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Showing posts with label Tomato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tomato. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Lamb Madras





No speel just one hugely yummy recipe. I learnt this recipe on the Cooks Academy Certificate course - it's really good, especially the next day. Worth considering if you're cooking for a dinner party reduce the stress on the day in question.
 Serves 6
Ingredients
Sunflower Oil for frying
1kg of diced lamb - trim off excess fat
2 big onions 0 diced
4 large cloves of garlic crushed
1-2 tablespoons of fresh root ginger grated
1 handful of coriander roots - chopped
400g / 1 tin of tomatoes
1 pint good chicken stock
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon of curry powder (depending on strength and taste)
1/2 tablespoon of ground coriander
2 tsp of cardamon pods - seeds removed and ground in a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder if you have one - please santa - hint hint!)
a big bunch of fresh coriander roughly chopped

Method
1) Brown of the lamb in the sunflower oil. Do in batches and set aside.
2) Sweat the onion off for a few minutes after you have finished the lamb.
3) When the onion has gone clear, add in the garlic, ginger, spices and coriander stalks. Cook out the ground spices for a few minutes stirring constantly.
4) Then add in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Cook for 10 minutes.
5) Liquidise the mixture with a stick blender.
6) Return the lamb to the pan and bring to a gently simmer. Cover and cook for 1.5 hours - 2 hours depending on the size and quality of your lamb.
7) Serve with rice or naan and some nice homemade chutney - or Sharwoods mango chutney. That stuff is like crack cocaine for me honestly can't get enough of the stuff.

I made my own naans for this recipe - but the recipe is not quite perfect so I'll wait till it is before I post one. If anyone has any good naan recipes they'd like to share that would be great. I also served it with a spiced vegetable and lentil dish and rice.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Tomato Chutney

This ain't no Ballymaloe Relish - they've got that secret recipe in a secret vault, inside a pelican, inside a safe, inside an iceberg in the North Pole! 

But this is a lovely relish - If you can resist the temptation of testing some, in the one month it has to be left to mature on the shelves. I made this after I worked an incredible week of 16/18 hour days - and thought my brain was inside out. Producing a large quantity of lovely things in jars was very soothing to my mind.

Ingredients
1kg ripe tomatoes chopped
450g white onions finely chopped
6 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 red chillies
3 apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
4 tsp black mustard seeds
4 cloves
4cm piece fresh ginger, grated
300g sultanas
200g dark brown sugar
600ml malt vinegar
couple of sprigs of rosemary
10 cloves
Olive Oil
8 jars & lids - sterilised - I boiled them in a big pan of water, to clean and sterilise them. Then I baked them in a hot oven for 15/20 minutes just before they were ready to be filled. 
Cellophane
Grease proof paper
Rubber bands
Pretty lids
A big huge pot
Throw everything except the vinegar into your huge pot. Then add half the vinegar. Season. Bring this slowly to simmer - giving a good stir every now and then, to help dissolve sugar evenly. 

 Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add in the rest of the vinegar. Cook for another 30 minutes, stirring often until thick. 

Remove jars from hot oven and spoon chutney into them. Allow to cool.

Place a disc of waxed paper on top of the chutney and seal with airtight lids or Cellophane and rubber bands. Store for a month to allow time to mature. It should keep for up 6 months. Keep in the fridge after opening and use within 1-2 months.

This is great with cheese, I won't lie and say that I've eaten it with anything else but cheese at this stage. It would be wonderful with cold meat. macaroni cheese, pies or cold plate. Also great little things to give away as gifts. I might knock up a special Christmas batch soon - you have been warned friends and family! 

AND once again a big thanks to the lovely Des Moriarty for the pictures! 

Monday, September 6, 2010

Oven Roasted Tomato & Caramelised Garlic Bruschetta

Never Mind the Electric Picnic here's the Acoustic Dinner Party

So to distract ourselves from the fact that we weren’t at Electric Picnic - we had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night - the menu was loosely summer Italian, I really enjoyed all the courses - especially the starter  which was inspired by a meal we had at Junior’s in Ringsend recently. If you haven’t been you should try it - it’s a great restaurant. I’ve been there twice recently - for dinner and brunch!
Pre-dinner Nibbles

Ingredients
Makes 9
1 head of garlic
18 baby tomatoes
3 teaspoons of Maldon Sea Salt
3 teaspoons of Caster Sugar/Light Brown Sugar
Olive Oil
Good quality sourdough bread
1 clove of garlic

Cut the whole head of garlic across the middle - so that each clove is cut in half. Mix together the salt and sugar in a bowl.  Then dip the head of garlic cut side down into the mixture - so that it sticks. Then on a oven proof tray - put the remaining sugar and salt in two piles. Place the two pieces of garlic cut side down on the two piles. Cover the garlic with tin foil. Place in the oven at gas mark 6 for 30 mins until they are tender.

