Vegetarian Supreme Pizza | The Book Ninja

Her stomach thundered in anticipation of as she reached just what she was looking for: Jo's Pizza - open all day, every day, and ready and willing to deliver a Vegetarian Supreme, two garlic breads and a chocolate mousse direct to her door.
The Book Ninja
Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus

Winter seems to be officially over. The chilling winds that had taken over Melbourne for the last three months have somewhat subsided and my weekly trips to the local farmer’s market have began to be a lovely walk in the sunshine, as opposed to the previous trips - of balancing bags and an umbrella while trying to retain a vague semblance of warmth. This is Melbourne however, and it wouldn’t be Melbourne without it’s fluctuating weather. That’s why this Sunday afternoon was spent inside, making homemade pizzas, drinking tea and listening to the pouring rain outside.

It’s always lovely to read something that captures your home so well, The Book Ninja set in Melbourne does it so well (arguably Ali Berg and Michelle Klaus’s second novel, While You Were Reading manages to capture the atmosphere of Melbourne even better). It seemed appropriate to devour this book while travelling on the numerous tram lines of the city. I’ve heard often of the Books on the Rail initiative begun by the two authors but unluckily I’ve never encountered a wild book on the public transport of the city.

*Notes: Toppings are basically super subjective when it comes to pizza. Put now whatever you like. I also used Sheese mozzarella for this - it melts so nicely for pizzas.

Vegetarian Supreme Pizza
Makes two large pizzas
Ingredients
Dough
3 cups plain flour
1 cup warm water
1 tsp white sugar
2 tsp dried yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Pizza Sauce
400g can of crushed tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
SaltFresh black pepper
Toppings *see note
1 red capsicum, deseeded and finely sliced
1 green capsicum, deseeded and finely sliced
6 - 7 button mushrooms, finely sliced
100g black olives, pitted and sliced
50g pickled jalapeños
200g mozzarella *see note

Dough

1. Combine the yeast, warm water and sugar together in a bowl and leave to the side until the yeast begins to foam.

2. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl and mix, then make a well in the middle.

3. Add the olive oil and yeast mixture to the well in the middle of the flour, using your hands to bring the flour in from the sides, bringing the dough together in the bowl.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 minutes - you want the dough to be smooth and elastic like. Shape into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl, covering with a clean cloth and leaving in a warm area to rise or approx. 30 minutes. The dough should double in size.

Pizza Sauce

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, adding in the minced garlic once the oil is hot and cooking for 1 minute.

2. Add in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, black pepper, oregano, basil and paprika.

3. Once the sauce is simmering, lower the heat and cover the pan. Leave on the stove to thicken and cook - it should take about 15 minutes for the sauce to thicken enough to use. Leave to the size while you prepare your dough.

Pizza 

1. Preheat oven to 220C.

2. Prepare two pizza trays by oiling them - I would recommend putting a piece of baking paper down as well (though my own is terrible and sort of requires it if I don’t want them to burn on the bottom).

3. Once your dough has risen, transfer it to a cutting board and half the dough into two even portions. Take one portion and roll it out into the best circle you can - you can make it as thin as you like, depending on what type of crust you prefer. I usually use my hands to stretch it out some more at the end. Repeat with the remaining portion of dough.

4. Place the pizza bases onto the prepared trays - time to top them!Cover the the bases with your pizza sauce and then pop all the toppings on however you want. I tend to put the cheese on first so it doesn’t run the risk of pulling all the toppings off when cutting into it.

5. Place pizzas into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pizzas from the trays and place them back into the oven, cooking for another 10 minutes to crisp up the base. Enjoy!

Plum Cake | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry opened the last present to find a new, hand-knitted jumper from Mrs Weasley, and a large plum cake.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J.K Rowling

Harry Potter will always be a classic - along with Enid Blyton it was one of those stories that made me somewhat wish I had gone to boarding school as a child (though honestly, looking back it would have had to be a boarding school in the UK with a clear focus on magical studies). The characters in the books are constantly receiving parcels and surprises from those at home and it all seemed like such a thrill. Mrs Weasley’s presents always seemed the best as well - a hand knitted jumper? Yes please. Homemade cakes and fudge and all the warmth that could possibly be given.

