Bread, onion & cabbage bake

Cabbage again. This is my typical veg for Autumn-Winter time, and apart from being filling, tasty and comforting it is also on the cheaper side.

I cooked this dish according to a recipe from my new favourite cookbook (well, didn't follow the exact quantities). This is something that my Polish soul fell in love with immediately, but I also came across Italian inspired recipe for soup using very similar ingredients. 

I prepared two versions, one vegan for myself and other with some extra bacon - for my hard working partner. This however is meat free version and you can adjust it accordingly to your preferences.

Swaps? Use kale or Swiss chard instead of a cabbage.

Extras by Hugh? A sharp cheese such as mature Cheddar or Gruyere sprinkled on each layer of bread would be nice addition and make this more filling.

Extras by me? Add fried bacon cubes to the cabbage or sprinkle the dish with bacon on a plate.

Serves 2-4

8 tbsp olive oil

3 medium onions, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 medium cabbage, quartered, core removed, cabbage shredded into about 1cm slices 

half French baguette, robust, good quality, stale (or sourdough bread) cut into about 2cm cubes

400mlhot vegetable stock

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onion in 4 tbsp olive oil on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Then add garlic, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Boil a bog pan of water, add some salt and the cabbage, cook for about 4 minutes, then drain and leave it to steam for a while. 

Place diced bread in a bowl and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat the oven to 180 C.

Layer the ingredients in an ovenproof dish starting with onion, then bread and cabbage. The number of layers depends on how deep your dish is, I only managed to get two layers of each ingredient. Make sure you top it up with layer of bread. Add little salt and pepper between each layer. pour the hot stock over the dish making sure the bread cubes on the top soak some of it. Cover with kitchen foil and place in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for further 15 minutes or until golden on the top and stock has nearly evaporated. Remove from the oven and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes, then divide into portions and serve.

Breakfast. Eggs, tomatoes, bread.

Good morning!

Eggs are such a classic thing for breakfast, aren't they? Bread first thing in the morning isn't something unusual too. Still this dish left me speechless. Yes, another recipe from my new cook book. Enjoy this lovely breakfast.

Serves 2

250g ripe tomatoes (cherry or regular ones)

3 tbsp olive oil

2-3 slices of your favourite bread 

2 eggs

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180 C. 

Line a baking tray with some baking paper. 

If you are using large tomatoes, cut them into wedges. I cut mine into halves and then each half into 3 pieces. If using cherry tomatoes, just cut them in half. Place onto a baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until they soften and start to caramelised on the edges.

Meanwhile tear or cut the bread into bite size pieces, place in a bowl and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Set aside.

After about 20 minutes remove the tomatoes from the oven and add the bread chunks. Return to the oven for about 7 minutes, until the bread starts to turn golden and crisp.

Then remove the dish from the oven and using a spatula or spoon form 2 hollows in amongst the tomatoes and bread. Break an egg into each hollow and return to the oven for max. 5 minutes. Whites should be set, but yolks still runny.

Remove from the oven, grind some salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Plus one? Add roughly torn chunks of mozzarella at the same time as eggs, letting them melt into the bread.

Enjoy it and have a lovely day!

Sourdough bread, olive oil, honey

I have a feeling not many of you have tried this combination, even I am sure most of you have all the ingredients at home all the time.

On Tuesday I have received bran new book called "Hugh's Three Good Things" by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I am going to write a review shortly, but first let me show you few recipes from this book that I have already tried. 

This was my Saturday's breakfast. Crunchy, sweet, salty and little bit sour.

few slices of good quality bread (preferably sourdough, I used wheat sourdough with a hint of rosemary)
good quality extra virgin olive oil (I used olive oil from Ginestra, with low acidity and scent of artichokes)
coarse sea salt or flaked salt
honey

Toast or grill bread to your liking.

Drizzle fairly generously with olive oil and leave for a minute to soak in.

Sprinkle with some salt.

Drizzle with some honey.

That's it. So little and so much. I died and found myself in heaven.

Hope you'll enjoy it, have a lovely Sunday!

My everyday bread. From starter to loaf.

I don't  consider myself a bread expert by no means but I finally decided to write about my everyday bread after I had some many requests from my guests. Most of them asked if recipe for the bread I served them can be found on my blog. So here it is. 

This is one of my easiest sourdough breads, requires little effort but little patience and time. I bake this bread at least three times a week and quite often I use different types of flour, just stick to the general quantities. Also I use a bread loaf that tin - a kind of spring form - the side bit comes off and bread can be easily lifted from a bottom when it is still hot.

How to make it? First you have to prepare the sour starter. This is a key to good sourdough bread and it’s worth taking some time to get it right. The older the starter is, the more regularly you feed it the stronger it gets. For some time I have been using rye starter only, but you can make it using wholemeal wheat flout too. I personally prefer the smell and taste of the bread made with rye starter. Also it is quite strong so it will lift those breads made with heavier types of flour such as wholemeal rye flour (dark, dense, sour breads).

Most of the bread books and experts recommend to measure the ingredients for sour starter. I don't think this is as much important, as long as you stick roughly to the proportions (similar amount of water to flour).  However if you are beginner I think it will be better if you measure the exact quantities. Looking after your starter on a regular basis will give you more experience and teach you that using a kitchen scale in not always necessary.