While these are cooking - coat the tomatoes in a little olive oil and bake these along with the garlic - so they should be ready at the same time. If you have them on the vine keep them that way - as they’re less likely to loose their delicious juices in the roasting process.

Remove the garlic and tomatoes from the oven and allow to cool. Then pop them out of the skins, mix together in a small bowl to form a paste with a small bit of olive oil.

Toast the sour dough - spread each piece of toast with a little purred garlic and top with a  few torn basil leaves and two tomatoes.

This is the smallest part of the dinner but thought I’d better start today or we’ll never get it all down. Stay posted for the next five installments - yup 5! Wow we’re mad as a pastry brush around here

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Sun Dried Tomato & Sprouted Red Linseed Tapenade

Alive, Alive – ooh!
Firstly, you may or may not have noticed that this little corner of the Internet has been a little quiet of late. Reasons for this being, firstly various holidays taken by me and Lola and secondly has been work – I have been closing up a large and frantic tender – and Lola has recently started a new job. Food, sadly has been low on our list of priorities.

I ate some wonderful Polish food in Gdansk, great sauteed potatoes and pork fillet pounded thin and tender in a  rich creamy sauce spicy with green peppercorns (for breakfast – ahem). The other memorable food experience was cooking a ratatouille in an empty swimming pool in the centre of Berlin.

So following these late nights of both partying and working – with all convenience food that goes with them, I felt like I needed a little cleanse. So I’ve been eating raw food  for the last few days. I’ve been sprouting seeds sporadically over the last few years, it’s great fun and very easy to do.

Simply soak 1 tablespoon of seeds in water over night  - then drain and place on a saucer/plate/sprouter. Rinse the seeds once/twice a day and watch as they triple in size and explode apart with shoots. I’ve bought a few packets of pre-mixed assortments of seeds in health food shops, but have also successfully sprouted mung beans, chickpeas, cress and various lentils. It’s amazing to think of so many store cupboard ingredients being able to transform themselves so readily with just some water and daylight.

I’ve added these most often to salads, but also go great in curries, stews and soups – as garnish or an integral part of the dish. This was the first time I used them as a part of a dip,  Sharp, tangy, hot and garlicy – goes great with crudities.

Ingredients
4 sun dried tomatoes in oil 
a big handful of any kind of sprouts (I used a mixture of brown lentils, red linseed and mung beans) 
1 clove of garlic (less if you’re not a big garlic fan) 
A good squeeze of lemon juice 
2 small cherry tomatoes 
1 tablespoon of olive oil 
1 tablespoon of tahini 
a few sprigs of parsley 
Salt and freshly milled pepper

Add all ingredients,  except the fresh tomatoes, into a blender and blend to your desired consistency -  I added in the two small tomatoes at the end to thin it out a little and give it a better consistency. I’d love to know what you think of this yummy cousin of hummous twice removed !

I’ve been busy in the kitchen – making various things to go in jars – spicy tomato chutney and homemade mustard – can’t post till they’ve had some time to mature so stay posted!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Huevos Rancheros

Viva Mexico!
















Apparently Mexico are doing pretty well in the World Cup right now... I have managed to not watch a single match so far... oops!

I figure most Irish people are behind Mexico, what with the green strips and beating France 2-0 an all... Also on this blog we seem to have developed a serious liking for Mexican food. So I decided to whip up some Huevos Rancheros this sunny Saturday morning. Perfect for brunch! They went down a treat and made us love Mexico even more, I'm now even contemplating a visit!

















Serves 1 hungry person, or two not so hungry people. All quantities can be doubled or tripled depending on how many eggs you want for brekkie!

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 a red chili
1 small red onion
2 cloves garlic
2 flour tortillas

Start by making the tomato sauce. Chop the onions, garlic and chili (take out the seeds if you don't want it too hot!) and saute in some olive oil in a frying pan until the onions are soft and translucent. Then add the tin of tomatoes and stir everything together. Simmer for about 10 mins or until the sauce 'comes together'.

