Recipe: Olive Focaccia

One of my favourite weekend pastimes is baking. This comes as a surprise to many, as I spend my days creating sweet treats, So this is how I balance it out. My weekdays may be filled with cake, but on the weekends I like to bake bread. I've had a love affair with bread since I first learned the craft whilst working as a pastry chef in a bustling little restaurant in south east Leicestershire. It was soon after that I stopped buying supermarket bread and began to bake my own. Sourdough, ciabatta, cinnamon rolls, challah, anything goes. Although this particular recipe has remained with me since those early days, I know it so well I can remember it off by heart, in fact this will be the first time i've written this recipe down for quite a while. It's the recipe I always return to when all I really want is a simple, delicious slice of bread. 

You will need

• 500g strong plain flour
• 1 tsp fast action dried yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 30ml olive oil + 1tbls extra for drizzling
• 300ml warm water
• olives, thyme and sea salt to decorate

This recipe makes enough dough to fill a 33cm pizza pan, or a 36 x 25cm baking tray.

Place the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil into a mixing bowl. Slowly add the water to bind the dough together, you can do this either by hand, with a handheld blender or with an electric mixer. Once you have a wet paste knead the dough for around 5-10 minutes to build up the structure of your dough. You can test the elasticity of the dough by gently pinching and stretching it, if it pulls away to form a thin transparent sheet you know you're there, if it snaps you need to work the dough for a little longer.  Once you have a stretchy elastic dough leave to rest in a warm place for an hour or so.

Once the dough had doubled in size turn it out onto a well floured work surface and roll out to the size of your baking tray. Leave the dough to prove for a further hour or so. In the mean time, preheat your oven to 200

Once the dough has doubled in size, press your fingers into the dough to create indentations then drizzle over the olive oil, herbs, olives and salt.

Bake for 20 minutes, serve warm.

We ate ours with herb crust chicken, sweet pepper and Halloumi salad, watercress, avocado and sundried tomato, and a little homemade pesto.

All photographs by Matt Horan

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Brunch Club: Continental

This is the first in what we hope will become a semi-regular feature on our blog, celebrating the meal between breakfast and lunch - something Becca is passionate about...

Brunch Club is an idea I've had for a good number of years, but because of irregular working patterns and (let's be honest) an inability to juggle my social diary when I did have a Saturday/Sunday off, it's never really happened... until now!

I love breakfast food - like, really love breakfast food. There's mornings when I could really do with in a lie-in, but if I wake up earlier than intended and the idea of poached eggs and spinach or granola and honey-drenched yoghurt pops into my head, that's it. I'm compelled to get up and hunter-gather (i.e. stick the kettle on and open the fridge).

I also love spending quality time with my friends. And by quality I actually mean relaxed and lazy - time when there's no distractions, no pressure to dress-up or talk about office politics.

So last Sunday we held our first Brunch Club - just three couples. We prepared the food together, we ate - lots, we tidied away, we watched football, we talked weddings and business and kitchen designs, we listened to music, and we discovered I don't own enough crockery or cutlery to host more than four people at a time...

The Menu: Continental-ish

• Poached eggs and avocado sprinkled with pepper and lava salt
• Camembert baked with rosemary
• Continental meats and tomatoes
• Sourdough toast, warm croissants
• Icelandic layered pots (mini recipe below)
• Coffee, tea, orange and apple juice, mint and elderflower mocktails

The Recipe: Icelandic layered pots

This was the sweet element of our brunch, inspired by the breakfast enjoyed in an amazing hostel on my recent trip to Iceland.

Now, I'll admit, I cheated a little due to time constraints and didn't make my own granola - but Elle has a great homemade recipe you can try. I did however make the compote, which is mega simple and involves non of the faffing-with-thermometers you get with jam making.

• The night before: wash and cut up your fruit of choice (I went with strawberries and raspberries from Leicester Market). I used the American cups system for this recipe. Add three cups of fruit to a saucepan and add a splash of orange juice , plus a teaspoon of cinnamon. Heat until bubbling, then reduce the heat until the fruit softens - it helps to squash the strawberries down a little with a spoon. Add honey to your desired sweetness - I preferred to keep mine a little sharp. Cool down in a bowl, cover and pop in the fridge.
• The day of brunch: this is very much a 'do-it-yourself' dish. We just laid out the cooled compote, two pots of Skye (Icelandic yoghurt) and a bag of granola, and invited people to fill their own wine glass (did I mention my lack of serving dishes?) with layers of all three.

