Pizza

I like to make my own bread dough for pizza, it is ready in 30 minutes. It is a bit messy to make, but otherwise very easy. For best results, make the dough a few hours ahead and refrigerate until needed.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp of active yeast granules
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp oil
• 250 gm strong bread flour, type 00 if you can find it.
• pinch of salt

Method:
Place the yeast, oil and water in a bowl, whisk a little to dissolve the granules, and leave to stand for a while, at least 30 minutes. Sift the flour with the salt into the yeast mixture, a little at a time, and knead. A wet dough makes best results.
Knead with floury hands until you get a consistent dough that doesn't stick. Stand it in the bowl for 30 minutes. It is now ready to use. However, if you leave this in the refrigerator for 12-24h you will get a better fermentation and flavor in the pizza crust.

Roll out and place on a pizza pan or baking tray, cover with your favourite pizza topping and bake at 250°C for 10-12 minutes, until the edge leaves the sides of the tray. Serve hot with salad.

Any left over dough can be kept in the refrigerator for a day or so, or even frozen for later use.

To make a pizza:
Turn on the oven to its higher setting.
Roll out the dough onto a baking sheet. Cover with your selected toppings, bake for 10 minutes until browned and bubbling.

Pizza toppings
Classic Margarita pizza: Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, oregano,
Options: ham, chorizo, goat cheese, blue cheese, bacon, anchovies, black olives….

Peruvian Prawn Soup (Chupe)

This soup comes from Peru, and it is one of my favorites. The recipe was given to me by my mother in law who lived in Peru for some years. It is hot, spicy, creamy, and has prawns in it. Perfection.
It is very easy to make. It takes about 45 minutes of preparation once you have all the ingredients. It is perfect to serve at dinner parties because you can make it in the morning and then keep it in a cool place until required. If there is any left after the meal, it even tastes better the next day.
I always prepare more than what I think is sufficient, because guests will ask for second and even third servings.

For best results, make a good stock using the leftover heads and shells of grilled or barbecued prawns.

Serves 6

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 stick celery, chopped
• 1 small potato, peeled and cut into small dice
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 tbsp tomato concentrate
• 1 tsp chili flakes, or sweet paprika
• pinch of Saffron
• 1.5 Lt chicken of fish stock
• 600 grams of cooked prawns
• 300 ml coconut cream or evaporated milk
• 300 gr cooked corn
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 100 gr frozen peas
• 150 gm rice

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large pan and gently caramelize the onion and celery for 10 minutes. Add the potato dice, Saffron, garlic, chili and tomato concentrate; cook for 2 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add the condensed milk, corn, and rice; and cook for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked through.
Check the seasoning and add more salt, pepper or chili if necessary
Add the prawns, peas and the beaten eggs, stir the soup until the egg curdles and is starting to boil again.
Serve hot as a main course, with crusty bread and a fruity white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc.

Bread Dumplings

To use up leftover baguette or any other bread.
I have used it to go with a casserole, with roast chicken, and in a broth.

For the dumplings

• 200g/7oz stale baguette or other bread (crust included)
• handful chopped parsley
• 250ml/9oz milk
• pinch of nutmeg
• 5-6 leaves of Sage (optional, instead of parsley)
  
  
  salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 free-range egg
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• butter, for frying
  
  
  1. Cut the baguette into small cubes and place in a bowl. Add the parsley or Sage. Bring the milk to a boil and pour over. Stir so that the milk is absorbed evenly, then cover and leave for 15 minutes.
  2. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper, stir in the egg, and mix in one tablespoon flour. If the mix is too wet (it should be moist and only slightly sticky), add a second spoon of flour. Wet your hands a little to help stop the dough sticking to them, then make 12-14 dumplings (smaller than a golf ball).
     
     
     3-, heat a knob of butter in a large frying pan and fry the dumplings on a medium heat for five minutes or until golden-brown and crisp, then drain.
     
     
     4- Or cook them in the oven next to a roast
     5- Or shape into smaller balls and serve with broth

Tomato and chili Oil

A hot spicy dip to accompany roast meat or to simply serve with crusty bread, as an informal starter.