Push the sauce to one side of the pan and add a bit of olive oil to the exposed pan. break the eggs into this oil and fry them. Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat a teaspoon of oil and heat up the tortillas, one at a time for 30 seconds on each side. When they are done and browned transfer them to a plate. by this time your eggs should be nearly done. Leave them sunny side up, even if, like me, you usually don't eat them like that. Place them on top of the tortillas and then top the eggs, covering the yolks with the hot sauce. This will cook the tops of the eggs.

Serve topped with some grated cheese if you like, or some pinto beans, or, like I did, a bit of avocado.

Muchos Yummios (sorry!)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Thick Minestrone Soup

Mammy Minestrone

Yup so this is a minestrone I made with my mum while home over the bank holiday. I decided to make it when I saw how much lovely homegrown spinach that they had in their cupboard. Then I forgot to add it in - whoops- well it was still a great soup and a nice filling lunch that got me the whole way back to Dublin in the car without any belly rumbles.

Ingredients
 1 white onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
6 fresh tomatoes (chopped, skinned if you like)
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
big bunch of green beans cut into whatever size pieces you like
1 tin of mixed beans
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
3 handfuls of dry pasta (whatever shapes you like)
1 sprig of thyme
1 bunch of parsley
1 pint of vegetable stock
A couple of handfuls of basil leaves

To Garnish 
freshly grated Parmesan
basil leaves
 
Fry your onion over a medium heat for two minutes before adding in the garlic. Cook until the onion begins to soften, then add in the diced carrots and celery. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add in the sprig of thyme, the bay leaf, tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften. Then stir in all the other ingredients, except the basil, mix well and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 12-14 minutes until the pasta shapes are cooked. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving and garnish with a few leaves and a generous grating of Parmesan. Enjoy with some nice brie and a glass of good red wine.

I only used about 1/2 litre of stock in this and it turned out very thick, so I recommended more stock in the recipe to make for a more liquid soup. I love cooking with my mum, she ways things like 'what'll I chop next?' and 'I'll get that from the garden' the perfect cooking partner

Thanks Mum!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Oven Baked Lamb Burgers in Mediterranean Sauce

Maybe more of stew than a sauce

This recipe was started off by catching a wiff of barbecued burgers in town whilst having a drink. So it was decided - some juicy tasty burgers for dinner - oh yes! We picked up all we needed on Mary Street, from the Asian food company - one of my favourite shops in town.
IngredientsFor the burgers
3/4 pound of minced lamb
1 white onion - finely diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
 a good grate of fresh nutmeg
2 tablespoons of ketchup
1 slice of bread - crumbed
For the sauce
3 mini aubergines (cause they're cute) finely sliced
1 white onion diced
3 cloves of garlic sliced finely
1 large green chili - seeds removed
1/2 red pepper - diced
1/2 yellow pepper - diced
1/2 courgette - diced
8 large tomatoes roughly chopped
1/2 litre vegetable stock
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
Start by making the burgers. Basically mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl - you’ll have to use your hands for sure. Then form into 6 burger shapes, and place in an oven proof dish and refrigerate while you make the sauce.

For the sauce fry the aubergine in a  little olive oil until it starts to colour a little - add in the onion and some more oil if needed and cook for another few minutes before adding the garlic and chilli. After another few minutes add in the peppers and courgette. Cook these until the soften ever so slightly - then add in all your chopped tomatoes. Bring to a gentle simmer and cover until the tomatoes begin to beak apart. Then add in about 1/2 little of vegetable stock. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, then remove from the heat and pour over your burgers in an oven proof dish - the sauce should cover the burgers - remember it will cook down in the oven.

Bake at gas mark 6 for about an hour. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley and some oven baked chips (ours turned out tasting of lemons, so Delo ran to the chipper - weekend boldness!) 

The burgers came out wonderfully moist and the vegetable mixture cooked down to produce a rich, sweet and dense sauce. I don’t want my burgers any other way! They would be equally as tasty with beef mince, I’d have added some harissa to the mixture if I’d had some to hand for sure. Endless variations possible here - with different vegetables and meats.  Tonight I’ll eat the leftovers in a fresh floury bap - looking forward to it already.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Mexican Chilli Soup with Black Beans & Corn

Blacker than the Fires of Hell

Look at these - they're pasilla chillies, yes they're black, they're the size of your head, and they're the main ingredient of this soup. I did take the seeds out. As me and Lola learned at the Mexican Embassy in August of last year, in real Mexican cooking they use chillies, like we use tea - everywhere and all the time - oh yes! I found these chillies in Fallon & Byrne, and snapped them up as I've no idea where else to get the in Dublin.
This is a genuine Mexican meal, unlike my interpretations of other Mexican dishes. This soup is amazing, not as hot as you'd think, though it does pack a punch. It's a whole range of taste that is new to me, which is very exciting

Ingredients
4 large pasilla chillies
4 large tomato - quartered
1 large red onion
1 teaspoon of dried garlic (there was no fresh - the shame!)
1 pint of chicken stock
1 can of corn
1 tin of black beans
1 red onion
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
2 flour tortillas - cut into strips
Some vegetable oil
Grated cheddar

Over a flame - hold your chilies, until they become a little bit more pliable, like leather. Break them apart and remove the seeds and stem. Cover them in a bowl with a little boiling water. allow to steep for 10 minutes or so. 

