Margherita Ora Pizza

Main, Pizza, Snack

I don’t know if Rita was hardened by some whips, chains and lite BDSM action on the set of the Fifty Shades franchise, or if she was just trying to put on a brave face for me – but damn that girl was, and always is, a bloody ray of absolute sunshine.

Full disclosure: I believe Tyra fired Rita because she was jealous of our friendship and wanted me back – how do you think her feud with Naomi Campbell started?

Rita and I have been as thick as thieves since we met a decade ago – I was a Cheers-esque regular at her dad’s pub, where she also performed. Having the eye for talent that I do, I immediately knew that I had to help her become the star that we know and love today.

While Rita laughed off the suggestion and said that she was ok with how everything washed out, I could tell (as only a dear, dear friend could) that there was sadness behind her eyes as she wondered if her greatest friendship, led to her ANTM demise. In any event, I apologised profusely for getting her involved with TyTy and we moved on to all the positives in her life.

I’m obvi referring to seeing Jamie Dornan naked on set and working with my boy Nick Carter on Boy Band, which I created as an apology.

Given talking about Jamie makes me moister than an oyster – between he and Locky on Australian Survivor, I am parched from liquid depletion – I decided to whip us up something hearty slash carby, which could also comfort her pain. That obviously meant I whipped up her fave, my Margherita Ora Pizza.

 

 

I truly hated margherita pizza as a child because it was so boring and then as an early-20-something because I felt like it was false advertising – where’s the tequila, bitch? – but as a wise man of 30, I finally appreciate this little beauty. Rich tomato sauce, delicate mozzarella and fresh basil? Yes pwease!

Enjoy!

 

 

Margherita Ora Pizza
Serves: 4.

Ingredients
2 bases as per Pizsa Zsa Gabor
passata and italian herbs, for the aforementioned bases
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, quartered
200g buffalo mozzarella
small handful of basil leaves

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare bases as per Zsa Zsa’s instructions.

Slather bases with the passata and misc Italian herbs. Sprinkle over the garlic. Scatter the tomatoes on top. And – fuck, I can’t think of an s word for tear … – tear the buffalo mozzarella on top.

Bake for fifteen minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and golden. Remove from the oven, top with some torn basil leaves … and devour.

 

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Paul Wachaprese Salad

Salad, Side, Snack, Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, TV Recap

Previously on Survivor, Ken continued to be a babe, formed what I’m hoping will become a formidable alliance, caught an octopus while scantily clad and then came from behind – sadly, not on – to singlehandedly win immunity for the Gen Xers … before Michelle and Jay briefly stepped in to completely flip the vote – leading to Hannah breaking the record for longest time taken to vote – and send Mari to loser lodge.

But let’s be honest, Ken. Babe. Heart-eyes emoji. Other stuff happened, who cares. No. Words.

Well actually, Michelle and Jay were seriously impressive. But Ken.

We quickly returned to the Millennials where Adam and Zeke congratulated the tribe on outsmarting them before Figgy commenced speaking in third person and Hannah decide to ignore Zeke and Adam’s pleas to the contrary and got in their face trying to explain why she flipped on them.

After continuing to harass them while they begged to be left alone, she tried to change the season’s theme to 50 Shades of Survivor, repeatedly begging to be used.

No joke, she shouted “I WANT YOU TO USE ME.”

Sometimes it writes itself.

Then next day we decided to check in with Gen X where Ken is somehow on the bottom – I mean yes, dream … but not in that way – with David and Cece despite being the sole provider of the tribe AND being completely hot. I mean, those baby blues!

Back with the kids we learnt that four members of each tribe would be joining together for a spot of jungle brunch to talk shop and hopefully spill the beans on tribal politics. Thankfully David and Cece hate their tribe so quickly threw Paul and his crew under the bus, positioning themselves and St Ken to align with the kids come switch or merge.

Another episode, another attractive man joining David’s harem.

The oldies returned to camp where poor Ken was filled in on his island nickname – Ken Doll – which brought up horrible memories of childhood, being referred to as a plastic eunuch. Which from watching him swim around, we know is far from the truth.

