Sardine and Feta Potato Pizza

Apologies if its TMI but here we go again...

I'm irritable and my breasts look funny.  

It must be PMS.

Or maybe I'm irritable because I'm so damned warm? 

I must be pregnant.  

I am peeing all the time... but maybe that's because I'm drinking so much water.  

I'm drinking so much water because I'm so uncomfortably warm.  

Gah!  Let the thought carousel stop!  I'm driving myself nuts.

The first two cycles after I lost Pipkin, we were careful to make sure we didn't conceive.  I had lost a lot of blood and felt like crap.  I wanted to give my body some time to recover.  We also didn't want to increase the chances of another loss if we conceived quickly and my body wasn't up to it.

This cycle we were not trying, but we took no measures to prevent either.  We are just trying to take one day at a time, enjoy each other and not worry about trying to conceive for a bit.  

It turns out I hate it.  

I mean, I'm fine with the theory but the practice?  At least when I take my bbt I know what day I ovulated and what day to expect my period.  I can see what my temperatures are doing and the likelihood of being or not being pregnant.  

This not knowing is messing with my mind.  

As annoying as it is to wake up at the same time every day to take your temperature, I'm definitely starting again next cycle!

I am craving sardines though.  

They're useful little critters, full of goodness and conveniently packed in an inexpensive, recyclable can.  I like to have some on hand for the occasional sardine-and-tomato-on-toast weekend lunch.  I was given some excellent quality sardines in olive oil with chilli peppers by a friend when she came back from a trip to France so want to do justice by them.

When I was at university and my food budget was limited I liked to make sardine pizza.  The pizza dough itself was just a basic scone/biscuit recipe*.  Topped with passata, onion, sardines and cheese and thrown in the oven for 25 minutes, it was easy and tasty comfort food.  

(Comfort food? It could be either pregnancy or PMS!)

I don't want to make pizza though as Mr Duncan is still off bread for blood pressure reasons.  And it looks like its making a difference as his jeans were practically falling off him yesterday.  As usual I have a glut of potatoes and googling around for ideas brought me to a uktv recipe.   Now I couldn't follow the recipe as the instructions were not clear enough (do you layer the potato cooked or raw?) and I didn't have fresh sardines for a start.

Fertility Focus

Sardines -  full of essential fatty acids, vitamin D and a food source of coenzyme Q10 which aids mitochondrial function - not to mention all the olive oil they're packed in.

Ingredients

• Par-boiled potatoes, sliced thinishly
• Onion, sliced thinly
• Courgette, sliced
• Tinned sardines
• Olive oil (I used the olive oil from the sardines)
• Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• Feta cheese to sprinkle

Method

1.  Set the oven to 180 degrees C.  

2.  Oil the bottom of a heavy oven-proof pan (I used our cast iron frying pan from the Landy).

3.  Layer the potatoes, overlapping in a spiral starting from the middle.  

4.  Drizzle with some of the olive oil from the tin of sardines.  

5.  Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes, until they start to crisp up.

6.  Remove from oven.  

7.  Layer the onions then the courgettes on top.  

8.  Flake the sardines and scatter over with the sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese. 9.  Drizzle some more olive oil from the sardines over the top.
10.  Return pan to the oven for another 15-20 minutes until veggies are cooked and topping is starting to colour.

We served this with a salad made of grated carrot and beetroot tossed with mint and sunflower seeds, and dressed it with apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

This recipe would be equally good with sardines in tomato sauce, or tinned mackerel or herring.  

Actually, I quite like the idea of using the potato galette instead of pizza base for any topping.  Maybe I've finally found a way to get through all those potatoes that come in our veg box!

*I don't know what to call them in the UK, but they're definitely scones in New Zealand and biscuits in the US.

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