Is your pizza topping cormorant, goose or turkey?
When the inhabitants of Åland, the self- governed archipelago twixt Sweden and Finland, had an invasion of cormorants that were becoming as pesky as locusts, what did they do?
They made a national dish from them to sell to tourists – cormorant pizza!
A true story.
I’m reminded of this whenever I hear Scotland’s farming nightmares with greylag geese on our Western and Northern Isles.
There is always a solution, somehow somewhere, with a little ingenuity, dare and do.
We brought back four geese from our last Orkney trip and are working our way through them with great relish – who needs turkey when we have such delicious wild local fare as an economical and climate-friendly alternative?
So in the spirit of post-Christmas, with a nod to cormorant, greylag or indeed turkey leftovers, here’s our simple pizza recipe. It is a real favourite and I always make sufficient dough for four large ones although as a couple of empty nesters, I normally use half for pizza and the remaining for the basis of focaccia or a few breakfast rolls.
The sauce quantity is sufficient for half the dough.
Whilst we enjoy sourdough breads, I do not nurture a starter, instead opting to make yeast dough using fresh or dried yeast, selecting our choice of heritage grains with great care.
Make this simple pizza
Preheat oven to 220C Fan/240C/475F/Gas Mark 9 and mix together 450g flour, 1tsp sea salt and 2 x 7g packs of dried yeast (25g fresh yeast plus half teaspoon brown sugar*).
Make a well and add 300ml tepid water and 60ml rapeseed oil. Mix to a soft dough. Gather dough together with your hand and knead on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes until smooth.
Knead and shape into pizza bases. Place on lined baking tray and place somewhere to rise for 15-20 minutes.
Make tomato sauce by simmering a drizzle of rapeseed oil, 1 medium can chopped tomatoes, seasoning, 1 tsp of mixed herbs and 2 tsp pesto until a reduced thick sauce.
Pre-heat oven. Spoon sauce over pizza bases, leaving a rim. Add toppings of leftover cooked meat, diced; Kedar mozzarella – supplemented with leftovers from Christmas cheeseboard; capers. Bake for 10-12 minutes until topping bubbling and dough golden.
- For fresh yeast – crumble in the water with sugar. Set aside to froth, then add, along with oil, to dough and continue.
Wendy Barrie is the founder of award-winning Scottish Food Guide.