I would say that 5 days old starter is far too young to lift heave dough made with rye flour, so you may as well use little yeast or for a start make a white loaf. This is not always the case, as you have to remember that starter is very individual and living thing - some of then can be quite strong from a start and up for a challenge! 

Rye sour starter (as advised by Jeffrey Hamelman)

Day 1

100g wholemeal rye flour

100g water (natural, untreated, in room temperature)

Mix the water with flour in glass or plastic container. Cover with cloth and leave it in warm place (ideally 25C) for 24 hours.

Day 2

half of the mixture from day 1

50g wholemeal rye flour

50g water

Mix all of the above in glass or plastic container. Cover with cloth and leave it in warm place for 24 hours.

Day 3

100g of the mixture from day 2

100g wholemeal rye flour

100g water

Mix all of the above in glass or plastic container. Cover with cloth and leave it in warm place for 12 hours.

The same day, 12 hours later

100g of the mixture from earlier that day

100g wholemeal rye flour

100g water

Mix all of the above in glass or plastic container. Cover with cloth and leave it in warm place for 12 hours.

Day 4

100g of the mixture from earlier that day

100g wholemeal rye flour

100g water

Mix all of the above in glass or plastic container. Cover with cloth and leave it in warm place for 12 hours.

The same day, 12 hours later

100g of the mixture from earlier that day

100g wholemeal rye flour

100g water

Mix all of the above in glass or plastic container. Cover with cloth and leave it in warm place for 12 hours.

On day 5 starter should be ready to use. Store it refrigerated in airtight container and you have to feed it at least every two weeks. To do so remove from a fridge, bring to the room temperature and add the same amount of fresh water and flour - I don't use scale anymore, just add handful of flour and some water to bring it to the double cream like consistency. Leave it in room temperature for 4-8 hours, some young starters may require up to 12 hours to work. After this time it should start to work - bubble and lift little bit - it means it is active and ready to use. I feed my starter every 2-3 days, because I bake my bread quite often, but when I go on holiday I leave it in a fridge for 2-3 weeks and feed it immediately when I come back home. If you don't feed the starter it will die. (or shall I say go off)

I have been making this bread for a long time now and in last few months I learned how to make it without measuring the ingredients using a scale... because mine got broken and I never bought a new one since. You will learn with time how dough should look like, how much water require different types of flour and I am sure you will be liberated from using kitchen scales too.

I am big fan of using a stand mixer. Personally I think Kitchen Aid is great to do this job, especially when it comes to heavy rye dough, but any mixer with a hook will be good, also you can use your own hands - this will require a bit of strength and some more time. I use mixer because I never was a big fan of preparing the dough by hand, also I like to have spare time to do other things while the dough is getting ready. This is my personal choice, I know some people like to work with the dough themselves.

And one more thing I should probably mention. I make most of my breads in two (or three) distinct stages – first by incubating the starter and then adding this to the proper bread dough. The incubation is important because it allows the starter to grow and multiply in fresh flour and water and create what I call the sponge - this helps to rise the dough into a loaf.

Easy mixed sourdough bread

Phase one - the sponge

about 100g wholemeal wheat, or wholemeal spelt or wholemeal rye flour

5 tbsp active starter

about 100g water

Mix all of the above in a plastic bowl, cover with clean cloth  and leave it in room temperature for about 10-16 hours. It should lift little bit and become airy.

 Phase two - the loaf 

about 150g wholemeal wheat, or wholemeal spelt or wholemeal rye flour

about 350g white strong (bread) flour

about 300-350g water (you have to adjust this - different types of flour will require different amount of water)

7-10g salt

optionally - few tbsp of seeds such as linseed, sunflower or pumpkin seeds

Place the flour on a bowl, add the sponge, seeds and about half of the water, then start to mix. When mixing add the remaining water, not all at once - you may have to adjust the amount of water. The dough should be quite flexible, bit sticky, not too dry but not too wet - you should be able to lift it with wet hands and stretch it a bit. When using mixer it should take about 7 minut, by hands - 10 to 12 minutes.

Next turn the mixer off and leave the dough in the bowl, sprinkle with salt and leave to rest for about 10 minutes. Next knead the dough another 3 minutes using mixer, or 5 minutes if using hands. 

Oil the loaf tin with little sunflower (or other neutral oil) and sprinkle with some oat bran - this will help to develop crust and help to remove the loaf from a tin after baking. Remove the dough from a bowl with your wet hands and stretch, then fold like an envelope. Place seal side down in prepared tin. Optionally sprinkle with some more oat bran, cover with clean cloth and leave it for about 8-12 hours in room temperature. (my starter is mature and strong, and on hot day it only needs about 5 hours to rise the dough).

When bread is risen heat the oven to 250 C. Place the tin in oven and immediately spray with some water (I use flower spray). Bake for about 5 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 220 C and bake for further 30 minutes. If the crust is getting too dark cover the loaf with some kitchen foil.

Remove form the oven and leave it to cool down for few minutes, then remove from a tin and leave it to cool down completely - on a wire rack. Tip - you know the bread is ready when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Enjoy your homemade sourdough loaf!

