Three weeks later and we all remain besotted with the wood fired oven. It seems that everyone wants to play. I've always maintained that food tops the list of things that bring people together but this kind of cooking takes it to a whole new level... it's a bit like the magical draw of a log fire on a winter's evening, we all want to gather around it.
That's not to say that we've had successes all the way. Judging how much wood to burn, whether the oven is hot enough (or too hot - as it was for our tandoori chicken) is far from easy, and experience and practice are the key. At the sight of chicken blackening within 30 seconds we realised that we had the pizza heat we had wanted the night before, but we had the sense to take the chicken out, remove the glowing embers (very carefully), pour another glass of wine, and return the chicken to a less aggressive heat. And it was great, but being inconvenienced we thought only of supper and forgot the camera. What I did remember to do was to sit a couple of aubergines in there while the oven was still medium hot.
Baked aubergine makes an amazing Greek dip - melitzanosalata, and a slightly smoky flavour is essential. Be sure to puncture the aubergines with a knife in a couple of places as they have a chestnut like tendency to explode in the oven. I left my aubergines overnight and as you can see the result looked like leathery, deflated balloons - exactly what I was after.
Split the aubergines open and scrape the roasted flesh out with a spoon, if areas of skin are blackened and come away with the flesh so be it as they lend depth to the flavour. Once you've got as much from the skins as you can, chop it roughly with a kitchen knife until pulpy. Add to this 2 cloves of juicy garlic, crushed and pressed to a pulp also, and plenty of freshly chopped flat leaf parsley. Add a generous slug of Greek olive oil and season with salt, pepper and plenty of freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste. Cover and refrigerate for a day to allow the flavours to mellow.
Result? Not the prettiest of dips, but for me the most delicious - and on this occasion my family voted it the best I'd ever made. I'm afraid I can't take the credit, it was undoubtedly due to the oven and just the right amount of smokiness it imparted.
That said, I did also make calzone to go with it. Using the same dough as I did for my pizza I instead formed 12" circles and slathered them with creamy garlic butter (made with garlic, butter, olive oil, parley, & basil). Fold over as you would an omelet and press the edges together firmly with thumbs. Watching these little babies rise in the oven was most satisfying, and on this occasion we had it hot enough to cook them in little more than 3 minutes. With cooking times as short as this you can't afford to leave the oven unmanned, and be prepared to do a lot of swift manoeuvring of calzone as the side
exposed to the embers will be cooking at a totally different speed to that of the opposite side. Barbecue tongs and such come in very handy, and thankfully the calzone and pizzas we have cooked do move, (and turn if need be), very willingly on the floor of the oven.
If you haven't the time to make them yourself, shop bought hummus, taramasalata etc are often rather good, and together with some shockingly good melitzanosalata, and calzone straight from the oven, you have an excellent lunch or starter.
Happy days! Sandra Tate
Bluestone Wood Fired Ovens Website click here
Wow, talk about good timing, Ben Pike of Bluestone Wood Fired Ovens turned up with this little beauty just in time for the hottest Easter Bank Holiday weekend in living memory. The menfolk of the household, (one recently returned from Uni for a planned eat-parents-out-of-house-and-home visit) gamely volunteered to help lift it up the winding path, and twenty steps, to its present perch before a Devon stone wall and view to the moors. This was no mean feat since the oven weighs-in at over 130kg and the path is the only means of access to the house. Our hope is that Ben will be in no hurry to repeat the exercise in reverse and may choose instead to donate it to us...
By the time it was set up it was already 5.30pm and the entire household were fired-up (sorry... ) to put this beast to the test. Unfortunately we had no logs. Out into the Totnes rush hour traffic, and with little idea of where we would find a log-selling establishment at all let alone one that would still be open, we headed for Riverford Farm Shop and greedily eyed its wooden fencing as we reeled into the car park. Lady Luck was for once on our side and we came away clutching the last bag of logs that they had.
As Ben would have it, the oven takes an hour to reach a good temperature, just enough time to make a batch of dough and launch into a pizza fest. It's not often that everyone is inspired in equal measure to make something happen, but this was how it was, the Tates were rising to the challenge like our lives depended on it. One manning the fire, one preparing a tomato sauce and filling bowls with a selection of toppings, one setting the table, and little old me knocking up a lovely silky dough, laced with olive oil.
By the time I was at this stage - throwing my favourite toppings (spinach, Gevrik goat's cheese, black olives, mozzarella) - over the tomato sauce, the oven was throwing out so much heat we made the decision not to add any further logs. In hindsight we could have been more courageous, but trial and error is what this oven is all about. First lesson learned was that a 12" pizza will not willingly slide from its tray to the oven floor, so (and it may seem daft to say this) but make sure its on a mat or tin, or tray that will fit through the opening. Once in there, the rising/cooking is virtually instantaneous, as is the scorching that results on the side nearest to the heat source, so have oven mits on and be prepared to turn the pizza every few seconds. "Awesome" was the word most bandied about by the boys, "delicious" swiftly following as we seamlessly combined slicing and eating one pizza as the next of us composed a new one for the oven.
I say that we should have had another log on the fire, but it was enough. We managed four fabulous pizzas, though they each took slightly longer to cook as the oven temperature went into decline. By then the sun was going down, the tea lights were lit, and the bananas were baking in the last of the oven heat.
All in all a most magical, family evening. We said "cheers" to Bluestone and wondered at my good fortune in spotting a message on Twitter asking for food writing volunteers to host this wood fired wonder.
My Pizza Dough - enough to make 4 generous pizza bases
800g strong bread flour
20g fresh yeast
3tsp salt
3tbsp olive oil
525ml lukewarm water
1 Crumble the yeast into a large bowl and pour the water and olive oil over. Weigh the flour and add to the bowl together with the salt. Bring the dough together into a mass with the help of a plastic scraper and turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface. The mix will be quite wet, don't let this worry you, it will become more elastic as you knead it. I say 'knead', I 'throw' it and turn it, lifting it up from the surface and over itself, to work the dough and introduce air. After working it vigorously for 5 minutes return it to the bowl and cover over tightly with cling film.
2 Leave for an hour then turn it out, this time onto a floured surface. Knead briefly into a neat ball then divide into 4 equal pieces of dough. Turn these into neat balls and leave three of them dusted with flour and covered lightly with cling film to rest. Take the fourth ball and roll (or stretch over your hands) to make your first 12"pizza base. Once formed, lay this on an awaiting tray, dusted with flour or, preferably, semolina flour. You are ready to add topping - don't overload or it will be soggy and unappetizing - spread a sparing amount of tomato sauce (chopped tomatoes & olive oil with fresh basil & garlic reduced over a low heat for up to half an hour until thick). The rest is up to your own liking and imagination!
Sandra Tate
Bluestone Wood Fired Ovens Website click here
Baked aubergine makes an amazing Greek dip - melitzanosalata, and a slightly smoky flavour is essential. Be sure to puncture the aubergines with a knife in a couple of places as they have a chestnut like tendency to explode in the oven. I left my aubergines overnight and as you can see the result looked like leathery, deflated balloons - exactly what I was after.
Result? Not the prettiest of dips, but for me the most delicious - and on this occasion my family voted it the best I'd ever made. I'm afraid I can't take the credit, it was undoubtedly due to the oven and just the right amount of smokiness it imparted.
