A lifetime ago I spent summers in France, working. every week a van would rock up to the outskirts of the Burgundy Village that I called home, producing the most amazing pizzas from a tiny interior. They are commonplace now- I pass one every Friday as I collect my children from school- but twenty years ago they were extraordinary.
As were the pizzas- light and crisp and filled with flavour. One in particular stayed with me: the memory of the potato pizza that I used to inhale as though it were air. I looked forward to it all week. But I had no idea how it was made as I never saw it in production: the only clue I was given was that they used tinned cooked potatoes.
I’ve listed the ingredients for the Potato Spinach and Dolcelatte Pizza by the package but I didn’t need all of them. It’s one of those recipes where you need to see what it looks like rather than sticking to the recipe!
- Pizza dough
- 1 tin cooked potatoes
- handful of spinach- fresh or frozen
- 1 tub of Dolcelatte or Gorgonzola
- Cream - double or single
- grated pizza cheese
- Roll out your pizza dough to 5mm depth, and into a rough rectangle that will fit a standard baking tray, with the dough going slightly up the edges.
- *You can add a think layer of tomato pizza sauce if you have it. I didn't.*
- (Defrost your frozen spinach and drain to remove water) Lay the spinach in a thin layer across the pizza base.
- Rinse and slice canned potatoes lengthways. Layer across the spinach.
- Dot the potato slices with knobs of Dolcelatte.
- Season the whole pizza, then drizzle with a little cream.
- Sprinkle the entire pizza in a layer of pizza cheese- you could just use Mozzarella or a mixture that you can buy ready-made from the supermarket.
- Bake on the bottom of the Roasting Oven of your Aga for about fifteen minutes until the pizza base is crispy and the cheese is golden and bubbly.
I have spent a long time trying to replicate the taste from memory. And I think I have it. Or perhaps I have what I think may be it, but the twenty-year-old memory of the taste is so far removed from reality that it fits the bill. Either way, I have created a masterpeice. No bragging. Just the truth.
Go on! You know you want to tell me what you think!