Jill Dupleix's Greek Pittas

Ingredients

Prep: 30 min plus proving
Cook: 7 min

Makes 12 soft, yeasty little flat breads

Serve with a Greek salad or dips

450g white plain flour
1 tsp fine-ground sea salt
1 tsp white sugar
2 sachets (14g) fast-action dry yeast
300ml tepid water
1 tbsp olive oil

METHOD: Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast together in a bowl. Stir in the warm water and olive oil and mix until it comes together as a dough.

Add extra flour if sticky, extra water if dry. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 10 min until smooth. Place in a large, clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 2 hours in a warm place. Punch the dough down, and knead for 1 minute. Cut the dough into 12 pieces, shape into balls, and set aside for 10 min. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Roll each ball into a fine, flat oval. Bake on a lightly floured tray for 6 to 7 min, until puffy, soft and pale. Wrap in a slightly damp tea towel until cool. To serve, place in a hot, dry pan for a minute or two until warm.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/article551953.ece

South of the Border Tuna Melt

I don't normally think of fish as a comfort food, but there is nothing like the combination of crispy bread, melting cheese and the soft, creamy flavours of tuna in mayonnaise that makes me content. This version has Mexican-inspired flavours and is low in fat and calories. Try dipping the sandwich in tomato ketchup or salsa.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients
1 tin tuna in spring water, well drained
1 tbsp fat-free Greek yoghurt
1 1/2 tbsp light mayo
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots (or sliced spring onions)
1 heaped tbsp chopped red pepper
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp chili powder
juice of a quarter of a lime
Olive oil spray
4 slices thin-sliced bread
40g Half-fat cheese, grated

Method
In a small mixing bowl, break up tuna with a fork. Add yoghurt, mayo, shallots, red pepper, chili powder, coriander and lime and mix well.

Coat one side of each slice of bread with oil spray. Bring a frying pan to medium-high heat, adding oil spray. Place two slices of the bread in the pan (oiled side down). Top each slice with half of the cheese. Pile half of the tuna on each, and press down gently with a fork. Lift up a corner the bread; when it is nicely browned (about 5 minutes), top each with the remaining bread slices (oiled side up). Press down slightly. Carefully flip the sandwiches -- a combination of a spatula and your fingers works best. The melt is done when the bread is browned and crispy (about another 5 minutes) . Slice in half and serve hot.

Savory Fennel Biscuits

These ring-shaped Italian biscuits are a delicious snack with tea or wine. The cooking method is similar to bagels -- boil and then bake. Despite the two-stage cooking process, these biscuits are simple to make. You may need to adjust the moisture quantities slightly depending on the flour. Black pepper or crushed chili can be used instead of the fennel and anise.

Makes about 25 biscuits.

Ingredients
250g strong bread flour
100ml white wine
75ml olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp anise seed

Method
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. When you have a soft dough, knead dough on a clean surface until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes. Place dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rest 20-30 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Pinch tablespoon-sized pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Between your hands, roll ball into a 6-8 inch long piece. Join the ends of the length of dough by gently pinching and twisting them together. When you have five rings finished, place them in the boiling water. When the rings rise to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a tea towel. Continue forming the dough rings and boiling them.

Place the rings on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake for 35 minutes or until lightly golden.

Cool and store in a sealed container.

For the Love of Pizza

I love pizza, and I suspect most of you do, too. So many of my food memories involve the tantilising trio of tomatoes, bread and cheese. For our birthday parties, my mother used to organise a 'make your own pizza' activity, and many a Friday night was spent with the family rolling dough and chopping the toppings. In college, the takeaway pizza is ubiquitous. This, of course, included arguments with flatmates over whether the leftovers were best eaten cold or reheated the next day and whether the flavour 'developed' by not putting it the fridge.

Despite these happy memories, pizza can get a bad rap. It is often slapped with the 'junk food' label, and we are meant to feel that pizza is a guilty pleasure. It needn't be so. It can be made in a calorie- and fat conscious way and has been endorsed as a having health benefits. Bring in my 'Skinny Pizza'. Made with what may seem like a very small amount of flour, if rolled thin and cooked to perfection, it provides a large surface area for lots of lovely toppings. Where you can go wrong is with the cheese. Here I use half-fat cheese, but if you don't like that idea, you can certainly use a full-fat cheese, just keep to a small amount. For the toppings, the sky is the limit. If you are being mindful of fat and calories, keep to vegetable toppings.

