I couldn’t write about the event, without writing about the recipes. These are courtesy of both the Cheshire Cookery School and Oven Pride and are perfect together in this chilly weather.
Sour Dough Bread
This is ridiculously easy to make, most of the items are found in the storecupboard and it would lend itself to all sorts of extra flavours. For variation, try adding in some sundried tomatoes, chopped olives, or chopped fresh/dried herbs into the mixture before baking.
Ingredients
170g (6oz) wholemeal self raising flour
170g (6oz) plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
290ml (1/2 pint) milk
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sea salt
Serves 4 (or a hungry 2)
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 4 (maybe a touch lower for a fan oven).
2. Mix the salt, bicarbonate of soda and the flours together in a bowl.
3. Squeeze the lemon into the milk and stir, it should start to curdle and this is the aim, so don’t worry!
4. Make a well in the flour and pour in the milk gradually, around 1/4 at a time, stirring with a fork. You may not need all the milk, so keep going until your dough comes together, but isn’t too sticky.
Don’t panic if it’s sticky a spoon of flour should fix that.
5. Once it’s into a dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into shape. You can make it into whatever shape you like, so long as you can fit it on your baking tray.
6. Put on a lined or non-stick baking tray and cook for around 10 minutes.
7. After 10 minutes, remove it from the oven, paint the top with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt before returning to the oven for a further 10 minutes until golden brown.
8. You’ll know it’s ready when you can slide a skewer into it and it comes out clean (yes, just the same as a cake).
This can be served hot or cold – for me a good slathering of butter on this hot bread and I’m a happy lady.
Tuscan Bean Stew
This recipe is again, easy, filling and good wholesome food. I have to admit, this is enough of the stew to serve 4 – especially paired with the bread. I’d recommend increasing the chicken to 4 pieces if you’re planning to serve four, and increase the parma ham to four slices too.
Ingredients
2/4 chicken breasts
2/4 slices of parma ham
100g of mixed beans (pre-soak if using dried beans). Red kidney beans, butter beans, cannellini beans, whatever takes your fancy
2 tbsp olive oil – plus extra for coating the chicken
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp smoked paprika
100g chorizo
1 stick of celery – diced
1 carrot – diced
2 medium potatoes – diced
1 red pepper – deseeded and diced
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tin chopped tomatoes
200ml (1/3 pint) chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Serves 4 (or a hungry 2)
1. Pre heat oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6
2. Put olive oil into a large pan or casserole dish and heat over a medium heat.
3. Add the onions and soften for 4-5 minutes, then add the garlic, chorizo and smoked paprika and cook for an other 2 minutes. .
4. Add the carrot, celery, red pepper and potatoes and stir to coat the vegetables in the flavoured oil that’s leached from the chorizo.
5. Add the tomato puree and cook for 2 or 3 minutes so soften the flavour. Then add the stock and tinned tomatoes.
6. Bring up to the boil and simmer gently (it needs about 30 minutes in total) until all the vegetables are cooked through.
7. While the stew is simmering, coat the chicken breasts with oil, season with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.
8. Place them on a baking tray and add a small amount of the stock or a drop of water – just enough to stop the chicken from sticking. Pop the chicken in the oven for 15 minutes.
9. Remove chicken after 15 minutes, turn over and place rolled Parma ham on top. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
10. While the chicken is finishing off, pop the beans into the stew and check seasoning. You can always add more salt and pepper or even a pinch more paprika if you think it needs it.
When your chicken is cooked through and the Parma ham crisp on top, serve the bean stew in a bowl with the chicken on top. Unsurprisingly, this goes perfectly with the sour dough bread.