The days are beginning to become a little warmer in Melbourne as the winter comes to an end, and it was in anticipation of an upcoming warm weekend that I, rather determinedly, stated I would be making a plum cake to eat in the park. What I did not factor in was an event at work that Friday night that resulted in finding myself at a nearby bar ordering an array of gin martinis late into the night. Nevertheless I persisted, I came home and somehow, in a rather tipsy state, made a plum cake that Friday night.

It was a crumbly, buttery, delicious mess of a cake. And we inhaled it the next day, wrapped up (who was I kidding - it’s still winter, it’s freezing) in jackets, perched in a nearby garden, tearing off chunks of the cake with our hands because neither of us thought that forks or spoons could possibly come in handy.

Plum Cake
Ingredients
5-6 plums, cut in half with the stone removed
130g butter
150ml milk
1tbsp apple cider vinegar
150g plain flour
100g almond meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare a 9” cake tin by greasing the sides and placing a circle of baking paper at the bottom.

2. Mix together the milk and the apple cider vinegar and leave top it for a few minutes until it begins to curdle.

3. Using either a mixer or by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until it’s light and well mixed.

4. In a seperate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients and combine.

5. Add the milk and apple cider vinegar mix to the cream butter and sugar and combine briefly.

6. Slowly add the wet mix to the dry, mixing until well combined.

7. Pour the mix into your prepared cake tin and press the plus halves down on top into the batter. I like using quite a few plums in mine - so it’s really up to preference.

8. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

Korean Rice Porridge | The Vegetarian

By the time the twelve magnificent courses were over, my wife had eaten nothing but salad and kimchi, and a little bit of squash porridge. She hadn’t even touched the sticky-rice porridge, as they had used a special recipe involving beef stock to give it a rich, luxurious taste.
The Vegetarian
Han King

It’s getting closer to spring and the days are still freezing. Most of my week has been spent in an office, hearing the rain outside and eagerly looking forward to the walk back to the station with headphones in and a good podcast playing.

I’ve been doing a slow reread of The Vegetarian this last week, snatching brief moments of time in my day before and after work to get through a few pages. The Vegetarian is a novel that is always horrifying to me every time I read it - I’m not exactly sure why. Han Kang manages to create such amazing visuals with her writing style, a style that left me shuddering a little at some descriptions. My cook for this week was the

While my parents were both great cooks when I was growing up - we never really ventured into any Asian style cooking at home. And I was never that adventurous later in my life, I feel like most of my culinary choices were somewhat basic, with any Asian influences limited to Pad Thai or fried rice. There are numerous amazing sounding dishes mentioned throughout The Vegetarian, and I chose to go with one that is (surprisingly) no vegetarian. This recipe was created to be plant based and is but can easily be adapted to one that is not.

Note: I used some leftover faux beef chunks I had. Because they aren’t really raw meat, I just shredded them into pieces before I marinated them. If you’re using real meat, I would slice into shreds and ensure you cook them well. This recipe can also be made with already cooked meat.

Korean Beef Rice Porridge
Serves 3
Ingredients
1 cup rice
8 cups of beef stock + 2 cups extra if needed
200g beef *see note
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
Spring onion, thinly sliced for garnish

1. Slice up whatever type of beef you’re using and cover with 1 tbsp the soy sauce and minced garlic. Leave to marinate for about 10 minutes.

2. Leave the rice to soak in water for at least an hour and then rinse off until the water comes clear.

3. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and add the marinated beef in once the oil is hot. Cook briefly until the meat is cooked through, add in the rice and the beef stock.

4. Leave on high until boiling, and then lower the heat so it is just simmering. Add in the remaining soy sauce.

5. Leave to simmer for around 30 minutes, adding in the extra stock if necessary. You want to keep quite a bit of liquid in the final product. Once the rice has reached the right consistency, quite creamy, serve straight away with the spring onions for garnish. Enjoy!

Katsudon | Kitchen

I peered through into the darkened windows of souvenir shops and I spotted the light coming from a small eatery that was still open. Through the frosted glass door I saw it had only one customer, who was sitting at the counter. I opened the door with a sense of relief and went in. I craved something heavy and filling, so I ordered deep-fried pork in broth over rice. ‘Katsudon, please,’ I said.
Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto

An incredibly amount of influence into the books I read come from recommendations. Whether it be a book that a friend mentions casually, one that has a glowing review in a local paper or the multiple of recommendations that flood through the wonder that is instagram.

