Pissaladière

It's the end of August, let's all try very hard to hang on to the summer feeling, don't bring the stews just yet, let's have something sunny, one more time. What about une pissaladière?
 

Pissaladières originate from Nice; the base of the dish is a bread dough, slightly thicker than a pizza. It derives its name from piscis (fish). 
 

It is a caramelised onion tart with anchovies and olives topping, usually eaten cold with a pre-dinner drink (un aperitif). Add a few kids giggling at the mention of the name, a sprinkle of the sea-spray and the trick is done. It's summer again.

Things to know before starting: 

• To serve, it is recommended to cut a Pissaladière into rectangular pieces rather than wedges.
• To caramelise the onions thoroughly will take at least a couple of hours. Don't worry if they burn a little, it's part of the flavour.
• All the elements can be prepared in advance, even the night before.
• Do wash the anchovies as directed in the recipe as otherwise the pissaladiere will be far too salted. Here white large onions are recommended however yellow ones will be work too.

 

 

 Ingredients

1kg of large white onions

1/2 bunch of thyme, washed and picked 

salt black pepper

extra virgin olive oil, for frying 

50g of anchovy fillet, salted

50g of black olives, pitted, kept in brine

Dough 

2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil 

2g of dried yeast

120ml of warm water

250g of plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp of salt 

 

Method 

1. To begin the pissaladière, start with the topping. Peel, cut in half and slice the onions roughly.

 

2. In a large pan, drop in some olive oil and then add the onions and thyme Caramelising onions An alternate way of caramelising onions is by cooking them in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes, then draining the water and gently caramelising the onions in a pan

 

3. Cook the onions on a very gentle heat until all of the water evaporates and the onions caramelise and turn a golden colour - this could take up to 3 hours. Be very careful as the onions tend to stick to the pan when the water has evaporated

 

4. When the onions have caramelised, season with salt and pepper to taste - bearing in mind that you will be adding some salted anchovies and olives kept in brine. Allow to cool before reserving in the fridge

 

5. Mix in a bowl the olive oil with the dried yeast and warm water. Once mixed, add the flour and salt and work by hand until it forms a ball

 

6. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and start to knead vigorously, as you would do for a bread dough, until you obtain a very smooth round ball

 

7. Reserve the dough in a large floured bowl, cover with cling film and allow to rise for an hour at room temperature. Once risen, refrigerate for another hour

 

8. Knead the dough once more, then return to the fridge until ready to use

 

9. When ready to assemble the pissaladière, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and place a baking tray inside to heat. Remove the excess salt from the anchovy fillets by rinsing them under cold water for few seconds

 

10. Roll out the dough, dusting generously with flour down to 3 to 4mm. Spread the caramelised onions, the anchovy fillets and the pitted olives on top

 

11. Place on the hot baking tray and bake for about 5-8 minutes, until the dough crisps and darkens.

 

Serve and drizzle with a little olive oil and some freshly ground pepper -

 

Disclaimer: this is a Pascal Aussignac's recipe reproduced with the agreement of Great British Chefs

  

 

 

Chicago Town Pizzas: Product tasting

Once in a while I lure our godson which is not difficult especially if  it involves pizza tasting. At the grand old age of 17, he is a "trained expert", he knows exactly what he likes, the perfect person for this review of Dr Oetker's Chicago Town pizza three ranges, Edge to Edge, Take Away, Deep Dish.

We have a routine, we taste, we mark, we comment, we taste some more and I report to you. On this occasion, another taster joined the usual crew: Godson's grand-mother, known as Grandi. The evening started to look like a Italian family affair, reinforced by the fact that the motto of the first pizza is, "This pizza isn't for sharing." 

First, on the menu: The Deep Dish, two Four Cheese Pizzas. Two, because there are two (160g pizzas) in a packet. Last year,  Which? published a report  on how healthy frozen pizza are. Chicago Town range was reported for its calories content. The companie retorked that the pizzas were more calorific as they have more ingredients than others. Each Four cheese contains 432Kcal.

