Potato Pizza

I was inspired to make this because of one meal I ate at Uni recently: I had baked a few potatoes, and when they were done I split them, mashed the insides, arranged them together, and topped them with red pepper, chorizo and cheese. It was then grilled in the oven. What I ended up with looked like a pizza-except the base was made of potato- which pretty much sums up what this dish is all about.

I used quite a lot of potato for this one, but i was hungry so that was fine by me. My parents, however, found it quite filling, so to improve on that, next time I would probably use half the number of potatoes and spread it out thinly. Then bake it at a lower heat for longer to get it crispier- almost like the outside of a roast potato.

The good thing about this recipe is you can have all the flavour of a pizza, with any topping you want, without having to make a dough. And it still slices well with a potato base- just make sure you keep the mash dry.

Ingredients For the sauce: 

-one tin chopped tomatoes

-3 cloves of garlic, minced

-handful of fresh basil, torn

-large pinch dried oregano

- small squeeze do ketchup

-pinch of salt and sugar

-freshly ground black pepper.

Method for the sauce:

-tip the tomatoes In to a small jug and mix with the rest of the ingredients 

-taste

-adjust seasoning  if needed and leave to rest until needed.

Ingredients for the potato base:

-500g good mashing potatoes, quartered

-50g Parmesan cheese

-milk

-2 eggs

-pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

-boil the potatoes for 15 minutes

-drain when soft and transfer back in to the dry pan which they came from.

- start mashing them and add enough milk to make them combine properly (until no longer crumbly), but no more than that. It should still feel tough to mash- like your arm is getting a work out. Make sure there's no lumps

-add the Parmesan, seasoning and eggs, and mix thoroughly.

-on a large baking tray, lined with non-stick foil, splodge the mash in to the centre.

-now mold the mash in to the shape of a pizza base and smooth the surface out evenly.

-bake at 200C for about 15 minutes.

-when the time is up, remove from the oven and add the sauce to the top. Then add the topping of your choice.

-return to the oven for about another 10 minutes.