This Side of Paradise

1. Pour your dry couscous into a pan and cover with just over the same quantity of boiling water. So if you used half a cup of couscous, you would need just over half a cup of water. Stir, cover with a lid and leave for 5 minutes.
2. Slice up your tomatoes however you like, halve the olives.
3. Once your couscous has absorbed all the water, fluff it up with a fork and then scrape it all into whatever you're eating out of, ie. a bowl or pasta dish.
4. Add your chopped tomatoes and olives to the couscous and mix well so all the tomato juice mixes with the grains. Then add the mozzarella pearls and stir with your fork.
5. Season with your balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Shred the basil leaves by tearing them into little pieces and throw them in. Stir well.

• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (fan assisted).
• Pizza dough can be quite tricky, and lots of recipes use yeast. It took me a while to get it to the right consistency, so be patient! 
• First, sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add a little salt. Drop the butter into the bowl and rub into the flour with your fingers until it is the consistency of breadcrumbs. Put flour on your hands so the dough doesn't stick to your fingers, then pour in your milk slowly and knead into a dough. If it's really sticky, keep adding extra flour bit by bit until it's a soft, stretchy dough. Equally, if it's too dry and not sticking together, add more milk. 
• Grease a baking tray with oil and stretch the dough out into the shape you want - if you're feeling unconventional maybe make a rectangular pizza! Or a heart shape if you want to impress your other half. (Side note - I was once presented with a heart-shaped pizza at a restaurant in Florence and it made my day. Definitely a great romantic gesture for food lovers.) It should be about 1cm thick but really, the thinner the better. Just make sure there aren't any holes!
• Now the fun begins. Spread a few teaspoons of tomato puree (Or a dessert spoon of passata if you're using it) all over the base, leaving about 1cm of crust round the edge. I usually add chopped garlic because I think it goes amazingly with tomato. I then added 4 quartered cherry tomatoes, but if you're using fresh tomatoes be careful not to use too many because the juice will make the dough go soggy.
• Then sprinkle on your cheese of choice - be careful if you're using mozzarella (the fresh white type, not the grated yellow stuff), because it is very wet and will also make the dough go soggy if you use too much. I used flakes of cheddar, but you could also use goats cheese (yum) or whatever you fancy.
• Add any other toppings you like. You can use anything that's already cooked, so that means the scraps of leftover roast chicken in the fridge, salami, cooked ham, tuna, sweetcorn, whatever. Do NOT use any raw meat or fish. Just don't overload the dough because it won't rise and you don't want an uncooked pizza - use a little of each ingredient and distribute it evenly across the whole base.
• Sprinkle a generous pinch of oregano over the top and add salt and pepper to taste. Fresh basil leaves also work really well if you have them. Drizzle with a little olive oil (preferably extra virgin) and bung in the oven for about 20 mins, or until the dough is golden round the edges. Even if the toppings looked cooked, the dough is more important!

Serve with your condiments of choice, or a generous heap of coleslaw like I did, and enjoy!

A photo posted by Liv Soutter (@livsoutter) on Jan 1, 2015 at 5:08am PST