Covid-busting comfort food kitchen: Pizza toast

No 2 in our lockdown-relieving, takeaway-avoiding, money saving and fun recipes for easy comfort food … with a little extra.

This week’s comfort food recipe could not be simpler – and if you have non-cooking kids, this is the perfect way to get them started in the kitchen.

Pizza toast is as basic as it gets, but it’s also the most adaptable of snacks or light meals so that you can make it whatever you want it to be. You can also throw this together faster than Dominos or Uber Eats can deliver – and because you can adapt it specifically to your tastes it’s always going to just a bit more enjoyable.

Ingredients

These are components, rather than ingredients as they all come pre-prepared to some extent – bread, tinned tomatoes, grated cheese and Italian mixed herbs.

So let’s look at them individually first.

BREAD: You can go for anything from a simple bog-standard white sliced loaf to an artisanal gluten-free multi-grain hand-sliced cob.  It’s entirely up to you.  Pizza toast knows no boundaries – if you can toast it, you can pizza it. Even flat breads like pita and tortillas are good (if you must have your pizzas round and flat).

TOMATOES: You want tinned diced tomatoes – no added salt or sugar.  Tinned tomatoes come pre-cooked as part of the canning process, so that’s a time-saver, as is the fact that they are already chopped up. Tomato pulp or premade sauce doesn’t work as it’s too runny (at least for this method). By the way, fresh tomatoes take too long to cook by this method, so stick to tinned.

CHEESE:  Some cheeses are better than others and mozzarella is among the best for texture while cheddar gives it flavour.  There are pre-shredded mixed cheeses – like Perfect Italiano’s pizza blend – that have mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan all in there already. You can even use vegan, goats milk or soft cheeses if you prefer but the cooking times may vary.  

ITALIAN HERBS: I will take any mixture or dried Italian herb from the supermarket but I note there are some specific pizza enhancements as well as more exotic blends available online and in specialty shops.  Basically you want dried Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Basil, Rosemary and Sage but other enhancements are available.  

The Method

Mix the diced tomatoes and the cheese in roughly equal quantities in a bowl with a good sprinkle of the herbs, some salt (not too much) and ground black pepper.  Get the dreied herbs in early to give them a chance to fully release their flavour. Make sure the mixture isn’t too runny and drain a little liquid off if it is.

Toast the reverse side of the bread first then spread the pizza mix liberally on the untoasted side – but don’t make it too thick as it will just turn out soggy.  If you have too much mixture put it in the fridge for later, or the freezer if you would be coming back to it for a week or more.

Now turn the grill temperature down a lot.  You need to give the mixture time to warm and the cheese to melt all the way through before it gets brown on top. When it is (just a bit), serve and eat.

Additions and enhancements

Fresh herbs will always raise the flavour stakes and there are obvious additions like thinly sliced onions, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, bell peppers and chillies.  Slice them thinly as thick ingredients will increase the cooking time and therefore the chance of sogginess.

Finely chopped garlic sprinkled on top (to give it a chance to cook) or a Mexican spice or salsa added to the mix will give it a lift.  Try Gran Luchito’s chipotle chilli paste (but used sparingly till you get the right level of heat for your tastebuds).

If you attempt this at home, drop us a line on mail@flatchat.com.au to let us know how it went. And try our Cullen skink (traditional potato and smoked fish soup) from last week too.

If you like this post or find it helpful, please share it with interested friends using the social media buttons. If you wish to respond, registered readers can add a comment at the foot of the story or, we’d prefer, on the Flat Chat Forum.

To subscribe (for free) to our weekly Flat Chat newsletter, bringing you the latest posts from this website, just click HERE