I fight my demons, vol. 4

Knödel or semmel knödel (Germany and Austria), knedlík (Czech Republic) or knedel (Poland). This round, poached potato or bread dumpling (made without yeast) was giving me a right headache for a long time. I love this kind of food, not so keen on making it though. I was afraid something will go wrong, as I only had a general directions from one of my knedel guru I met on internet culinary forum. It probably took me more than two years to prepare mentally before I got round to make my own. Silly me. This wasn't difficult at all. The main thing is not to make the dough too wet, because it will be difficult to form the dumplings and adding more flour will make them too dense and unpleasant. These are even more delicious when reheated next day.

So my next culinary demon is officially defeated now and bread dumplings are going to be on my menu more often.  I am sorry about not posting an exact recipe for the bread knödel, you have to work your own quantities, as they may vary - depending on what bread you use. I only give you general directions for the dumplings but exact recipes for my pork goulash and beets that work so well with knedel. 

So you definitely need some stale bread, preferably rustic baguette or some good quality crusty bread. No cotton wool like sliced supermarket bread - forget about it! I used three ciabatta rolls and one large white homemade bread rolls - all 2-3 days old. Dice the bread and place in a bowl. Fry one diced onion in a little butter until soft. Add to the bread together with approximately one cup of milk mixed with two eggs, add lots of chopped fresh parsley, season with salt and pepper, optionally add some dried marjoram. Mix it with your hands, leave it to soak for about 30 minutes. Next add 2-3 tbsp of all purpose flour and  mix again with your hands. If you found the mixture too loose and too wet to form the dumplings add some breadcrumbs or some more diced bread - never add more flour. I ended up with 16 dumplings of a size roughly about a tennis ball.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and using wet hands form dumplings about size of a tennis ball and add to the boiling water. Don't shake the pan, leave it, until they start to flow on the surface. From this moment boil them for about 10-12 minutes, then remove with slotted spoon. The bigger dumplings are the longer you have to cook them.

We had them with simple pork goulash and some beets cooked with orange juice. If you are not afraid of gherkins in salty brine called ogórki kiszone (as some people are, as they think they too sour or even gone off), popular in Central and Eastern Europe give them a go with dumplings and meat - they work perfectly well together. 

Pork shoulder goulash 

Serves 4

3 tbsp sunflower oil

about 800g diced pork shoulder
few tbsp all purpose flour

some salt

some freshly ground black pepper

1 onion, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 

3 tbsp sweet paprika

pinch of chilli powder

about  800ml vegetable or chicken stock, or lager or water

2 anchovies (optionally, I used them, because I had some leftovers)

small handful of dried marjoram

Place flour with some salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the meat and shake so it is covered with flour. Shake the excess of the flour and fry the meat in batches in a pan with sunflower oil. Do not overcrowd the pan, do it in 3-4 batches. Remove the meat from a pan and set aside.

Heat the remaining sunflower oil in a pan and add the onion. Fry for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and fry for minute or so. Next add the paprika and the chilli and fry for a minute or so before adding the meat and any juices released when it was resting. Stir, add anchovies if used, stock or lager, marjoram, bring to the boil, low the heat to simmer, cover and cook fro about 1 hour.

Beetroots (roasted and finished with orange juice)

Serves 2

4-5 medium beets, washed and unpeeled
1 tbsp sunflower oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
juice of one fresh orange 
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
1 tbsp butter

Heat the oven to 180 C. Place beets onto a baking tray lined with some kitchen foil, drizzle with sunflower oil, sprinkle with salt and roast until soft. Remove from the oven, leave it to cool down slightly, then peel and grate on a coarse grater.

Heat the orange juice in a pan and boil until slightly reduced. Add the grated beets, butter, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and cook for about 3 minutes.

Serve dumplings with goulash and beets on the side sprinkled with some chopped fresh parsley. To reheat the dumplings next day simply add them to the gravy and simmer for 5 minutes, or slice and fry in a pan with some butter.

Bread & butter pudding with rhubarb carpaccio

Do you like recipes using stale bread? I love them. I am sure I don't have to introduce good old bread & butter pudding to anyone. This is so comforting, home cooked pud, perhaps not very good looking but certainly very tasty. I don't mind bread & butter pudding bakes in big dish and scooped out, however this time I wanted to make something looking more elegant.

I usually bake this pudding using some leftover baguette, challah bread or croissant. I like to leave the crust on because it gives pudding another texture and it seems more interesting than pudding made with no crust bread. I don't normally make it using any jam or marmalade but I like to put some brandy or whisky or dark chocolate chips in more posh version.

Today I will show you my recent experiment - I wanted to have one of my favourite puds with rhubarb but not with rhubarb compote. So I found this lovely rhubarb carpaccio in "From Nature to Plate" by Tom Kitchin. It was served with completely different dessert and I have also changed the recipe for the carpaccio slightly because when I first followed it by word it turned out not exactly how I expected (too hard). 

I have to say I was really pleased with the outcome - better looking bread and butter pudding. I served it with some rhubarb syrup, real vanilla ice cream and fresh thyme.

Serves 4 

(I used small tea loaf baking tins, each one a hand size)

Carpaccio:

1 large rhubarb stalk (or two smaller)

about 400ml water
about 250ml caster sugar
juice and zest of half lemon

Chop the rhubarb in about 10cm pieces and then using a mandoline slice it into about 2mm ribbons. 