Once you get the hang of it, the process does not take as long as you might think. You can even make a quickie, non-cook sauce by blending tomato puree (paste) with a bit of water, a touch of olive oil, basil, oregano, a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper.

Skinny Pizza
Serves 2

For the dough
50ml hot water
1 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp honey
50g strong white bread flour
50g strong wholemeal bread flour
good pinch of salt
extra flour for kneading and rolling

Add the yeast and honey to the hot water and let sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, mix flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add water mixture and mix with you hands until you have a soft dough. If it is too sticky or too wet, adjust accordingly.

Turn dough out on a clean, floured surface and knead for a few minutes. When you have a smooth non-sticky dough, place the dough back into the bowl and cover with clingfilm. Let prove in a warm place for around 45 minutes.

While the dough is proving, prepare the sauce and toppings. After the dough has risen (and doubled in size, more or less), punch out the air on a floured surface and roll out very thin, dusting rolling pin as needed. When rolled, he dough should fill a pizza pan 35cm (14") in diameter or the equivalent rectangular baking tray. (Don't be too fussed if the dough is a bit rustic in its shape).

For the sauce
olive oil spray
1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
300ml passata (tomato sauce, in US terms)
a splash of water
1 heaped teaspoon dried basil
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
bay leaf
dried chili pepper (optional)
a generous pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in olive oil spray until soft and translucent. Add garlic and fennel seeds and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Skim off any froth and turn down to a simmer. Cook until nicely thickened, about 30 minutes.

For the toppings
1/2 a small onion, sliced
1/2 a red pepper, sliced
5 mushrooms, sliced
6 black olives, pitted and chopped
10 thin slices Spanish chorizo or pepperoni
1 clove garlic, sliced (optional)
50g half-fat cheddar, shredded

Place the sliced onion, pepper and mushrooms on a microwave safe plate and cover with clingfilm. Puncture the clingfilm in the centre. Microwave a full power for one minute. Leave to rest.

Carefully tip the vegetable juices from the plate into the sauce. Stir. Remove bay leaf and dried chili and discard. Spread the sauce evenly on the pizza base. You may not need all the sauce, depending on your preferences. Layer the vegetables, olives, garlic, meat and cheese. Sprinkle with additional oregano and spray with olive oil spray.

Bake in a hot (220C/450F) oven for about 10 minutes, checking and turning halfway through.

Slice and enjoy.

What you get when you let an American cook your British Christmas Dinner

Cooking for a community charity outfit is challenging, exhausting, and frustrating along with being good fun and very rewarding. This past week, Christmas dinner was on the menu. British Christmas dinner, that is. (Or, shall I say English? Well, that's a debate for another time, I suppose). My fellow volunteer (a Slovakian) gazed wide-eyed at the array of dishes in process, asking for the recipes as she -- for the first time -- is to cook a Christmas dinner here in the UK. 'Hmmmmm. Well,' I said, 'I wouldn't trust what I I am doing to be the right way; you don't know what you'll get when you let an American cook your British Christmas dinner.' To this, another worker piped up in frustrated tones, 'but how is an American Christmas dinner any different?' To that I replied, 'I'm Sicilian and Polish, by origin,' (as if this explained everything). I went on to explain that while Thanksgiving dinner is rather like what many Brits eat for Christmas (turkey, stuffing, buttered vegetables), American Christmas dinner is nothing of the sort for most. Heavily influenced by people's roots and US regionalism, American Christmas dinner, is, well, whatever you eat on the 25th of December! Sure, there are food histories that detail what the fashion of the day was through time, and much of that (particularly on the East Coast of the US) is based on British heritage. However, this is simply one of range of influences that determine what people now eat in the US of A on Christmas Day.

In the snowy and cold North, my family (sans moi) will be sitting down to a dinner of lasagne, caponata (made, incidentally, by my Polish father!), Italian sausages cooked in Chianti, Italian cheeses and olive salads. Is this 'traditional' Italian, Sicilian, or even Sicilian-American? Probably not, but it is simply what we do. A breakfast of eggs and Polish sausages and possibly potato pancakes or dumplings will also be on the Christmas menu.

Around the US, people will be eating beef roasts, seafood, ham, venison, game birds -- you name it. Mexican tamales for some and lutefisk for others -- or quite possibly both dishes in the same household. Christmas dinner is a testament to the many, many heritages of the American people -- old and new, traditional and blended.

