Using her family recipes and Sussex kitchen table, supper club chef and primary school cookery teacher Pip Pegler from Westergate, near Chichester, shares some of her favourite dishes in her new cook book
Flatbreads
Makes 9-10
These can be fried in oil or baked in the oven. Frying softer puffier bread, but it is more time consuming as they have to be fried individually, whereas they can be baked in batches in the oven. The baked version is crispier, making them ideal for scooping up dips or curries.
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for your work surface
7g dried yeast (or 1 sachet)
10g fine salt
30g butter, softened and cut into small pieces
300-320ml tepid water
oil, if frying
Method
Place the flour in a large bowl with the yeast, salt and butter. Lightly flour your work surface.
Now stir about 300ml of the tepid water into the flour – you might not need any more as you want a soft, but not overly sticky, dough. Gather the dough into a ball and tip out onto the work surface.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes until it becomes soft, smooth and elastic. Place back into the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel or cloth and leave somewhere warm to double in size. Near a radiator or on a sunny windowsill is ideal.
Gently tip the dough onto your lightly floured work surface and divide into 9-10 equal sized balls. Roll the balls into circles, approximately 20cm in diameter, using a floured rolling pin. The dough does try to shrink back so persevere and the thinner the flatbread, the quicker it’ll cook.
If shallow frying, heat a tbsp of oil in the frying pan and fry each flatbread on both sides, one by one. As each side cooks, bubbles will appear on the upside and that’s the time to flip it. You will need a little more oil between cooking each flatbread. Keep them warm by wrapping in foil or a clean tea towel until ready to eat.
If baking in the oven, preheat to 220C/200C fan. Bake a few flatbreads at a time on baking trays for about 5–7 minutes to the level of softness or crispness you prefer.
Spanish Style Chorizo with Honey
Serves 4-6
This is perfect as a starter served with rocket or bitter salad leaves and the flatbread to mop up the juices.
Ingredients
400g cooking chorizo, sliced into 1⁄2 cm discs
oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tbsp sherry vinegar (or
balsamic vinegar)
11⁄2 tbsp honey, plus extra if needed
1 jar of mild whole sweet piquanté peppers, drained and sliced. I use Peppadew (drained weight approximately 140g)
1⁄2 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
fresh thyme leaves (optional)
Method
Heat the dry frying pan over a medium heat and fry the chorizo, flipping them to cook both sides for a couple of minutes. Don’t be tempted to overcook the slices at this point as they will ooze their fat and become rubbery. Scoop out the chorizo slices into a dish or plate and reduce the heat.
Add a little oil to the pan, followed by the onion, cooking gently until just softened then add the garlic. Cook for another five minutes stirring regularly.
Add the sherry vinegar and honey, sliced peppers and smoked paprika, if using. Taste and add a little more honey and paprika if you think it needs it. Return the chorizo to everything in the pan to heat through. Stir well so it’s completely covered in the sticky juices. Serve immediately sprinkled with a few fresh thyme leaves, if using, and leaf salad.
Summer Berry Friands
Makes 12
I’ve made these with various combinations of berries, fresh and frozen. Both are great, although frozen fruit does add a little more moisture so may need a few minutes more in the oven.
Ingredients
185g butter
225g icing sugar, plus extra for decoration
50g plain flour
150g ground almonds
5 egg whites
1 tsp almond extract
36 blackberries/blueberries/ raspberries or your choice of mixed berries
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan. Melt the butter gently in a small pan over a low heat and immediately set aside for the butter to cool slightly. Sieve the icing sugar and flour into a large bowl. Stir in the ground almonds.
Lightly whisk the egg whites in a small mixing bowl until foamy and stir into the icing sugar, flour and almonds. Add the melted butter and almond extract and mix together, lightly combining all the ingredients completely.
Pour the mixture into a measuring jug and neatly fill the tray or muffin papers and dot each with 3 berries. Bake for 25 minutes until risen and golden. A cake skewer should come out clean. Wait a few minutes and then ease the cakes out of the tray and cool on a wire rack. Sieve over a dusting of icing sugar.
Recipes from a Homebird … A Good Life, £25, is available by emailing Pip Pegler at recipesfromahomebird@gmail.com or on eBay