Place the sugar in a pan together with water and lemon juice and zest. Bring it to the boil and place the rhubarb ribbons in it. Again bring to the boil and remove from the heat immediately. Leave it in the syrup for about 5 minutes. Then very gently remove the ribbons from the syrup and place them on the serving plates. I recommend to boil more ribbons than you actually need, because they are very gentle and can disintegrate easily, so it is better to have spare ones just in case.

Boil the strained syrup until thickens little bit.

Pudding:

about 12-16 slices of baguette, about 0.5cm each

about 30g unsalted butter
handful of dried currants
some brandy  (few tablespoon just to soak the fruit)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
300ml double cream
200ml milk (at least semi skimmed, but full is better)
40g caster sugar 

Ideally one day ahead soak the currants in the brandy, or at least 2 hour before baking.

Line the baking tray with little butter and butter all the bread slices, then arrange them in the baking trays in few layers. Sprinkle some currants between each layer and if you have some brandy left from soaking drizzle it in the top.

In a mixing bowl mix the eggs withe the egg yolks and the sugar and beat (I used balloon whisker) until fluffy. Add the cream, milk, and mix well. Pour the mixture over the layered bread and leave it to soak for about 20 minutes. you may find out that this is too much of the mixture and the bread will not take everything, depends on the type of bread you use, so either use less of the mixture or you may end up with pudding with some sweet scrambled eggs on the sides. I don't mind this, but I understand this could be an issue to some people. 

Heat the oven to 180 C. Place small tins in one large baking dish and fill it with hot water (about 3/4 of the tins height). Cover with some kitchen foil - this will prevent the top coat from becoming crispy (it will end up at the bottom, as you serve it upside down), unless you want this bit to have crispy texture. Bake for about 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven, leave it to cool down little bit and remove the puddings from the tins.
  
To serve:

real vanilla ice cream (I use Brymor) 

some fresh thyme leaves

Place the puddings upside down on the rhubarb carpaccio and if you have any carpaccio left you can trim it and cover the top as well. Next drizzle with some warm rhubarb syrup, using two spoons form good looking ice cream scoop and place it on the top. Sprinkle with some thyme leaves and serve immediately. 

Chicken liver parfaits & best brioche ever

This is one of my favourite things - creamy, almost velvety chicken liver parfait made with a cheap ingredient but almost luxurious. This makes quite elegant (tasty for sure) starter or light lunch, and I definitely recommend a slice or two of brioche to go with this. It has ridiculous amount of butter, almost enough to make you teeth slide on this, but without any doubt this is the best brioche I have made. This recipe by Michel Roux was recommended to my by a friend of mine and after making this brioche I will never look back. I have added some semolina, that did not appear in the original recipe, just to line my tin with something - it is not the best quality equipment so I was little bit concerned that the brioche will not come out easily. The parfaits go well with some cocktail gherkins too.  

Chicken liver parfaits 

Serves 6-10

450g chicken livers, trimmed  
150g butter, plus 50g for the top of the parfaits
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
leaves picked from 2-3 springs of fresh thyme
splash of brandy
2 tbsp double cream ( I used extra thick, 50.5% of fat)
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
salt
freshly grated black pepper

Heat about 30g of the butter in a large frying pan and gently fry the shallots until soft. Add garlic, thyme leaves (save about tsp for topping the parfait) fry for about one minute or so and turn the heat up.

Add the trimmed livers to the pan with the garlic, shallot and thyme and fry on both sides for about 5 minutes. There should not be any blood coming out. Add the nutmeg, cloves and a splash of brandy. Keep on the heat until the brandy evaporates little bit. Remove from the heat and set aside. Let them cool down little bit.

Next tip the livers into a food processor and whizz to a paste, then whizz in the remaining butter and cream. Push the mixture through a sieve - this is boring, but takes about 2 minutes and it is certainly worth for a really velvety texture. Season well with salt and pepper. Divide the mixture between 6 small ramekins and smooth the surface.

Melt the final 50g butter in a pan and let the milk solids settle to the bottom. Place the remaining thyme leaves in the pan and let it infuse for few minutes. Next making sure you skip the milk solids pour a little butter over each ramekin. Chill to set.

To serve, bring the parfaits up to room temperature and you have to serve it with toasted slice of best brioche ever.

Best Brioche EVER 

makes small bread tin

35 ml lukewarm milk
7.5 g fresh yeast  (or 3.5g dry active or 4g instant)
250g all purpose flour
half tsp salt
3 eggs
175g soft butter
1 tbsp caster sugar

some more butter, for a tin
some semolina
beaten egg, optionally

Place the yeast and the milk in a mixing bowl and leave them for few minutes. Next mix them with the flour , salt and eggs until you have quite firm, elastic dough.

Meanwhile using a hand mixer beat the sugar with the butter and next add spoon by spoon of this buttery cream to the dough and mix all the time on a low speed. When last spoon of butter dis incorporated  mix for a little while on the higher speed, then cover the dough with a clean cloth and leave it to prove. It will take about 2-4 hours in a room temperature however I left it in the cold kitchen overnight. After first proving remove some air bubbles but do not be tempted to do this with a punch like with most breads - this dough is too sticky. Use spatula to remove some air. At this stage the dough can be moulded to the shape you like (individual brioches or one brioche in a tin).

Prepare the tin - butter is and sprinkle with little semolina, then shake the excess of semolina.  Place the dough in the tin and cover with a cling film. Leave it to prove again - I left mine in a fridge for whole day and removed from a fridge for about one hour before baking. It can be kept in a fridge up to 24 hours.

