Rolled Pizza aka Python Pizza

Why would one want to roll a pizza? Why not? If you like to eat pizza often and need some change/ excitement in life, try this. It's fun, and it will give your friends the opportunity to make all sort of jokes about your pizza.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough:
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast

Toppings:

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups tomato sauce or ketchup mixed in water

1 cup ham, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup olives, chopped

1/4 cup jalapeños, chopped

4-5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 Tbsp oregano

oil or margarine for greasing the pan

As always, I made the dough in my bread maker. It's easy and it makes a great pizza dough. This measure makes either 2 thin crust 12" pizzas, or one deep dish. It is enough for 4 people.

Stretch the dough with a rolling pin to the thickness of a thin crust pizza, or however you like it. The shape doesn't really matter since you are going to roll it anyways.

Spread sour cream over the dough first. If it is too thick, add a little bit of milk and water to it and mix.

Next is tomato sauce or ketchup.

Then add your toppings: ham, tomatoes, etc.

This pictures shows oregano form my garden that I dried and use on pizzas. Oregano is so easy to grow, actually once you plant it you will never be able to get rid of it. It spreads like crazy. But it is quite useful as it gives a nice touch to many dishes.

Then add olives, and hot peppers and whatever else you'd like.

Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Then roll. This will not be easy, so make sure the dough is not stuck to the counter top surface.

Once the pizza is rolled, you will need the help of your friends to transfer it into the baking dish and then, they will let you have it. Nicknames such as a mummy and python pizza were heard. There was even a concern about not being sure who would eat whom. At this point, an interesting conversation was triggered, about a woman who died of a tumor in 1950's and the cells of her tumor are still alive, multiplying, and so far have larger mass that she did when she was alive.

Anyways, the python pizza made it to the baking dish. Total of 6 hands, 2 spatulas, 1 cutting board, and one sharp knife were needed to make this happen.

Decorate the pizza with a little bit of tomato sauce and cheese.

Bake at 450F for about 15-20 minutes.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my friends Sale and Filip for their support and insightful comments during this pizza making. Thank you Sale for your awesome sour cream and ketchup spreading abilities, and Filip for slaying the python pizza at the end.

Featured products:

Sacher Cake (Serbian= Zaher Torta, Захер Торта)

Zaher cake is easy to make and it is beyond delicious! That's about all I have to say about it. It is my most favorite cake.


Ingredients:

10 eggs
10 tbsp sugar
250g ground walnuts
250g butter, melted
200g bitter sweet chocolate
1.5 tbsp flour
250g apricot jam

Glaze:
100g bitter sweet chocolate
125g butter
3 tbsp sugar
5-6 tbsp milk


Separate egg whites and egg yolks.


Beat 10 egg whites until they form a hard foam.


Once the white foam is hard, add sugar and egg yolks.


Mix all together.


Fold in the walnuts.


Mix in the flour.


On the stove, melt the butter and chocolate.


Allow this mixture to cool a bit. Then add it to the egg, sugar and walnut mix.


Transfer into the 9" springform. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes.


Spread apricot jam over the top.



Then spread melted chocolate/ butter mix. Cover the sides as well. Try to make a nice uniform layer.


Refrigerate for the glaze to solidify before serving.



Featured products:

Serbian Moussaka (Serbian= Musaka/ Мусака)

Moussaka is a typical dish in Serbian cuisine, but unlike the Greek version, it is made with potatoes. This dish is easy to make, and you can change the measures to how you like it.

Ingredients:

5-6 potatoes, sliced in think round slices
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, minced
3 eggs
1 cup kefir or yogurt
2 cups milk
oil
salt and pepper to taste

Start by frying the onions and ground beef in oil. Add salt and pepper taste. Vegeta or another seasoning salt would also work here. Fry the meat until it turns brown.

Cut up the potatoes into thin round slices, but not as thin as chips. Do not used the grater, the slices would come out way too thin. Use a knife.

While the meat is cooking, sprinkle some oil onto the bottom of the baking dish and arrange potato slices to form the first layer.

Distribute 1/2 of the cooked ground beef and onions evenly over the first layer of potatoes.

Then cover with another layer of potatoes.

And a 2nd layer of meat (use up the rest of the meat).

Finally, cover with potato slices on top.


Mix eggs, kefir and milk.

Spread this mixture over the top covering all the potato slices.

Cover the dish and bake at 450F for 20 minutes. Then uncover it and bake for another 30-40 minutes.


If you like it crunchy, turn on the broiler for 3-4 minutes, but watch it carefully as it will burn very quickly.




Featured products:




And here are some Moussaka music:

Mimoza Salad (Serbian= Mimoza Salata/ Мимоза салата)

Mimoza salad is a kind of a spread that has distinct layers of potatoes, sour cream, ham, cheese, eggs, etc. It is great to serve at parties as an appetizer, and it is easy to make. Even if you mess up the layers, your guests will like it.

Ingredients:
3 potatoes
3 eggs
15oz ham, shredded
15oz shredded cheese
1 cup mayo
1 1/2 cup sour cream
parsley to garnish (optional)

Layer 1: Cook the potatoes and eggs. Allow them to cool. In a glass dish, shred the potatoes and equaly spread them out to form a base layer of mimosa salad.

Continue with mimosa layers. Make sure you apply uniform layers of each ingredient.
Layer 2: spread 3/4 cup of sour cream over the potatoes
Layer 3: shredded ham (I have to give a credit here to my friend Filip who did such a great job cutting up this ham)

Layer 4: mayo
Layer 5: use 1/2 of the shredded cheese

Layer 6: shredded hard boiled eggs- but save 1 egg yolk for the decoration

Layer 7: remaining part of sour cream
Layer 8: the rest of shredded cheese

I made a flower out of an egg yolk and parsley in this one. You can be as creative as you want. If you think of any other good idea, let me know.

I would also like to extend special thanks to my friend Sale who was holding this dish so nicely while i took this photo.

Featured products:

Baked Pork Ribs with Baby Potatoes

Ingredients:

Pork ribs
Potatoes
Salt and pepper
oil


Please pork ribs in an oven safe dish. Generously apply salt on both sides.

Turn the fatty side up and bake in the oven for 3 hours at 350F. Add a little bit of oil. The amount of oil added will depend of your dish. For non stick dishes, add about 3-4 tablespoons. This will cook it slowly and the fat will melt, this is why you don't need very much oil. Check it occasionally and if it starts drying out, sprinkle more oil over it.

When the pork ribs are done, place washed baby potatoes around the meet, add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle more oil if needed. Raise the temperature to 450F and bake until potatoes are done. This should take about 30-45 minutes.

During the baking, turn the potatoes once or twice, s that they cool on all sides.

Serve hot. No side dishes necessary, but if you have some green veggies or salad ,that would work.


All done.