Ingredients:

4 tbs good olive oil
300 ml crushed tomato or passata
3 cloves of garlic
Chili flakes, to taste
1 dessertspoon of sugar
salt
pepper
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Peel and slice the garlic, gently heat the oil in a sauce pan and warm the garlic for 1 minute.
Add the rest of ingredients, cook over a gentle heat for 20-25 min. check the seasoning.

Remove the sauce from the heat.
Serve hot or warm, with bread.

Tartiflette savoyarde

Tartiflette Savoyarde

(French Gratin potatoes)

The name derives from the name tartiflette of potato Savoyard tartifles, a term also found in Provençal tartifles. The Savoyards first heard of the tartiflette when it arrived on the menus of restaurants in the ski stations, conveying an image of friendliness, authenticity, and soil of the mountain.

It is hard to find Reblochon outside France, so I often use Raclette cheese instead.

time 50 minutes plus potato cooking time.

yield  8 people, as a side dish 

category potatoes

cuisine France

ingredients 

• 1,2 kg de potatoes, 
• 200 gr de bacon lardons
• 1 onion (optional)
• 1 reblochon cheese
• 1 tub  crème fraiche
• 1 glass white wine (vin blanc de Savoie)

directions

1. Boil the potatoes whole, until cooked through. Drain and cut into thick slices. About 0.5cm.

2. Fry the onion, sliced, in a little butter, until pale and starting to brown

3. Add the lardons to the onion, fry for a minute or so, turn off heat

4. arrange the potatoes in a well buttered ovenproof dish, spoon over the onion and bacon mix. Stir the wine into the creme fraiche, pout over the potatoes. Season well with salt and pepper.

5. Slice the reblochon over the potatoes, (Alternatively, use raclette cheese) 

6. bake in a hot oven 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Steamed Ginger Pudding

Pudding ingredients

• 200gr all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 150gr sugar
• 200gr unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel

For pudding:
Coat inside and center tube of 6- to 8-cup pudding mold  generously with butter. Sift flour and next 6 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then marmalade, molasses and orange peel. Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Transfer batter to prepared mold. Cover mold tightly with foil.

Place steamer rack in large pot. Place pudding mold on rack. Fill pot with enough water to come halfway up sides of mold. Bring water to boil. Reduce heat to medium. Cover pot and steam pudding until tester inserted near center comes out clean, adding more boiling water as needed to maintain level, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Using oven mitts as aid, remove mold from pot. Uncover and let stand 10 minutes. Cut around top center and sides of pudding to loosen. Turn pudding out onto rack and cool 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool completely. Return to mold; cover and chill. Resteam 45 minutes to heat through, then turn out of mold.)

Transfer pudding to platter. Cut pudding into wedges; serve with Vanilla ice cream or cream.

Majorcan Vegetable pie

This recipe is very flexible and more than a recipe, it is a cooking method. Customize this dish to use up any vegetables in the refrigerator. (cauliflower, mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes, onion etc)

Ingredients for 4

• stale bread, 200 grams, sliced thinly.
• shredded cabbage, 300 grams
• garlic cloves, 2 
• tomato, 1 
• chopped parsley
• salt
• swiss chard or spinach, 200 grams
• green pepper, 2
• onion, 1 
• olive oil, 3 tablespoons
• paprika
• black pepper

1) Wash and chop all the vegetables. Shred the cabbage and spinach.

2) Heat the oil in a heavy pan, preferably an earthenware one. Stir fry the onion peppers for a few minutes until pale. Add the tomato and the rest of the vegetables. Season well with the salt, pepper, and paprika.

3) Add 200 ml vegetable stock, cover the pan and gently braise the vegetables for around 20 minutes until they are cooked through.

Turn the heat off, remove the vegetables and place in a bowl, leaving the juices at the bottom of the pan.

4) Place the slices of bread on the bottom of the pan, let them soak the stock, place the vegetable on top of the bread. Let the dish rest for 10 minutes or so. 

You can keep it warm in a moderate oven for 20-30 minutes.

Serving suggestion:

Serve in the same pan, as a starter

If intended as a main course, add fried eggs, pork or lamb chops, fried fish fillets.