Heat the oven to 180C (fan). Brush with some beaten egg for a shiny finish. At this stage you can make a cut in the brioche to prevent the cracking, I was afraid that it will collapse when I do so, so I skipped cutting and my brioche did not crack too much. Bake until golden and the wooden toothpick comes out of it clean.

Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for few minutes and then remove it from a tin to a wire rack and leave it to cool down completely before slicing. Toast before serving but be careful - due to a high content of butter it burns easily, so watch the toaster.

World Bread Day - Onion, bacon & thyme fougasse

This year, first time I decided to take part in "World Bread Day". For this special occasion I baked French bread that I have done some many times before however never tried the version with meat. I baked fougasse with different herbs and cheese but this time I decided to go for bacon version. I hope that the vegetarians will forgive me this time and bake it omitting the bacon - the onion version must be as delicious. This bacon, onion and thyme fougasse bread traditionally shaped as a leaf is a great treat during this Autumn weekend.

Makes 2 loaves

500g strong white flour
7g sachet fast-action yeast
300ml water
4 tbsp olive oil + 1 for frying + 2 for brushing
1 tsp salt
1 large onion , peeled and finely chopped
3 rashers back bacon, sliced into thin strips or cubed
1 tsp thyme leaves

Mix 250g of the flour with all the yeast and approx 150ml water in a bowl, and beat together into a thick batter for 3 minutes. Leave to rise for about 2 hours. It should fall slightly after this time. Then add the rest of the flour, salt, water and oil, and mix well. When using your hands turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead to a smooth dough. Otherwise use stand mixer. Dough should be quite sticky. Leave it in the bowl to rise for a further 2-3 hours, or like me - overnight in a cool place, covered with cloth.

Next day I fired the onion in the tablespoon of olive oil until soft and slightly browned adding thyme half way trough and placed in a bowl. On the same frying pan fry the bacon until browned, I did not use any extra fat. Set aside to cool down.

Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Knock back the dough, then knead to incorporate the onion and bacon - this can be quite tricky as the onions and bacon are covered in fat, however after minute or so they should incorporate into the dough. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, place each onto a baking tray and use a rolling pin to flatten out each piece to about 2cm high, then using your hands shape roughly into a leaf shape. Using a sharp knife cut three diagonal slashes right through the dough down each side and two down the middle to form the shape of a leaf. Brush with olive oil, cover with a piece of cling film, and leave for a further hour to prove.

Heat oven to 210C (fan) and bake the loaves for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Cinnamon & Sultana Swirl Bread

To fight first signs of autumn depression it is good to have something tasty for breakfast on really wet and dull morning. I have made this bread for a first time and it turned out to be too much for two if us, therefore I decided to share this little ray of sunshine with David and his wife who live nearby. They appreciate good food and I thought it would be nice to have a slice of this bread with hot tea when he gets back from a shooting day. I love to share these little nice things with other people.

I found this recipe on The Kitchn website and I have changed it slightly. I used brown sugar instead of the white, sultanas instead of raisins and soaked them in the dessert wine instead of water.

Makes 2 loaves

Dough:

1 cup sultanas
some dessert wine, enough to cover the sultanas 
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour


Filling:

3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons warm water


Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with warm wine (or water if you follow the original recipe). Let the raisins plump for at least 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to dry.

Pour a cup of water into the bowl of a standing mixer or large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over top. Give it a few minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast into the water. Stir the milk, melted butter, and salt into the water. Gradually add the flour, one tablspoon at time and mi to form a dough. Knead in your mixer on low speed with a dough hook or knead by hand for 8-10 minutes to form a smooth, slightly tacky dough. The dough is ready when it forms a ball without sagging and quickly springs back when poked.

Toss the raisins with a few tablespoons of flour to absorb any residual moisture from when they were plumped. With the mixer on gradually add them to the bowl and continue kneading until they are evenly distributed.

Next cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and beat together the egg and water in a second bowl.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll each part of the dough out on the working surface. It should be slightly less wide than your baking pan and as long as you can make it. The thinner the dough, the more layers of cinnamon swirl you'll end up with.

Brush the entire surface of the dough with egg wash, leaving about two inches clear at the top. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar and save little bit for later. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough. When you get to the top, pinch the seam closed. Transfer the loaf to your loaf pan seam-side down.

Let the loaves rise 30-40 minutes, I left mine for 30 minutes and it was slighlty too short, the bread cracked on one side during the baking.

Brush the top with some of the remaining egg wash and sprinkle some of your remaining cinnamon sugar over the tops of the loaves as well. Bake in 180 C (fan) for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool completely before slicing. I love to toast it and spred some butter over the bread. Baked loaves can also be frozen for up to three months.

Fresh tomato soup with bread, salami and pecorino

Once I read about a tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes on one of the Polish foodies blog. One of the comments was quite rough stating that the soup looks disgusting. Well, thought to myself, it is time to teach young generation who probably seen tomato soup out of a tin only that this is how real tomato soup looks like.   

According to my taste there is no better tomato soup than the one made with fresh, ripe, sweet tomatoes, therefore I had to make one when I was in Ginestra. Especially I gave Anna Maria a piece of the Wensleydale Cheddar in colourful wax and to say thank you she brought me full bag of her home grown tomatoes. Besides we had some old bread and some sausages to utilise, so I decide to experiment little bit.

