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Iceland Thin and Crispy Four Cheese Pizza
by sylvetteintheuk
I have only been a member of Dooyoo for a couple of weeks and this is the first item I have actually bought having read about it on this vey site. Admittedly it did not break the bank as it was a £1 frozen pizza from Iceland!
There is an Iceland in our small town....but I never go there. I have been put off by too many "Mum's ... gone to Iceland" adverts, especially around Christmas time.
On Saturday, I read a review for this pizza and as my daughter and I were on our own for the evening, I decided I did not fancy doing a great deal of cooking and we both agreed pizza would be good.
I easily located the pizzas in the unfamiliar Iceland chest freezers and was surprised to see they had quite a range of "Thin and Crispy" pizzas. I picked up "4 cheeses" for my daughter and "cheese and onion "for myself and proceeded to the checkout with a £2 pound coin in my hand. Dinner, sorted, for £2, when was the last time that happened???? The pizzas I usually buy from the deli section are more like £4 each...and they're not that great.
These pizzas take 14 minutes in a preheated oven. Whilst the oven was preheating I decided to customize both pizzas (again as suggested by the previous reviewer). Some ham for my daughter and some peppers for mine and in they went. I always end up grating extra cheese on our pizzas but on this occasion I was pleasantly surprised by the generous amount of cheese on each pizza and did not feel it need any extra.
Still feeling a little lazy, I realized that the pizzas without being huge were more than generously sized for one person and therefore decided against wedges, salad etc... A quick look at the box did warn me that my little Saturday night feast would amount to over 800 calories but I decided to ignore this!
14 minutes later and my daughter and I are happily tucking into our pizzas. My very fussy daughter pronounced it "yummy" after a couple of mouthfuls and I have to agree with her. The pizza was not over thin and if you like it really thin like they do in Italy then I suppose you could go for the " extra thin and crispy" one they do. The tomato base tasted fresh and not over spicy and as mentioned earlier the cheese covering was generous. I was very happy with the extra ham and peppers I added and felt there were many other toppings I could have popped on there to make it more exciting but to be honest, it would have tasted all right as it was.
I will definitely go back and keep a couple of those pizzas in my freezer for late nights and emergencies of if my kids have friends over. I don't think you could get anything better for £1! Thanks Dooyoo for a great tip! Read the complete review |
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Iceland Thin and Crispy Four Cheese Pizza
by ryeb
I decided to try a pizza from Iceland when a friend recommended them. She told me that they offered a good range, and cost only £1 each. What also appealed to me was the fact that they offered a vegetarian such as myself more choice of toppings than good old tomato and onion. I picked up a couple to try but the one that I am reviewing ... today is the "Thin and Crispy Four Cheese Pizza". I like both thick based pizzas and the thin crusted ones, providing they aren't so crispy they are in fact difficult to get your teeth into!
The four cheeses mentioned on the packet are mozzarella, red cheddar, Edam, and Monteray Jack. All of these are vegetarian versions which is very useful for me. If I make my own pizza, I have to be careful to use cheese that is in fact vegetarian. This can vary from brand to brand and worse still many are not labelled as veggie friendly even if further research reveals that they are. There isn't any additional vegetables used in the topping, but it is easy to add some if you want to. Apart from the cheese, the only other flavourings are the tomato sauce spread on the base and some herbs - garlic, oregano, paprika and pepper plus chilli oil. This is another reason the pizza appealed to me - the flavourings listed are what I would add to a pizza I made myself.
The pizza is frozen, and comes in a cardboard box, with an inner plastic shrink wrap style covering. The fact it is frozen means it has a long "shelf" life. It is a flat box too, so it is thankfully easy to store even in a crowded freezer such as mine. It doesn't need to defrost so it is very quick and simple to prepare. All you need to do is unwrap it and place it directly on the oven shelf. I have introduced these to my brother, who cooked his on a baking tray. He complained that the bases were always too soft. He switched to following the instructions, and dispensing with the tray and that made the world of difference. It is important for the heat to reach the pizza from all directions, I think. The cheese does melt as it cooks, as you would expect it to, which means that some occasonally drips on to the oven floor or shelves. I would rather this happen than have a less well topped pizza though!
I was not impressed with the amount of cheese I could see when I first opened the box. It looked a thin layer even if it was well spread out. Once it was cooked though, the cheese seems to double as it melts, and I was perfectly happy with the amount of topping in the end. It smells very cheesy too. I couldn't taste much Edam, but the other ones give plenty of flavour. The herbs aren't strong either, but as this is called a four cheese pizza, I am happy for the cheese to take the lead as regards taste. The tomato base is more obvious in taste and helps to add colour too. It isn't the most colourful of pizzas, despite the fact red cheddar has been used but I still think that a pizza coated with plenty of melted cheese looks rather appetising! The base really is both thin and crispy. It tastes really fresh, which surprised me as it is a frozen product. It holds the topping well, and is great to bite into because it isn't too hard or chewy. I love the contrast between the crust and the soft melting cheese on top. I also like the fact the cheese isn't stringy to the point it is hard to eat.
I usually share one pizza [335g], with 2-3 other people, with side dishes such as potato skins and wedges. It isn't huge but we all get a decent sized slice each. If we want more, the pizza is so cheap it doesn't matter. I have bought this pizza several times now, sometimes to use as is, sometimes as an easy base for vegeatble toppings such as mushroom and peppers.
I wuld definitely recommend that you give this pizza a try. It is really good quality in both taste and texture and it is amazing value at £1. I like to keep a pizza in my freezer for lazy cooking days, and this one from Iceland will definitely be my first choice! Read the complete review |
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Iceland Southern Fried Wedges
by katykicker
I am known to shop in Iceland from time to time, mainly because of their low prices and free delivery, and one of the items that is regularly on our list to stock up the freezer is these southern fried wedges. With a bag costing £1.00, or £1.25 on occasion in the past, I find these absolutely fantastic value for money.
These ... wedges come provided in a standard bag really, one of those stretch thick plastic types that can be torn open or simply cut to access the wedges within. These wedges just need to be poured on to a baking tray and then cooked for 20-25 minutes in the oven, well, that is how I cook them anyway. You can cook them under the grill or even fry them if you choose to but I just prefer the crunchy outside and soft inside that comes from oven cooking them.
These wedges are delicious when they are cooked and I tend to cook mine for around 25 minutes at about 200-210 degrees. I like to ensure that mine are extra fluffy and soft inside as I cannot stand hard potatoes in any form. These wedges have their skin on, like traditional wedges, and they have a southern fried coating on them. This coating gives them an orange kind of look but I like that about them as I know that they are coated even if my husband has cooked them instead of me. The skins on these wedges remain hard and the potato within is very fluffy, light and delicious. I love the slightly varying sizes of these wedges as they are not large and small all in one bag so the cooking of them is quite even.
Before we serve up our wedges we tend to leave them for a couple of minutes on a few sheets of kitchen towel to soak up some of the grease that tends to be released from these.
Overall we love these wedges, they are quite versatile and we use them with a number of dishes. In the past I have taken some of these (cooked first), added some pasta sauce or chopped tomatoes over the top, sprinkled on some dried herbs, chucked on some cubes of mozzarella and then grilled for a few minutes to give a delicious side dish with a difference. The gentle yet spicy flavouring of these wedges works very well for this and helps to lift the flavour of the potatoes and give them a real bite. Read the complete review |