This month, I’ve been drawn quite heavily into Babbling Books' Women in Translation Month. When perusing both her and others suggestions for the month I came to the realisation that I already had a number of translated books in my shelf already - I just had no idea that they were. I picked a couple off the shelves and dedicated the week to a reread for inspiration of a dish to make and my attention rarely was drawn away from Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. There are so many mouth watering dishes that are described in detail throughout the story - much of what ties into the beautifully written tale. I think for the month of August, most of my literary inspired meals will be done within the realm of Babbling Books' Women in Translation challenge.

Katsudon was the main item that wouldn’t disappear from my mind, however. The above quote from the book just installs a sense of comfort and warmth with the dish - of a hearty and filling meal that is bound to bring a sense of satisfaction to anyone, eaten late at night in a tiny, empty store. When I first moved to Melbourne, I would eat the same dish, in a particular tiny storefront buried somewhere within China Town late at night after a long shift at the restaurant I worked at. After giving up meat I hadn’t thought of it in years until my reread of Kitchen when the urge to recreate the dish would not leave my mind.

It was everything I remembered about the dish from years ago, and myself and my housemate greedily devoured it while the rain poured outside and we clustered around the tiny heater in the lounge.

*Note: So, I used soy steaks that I sourced from a local Asian grocer. Pressed tofu would also work wonderfully for this I believe. Otherwise, it can be made with pork chops of course - I would recommend using a mallet or rolling pin to gently pound the meat thin if you do choose to use this.

Katsudon
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 x meat of choice *see note
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp plain flour
1 small brown onion, finely sliced
1 cup sushi rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
3 tsp mirin
2 tsp white sugar
2 tbsp finely chopped nori
1 3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 spring onion, finely sliced

1. Mix together the corn flour and water well, so no lumps are remaining. Set into a wide bowl, and do the same for the plain flour and panic breadcrumbs. You essentially want three seperate bowls for prepping the katsu.

2. Heat your oil in a shallow frying pan on a medium head until it reaches approx. 170C. You can test by dropping a few breadcrumbs in it - if they bubble and spin the oil is ready.

3. Dip each fillet (whatever you are using) into the flour first, followed by the corn flour mix and then the breadcrumbs, ensuring that it is well covered.

4. Drop each breadcrumb covered fillet into the oil, cooking each side for approx. 2 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Remove and sit on a piece of paper town to drain the excess oil.

5. Once they’re a little cooler, slice each piece into slices that are around 1 inch wide.

6. Now is a good time to get the rice ready. Since the sushi rice off to remove the excess starch and place into a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of the chicken stock. Cook on a medium heat until ready and place to the side. It should be ready around the time as everything else to be brought together.

7. Time to prepare the sauce. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup of chicken stock, nori, sugar, mirin and soy sauce in a pan and cook until lightly simmering. It should thicken slightly.

8. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cooked the finely sliced brown onion until soft.

9. Place the slices of katsu on top of the onion in the pan - drizzling the sauce over the top, cooking it all in the pan for around 2 minutes.

10. Split the rice between two bowls and carefully divide the katsu between the two, along with the remaining sauce and onions from the pan. Scatter with the sliced spring onion and enjoy!

Chicken Sandwich | Franny and Zooey

‘This is going to be a real little doll of a weekend," Lane interjects, "a chicken sandwich, for God's sake.’
Franny and Zooey
J. D Salinger

Franny and Zooey is a fascinating read - alike to most of J.D Salinger’s work it could be argued. It took me the better part of a month to finish the book. Which does seem a little ridiculous considering the size of it. I think I probably started that book at least fourteen times within a few weeks - trying to read snippets on the train to work in the mornings or over a coffee. Every time it failed to catch my interest and I found myself drifting to another book tucked into my bag.

I finally took a Saturday, situated myself in a cafe with a coffee and sat down with determination to finally, at least, start the book properly. I sat there for abut three hours and four coffees and finished the entire book in that one day. I believe it was about 30 pages in where I realised I wouldn’t be leaving until I’d finish this tale that had somehow become fascinating to me in that time.

Franny in the story orders a simple chicken sandwich - probably not what I’ve created below - but I couldn't quite bring myself to eat a plain chicken sandwich. My version is far more flavoursome, with a homemade vegan mayonnaise - which I made for the first time. It was so easy and I can’t believe I’ve been paying $6 a jar at the supermarket for the stuff when it took me less than five minutes to whip up at home.