This soup was beautiful cold or hot. I am really sorry for not giving the exact quantities, but the general idea only. You have to work it out accordingly to your taste.

 

Makes big pan


few small sausages, salami like, sliced

generous splash of olive oil from Gina  

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

2 peperoncino peppers, crushed

one big colander filled with ripe, sweet tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped  

about 1.2l vegetable stock (I cooked mine with carrots, celeriac, onion, garlic, whole peppercorns, little olive oil salt and pepper)

stale bread, diced

salt

freshly ground black pepper 

freshly grated pecorino cheese  

In a big pan fry the bread in the olive oil until crispy, then remove from the pan and set aside. Add the sausages to the pan and fry until the fat is released. Add garlic, peperoncino, fry for a minute or so and add the tomatoes. After few minutes add the vegetable stock, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Serve with bread croutons, drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled with pecorino cheese.

 

Sweet & sour bread salad

Anchovies and bread. Not too much, huh? Yes it may seem a little, but it was enough to take an ordinary vegetable salad to new, exciting level. Perhaps I should start form the beginning…

When I first saw “Two Greedy Italians” series and then I read the book I paid a special attention to  he dishes coming from la cucina povera, created by the poverty. They are simple, seasonal, using locally sourced ingredients, quite often using bread (stale, so it did not go to waste), as it was relatively cheap and widely available. It also feels up easily. One of the classic dishes of la cucina povera is panzanella - a salad made from stale bread, tomatoes, oil and vinegar. Sometimes people add some basil and onion, however less is more in this case.

In the book I have found a recipe for a salad inspired by classic panzanella. Contaldo used more vegetables and made this sweet and sour twist on this classic dish. I have fallen in love when I saw this on TV, but the outcome was even better that I would have ever expected. Lets be honest – with this number of ingredients it is not longer la cucina povera, but you have to admit the influence is quite strong.

The original recipe used double baked bread called frasella (or freselle, frisedde, fresedde, frise). If you do not have it you can use decent country style, sourdough bread, that you have to bake or toast.

 
Serves 2

1 small carrot, peeled, cut into matchsticks (julienne)

2 pieces of  celery, as above

50ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

2 anchovy fillets

1 shallots, peeled and finely sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

½ red pepper, seeds removed, cut into matchsticks (julienne)

½ yellow pepper, as above

½ aubergine,as above

1 small courgette, as above

2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only ( I used lemon thyme)

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

salt 

freshly ground black pepper

piece of country bread, toasted

handful basil leaves

Blanch the carrot and celery strips in a pan of boiling salted water for three minutes. Drain, place in cool water for few minutes, to prevent further cooking, drain again and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large lidded frying pan and stir in the anchovies. Cook until they have almost dissolved into the oil. Add the shallot and garlic and fry until softened.

Add the peppers, aubergine and courgette strips and continue to cook for a further 2-3 minutes, then stir in the thyme leaves, sugar and vinegar, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Carefully add the blanched carrot and celery to the pan and cook for five minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Break the country bread slices into bite-sized pieces and arrange half of the bread on a plate. Top with the vegetables, scatter over the basil leaves, the remaning bread and drizzle with a little oil. Serve warm or cold.

Pancotto - Italian bread soup

Probably every nation have their own way to use a stale bread. In Poland the region I come from have it's own - a soup made with bread cubes, garlic, some lard and hot water. It is very poor and not my favourite unless it is made in more expensive version - with stock and croutons fried in butter.

However my mate who spends quite a lot time in her house in Italy (in Sabina) gave me this recipe for bread soup that I fell in love immediately. It is fantastic as you can use different cheese each time and end up with completely different taste. Also it is up to you if you want to add more bread crumbs to make it thicker.

It is great for autumn and winter, served hot, this amount of garlic, chilli and fresh parsley will keep any colds away from you, but it tastes great when tepid when the temperature outside is little bit higher.


Makes 2-3

piece of stale, good quality bread (I used sourdough baguette, it is important to have good quality bread otherwise it will become mash like when cooked), about 6-8 1cm slices
generous splash of good quality olive oil (bread should be easily covered with it)
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
big handful of fresh parsley
1 finger length red chilli
2-3 tbsp grated parmesan, grana padano or pecorino cheese
about 1l vegetable stock

Heat the oil in a pan.

Process the bread until you have coarse bread crumbs.

Finely chop the garlic, chilli and most of the parsley.

In the pan fry the bread crumbs for few minutes, stirring then add garlic, chilli and parsley and fry for another 2 minutes. Bread crumbs should be golden and crispy.

Add hot stock and simmer over a low heat for about 5 minutes.

Serve in the bowls sprinkled with some cheese and the remaining chopped parsley.


P.S. Thank you for your patience - I have come back from my short break in Poland and hope to publish on more regular basis now.

Goats' cheese & vegetable melts

Like I mentioned few das ago I like goats' cheese a lot. If you like goats' cheese to please check out this lovely caramelised onion.

Today I am going to show a different way to have a goats' cheese which I love, as it is simple, tasty and you can have a half job done in advance. I like to make more vegetables and store them in a plastic container in a fridge and just reheat them slightly in a microwave when I fancy this melt. They will last few days refrigerated and preparation is only a matter of minutes.

