I have always been a huge fan of Pizza Express. Ever since I was a small child I have admired the skill of the chefs as they created their pizzas and I confess I have always wanted to try making one.
You can therefore imagine my excitement when Frost was invited to a demonstration event of Pizza Expresses new Leggera range. Frequent Pizza Express visitors will already be familiar with the Leggera pizzas. A Leggera pizza has the same quantity of toppings as a normal pizza but cuts out a lot of the dough from the centre and replaces it with a scrumptious salad. The result is, a much healthier pizza, more delicious and guilt free pizza with under 500 calories. Following its initial success Pizza Express has now expanded its Leggera range to include five more pizzas.
We arrived at the Pizza Express in Islington to a very warm welcome. After a few drinks we were treated to a demonstration on how to make a Leggera by the extremely skilful and very friendly Leo. The pizza Leo made was the Padana (Tomato Sauce, Spinach, Onions, Goats Cheese, Garlic Oil, Oregano and Black Pepper).
The finished pizza is a work of art
Next it’s our turn. We get to choose which Pizza we want to make from one of the new Leggera options.
Pomodoro Pesto – Light mozzerella and marinated santos tomatoes with fresh basil, pesto and garlic oil
Padana – Spinach, goats cheese and caramelised onions
Pollo Ad Astra – Chicken, sweet peppadew peppers, cajun spices, red onions and garlic oil
American/American Hot – Pepperoni, Mozzarella and Fresh Tomato
Gustosa – Prosciutto cotto ham, light mozzarella and Portobello mushrooms with red peppers
We both go for the Pollo Ad Astra. This is already one of my favourite pizzas and now I have the chance to try it as a Leggera. We arrive at our table greeted by Luigi a friendly young Italian chef who is there to watch over us. First we have to cut and roll the dough into a pizza base. This is much harder than you might imagine. Sure enough, rather than a perfect circle, my base sticks out horribly on one side. Luigi politely offers suggestions. I ask him how long it takes for him to make one and he says the whole pizza is usually finished in five minutes!
With my base roughly the right shape, I’m told to take my dough and fling it between my hands to remove excess flour. Despite our mistakes the whole process is the most fun I’ve had in ages.
15 minutes later our dough is in the pizza tins. We use a cutter to remove a large amount of dough from the centre of our pizzas and it’s on to the ingredients. I greedily add extra bits of everything, particularly the garlic oil which I love. Our pizzas are then whisked off to the oven where it only takes four minutes to cook them. Some rocket, beautiful ricotta salata cheese and balsamic dressing and our pizza is finished.
And wow it tasted amazing. There is something about Pizza Express pizzas (and I’m sure it’s the quality of ingredients) which has always put them far ahead of their rivals. Other pizzas never come close in taste.
My Pollo Ad Astra is delicious. The base is beautifully thin and crispy and provides the perfect platform for the wonderful combination of the succulent chicken mozzarella, tomato sauce, sweet peppers and red onions. The cajun spice gives the dish a delicious extra kick. The addition of the Leggera element provides a wonderful contrast. The rocket and dressing gives the dish a better balance. All in all the PERFECT PIZZA!
As we happily tuck in we are joined by the wonderful Juliet who is a nutritionist. She tells us all the pizzas have under 500 calories despite having the same amount of ingredients as the classic pizzas. This is because of less dough and a scrumptious new lower fat mozzarella they are now using. She also introduces us to the delightful Leggera wines. All with lower calories and slightly less alcohol content. The red being 9.5% and the white 9%. They are delicious and we have soon finished our glasses.
The whole evening was a wonderful experience. It was incredibly well organised and everyone was extremely warm and friendly as I have always found Pizza Express to be.
This is a great British company with real authentic Italian cooking. It offers great value for money. Pizza Express never feels like a chain. Why settle for a shoddy alternative with poor quality ingredients.