I hope Dr Oetker will keep the offer price for a while, for you to try. I thought this pizza tasted nice.

20 minutes in the oven, then it comes out oozing with melted cheeses, it is not called deep dish for nothing. It also has a thin crust edge. One bémol came from Grandi, "The bottom is bready."

It was our top scorer for the evening with 6.5 out of 10.

Next Chicago Town Take Away Chicken BBQ Sauce Stuffed Crust Pizza. This has a very strong smoky taste. It is not pre-baked, has a fresh dough base which bakes and rises in the oven. The BBQ sauce in the rim is rather fun. Tastewise, it was not a great success and scored only 2.5

Last but not least I had chosen an Edge to Edge Deep Pan Miami Meaty Pizza. A pizza which claims to have more topping than any other pizza. It surely makes the most of the base as the topping really goes up to the edge. As you can imagine this was debated at length, everyone staying on their position.

Tastewise it was OK, a reliable choice which scored a respectable 5.5

Catherine Wheels Mince Pies

Vanessa Kimbell from Prepped came up with the best Xmas 2011 idea: a food bloggers get together to exchange gifts. The event will take place at Fortnum & Mason. I feel extremely lucky to be able to take part.

My offering will be Catherine wheels mince pies. I will be cooking them nearer the time.  

Till then, I am asking you to close your eyes and picture a cross between a mince pie, a continental pastry and a squashed Chelsea bun. There, you've got it.This recipe is very easy to make and when you think about all what we will have to do before Xmas, this is just perfect

Catherine Wheels Mince Pies

Ingredients:

50g/2oz golden caster sugar

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

411g jar traditional mincemeat

1tbsp milk

25g/1oz flaked almonds

Method:

Roll

Scatter the sugar over the worktop, unravel the pastry and roll it.

Spread the mincemeat evenly making sure to leave a border of 2cm all around

Fold one of the longest edges over the mincemeat and roll the pastry tightly into a sausage shape, when you get to the other edge brush it with milk and press down to seal

Press both ends in and chill for 30 minutes (if you fancy freezing this is the time to do so)

time to preheat the oven 200C/gas 6/fan 180C
Squash

Cut the roll into 12 rounds about 3 cm thick

Lay them evenly on a baking tray

Flatten them with your hand

Bake

Scatter the almonds on the top and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the mincemeat sizzle

Leave to cool for 5 minutes

Serve as they are or with ice cream

"Whoo", "Whoo", "Whoo", Whoopie Pies

OK, this is a bit of an easy title for Halloween. Last year or so Whoopie pies were almost unheard of in the UK, now they are the new cake phenomenon or they seem to be.

But what is a Whoopie pie? Amish in origin; I bet you will have no difficulty to guess the reasons behind the name.

That doesn't answer, "What are they?" The reply will look like a cop-out: they are a cross between pie, cake and cookie. They look like two gooey cookies with fluffy icing in the middle.

There is no way of telling what the authentic whoopie pies did taste like. The story is that they were baked for Amish workers and put in their lunch-boxes . But if the Amish men were going "whoopie" just at the sight of them there might have been a reason and that reason is simply that whoopie pies are incredibly delicious.

To feed the little devils, wizards and witches of Greenwich on Halloween night, I used a short-cut and got my whoopies out of a Betty Crocker Whoopie Pie mix. Three simple steps, takes 15 minutes to bake and 15 minutes to mix. It worked a treat, next time you are shopping, you could do worse than grab a packet at £2.15 for 10 whoopie pies- though I managed only 9- comes in two flavours Chocolate and Vanilla or Double chocolate. Impressed.

Domino's Spanish Sizzler Pizza

How often do you get to try out something completely new? What are the chances of this happening twice in a week? Last week I was invented to discover South African cuisine, by the way have you left your comment on Give-away #5.