Are you a brunch lover? Any recipe, theme or restaurant suggestions for future Brunch Clubs are more than welcome!

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Why I Love... Records

Today is Record Store Day - an import from America, celebrating the independent music shops and the traditional vinyl records they sell. In past years I've joined the brave souls at 4am in the morning, queuing to get their hands on some of the exclusive titles released to mark the day. Not this year - I value my sleep too much.

But I do get it. After all, I was born to be a lover of records. My dad is an avid record collector and listener. It's a passion I've been exposed to and eventually embraced - despite a temporary wobble in faith.

Through most of my childhood my mum worked weekends, which meant lots of daddy-daughter time - searching through the local papers for table top and garage sales, driving across town to a community centre and sweeping through the hall spotting battered boxes of unloved albums to flick through at speed, before jumping back in the van to seek out the next potential vinyl treasure - crucially, before any of his rival collectors.

Hopefully we'd return home with at least a couple of purchases and, as we munched on cheese cobs, I'd pull out the huge volume of the Record Collector guide as dad examined the record - calling out the label, pressing, condition. At the age of 11 I understood the nuances of the Dark Side of the Moon cover-art and the evolution of the Pink Island label design.

And then I went to high school and became a teenager. More exposed to the modern pop and RnB artists my classmates listened to, I started spending my pocket money on cassette tapes of chart music - Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears. My mini hifi, with it's record player top, was replaced with a super compact CD player and my Monkees vinyl albums hibernated in my wardrobe.

I never rejected the 60s and 70s music I'd grown up with - I still enjoyed listening to whatever dad was playing (although he does always like to remind me I was told him to turn off Bob Dylan "because he can't sing"). But no-one else I knew in early-00's teenage Leicestershire was listening to prog rock on old media - it was increasingly all about digital and the records thing was for people my parents age.

How things change. It seems vinyl is back in fashion. Which is not the reason I fell back in love with the idea of having my own record collection, but makes things seriously easier now I have. I'm not sure what it was for me - but I'm glad I've gone full circle.

My hifi system has gradually come together over the past five years, completely thanks to dad's amazing ability to track down vintage amps, decks and speakers seemingly from thin air. 

So now we're both record collectors  - although we do differ. Dad loves the music, but he also loves knowing he has the finest example of a first pressing he can find. For me, I'm happy if the record plays and the cover largely stays together when I remove it from the bookcase.This works out pretty well for me. I've become the proud owner of many of his seconds over recent years. 

I'm in no way a vinyl purist. Let's face it, it's not the most convenient medium of listening. Throughout the week I listen to 6Music through my digital radio,  I'm plugged into Spotify on my phone, and of course I still have a shelf full of CDs (although Britney has sadly gone to the charity shop).

But I get real joy from flicking through my ever growing collection of records on a Sunday morning, pouring over the covers of old favourites or taking a chance on something new - and dancing round my dining room as the tunes eminent from my wooden-clad Rogers speakers.

 

PS - Here's a really interesting video from the BBC website about a vinyl record factory

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Recipe: Gourmet Popcorn

Popcorn is one of my favourite speed snacks. If I'm caught short when entertaining I always reach for the popcorn instead of the crisps, so guests can nibble away whilst I put the finishing touches to dinner. And sometimes the best way to spend a Friday or Saturday evening is a movie night with good friends and of course, popcorn.

Though I'm never a fan of popcorn at the cinema, the limitations of only two flavours, either salted or sweet, I find extremely disappointing. I also like to know exactly what's in my food, so I pretty much exclusively eat homemade popcorn - and considering this healthy wholegrain gluten free snack is incredibly quick and easy to make I think you should too! 

I like to go all out and create my own flavours. Here follows a collection of my choice flavour combos...

To make popcorn at home you will need:

• 100g popping corn
• 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
• a large saucepan with a tight fitting lid

Heat the oil in the saucepan, place the corn into the pan, followed swiftly by the pan's lid. The corn will start to pop, shake the pan to keep the kernels moving, so they all get access to the heat. Once furious popping turns to a slow pop turn the heat off and let the pan sit until popping ceases entirely. 

At this stage a sprinkle of salt and pepper turns this popcorn into a delicious snack, but if you're after a little more, here are some flavour ideas...

Nut butter and herb popcorn - heat 50g of butter in a pan and cook until golden brown in colour and nutty in aroma, add some finely chopped hard herbs such as rosemary and thyme and drizzle over the popcorn. Mix well and serve.