It is ideal to have with glass of your favourite wine, you can serve it as a lunch, light supper or a starter.


red bell pepper, cut into bite size chunks
small courgette, cut into bite size chunks
small aubergine, cut into bite size chunks
tbsp olive oil
handful of fresh thyme
few slices of goats cheese
few slices of good quality bread, one-two days old (I used sourdough bread with olives and sun dried tomatoes)
2 garlic cloves
few sun dried tomatoes from olive oil
freshly ground back pepper
salt

Preheat a pan/skillet and add the olive oil. Next add peppers, courgettes, aubergine and picked thyme leaves. Fry until al-dente, stirring from time to time making sure the vegetables are not browning too much. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Using a food processor or pestle and mortar mash sun dried tomatoes and garlic until smooth.

Place bread slices on a baking tray and put into the oven for 3 minutes.

Spread tomato paste on the bread slices, top with vegetables and slice of cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted.

Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh thyme. Serve warm.

Hummus, flatbreads & review

As I mentioned few days ago I had the opportunity to test Kenwood Compact FP120 Food Processor (1.4 Litre). I use to have a proper, big machine, with an extra jug but it broke down twice and did not want it again. This is the reason why I have decided to get smaller one. I do not need a food processor to make the dough, as I use bread machine and I am happy with it. I do not need a jug, as I use a hand liquidizer. I needed new food processor to make bread crumbs, hummus or other dips, grating and slicing. I am extremely happy with my Kenwood mini chopper which I bought over a year ago and use it on everyday basis and it is still working fine, so I decided to get one of their food processors, but the compact one.

It comes with a blade, spatula, coarse grating and slicing attachment, whisker and a citrus press. There is only one thing that I will possibly miss – a fine slice and grate disk. It is dishwasher safe and it has a non slip feet. One speed and pulse work great for me.

I have used it for grating and slicing the veg and making hummus so far and all was working fine.

If you are used to bigger, better machines you will probably be disappointed but I think it is a little gem in the kitchen – cheap but cheerful, small, not too heavy and it takes up very little room on the work surface and storage. You should not expect it to do the same job as the more expensive options - clearly this is not for heavy duty work, but for small amounts it works fine. It is ideal for cooking for two. Possibly would be too small for family of four or more.

***

Now I tell you how we made ourselves feel like on Mediterranean Sea holiday again in the middle of Yorkshire. I am extremly happy with the weather in June, except from few days of rain we had really nice and warm days so far.

All we needed was a patio set, good wine and simple to make and tasty food to enjoy our evening. Especially we have a lot of fresh herbs in a huge clay pot and some lavender in the patio, so we did not need anything else. Perhaps we missed a warm sea breeze.




Basic hummus (quick version)

Serves 2-4

400g tinned chickpea, drained
tbsp tahini paste (I used dark one)
juice of one lemon
garlic clove (optional)
olive oil
chilli powder (optional)
salt

Place the chickpea, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt in a food processor and blend until thoroughly mixed and smooth at the same adding some olive oil to make it nice and smooth. If you prefer low fat option use some water from a tinned chickpea, but surely a good quality olive oil makes real, tasty hummus.

Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the hummus. Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well and sprinkle with chilli powder (optional). You can also garnish with some fresh herbs.

We had it with some homemade flatbread (Nigella Lawson’s recipe from “How to be a domestic goddess”), olives stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and some Spanish wine. Lots of wine… Isn’t a perfect dinner on a lovely summer night?




Flatbreads

Makes 6

For the dough:

500g strong white bread flour
7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 tbsp olive oil
approximately 300ml warm water

For the glaze:

1 large egg (I skip the egg)
1 tsp water
1 tsp plain yoghurt
nigella seeds to sprinkle


Place all the ingredients in a bread machine and use the “dough” programme. If you do not use the machine, combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl and make a well. Dollop the yoghurt and oil into a jug and add warm water. Give a quick beat with a fork to combine, then pour this liquid into the dry ingredients, and mix with your hands or a wooden spoon, adding more liquid as needed, to form a firm but soft dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and start kneading. Add more flour as needed until you have got smooth and elastic dough. Form the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film or clean cloth and leave to rise for about an hour or so, until doubled in size. Remove the dough from the bowl or machine, punch down.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Form each of these 6 little pieces into an egg-shape and, one by one, roll them out to make them flat. Place on baking tray lined with some baking paper, cover with tea towel and leave to prove for 20 minutes, until puffy. Preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Beat the egg with the water and yoghurt – sometimes I skip the egg and use water and yoghurt only. Using a pastry brush, paint this over the breads. Sprinkle on the nigella seeds and bake in the hot oven for 8–10 minutes - the flatbreads should be golden.

Remove them from the oven and wrap immediately with a tea towel so that these breads do not dry up and get too crusty.

These are also beautiful next day reheated under a hot grill.

Challah bread

Challah bread is know as a traditional Jewish bread eaten on Shabbat, but also a traditional bread in numerous European countries, such as Poland among local non-Jewish peasant populations. It is quite popular in Poland and we call it chałka, plecionka, or kukiełka. It goes very well with homemade jams such as this rhubarb jam, which I have made few days ago. Perhaps you will be surprised but it actually tastes really nice with some dry cured ham such as Parma or Serrano ham.