The next thing I knew Domino, the world's leading pizza delivery, was asking Pebble Soup to order their brand new Spanish Sizzler pizza online 

Yeeeeeh, fame....... or may be not..... just yet. I soon read that Domino's Pizza was concentrating on their on-line operation James Millett, multimedia manager at Domino’s Pizza, said: “We’ve achieved fantastic growth in ecommerce in the past year, up 63% in 2010, and this new campaign utilises the latest opportunities in the digital arena and continues our focus on online innovation."

Never the less, as far as I am concerned I love Pebble Soup new found notoriety which leads to add variety to the posts and I am able to share a lot of fun experiences with you.

So how does it work?

You pick up his laptop, in your case you might have to use your own, go to Domino's web site, the landing page might be an offer, keep your eyes peeled, type your post code. It could not be simpler, the next thing you know the menu pops up, you order your selection, pizzas can be customised, check out: card, cash, pay-pal and 20 minutes later the order is at the door.

So far the experience was really good fun and the idea of not having any cooking to do extremely attractive

One click for  for 5 breaded mozzarella sticks with garlic and herbs coating which was accompanied by a herb dip little pot- at £3.99

The kind of thing I never go for- and there is a good reason for that... I hardly never use take-aways but I could get persuaded so far it was not very tasteful but fun.

               

Another click and a warm garlic bread at £3.49. This was gulped in no time with another click for the main course the brand new Spanish Sizzler with its small pieces of chorizo, cubes of roast chicken, green and roquito pepper, the latter gives the pizza its little kick. 4 sizes from individual at £5.99 to large at £16.49

The verdict: as you know I am not a fan of pizzas but for an "industrial" pizza this was really quite good, I know the pizzas are tested and re-tested before being offered on the market but that should not be hold against the company. They have done a good job here

• There is lots of meat
• The chorizo is not overpowering as it often is when the pizza is home made
• Nice thin crust
• The colours are just as pleasing to look at, as the slices are to eat.
• The addition of roquito chili is just right, so  the pizza is not too hot

It does not re-heat well so make sure you order the right amount

And last for desert before he and I slumped in an armchair with a smile reflecting our dumpy state -3 cheese cakes at £3.99- I like the lemon one and happily ate the strawberry riple and the chocolate.

One thing to do is to thank Domino for sponsoring my first ever meal ordered on line.

Disaster Revisited: The Cake

I never really understood why my cakes were soggy in the middle and hardly ever rose.

You would think that such creations would never see the light of the day. Au contraire. I always took them dished them up, mostly at picnics, never realising that in doing so I was consolidating a certain reputation.

Till not long ago, a friend arrived for lunch complete with a hand made cardboard box full of pepper-flavoured cookies, presented with the following sentence : " you have bought me some non edible desserts in the past, now it is my turn" who could blame him really and by the way, the pepper cookies were delicious.

So when I read an invitation to revisit my dessert memory vault and take another look back at...a dessert disaster. I was in. You could too: Sugar High Friday is the The Domestic Goddess' brain child.

Slightly worried though I decided to approach the cake from a "one portion angle". I also broke my rules and bought all the ingredients. To make sure of sure I got the recipe out of what I consider the best baking cook-book: The Baker by Leanne Kitchen and to leave no room for the devil to do is work I follow the recipe for Little Jam-Filled Cakes step by step.

Perfection, loveliness, risen to plume height in the sky ( may be not that high), cooked in the middle, light, great recipe ..........at least for the first batch. For the second, I decide to put a little paper-cup in the holes....disaster: the cakes ate the paper which in turn meant that if we wanted to eat the cakes we had to cut off the edges.