We finally arrived at the immunity challenge, giving me a break from my lecherous viewing, which was all about lugging heaving sacks around, draining them into a pit and the tossing them at a wall. So yeah, creeping was done but smutty innuendo is forever on Survivor.

More importantly, Survivor welcomed its first ever intruder to the game with Lucy joining the Gen X tribe … just before they lost their second immunity challenge.

Shhh.

Back at camp the Gen X tribe got to work scrambling, with Paul and his alliance locking in a vote for Cece while Kengel, Cece and David opted to target Paul. Then Paul told the females in his alliance that he would happily turn on the women in his alliance if the males came to him to form the very rare male alliance.

Sadly Paul was unable to bounce back from his blunder and was sent to loser lodge to reconnect with me for comfort. I mean, sure, he took his blindside like a champ … but not getting to watch Kengel wander around in his underwear anymore is a painful feeling.

Obviously I met rocker Paul during my groupie phase. Despite not ever bedding him personally, I was the band’s muse with my bonnet dancing inspiring them to greatness. And Tawny Kitaen’s moves in the best Whitesnake video aka the greatest music video of all time.

The only way either of us survived life on the road was by eating salad and only drinking clear liquids at breakfast, meaning we lived on my Paul Wachaprese Salad (and vodka but that isn’t necessary at the moment).

 

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While you could hardly call this recipe original, the beautiful way that the fresh tomatoes meld with the smooth mozzarella and sweet, fragrant basil is perfection and you don’t mess with perfection.

Like Ken, language and vinyl – enjoy!

 

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Paul Wachaprese Salad
Serves: 4.

Ingredients
500g ripe tomatoes, I prefer a mix of roma, normal (but seriously, what the fuck are they called) and cherry but any work – a mix is fun, roughly chopped
a couple of balls, good buffalo mozzarella, torn
a handful of basil, leaves picked
freshly ground salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Method
Place the tomatoes, cheese and basil in a large bowl and toss together.

Season, add a lug of oil and toss again – gotta love a good toss.

Devour.

 

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Tomato Soup Clarke

Australian Survivor, Australian Survivor (2016), Main, Side, Snack, Soup, TV Recap

Previously on Australian Survivor, the tribe were paranoid after Nick pointed out the bleedingly obvious except for Kylie who blindly followed Brooke and Flick who got more cocky by the second and JL returned from her six week absence to win immunity before Kylie found her trust misplaced and herself out of the game.

To the joy of everyone, who did not miss her despite the fact she was a loving lapdog for the last 40 days.

Thankfully JL is making the most of her return and is reiterating what Kate and Nick said on their way out days ago – it is time to make a move and fight the power. Or something, I’m not getting my hopes up as the last six episodes have been about someone fighting the dominant alliance … only for nothing to happen.

The next day the unholy trinity met in the water for Flick and Brooke to strategise about getting rid of the boys while El did her thing and agreed with everything that was said. JL, meanwhile continued to make the most of her second chance and went to Kristie to turn the tide against the girls and actually play for herself. Then – wait for it – she approached Sue and Sam in front of everyone at camp, while Flick stared at her with more anger than my resting bitch face.

While I was hopeful that with Kylie gone the girls wouldn’t have a snitch, Matt took everything that JL had then told him – which was true and he knew it – back to Brooke. After such a triumphant episode yesterday, I’m back to hating him. Obviously this annoyed the girls and they set their sights on JL, but more importantly Brooke allowed El to tell the story and feel like she was contributing to life. Their arrogance then went overboard and I’m back to wishing for their downfalls, even though they’re the only people that have played consistently the entire game.

I’m looking at you, disappearing JL.

Finally JoJo arrived to give us some more ball action for a spitSunday roast. Sue was given the joy of sitting out of the reward and gambling for the win. Given one team had an ex-cricketer who is also experienced with my balls, she rightfully backed the winning team and got to reap the rewards of their hard work.

While the cool kids and Sue were enjoying their reward, JL got to work on wooing the sole cool kid left at camp, Flick, to consider booting Brooke, who let’s be honest will beat both her and El. The next day, JL was further on the outs with the girls now straight up ignoring her after Matt continued his assault on my sanity after telling the girls everything she had said to Flick while they were away on reward. Seriously Matt, your actions make me feel bipolar – stop.

