Pizza by a Person Who is Tired But is Still Compelled to Cook Good Food

Pizza: Seared Duck Breast Pizza with Roasted Red Pepper and Cherry Tomato Sauce, with Artchokes and Oregano

I am SO tired, so I'll make this short. We had some good stuff today. I made some more pizza dough bases and used one of them to make a pretty good pizza tonight. I roasted a red pepper, a punnet of cherry tomatoes (halved) and a few cloves of garlic... drizzled some olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I roasted those off until the skins were starting to char, then took them out and peeled the skins off of the red pepper. I didn't bother with skinning the cherry tomatoes because that's tedious and, like I said, I'm tired.

Put the roasted veggies into a blender and pulsed it up so it remains chunky somewhat and give it a bit more salt and pepper. Grate some Parmesan cheese (a small handful) and put that to the side. Set aside a few jar-marinated artichokes (cut up), some red pepper flakes, some oregano or basil and some olive oil. Just have it ready.

Now the coup-de-grace....duck breast! Follow the "Rule of 6" for a duck breast. First trim all of the silverskin and sinew off of it. Score the skin in a crosshatch pattern and seaosn both sides well with salt and pepper, rubbing the seasoning down into the skin.

IN A COLD PAN (this is KEY!), put the duck breast (skin-side down) over medium high heat. When it starts to sizzle, set your timer for 6 minutes. When time is up, flip it and just seal off the meaty (non-skin side) briefly. Drain the fat out of the pan and put the whole thing (skin-side down again) in a 200C oven for, you guessed it, 6 minutes.

Pull it out of the oven and out of the pan and rest it for, what's that you say? 6 Minutes? That's right. This produces perfect duck breasts every time. Slice it thinly on the diagonal and have it handy.

Now, you should make your own pizza dough because it tastes really good. Check out one of my earlier posts entitled 'Pizza Night' for the low-down on how to make your own. I would include it here but I just want to go to sleep. This pizza WAS fab, though, and you should try it.

So, assemble the pizza. Scatter some cornmeal on the preheated pizza stone so it doesn't stick. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Lay down your sauce, then the duck breast slices and artichoke chunks. Then the cheese and some fresh oregano or basil and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Maybe a touch of salt. Bake until the cheese is gooey and yummy. Mozzarella would work here, too.

Dessert: Cava Sangria Ice Cream


SPECIAL BONUS: Remember the Cava Sangria from the other day? Well we had some left over Sangria-soaked fruits (about 1 1/2 cups worth) and an extra punnet of frozen mixed berries (400g). We whizzed it up in the blender with about 1 1/2 cups of fromage frais and 70g sugar. We slapped it into the ice cream maker, et voila! Cava Sangria Ice Cream. It's good.

Good night.