With Halloween and Bonfire Night on the horizon, autumn offers a host of opportunities to entertain family and friends outdoors.  Barbecues will not be your friend for this, however.  An indoor or outdoor wood fired pizza oven certainly could be!

With an outdoor or indoor pizza oven in your culinary camp, you have the perfect tool with which to produce some delicious dishes for every occasion.  It really can be a wood-fired oven for all seasons, with the menu changing to reflect whatever food most suits the party night in question.

It’s not just about pizza

Some people may think a pizza oven  can only be used for pizza, or very simple dishes, but that’s not the case.  The Valoriani wood-fired ovens from Orchard Ovens can cook a whole host of dishes by real flame, from the humble jacket potato, to posher spud dishes like potato dauphinoise, curries, stews, oven-baked fish dishes and even mouth-watering hot desserts.

Both the outdoor Fornino wood-fired ready-to-go oven, and the indoor Cucina equivalent, are perfect for cooking a range of dishes in this way, allowing you to literally go through your recipe book and learn to cook your favourites a completely different manner – with wood!

If you elect to have your oven at the heart of a bigger garden design feature then rest assured that the world will be your oyster when it comes to deciding what to cook with a real flame.

Whatever oven you choose we’ve put together a simple three-course menu to get you started.

Starter

Wood Fired Camembert

There isn’t a great deal of skill involved in this dish, but there is a great deal of flavour!  Pick the best cheese you can find!  It will make all the difference!

Ingredients

1 whole Camembert

1 clove of garlic thinly sliced.

1 sprig Rosemary

Pinch of chilli flakes

Olive oil OR honey

Method

• Fire up your wood-fired oven to its optimum temperature. 
• Remove the cheese from its wooden box and score diamond shapes on to the top of the rind.  Pop into a heatproof dish suitable for the oven’s high temperature, top with the garlic, rosemary and chilli, and then drizzle with olive oil or honey.
• Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes.  Check and leave in a little longer,  if necessary.
• Serve immediately with crusty bread.

Main Course

Sea Bream al Forno 

Ingredients

Sea bream, cleaned and scaled

White wine

2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 bunch of chopped parsley

Mixed herbs

Rosemary sprigs

Punnet of halved cherry tomatoes

Artichoke hearts (drained)

Black olives

2 large lemons, cut in quarters.

4 tbsp olive oil

Method

• Heat up your wood fired oven. 
• Salt the fish inside and out and stuff the fish cavity with the mixed herbs and sliced lemon.  Make cuts into the sides of the fish and add some Rosemary sprigs and lemon.
• Heat a pan for 3-4 minutes in the oven. Once hot, remove the pan and add 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• Add sliced or cubed potatoes around the bottom of the pan. 
• Return the pan to the oven for 2 minutes.
• Remove the pan and place the fish on top of the potatoes. 
• Scatter in the tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts and add the white wine. 
• Return to oven for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove the pan when the fish skin looks slightly charred.
• Top with parsley. 
• Serve with spare lemon quarters.

Dessert

Apple and Raspberry Crumble

Ingredients

500g of raspberries

500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into chunks

2 tbsp unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

1 tsp, ground cinnamon

Crumble topping:

125g plain flour

125g chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

35g light brown sugar, plus a little extra to sprinkle

35g caster sugar

50g chopped roasted hazelnuts

Method

• Pre-heat your wood-fired oven.
• In a bowl, combine the flour and butter and rub with your fingertips, until the mixture is a coarse breadcrumb consistency.
• Add the sugars and stir through.
• Place in the freezer for 10 minutes, or if making ahead, in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
• Place the fruit, butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a shallow dish.
• Cook the fruit in the oven for about 15 minutes until it is soft but still holds its shape.
• Stir the mixture.
• Place the crumble mixture over the top of the fruit.
• Sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts and some brown sugar.
• Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and bubbling, and serve with cream, custard or ice cream.

To find out more about our wood fired ovens, visit www.orchardovens.co.uk or call us on 01772 250000.