This is a compilation of few recipes that I have used before and none of them was perfect (according to my taste) so I created my own.

Challah bread

Makes 2

600g plain flour + about 100g extra
80g caster sugar
80g unsalted butter
300ml milk
3 eggs
tsp of vanilla extract
level tsp of salt
7g dried fast action yeast
sesame seeds or poppy seeds for decoration


Warm the milk together with the butter until it is melted. Set aside to cool down slightly.

Lightly beat two eggs and one egg yolk saving one egg white for later. Add beaten eggs, vanilla extract to the milk with butter and place in the bread machine or artisan mixer. If using your hand add it to a large bowl.

Next add to the machine/mixer/bowl 600g of flour mixed with all sugar and salt and add the yeast. I used bread machine so only pressed the dough programme, if using mixer or hands mix until dough is ball shaped and for few minutes afterwards and if it is too sticky you have to add some more flour. The dough should be not too sticky and quite flexible.

Place in a bowl cover with clean tea towel and leave it to rise until doubled in size. (45-90 minutes, depends on temperature). If using a bread machine you do not have to do anything until the programme ends.

Remove from a bowl, place on a lightly floured surface and by punching release the air out of the dough. Divide into two equal balls, and each into 6 pieces. Now, you have to watch this tutorial– is shows clearly how to braid 6 strand challah.

Place both bread on the baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with clean cloth and leave it for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 C.

Gentle brush the bread with the egg white and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, or using you fingers press some seeds to each section of bread, like shown in the tutorial.

Bake for about 30 minutes and cover with some kitchen foil if it goes too brown during the baking.

Olive & rosemary bread rolls

Makes 10-12

Pre-ferment

175g white bread (strong) flour
150g water
level tsp of dried active yeast

Mix all the above in a bowl, cover with kitchen foil or cling film and leave it in a room temperature for about 12 hours (up to 16 hours).

Final dough

whole pre-ferment
300g white bread flour
100g wholemeal bread flour (you can use white bread flour only - 400g)
200-250g water
level tsp of dried active yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
tbsp salt

In a bowl mix pre-ferment, flour, yeast, 2 tbsp olive oil, rosemary and add water but not all at once - some flours take more water than others. Mix well until the dough is formed - it should be flexible and not too sticky. Leave it for about 30 minutes, then sprinkle with salt and knead the dough for minute or two. Place in a bowl oiled with 1 tbsp olive oil, cover with clean tea towel and leave it to rise until doubled in size. (45-90 minutes, depends on temperature)

Remove from a bowl, place on a lightly fluored surface and by punching release the air out of the dough. Divide into 10-12 equal pieces and form rolls. To see how to shape bread rolls click here.

Place them on a baking tray, lined with baking paper, cover with clean tea towel and leave them to rise for about 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 250 C and on the bottom of the oven place an ovenproof dish filled with water - it will create some steam inside and it is crucial to making a crust. Place the rolls in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Leave it to cool down on the rack.

No-knead bread

From "The New York Times". To see how easy is to make this bread watch this short film.

Makes 1 loaf, about 0.7kg

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (I use 2 cups of white and 1 of wholemeal bread flour)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
oat bran (or any bran) and mixed seeds (optional)

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add water and stir until blended - using your hands or wooden spoon - dough will be sticky. Cover bowl with cling film. Leave it to rest at least 12 hours or longer (up to 18 hours) at room temperature.

Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it, sprinkle with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice like folding into an envelope. Next shape into a ball and place on dough seam side down on tea towel dusted with more flour, bran and seeds. Place in prooving basket or clean bowl and leave it to rise for about 2 hours or until it doubled in size.

At least a half an hour before dough is ready, heat oven as much as you can (I heat the oven to 250 C). Put a heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.

When dough is ready, remove hot pot from the oven, slide your hands under towel, remove it gently from a basket or bowl and turn it over into pot. You can cscore the top across few times with sharp knife or razor blade. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is browned. Remove from the pot and cool on a rack.

Onion buns from Lublin

Makes 8

350g strong bread flour
150g strong wholemeal bread flour (you can use 500g white flour only, but in my opinion adding wholemeal flour gives buns a nice texture)
7g instant yeast
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp melted butter
approx. 300ml lukewarm water


Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add the butter and water and knead for few minutes with hands (or use stand mixer), or put them in a bread machine and use “dough” program. Dough should be firm and quite flexible. If using mixer or hand put the dough in slightly oiled bowl and cover with clean cloth. Leave it to rise in warm, draft – free place until it has doubled in size. If you are using bread machine, you don’t have to do anything until “dough” program ends.

Prepare the filling:

4 large onions, peeled and roughly diced
3 tbsp black poppy seeds
approx. 30 g butter
caraway or fennel seeds (optional)

Fry the onions in butter over a low heat, until tender. Mix with poppy seeds and some fennel or caraway seeds, accordingly to your taste. Leave it to cool slightly.

Place the risen dough on to a lightly floured, flat surface and knead for five minutes to release the air from it. Divide into 8 equal balls and using your hands flatten each one into a circle. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, add some onion filling in the middle of each one, cover with clean cloth and leave to rise at room temperature for about 30-40 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven (190C) for approx. 15-20 minutes, until golden and sound hollow on the base when tapped.

They taste better when still warm. You can spread some salted butter on them before eating.