Piadina - Italian Flat Bread - A Hot Trend.

Want to know what the hottest trend in cafe eats is these days? Piadina!


Years ago, it was focaccia. Then came Turkish bread. Somehow, panini slipped its end in and then the cafe sandwich press made all of these bready dishes common and horrid. And let's not forget wraps and lavash and other abominations that happened after the ingredients became available commercially.


Face it: a real focaccia, lovingly grilled or at least toasted under the broiler and then filled with fresh ingredients was a very tasty thing. Ditto the other formats. Now? They're all as cheap as chips and really not tasty at all.


I'm not a food snob at all. I used to be! However, food is all about practical, economical and sensible ways to deliver a top grade and healthy feed every day for yourself and your household, with the occasional frippery and fun, just to keep everyones' mouth happy, isn't it?


Enter the piadina! It's just an unleavened flatbread, which in itself is unexciting. How it can be loaded with all kinds of exciting and tasty  fresh and seasonal ingredients is another dimension in flavour and texture that really needs to be explored. Trendy, tasty and about three minutes of actual cooking time. Fast food that's actually healthy!


This is where you do some Google-fu. There are some places around Sydney, and certainly many other cities, who have cafes who charge ridiculous amounts for a piadina. So, if you want part with at least ten bucks for some meat, cheese, snow pea sprouts and trendy ingredient du jour, then you go ahead, you fashionable fool. For everyone else who has a brain, loves to cook and loves to entertain with something new, I'll show you how to make them for only $0.30 each - plus fillings! You can even make only one for yourself to try out at if you like. It's a top way to use up cold cuts from Christmas roasts. Check out the trendy places online so that you can get some hot ideas for tasty ingredients.


Traditionally, piadina are made with lard. Purists will say that only lard can be used. In these health conscious days, I'll base the recipe on olive oil. It's almost as tasty, and you'll live longer and not be quite so lardy (pun intended). You can cook them on the flat part of your bbq, if you can make it hot enough, or you can cook them in a non-stick frypan. The results will be quite similar.


Here's the insanely simple recipe for 2011's trendiest bread item:

• 100 grams plain flour
  
• 20 mls olive oil
  
• 35 mls warm water (hotter than you would use for yeast dishes, say 45C-60C)
  
• 1 gram salt - very optional
  
• The above makes one only. You can scale it up to make more. Adjust water to match your chosen flour.

Making the dough:

• Put the flour in a pile, make a hole in the middle, pour in the water and the oil (and salt if that's your thing), combine and knead until smooth.
  
• You do not need to flour the bench as the oil will make the dough slippery enough.
  
• Wrap the smooth and well kneaded dough in cling film, let it rest for about thirty minutes. Kneading is done in about one to two minutes.
  
• After resting, press the dough out into something like a circle and finish rolling it out nice and thin and as close to a circle as you can manage. Perfection isn't a requirement here - rustic is cool.
  
• Get your bbq hotplate or frying pan nice and hot and prep your fillings because, ladies and gentlemen, this is going to happen quickly!

Here's some hints for using festive roast leftovers:

• Ham, cheese, snow pea sprouts, apple sauce
  
• Roast beef, hot English mustard, lettuce, sliced Roma tomato, cheese
  
• Turkey breast, cranberry sauce, Camembert or Brie, snow pea sprouts, cheese
  
• Chicken, salami, dried pressed tofu - not in the same dish - and more
  
• And just about anything else you can dream up!

Cooking time:

• Drop your thinly rolled dough onto the cooking surface and let it get a few good dark brown spots from cooking on one side. Don't try to brown the whole thing else it will turn into parchment and be inedible.
  
• Flip it over, and start adding ingredients on one half. You can keep the greens and crispy ingredients out until after it's off the heat, unless you like soggy greens.
  
• After adding fillings, fold one half up and over, to make a 'sandwich'.
  
• Give it about thirty seconds to one minute or so and then flip the whole arrangement over so that the top of the sandwich is cooked a little too.
  
• Serve and enjoy.

Usually, your meat fillings should be precooked. There is not enough time during this process to cook meat adequately. It's better to prepare fillings after making the dough, during the dough resting time. It will make a much better result and be far less harrowing for you, especially if you're trying to make six lunches on one frypan.