Little Jam- Filled Cakes

IngredientsMakes 12
75g (2 1/2 0z) unsalted melted butter, plus more for tin
170 g 960z/ 1/4 cup) granulated sugar superine
2 large eggs
280g 910oz/2 1/1 cups) self-raising flour
250ml (9fl oz/1 cup)milk
6 tablespoons strawberry jam or preserves
1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
6 small strawberries, hulled and thinly slice
icing (confectioner's) sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method
1.Preheat oven to 200C (400F/Gas6). Butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin; set aside.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the center
3.In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and butter. Pour into the well in the flour mixture and gradually stir until just combined, using a large metal spoon.
4. Spoon 3/4 of the cake batter into the muffin holes. tope each with 1/2 teaspoon of the jam then cover with the remaining batter.
5. Fan the strawberry slices over each cake, gently pressing them in.
6.Bake for 20 minutes or until lighly golden or until a cake tester inserted in top cake layer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to coll in the tin for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to coll completely.
7. Dust with icing sugar if desired
8. Little jam-filled cakes are best eaten the day they are made but keep well in a cake tin .......and I have just got one.....hand made by a friend.

La Flamiche or "White Pizza"

Hopefully, we all have around us people who will help us out of a sticky spot a the drop of a hat, warm generous people and last week-end I found myself in one of these situation: I had written an article which had not met the buyer's approval, wanting to do my best, I called on Ann and Barbara, both ex-teachers, Barbara spotted the issues straight away and helped me no end. Still the person whom the article was for, took a red pen to it, I guess there are people who cannot be satisfied, but I was pleased with the much improved end result and to say thank you ask them both for dinner.

Then came the tricky question of what to cook, since I am currently reviewing "Crust" by Richard Bertinet" I decided on his version of the Flamiche, a hearty, convivial pie from Picardie in the north of France, I'll spare you the legend of how a good farmer's wife came to have the idea for such a dish on her way to the market. Richard refers to it as a "pizza blanche" which is spot on have a look:

Flamiche

Ingredients :
for the dough*500 gms bread dough *
10g fresh yeast
500g strong white flour
10g salt
350g water
a little white flour, for dusting
for the topping
1 tablespoon olive oil
200g lardons or sliced pancetta ( I used bacon)
2 leeks, finely sliced
3 eggs
300g creme fraiche
salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
a little grated Gruyere (optional)

To make the base:

• Rub the yeast into the flour using your fingertips, add the salt and the water and mix well, work it as for a bread dough, (personally I use the food processor)
• leave it to rest on the baking tray
• flatten the dough, ridge the edge, using your fingers of a pair of scissor "dimple" the edge.

to make the topping:

• heat the olive oil in a frying pan, put in the lardons and saute until they start to colour. Remove the lardons and then put in the leeks, saute them lightly until they colour a little
• in a bowl mix the eggs, creme fraiche salt pepper, nutmeg, add the cooked ingredients
• top the base with the mixture
• Put the Flamiche into the oven (230) and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crispy edges, I checked it after a 15 minutes, mine took a little longer.

et voila.
slight adaptation of Richard Bertinet's recipe, map of France from Wikipedia

Toss It Like a Pizzariolo

When I first read this month Daring Bakers' challenge my heart sunk, we had to make a pizza from scratch? I have got to come out with it straight away: I DO NOT like pizzas, it is not that I don't eat them, I just don't see the point. He, on the other hand, makes the best pizza this side of Italy, friends turn to foes when they admit that one of the most memorable thing on the menu are his pizzas.

There was only one thing for it, follow Rosa's-this month perfect hostess- instructions. The recipe is from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. the recipe uses cold fermentation for the pizza dough, which means that it has to be done over 2 days and a tossy-tossy in the air method to shape the lot. The topping is a free for all.

Over 1,000 Daring Bakers were participating, I intended to do my best but I am afraid to say that I have to hang my head in shame on this one, I made a right pig's ear of it:

a) I manage to delete the video of the "tossy-tossy" moment.

b) I forgot all about the topping so no preparation = plonking all what is suitable from the cupboard and the fridge on the top.

c) I did not use a pizza stone.

And you know what despite all this bashing the recipe, the result was pleasant to the palate and it was rather fun to do, so have a go if you have not yet, as for me I look forward to the next challenge.