Oh la la, I don’t even know where to start! This pizza is so many things I love in one slice. Ever since I decided that it was fine to eat merguez without the casing, I haven’t stopped experimenting. One of my favourite experiments is this pizza. It’s lightly scented, beautifully spicy, fresh and creamy, I mean, it really tastes heavenly. So please swipe down and do yourself a favour, make this pizza for #pizzafriday, any day or even everyday! As you can see, I used a ready made pizza dough because I ran out of time while I was about to shoot this recipe but feel free to make your own pizza dough if you feel like it.

Apart from that, how have you been and how is your summer going? I am pretty happy with the weather in London and I can’t wait for the holidays to start! We are off to Beirut, Lebanon and Portugal in a few weeks, I am so excited I’ve already made a list of all the things I want to eat. I am also super excited because it will be the first time for our Lilou at the beach! I am a bit worried that she’s going to eat a lot of sand (cause everything goes straight into her mouth at the moment) but I am pretty sure it will be a lot fun. Happy almost Friday friends!

Merguez and red pepper pizza with burrata

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

3 x pizza dough, (about 220g each)
500g tomato sauce (homemade or store-bought)
500g merguez mince (recipe below)
2 Romano peppers, finely sliced
1 fresh chilli pepper, finely sliced (optional)
300g burrata
Rocket leaves to serve

Merguez mince

2 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
250g minced lamb, 20% fat
250g minced beef, 20% fat
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
20g fresh coriander, chopped
2 tablespoons paprika
1 ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
½ teaspoon black pepper

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 220 C/ 430 F.

• Toast the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds in a pan over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until fragrant. Use a mortar and a pestle to roughly grind the seeds. Alternatively, use a food processor.

• Transfer all the merguez ingredients along with the toasted seeds in a large bowl and mix to combine. Use your hands to make sure all the ingredients are nicely mixed. Cover and place in the fridge.

• Lightly flour a worktop and roll out the pizza dough into three circles. Evenly spread the tomato sauce on the dough and top with the Romano pepper slices, chilli peppers slices, if desired, and merguez mounds. Transfer the pizzas in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes until the merguez is cooked and the crust is golden brown.

• Remove the pizza from the oven, garnish with burrata and rocket leaves. Serve immediately.