For the dough:
250g (8 oz) plain flour
1 egg, beaten
3/4 teaspoon salt
15g (1/2 oz) fresh yeast, or 11/2 teaspoons dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
75ml (3 fl oz) warm water olive oil
For the filling:
1-2kg (2-4 lbs) onions, thinly sliced
3-4 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper
2 teaspoons mixed fresh herbs such as basil, thyme and rosemary, chopped
12 or more anchovy fillets black olives, stoned and halved
To make the dough, sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Put the beaten egg and salt in the well. Put the yeast sugar and water in a bowl and leave it until it froths. Then gradually stir the yeast mixture into the flour, mixing it in with your fingers to form a ball of soft dough.
Add a little flour if it is too sticky and knead well with your hands for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Pour a drop or two of olive oil on the dough and turn it in your hands so that it becomes lightly oiled all over. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour or until it doubles in bulk.
While the dough is rising, make the filling. Cook the onions in the olive oil in a covered pan on a very low flame, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes or until they are very soft. Add the salt, pepper and herbs and continue to cook for a few minutes longer. Cut the anchovy fillets in half lengthways.
Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C/375 degrees F/gas mark 5. Grease a pie plate or flan dish, about 35cm (14 in) in diameter, with oil. Punch the dough down, knead it lightly and press it into the pie pan with the palms of your hands. Spread the onion mixture over the dough and make a lattice pattern of anchovy fillets on top. Put half an olive in the middle of each square. Let the dough rise again for 10-15 minutes, then bake for 25-30 minutes or until the bread base is cooked. Serve hot.
It may be that your mates have left the days of eating in the kitchen behind them and expect something more formal from a Christmas gathering, that is, they want food on a plate.
Okay! The answer here lies in a one-pot dish which needs, perhaps, only some crusty bread to accompany it, and which is nevertheless light and modern as all-get-out.
Everybody - young, old, probably even folk who have paid good money for Faith of our Fathers - loves it. It's great with wine and it has that energised sweetness which makes sure the party goes with a bang. This wonderful stew comes from 50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi.
We have sadly never been able to get curry leaves when we were making the stew - you can get them from Asian stores in Cork and Dublin - but the dish works quite well without them. And we have also substituted the new potatoes which the recipe calls for with peeled old potatoes, in which case don't pre-cook them.
Finally, we use butter instead of ghee but again you can get ghee in the major cities. The quantities here are for 4-5 people.
Kerala Chicken Stew
3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger (half cut into thin julienne, the rest diced)
1 teaspoon peppercorns turmeric powder
2 onions, chopped coarsely
2-3green chillies
1 tin coconut milk
10-12new potatoes salt to taste
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon ghee
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, sliced lengthwise
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamoms
3 cloves,
20 curry leaves
800g (1/4 pounds) boneless, skinless chicken pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch strips
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
Pound the diced ginger (retain the julienne strips for later), peppercorns and turmeric into a thick uneven paste. (Use a pestle and mortar) Blend together the onions and green chillies in a food processor. Scrub the potatoes and half-boil them in their skins with a pinch of salt and turmeric. Heat the oil and ghee and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds crackle, add the bayleaf. If using butter rather than ghee add the butter now (ghee is clarified butter and can stand the heat in which you cook the mustard seeds - butter would burn).
When the oil begins to colour, add the sliced garlic, the cinnamon stick and the cardamoms. After about 20 seconds add the ginger paste, cloves and curry leaves, then add the chicken and saute in the spiced oil for 2-3 minutes. Salt to taste, then add the onion mixture. Mix together and then add the potatoes and carrot and cook, covered for two minutes. Finally add the coconut milk, the peas and the juliennes of ginger. Sprinkle with garam masala powder and cook, covered, until the chicken and potatoes are fully cooked.
Of course, every party needs something sweet to end the food on a high note and here is a wonderful tart from Belfast's Cargoes delicatessen, which will have your guests trilling in high C at the thrill of it all. Cargoes have adapted the base from a Josceline Dimbleby recipe and the topping is adapted from a Sophie Grigson recipe. It's simple to make and it's mega.
Cargoes' Cranberry Tart Pate Sucre
6oz flour
2 tablespoons icing sugar (sifted)
pinch salt
4oz butter
1 tablespoon warm water
Mix together the flour and sugar. Melt the butter with the water over a very low heat until just melted. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to a paste with a wooden spoon. Lightly press into a buttered 9-inch fluted, loose-bottomed flan tin. Leave to cool in the fridge. When cold, take out of the fridge and bake blind (no need for beans) until slightly brown.
Cranberry Tart Mixture:
8 oz cranberries
8 oz caster sugar
4 oz butter
2 eggs
Place the cranberries in a pan and add two tablespoons of water and 2 oz sugar. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the juices begin to run. Bring to a boil and boil rapidly until the cranberries have burst (5-8 minutes). Take off the heat and stir in the remaining sugar and butter. Leave, to cool. Whisk the eggs and pour into the cranberry mixture.
Pour the lot into the pastry base and bake for approximately 30 minutes at 170 degrees C.