In sticking with the Franny and Zooey, I actually did pair my sandwich with (multiple) martinis - a lack of any proper martini glasses left me sipping chilled gin from a coffee mug. But honestly, you’ve got gin, you’ve got vermouth - does the glass really matter?

Note: I used a faux chicken I found in a local asian grocer which required baking. If you’re going to use real chicken - I would recommend chicken breasts that have been poached.

Chicken Sandwich
Serves approx. 5
Sandwich
500g faux chicken, cooked to your liking *see note
3 tbsp chives, finely chopped
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
10 slices soft white bread
Salt
Fresh pepper
Mayonnaise (any leftover mayonnaise will keep for about a week in the fridge in a sealed container)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Salt

1. Pop the soy milk and vinegar in a blender and pulse for a few seconds to mix.

2. With the blender on low, slowly pour in the oil - gradually increasing the speed of the blender as you do so. The mayonnaise should begin to emulsify and thicken.

3. Have a taste and add in the salt to your liking.

4. Dice your cooked chicken up and place into a medium bowl with the chives, parsley, big pinch of salt and pepper and about 3 tablespoons of the mayonnaise and mix together until everything is nicely coated.

5. Lay out your slices of bread (buttering them is optional depending on how much mayonnaise is in the mix) and place a large spoonful of the chicken mix onto each one until its all used up - basically make a sandwich is the rest of the instructions.

6. These are great for lunchboxes or snacks and are super filling. Enjoy!

Apple Pie | On the Road

I went to sit in the bus station and think this over. I ate another apple pie and ice cream; that’s practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious and it was delicious, of course.
On the Road,
Jack Kerouac

On the Road was one of those books that I picked up, as I’m sure many do, because I felt as though it had to be read. I would hear or see it referenced in conversation regarding something pretentious and inwardly curl in on myself in shame that I claimed to be an avid reader - but yet I had not read an apparent great American novel. So I read it. And, honestly, meh. I don’t dislike it - I understand the appeal, I understand the draw of Kerouac’s words and the story he tells. But I never thought it would be one that I would talk up in conversations years to come.

One thing that did stick with me however, is the love of apple pie within On the Road. It is a nutritious staple that screams all-American - and I desperately wanted to capture that in this recipe.

Was it delicious? Yes. Did it capture On the Road? Probably not. I think I would have to be eating slices while hitching my way through the various states of America and chain smoking to really bring about the ideals and emotions that are held within the slices of apple pie in On the Road.

*Note: They don’t have to be Granny Smith - I just always find a tart-y type of apple tastes better in pie.

Apple Pie
Pastry
550g plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
220g butter
185ml ice water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp milk - for wash
1 tsp melted butter - for wash
Filling
6 large Granny Smith apples *see note
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence

Pastry

1. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

2. Break the butter into small pieces and sub into the flour mix until it is all combined with no lumps throughout.

3. Make a well in the centre and add in the ice water.

4. Mix well until the pastry comes together with no lumps.

5. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for around thirty minutes before using.

Filling

1. Peel and core apples. Dice the remaining into small cubes around 5cm wide and thick and place into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until the apple pieces are all well covered.

Assembling

1. Use oil or butter to grease a 9” pie pan and preheat your oven to 200C.

2. Break your pie pastry into two parts, one slightly bigger portion than the other.

3. Take the bigger portion and on a lightly floured surface, roll out into a circle around 5cm thick and big enough so it will fit into a 9” pie pan (You want it to be thin - but not so thin that it breaks apart when you try to move it).

4. Layer the rolled out pastry onto the bottom of the pie pan, pressing it into the corners so it’s flat against the pan. Leave the excess pastry hanging over the side for the moment.

5. Grab your apple mix and fill the pastry crust - enough so that it reaches the top but doesn’t overflow.

6. Roll out the remaining portion of pastry - this part if up to you. You can either create a lattice top or cover the whole of the pie.

7. Once you’ve done whatever pie top you like, press the edges together, using either your fingers or a fork to firm seal around the edge of the pan. You don’t want this part to seperate as it cooks.

8. Trim the excess pastry from around the edge of the pie pan.

9. Combine the melted butter and milk and brush over the top of the crust liberally.

10. Pop it in the oven and cook for 25 - 35 minutes. Or 50 minutes if your oven is as terrible as mine.

11. Remove then the top is a nice golden brown - enjoy piping hot with ice-cream or cream.