If you're into stone-ground flour, macro-organic, wholemeal, and other exciting and purportedly karma-improving flours, then you go right ahead and use those. I'm sure that they will be extra tasty and will give a whole new and exciting mouthfeel to this traditional and simple flatbread. Tell me how you go with those - and tell me how you had to adjust the cooking process. I would love to share your success with other readers!


Best of luck, and if you have any questions, please post those in the comments section and I'll be ever so happy to help!


Cheers!!

BBQ Coca-cola pork belly - Asian Style!

There's nothing better than a beer and a BBQ - and a pork belly!

I know - this article has nothing to do with yeast - just with wholesome flavoursome tasty goodness.

Pork belly is one of those budget cuts of meat as it's rather fatty and doesn't really correspond much to 'standard' Aussie cooking. It was popular in traditional English and European cooking and it's still a major mainstay of Asian dishes as it's actually a really flexible ingredient and is utterly delicious if it's handled well.

I prepared this one for a BBQ at a mate's place, but regrettably didn't go owing to my wife coming down with regular flu / common cold and not wanting to infect everyone else there.

It's a twice-cooked dish - a guarantee of extra special tasty goodness. Once in the oven - once on the BBQ to pick up extra flavours.


Here's how you do it:
* A big piece of pork belly - say >2.5 and <3.5 kg - as long as it will fit your biggest baking dish. It's better if it has the skin on and the rib bones in. That way you get two yummy dishes from one slab of meat.
* A huge baking dish
* 2 - 3 litres of cola
* 1 cinnamon stick
* 2 star anise

- Preheat your oven to 180C fan forced
- Put the pork belly into the baking dish, cover it with the cola as deep as possible and slowly bring it to the boil on the stove top.
- Put the cinnamon stick and star anise into the liquid
- Cook for 2.5 hours or until it's nice and tender. The skin will toughen and may burn a little - it's not important as you will be discarding it.

In the meanwhile, make the marinade:
* 500 grams white sugar
* 200 ml Chinkiang Vinegar (brown vinegar from any Asian grocer - more if you want a sharper taste, up to 400 ml)
* 3 tablespoons crushed dried chilli (you may want to add up to eight or ten if you want more chilli flavour, or use four or five fresh strong chillies for more of a kick)
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 150 gm Lee Kum Kee char siu sauce (any brand will be OK, but this one is very reliable)
* 80 gm Hoi Sin sauce
* 100 ml of a premium oyster sauce (cheap ones are too salty and not 'oystery' enough).

- Put the sugar into a heavy based saucepan and add enough water to make a thick paste
- Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring often, until it becomes a pale golden colour. If you add too much water, you will end up with sugar syrup and will need to boil it down until it thickens - and it won't go gold, so you will miss out on the caramel flavours.
- Remove from heat and let cool about five minutes.
- VERY carefully add the vinegar. If the sugar solution is too hot it may explode owing to the temperature difference. Be careful.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and return to the heat to reduce until it thickens to a similar viscosity as the original sugar syrup / caramel.
- Remove from heat and let cool.

-- When the pork is done, remove it from the oven, discard the cooking liquid and let the pork cool down a bit.
- If you are going to BBQ it the same day, now is a good time to remove the skin and place the pork skin side down into the dish. It should pretty much come off in one piece. If you're preparing this a day or more in advance, leave the skin on and put the pork in the dish, skin side down.
- Pour the marinade over the pork. Cover with cling wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for a few hours.
- The final cooking stage is about ten minutes either side on the BBQ, basting frequently with the marinade. You may want to BBQ longer or shorter depending on your preference.
- With a large knife, cut the ribs away from the slab of meat and serve.
- Slice the meat slab thinly, plate it, drizzle a little extra marinade on top and garnish with green chilli. Yummo!

It is quite possible to not BBQ it and serve as above. Warm out of the oven it's almost irresistible. If there are leftovers, you can refrigerate and consume much the same as cold cuts. Microwaved until warm and then served in slices with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and freshly cut chilli it's a fast and tasty side dish.

You can also make BBQ Pork Buns with leftovers. Keep some marinade and some meat and I will show you how in the next posting!


Cheers and Beers!!