.
• Heat one or two pans to medium high with 1 tbsp Olive Oil and 1 tbsp Butter. In batches, fry the schnitzel for 3 minutes on each side.
• Add 80ml White Wine Vinegar to the Cabbage and cook for 5 minutes.
• Serve the schnitzel with the cabbage, crispy sage leaves, a parsley-heavy potato salad amd lemon wedges. Guten Appetite!