Recipe for the day Paul Peacock

Traditional Ciabatta

For the starter - biga

150 g plain white flour
1/2 teaspoon dried active yeast
110 ml warm water

Put the yeast and half of the water in a small mixing bowl and mix in

Add the rest of the water and whisk in the flour, which is sieved into the bowl until a dough forms

Mix with your hands or a wooden spoon to get a very smooth dough

Cover and leave at room temperature for at least 8 hours (overnight will do)

For the main dough

1/2 level teaspoon of yeast as before

40 ml warm milk

2 tablespoons oil (olive or sunflower)

175 ml warm water

250 g strong bread flower

1 level teaspoon salt

Stir the yeast and milk together and cover - leave for 15 minutes

Combine the oil and water

Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl

Make a well and add the starter, the mild and yeast mixture and the water and oil

Stir well with a spoon or your hands

The mixture will be quite wet, knead for ten minutes in the bowl

Cover and leave to prove for 2 hours or until it has doubled in size

Folding the dough - keep it in the bowl and fold the end over backwards, rotate the bowl a little and repeat. Repeat this process about 8 times

Rest the dough for 20 minutes and then repeat

Flour a surface well and tip the dough out. It will be a little wet but don’t worry.
Shape the dough onto a large or 2 smaller loaves.

Fold the dough over on itself to form a rectangle and lay on baking paper and rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven with a baking tray inside to 220ºC, 450ºF, Gas 7

Place the bread along with the paper on the hot baking tray and bake for 35 - 45 minutes for a large one, 25 - 30 minutes for smaller ones

Test by hitting the bottom for a hollow sound

BBQ marinaded pork skewer kebabs

A simple dish served on rice, Can be as low fat as you like.

To make the marinade

1 dessert spoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
2 grated garlic cloves

Mix the ingredients together

Cut 400 g pork pieces into 1 cm strips and add to the marinade, coating all the meat

Leave overnight for the flavours to develop

To assemble the kebabs

Choose vegetables of your choice

8 Mushrooms
1 large red capsicum
1 courgettes
Pieces of onion, anything you enjoy and skewer together with the pork.

Tiy can then BBQ them, or griddle them.

Use the left over marinade to brush over the kebab whilst they cook.

Serve with a sauce made fro 3 tablespoons Hoi Sin sauce, 3 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon soy, heated together in a small pan.

Pour over the kebabs and onto a bed of boiled rice.

Of course you could serve with pitta and salad!

Ginger Loaf

Spices and Autumn (Fall) seem to go together. They are hibernation food, getting all cosy food. This ginger loaf just fits the bill.


You will need

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, 325ºF, Gas 3

200 g butter
1 1/2 tablespoons syrup

Melt these together and mix


Sieve together
180 g Self Raising flour
25 g wholemeal flour
1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
1 level teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk together
150 g soft brown sugar
3 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon of grated fresh ginger

Having whisked the eggs etc in a large bowl, whisk in half the flour

Then whick in the butter / sugar mix

Fold in the rest of the flour

Grease and line a loaf tin and pour the batter into it

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes

Test by using a skewer, giving an extra 5 minutes where necessary.

Mash the potato Sieve the flour and salt and mix
Add the egg and form a dough
Leave the dough to rest for a while and then cut off strips which are then rolled out to 1 cm sausage shapes
Cut each roll into 1 cm pieces
Cook in boiling, salted water – it takes 3 minutes for them to rise to the surface, when they are ready

For the sauce
You will need
Oil for roasting
15 small ripe tomatoes
4 garlic cloves peeled and halved
1/2 small red onion
1 teaspoon fresh origano (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
Salt and black pepper
400 ml passata
1 teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, 400ºF, Gas 6
Place 2 - 3 tablespoons oil into a roasting pan
Halve the tomatoes and garlic
Chop the onion finely
Add to the pan and coat with the oil, add salt and pepper
Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are browning
Transfer to a pan and on a low heat add the passata and herbs and simmer for 3 minutes - do not boil
Serve with the gnocchi

The taste of summer, though you can make these all the year round these days.

Makes 12 large cup cakes
150 g frozen (but defrosted) black cherries
50 g caster sugar
You can use up to 100g sugar depending on how sweet you like it

Bring both to the boil and then leave to cool in the pan

For the sponge

180 g butter
165 g soft brown sugar
1 tablespoon Greek Yoghurt
1.5 teaspoons almond extract
2 eggs
170 g self raising flour
30 g ground almons - stirred into the flour
2 - 3 tablespoons flaked almonds

Place 12 muffin cases into a 12 hole tin

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, 325ºF, Gas 3

Cream together the butter, sugar, yoghurt and almond extract

Sift 4 tablespoons of the flour and almond mixture over the creamed mix

Add the eggs, beaten together lightly, and beat into the mixture

Add the rest of the almond and flour mix and fold in

Share the mix equally into each of the muffin cases

Lightly swirl a teaspoon of the cherry mixture and sprinkle a few almonds on top

Bake for 18 minutes

Mushroom and Blue Cheese Pasta Sauce

A simply wonderful treat, well worth the expense of the best blue, and of course, the very short time it takes to make.

You need for 2 people

3 tablespoons oil + big knob of butter

10 chestnut mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

50 g Blue Stilton, crumbled

100 ml double cream

50 ml milk

Gran Padano or Parmesan


How to do it

Heat the oil and butter on a low to medium heat heat and fry the garlic and mushrooms until the juices run from the mushrooms - then cook for another minute.

Stir in the cheese

Add the milk and the cream and stir well over a low heat

Allow to bubble for a minute then turn off the heat.

Serve with pasta and top with grated Gran Padano or Parmesan