We arrived at the next immunity challenge where the tribe had to stand on their toes and keep a block balanced between their head and a plank above – sounds boring, looks boring, genuinely difficult. Thankfully JL, the one most in need of immunity won the challenge meaning the girls had to find a new target heading into tribal.

The tribes returned to camp with the absolute shits due to JL’s victory before focusing on voting out their alliance member Matt, while JL and Sue took the time to talk smack about Matt and mock his game. Sadly, obviously, making him safe. Right on cue, the alliance then had a change of heart and decided, quite rightfully, that Sue was the next biggest threat and needed to go, and opted to split the vote between her and Kristie.

Matt then continued to show his mentalist abilities and pressed his alliance to split the vote, repeatedly, in front of Kristie … despite knowing that they were splitting the vote on her. Unless we later learn this was his move to save Kristie, this was moronic. Thankfully JL and Sue continued to show that they were the true brains, planning to throw their votes on Kristie in the hope that split happens and they can force her out of the game.

We finally made it to tribal for JoJo to put us out of our misery. Well JL actually did the job, when she opened tribal by reading Matt for absolute filth and then berated him in front of the entire tribe, impressing the jury and making him look like a dweeb.

Yes, I say dweeb now.

Wanting in on the action, JoJo then jumped on the bandwagon and started to help JL twist the knife in and rub his face in it. JLP, you beautiful bastard – finally your heavy handed approach to tribal is paying off. Flick then admitted she would need to flip to get to the end, then said she doesn’t want anyone to flip, then Sue jumped in and commenced reading the trio of girls, pointed out the entire pecking order and questioned their every refute. Thankfully Sam was still around to make no sense and not understand the game. Sadly his presence was to the detriment of Sue’s game, who made her way out of the game into my loving/frustrated arms.

I first met Sue while she was working in customs – she broke up my budgie smuggling ring and sent me to prison for a decade. Being kind, Sue responded to my prison letters and we developed a bond while she tried to help me get my life back on track.

Obviously that all occurred over a piping hot bowl of Tomato Soup Clarke, my prison weapon of choice.

 

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While I’m a huge fan of some Big Red, I’d always wanted to try making my own tomato soup and thankfully the warmth of Sue’s kitchen showed me the light and gave me the confidence to try. Warm, rich and everything Big Red isn’t, in the best way possible.

No shade to Big Red though, I love it and would be their spokesperson in a heartbeat. Enjoy!

 

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Tomato Soup Clark
Serves: 6.

Ingredients
1.5kg Roma tomatoes, halved
pinch of raw caster sugar
olive oil
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
50g unsalted butter
2 onions, roughly diced
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped, roughly
4 garlic cloves, bruised and chopped in half
400g can – chopped – tomatoes, how much do I love chopped things in this recipe
2 tbsp sundried tomato paste
2 bay leaves
small bunch of basil, leaves removed with some kept aside to garnish
4 cups vegetable stock
handful small buffalo mozzarella, torn

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Place the Roma tomatoes, cut-side up, on a baking tray like they are going to sunbake in the oven, rather than die. Top with sugar, drizzle with oil and season with a good whack of salt and pepper before roasting for half an hour or so, or until softened and starting to caramelise.

Remove from the oven and add their children  – aka cherry tomatoes – to the tray and bake for a further 15 minutes to ensure you’ve wiped the entire family from existence. Remove from the oven and allow to cook.

While the tomato corpses are chilling, melt the butter over medium heat in a large pan with a good lug of olive oil. Cook the remaining vegetables for a couple of minutes, until softened. Stir through the canned tomatoes and paste before adding the bay leaves, basil, stock and cooked – read, dead – tomatoes.

Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for half an hour or until tender.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before blitzing. Once as smooth as Santana feat. Rob Thomas, return to the heat and cook  for a couple of minutes before adjusting the seasoning.

Generously serve amongst the bowls and top with the torn mozzarella and reserved basil. Devour.

 

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