Smokey chilli popcorn - a personal favourite, drizzle over a little oil, sprinkle a little cayenne pepper and smoked paprika over the corn along with a generous pinch of salt. Mix well and serve.

Umami popcorn - I make my own Umami powder by roasting some mushrooms, garlic and thyme together, then dehydrating (which takes quite a bit of preparation.) But if you don't have a dehydrator, I fully recommend adding a generous sprinkle of Laura Santini's Umami rush powder to liven things up. This is available in most supermarkets.

Dukkah popcorn -This Egyptian dry spice mix traditionally contains cumin, coriander, hazelnut and sesame seeds. Drizzle a little oil over your corn followed by a tablespoon of Dukkah, mix well and serve. Dukkah can be purchased from Ottolenghi's online store, or if you have Yotam Ottolenghi and Sammi Tamimi's cookbook Jerusalem, turn to page 300 to make your own.

I'm open to further suggestions too, what are your favourite popcorn toppings, and your favourite movie night films?

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Weekend Review: Frank Benbini

The weekend is what you make of it - there's endless opportunities whether you're at work or play - and we love hearing how you spend yours. Here's the second in our Weekend Review series, from Frank Benbini, aka Uncle Frank and the drummer in Fun Lovin' Criminals...

What do you do for work?

Musician, producer and entertainer.

What's your passion outside work?

Writing, basketball and love.

When is your weekend?

My days off vary with my touring commitments - but love it when I get Saturdays and Sundays off.

How did you spend last weekend? (Frank was looking back to 26th and 27th March)

Last weekend I was playing a festival in Holland,  Paaspop to around 80,000 people alongside the Prodigy and others, with my band Fun Lovin' Criminals.

Then I sat on my tour bus watching classic movies, travelling back through Belgium and France, stopping and eating some great food - steamed veg, roast beef, prawns and fruit with chocolate fondue.

I got back on the bus and travelled back to the UK via the Channel Tunnel while reading the book I'm on at the moment, 'The Life of Bruce Lee' by Bruce Thomas.

I had my tour bus drop me at the new Leicester Riders' arena, and managed to get back in time to watch my beloved basketball team play.

I felt a little tired and there's always an air of anxiety that hovers around me - but that comes with a lack of rest, my job and being one of those nutty artist types.

What was your highlight of last week?

Seeing my basketball team go top of the league - and hitting my walking target.

How do you balance life on a tour bus with life at home in Leicester?

It's not that bad -  although I'm at times all over the world, I still get more time at home than a lot of people that have the 9 to 5 type job. I can be away for big chunks yet be home for bigger chunks, so it balances out. It can be difficult when stuff clashes or I'm not here for certain family events - that can be hard to swallow sometimes.

It's swings and roundabouts, rough with the smooth. But that's what I do.

What do you like most about where you live?

There's parks and countryside, yet it close enough to my multicultural city - and my family and friends are here.

What's your ideal Sunday menu?

I'd spend it all with my family and close friends, and would have the following menu...

Breakfast: Baked vegetable omelette with toast and cream cheese

Lunch: Sunday roast chicken or beef with roast onion and potatoes and Yorkshires are a must - and mint sauce!

Dinner: Crackers with left over chicken and maybe fresh fruit and meringue, as a treat a couple of squares of dark chocolate

What's in your fridge?

Fresh fruit and veg, meats, milk, champagne, salad, Alpro yoghurt, elderflower drink, jellies and sparkling water.

What's your current soundtrack to the weekend?

My own classic funk and hip hop mixes from DJ sets that I do when on the road, all the classics love the Rival Sons at the minute too.

How can people see/hear what you're up to?

On Facebook andTwitter 

How did you spend your weekend? Fan of Frank? Let us know in the comment box!

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Recipe: Iced Coffee

So it's the weekend, at last! If you're in need of a little something to refresh and awaken the senses. Here follows a simple recipe for iced coffee...

Firstly, prepare your ice cubes. Make a strong pot of freshly ground coffee, allow to cool and pour into an ice cube tray. Place these into the freezer until frozen, ideally overnight.  

Mix the remaining coffee with milk and sweeten to taste, as desired. Place the ice cubes into a glass and pour over your coffee.

Distribute the leftover coffee grounds amongst your flowerbeds or your houseplants to restore acidity into the soil.

Hope you have a great weekend.

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