Recipe for the day Paul Peacock
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- Arts
A recipe each day to inspire and have a lot of fun in the process.
All the recipes are easy to make, and there are a few surprises along the way.
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Ciabatta
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 -
Marinade Pork Skewer Kebabs
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
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. -
Gnocchi with tomato sauce
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 -
Cherry Almond Cakes
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 -
Stilton and Mushroom Pasta sauce
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