Chestnuts

My husband came in today and asked me if I had seen the hundreds of chestnuts ripening on the tree that over hangs our garden. To be honest, I hadn't looked as the start of the chestnut season brings both pleasure and pain. I love the taste of the fresh chestnuts every year, but I can't deny that they are a pain to get ready and I feel that it is wrong to waste them. Our freezer is still bursting with the cleaned chestnuts that I put in it last year. I hasten to add that I gave some to friends as well as the ones that we ate at the time.

So, watch this space.

If you can suggest recipes I would love to hear about them.

Pizza on a focaccia base

In the last post I gave you the recipe for focaccia, but what I didn't tell you is that this dough makes an excellent base for pizza.

All I did was roll it out thinner than the focaccia and top it with some:

tomato passata,
stoned olives,
thinly sliced chorizo
grated mozarella cheese
a few dried herbs: origano or thyme

Allow it to rise for about 30 minutes and cook in a very hot oven until brown and bubbling.

One of the advantages of pizza over all other doughs is that you don't have to leave it to get cold before digging in.

Focaccia

I've given this post a simple title but it is another of those foodie things that is simple but tastes wonderful. The wonderful comes from the ingredients. Good olive oil, rosmary from the garden and light bread dough. What could be better?

Well. in truth the addition of mashed potatoes to the dough helps it along quite a bit as it makes it last longer and it has a softer crumb which means that it is good to eat even on the second day.

Traditionally focaccia that you buy in Italy only stays fresh for a couple of hours. It is over yeasted to make it rise but this results in a bread that dries quickly. My Focaccia has the advantage of lasting but still tasting good.

What you will need:
500g strong bread flour
40g instant mash potato, this is about half a sachet.
7g fast action yeast
300ml water for the bread dough and'
150ml boiling water to reconstitute the potato
12g salt

Salamoia
30ml olive oil plus 30mil water
fresh rosmary
1 teaspoon of rock salt.

Into a large bowl put the flour, 300g of water and the yeast. mix to a rough dough, cover and leave for about 10 minutes while you get on with the next stage.

Put the instant mased potatoes in a bowl and reconstitute with 15ml of boiling water. Mix well. You will have a dryish mixture. Do not be tempted to add more water. Add the salt to the potatoes and mix well. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then add to the flour mix. Beat it all together until you have a smooth but slightly tacky dough.

Leave in the bowl, covered with a damp tea towel or a plastic bag and then remove the bag and mix well for about 30 seconds. It will be soft enough for you to do this by hand. Sort of put your hand in the bowl, under the dough and mix it well. If you can't work this out then fold the dough over itself for about 8 turns. Should achieve the same outcome.

At 15 minute intervals, repeat this short kneeding process at least twice. By this time the dough shouldbe rising up the bowl and be soft and pillowy.

When the dough has at least doubled in size, put it in a greased baking tin. I tend to use a 26cm x 35cm baking tray that has 3cm sides. This makes a focaccia of the depth that you can see in the picture. If you want a thinner one then cook it in a larger tray.

Make sure that you have switched on your oven so that it is good and hot when you are ready to cook the focaccia.

Whisk the salamoia oil and water together and pour over the focaccia. Now dimple it with your fingers to get the charicteristic dimpling the you see on the focaccia surface. push some rosmary sprigs into the top of the focaccia and leave uncovered for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the rock sale.

Cook in a hot oven approx 250 celsius for adout 30 minutes. Check to see if it is cooked. It should be crisp and brown. If it isn't then leave it in the oven and check every 5 minutes until it is done to your liking.

Apricot and chocolate chip loaf cake

Do you really always want elaborate cakes? Sometimes I do and sometimes it is the downright simple that really hits the spot. So, on that note, this cake is going to be one of the downright simple variety and no  less good for that. It is perfect with a hot cup of tea.

One thing that my mother taught me about cooking was:

If you don't put good things into your food don't expect a good result.

So this cake is made with all good things but the making is simple.

What you'll need:

250g self raising flour
120g butter
120g sugar
2 eggs
perhaps a splash of milk
100g dried apricots, the no soak variety. Chop them up a bit
75g chocolate chips
a teaspoon of vanilla extract

To make:

heat your oven to approx gas mark 4 or 160 C.

Put the flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients until it resembles small peas. No need to be too fine with this.

Add the apricots that should be about the size of peas, and the chocolate. Stir in.

Break the egg into the mixture and stir well. Do't over stir as this mix is a bit like a muffin mix and you can toughen it if you over mix. Only add a splash of milk if you find that it's dry.

Put the mix into a greased a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at approx gas mark 4 or 160 C. It will be cooked when as knife or cake probe is insirted into the middle and it comes out dry. Approx 30 - 40 mins. It depends on your oven.