Autumn pizza with herby mushrooms and rocket

Pizza – and making, rolling and stretching out dough – is a surefire winner with kids, and you get to put any number of cunning vegetables on the top, in the form of pizza sauce and artfully decorated toppings… and the smell from the oven as the pizza cooks! Devine…

Fresh from the garden: mushrooms, fresh herbs, onion, garlic, rocket
Recipe source: Melissa
Makes: 2 large or 4 small pizza

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 220C. You can prepare the topping now while you wait for the oven to heat up.

For the tomato sauce:

• Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic, reserving half of the garlic for the topping.
• Heat the olive oil in the frying pan & gently cook the onion until translucent but not brown.
• Add the garlic to the pan, then open the tin of tomato and add to the frying pan with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper.
• Wash, dry and pick the thyme and add to the tomatoes.
• Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until quite reduced.

For the topping:

• Wipe the mushrooms and break or slice into thin slices into a big bowl. Drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and a pinch of salt.
• Wash and carefully dry the herb sprigs – pick the leaves, discarding the stalks – and add to the mushrooms. Peel the garlic and squeeze through the press into the mushrooms. Stir.
• Tear each ball of bocconcini in half. Grate the parmesan.

Assembling the pizza:

• Scatter some flour on the table and roll the dough out to form 2 even rectangles to cover the baking trays.
• Assemble the 2 pizza directly onto the trays, flouring the trays well first.
• Using the metal spoon, swirl a couple of spoonfuls of tomato sauce onto the pizza bases, spreading so that they become totally covered.
• Layer the bocconcini on top and season well, then scatter the herby mushrooms over the pizza and then the parmesan.

Baking the pizza:

• Bake the pizza for about 12 minutes or until the edges are very crusty and the cheese is bubbling.
• Use this time to make the dough for the next class if needed.
• You may want to slip the pizza off the tray onto the rack for the last few minutes, so that you get a really crusty base.
• Meanwhile wash the rocket and spin dry. Leave the leaves whole.
• Once the pizza is done, transfer it to a large wooden board using the wide egg lifter.
• Cut the pizza crossways into small squares, and divide onto serving plates.
• Sprinkle the rocket over the slices and then get ready to eat!

Notes: What other sort of vegetables could you use in a pizza? What other pizza is there?