So, to my British friends and colleagues, I am sorry that I can't tell you what American Christmas dinner is -- or even what it isn't. (Never say never, as no doubt some in America will be eating a British Christmas dinner).

As for me, I will be sitting down to a tasty Christmas dinner in London prepared by my mother-in-law. Oh -- and so much for traditional turkey -- she makes beef.

Have a lovely Christmas, everyone.

Crispy Duck Legs with Chinese Pancakes

I love food that is moorish and comforting but at the same time light and fresh. A good Pad Thai is all of these things. Crispy duck can be, as well. I can't claim this to be authentic, but it is easy and excellent and does a good job to fill the need for this British favourite. Americans don't know this delicacy. I am sure that there are Chinese in the US that have crispy duck on the menu, but it's not ubiquitous as it is in the UK.

I use free range duck legs for this recipe. The legs are relatively inexpensive and far easier to handle than a whole duck. I suppose you could use breasts as well as legs, but I think that the breast meat (off the bone) is better used for other recipes. The pancakes might take a bit of practice; the key is to liberally dust the dough with flour throughout the process.

If you shop in a Chinese market, look for a bag of five spice mix (whole spices). If you can't find this, you can use the ground version or prepare it yourself using whole peppercorns, fennel seeds, a cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves.

Crispy Duck Legs with Chinese Pancakes
Serves 4 (if served with other dishes)

For the duck:
4 free range duck legs
1.5 tbsp Chinese Five Spice powder, or 2 tbsp whole spices, ground
1 tbsp oil
1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
1 small carrot, cut in a few chunks
1 6-inch piece of celery, but into a few chunks
2 cloves garlic (leave skin on, but give them a press with the knife)
1 bay leaf
a good splash of white wine
200ml hot water or chicken stock

For the pancakes:
200g plain flour
160g boiling water
1 tsp sugar
seasame oil

For the trimmings:
1 cucumber, cut into thin strips (you can peel and/or de-seed if you prefer)
1 small bunch spring onions, cut into very thin strips (use white and green parts)
1 jar hoisin sauce

Heat the oven to 200 degrees C (180 for a fan oven). Trim any large pieces of excess fat from the duck legs if necessary. Lightly season the legs, and rub the spices into each leg (both sides). Heat a large oven-proof pan with oil to medium-high. Place the duck legs in the pan, skin side down. Cook them to a golden brown and turn over for a few minutes. Remove legs from pan and set aside. Drain off all but a tablespoon of the fat. Saute onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes. Add garlic and bay leaf and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the wine, scraping any cooked bits from the bottom of the pan and let reduce slightly. Add the stock or water to the pan and bring to the boil. Take the pan from the heat, add legs back into the pan, cover and braise in the oven for one hour.

In the meantime, prepare the trimmings and pancakes. For the pancakes, mix flour and sugar in a large bowl. Add the boiling water and mix with a fork in the first instance. Using a wooden spoon, continue to combine until you begin to have a soft dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few minutes (dusting with extra flour as you go). When you have a smooth, non-sticky dough, cover with a tea towel and leave for about half an hour. Divide dough in half. Again on a floured surface, roll out each piece of dough with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out small circles with a pastry cutter (a 3-4 inch one works well). Remove excess pastry (you can re-roll this later). Brush circles of dough with seasame oil. Pair them by putting two together, oiled sides together. Cover and let rest for 15-30 minutes. Roll each pair until very thin. In a hot, dry pan, cook on each side until slightly charred. Set aside a a plate under a tea towel as you continue with the rest. Carefully pull apart the pairs of pancakes. You can re-heat (steam) these in the microwave later if necessary. To do this, place them on a microwave-safe plate, add a 1/2 tsp of water, cover with cling film and pierce. Microwave for about 1 minute. This will make around 20 pancakes, depending on the size of your disks.

When the duck is cooked, remove legs from pan and discard the cooking liquid and vegetables. (At this stage, you can cool the duck and refridgerate until ready to use). Turn on the grill. Place the legs on a rack over a roasting pan, skin side up. Grill the legs for about 10 minutes or until the skin is crisp but be careful not to burn them.

Using two forks (or your fingers), remove skin and thinly slice. Pull the meat from the legs with the forks and shred. Serve the duck meat, skin and trimmings with the pile of warm pancakes. Let guests fill the pancakes themselves, spreading a thin layer of hoisin sauce, a generous portion of duck, spring onions and cucumber. Roll and enjoy.