Cook your onion over a medium heat until translucent. Add in the garlic and paprika, cook for another minute or two. Then stir in the stock, tomatoes, chillies and soaking water along with the black beans, retaining a few of these for garnish. Cook for 35-40 minutes at a very gentle simmer.

Remove from the heat and liquidise. Then stir in the corn.

In a frying pan - heat up 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and when hot, fry the tortilla strips until golden brown. Garnish the bowls of soup with a few of these strips and a little grated cheese (none for you vegans). Divine, I do highly recommend trying this soup, also good served with some chopped avocado or fresh coriander. Or spring onions, feic I had them in the fridge and all - oh well, cooks regret ...

Monday, March 15, 2010

Roasted Tomato and Parmesan Sauce

For Pasta, Bread or Dipping

I say bread and dipping without having tried it myself, but I bet it's work, try it before I do!
Growing up my Dad would be traveling a lot during the week, so on Saturdays he would often make the lunch. I think he found cooking a nice way of unwinding. One of his signature dishes was pasta and tomato sauce. He was always sure to have the plates warmed and have plenty of grated cheese ready to lash on, it was eaten before watching the rugby beside the fire and drinking tea in Spring. Good memories.

After a lazy morning - I made a tomato and pasta sauce for Lola who was working away pretty hard. I think she liked it. We also watched the rugby long enough to see a try - perfect! 

Ingredients
12-14 small tomatoes on vine
6 cloves of garlic (in their skins)
1 small red pepper, cut into 8
1 small red pepper, cut into 8
2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan
2 handfuls of rocket
grated cheddar cheese
8oz pasta 
Olive Oil
Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 7. In a baking dish put the tomatoes, garlic and peppers and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at the top of the oven for 45 mins until getting black at the edges. I use my stick blender for the next step, but if you have a food processor - use that. Pop the roasted garlic out of it's skins, if it's properly cooked it should just pop out easily. Then liquidise everything as well as the Parmesan together. It should make a good volume of sauce.

Stir into cooked pasta, serve in warmed bowls, topped with rocket and grated cheese. If using this as a dip, it could be cooked a little longer to just thicken it up a little.

Happy Saturday

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Paneer Tomato & Green Bean Masala


So it's been a while since we went to the land of curry. I'm on a bit of an 'eat less meat buzz' right now, and I had some paneer lurking in my fridge for a week or two now. I think I should prob brush up on new Indian recipes, I've fallen into a rut with the spices and herbs I use - but hey they work - so why change!

Paneer is a lovely dense cheese, used in Indian cooking, like tofu, but much nicer. It comes in a block, and can be added to curries and cooked in the mixture, or I prefer to fry it a little to give it a nice golden brown colour and then allowing it to bubble away in the mixture to absorb all the depth and spice of your chosen curry. I made a Panner Butter Masala which is delicious, creamy and rich, make this if you feel like a treat, this however is a more healthy way of using this great cheese - inspired by the delicious food served at Govindas if you've never been it's well worth trying one of their three restaurants in Dublin City for a HUGE portion of healthy delicious food.

Ingredients
I block of paneer - cut into small cubes 2cm squares
2 small red onions - finely diced
4 large tomatoes - chopped (skins removed if you prefer)
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 inch of ginger root grated
a handful of green beans cut in half
1 red chilli (seeds optional - I optioned them in!)
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon masala curry powder
1 pinch of asa foetida (optional)
3 curry leaves (bay leaves will do)
3 cardamon pods
1/2 teaspoon of funugreek (ground)
1/4 stock cube

First dry roast the whole spices (mustard seeds, cumin and cardamon seeds) in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove to pestle and mortar and crush to release the flavors. The heat some oil in your frying pan and fry the cubes of paneer 10 or so at a time - till a nice golden colour on a few sides. Then remove to a plate and continue till they're all done.

Alternatively - use a pre-mixed spice - like garam-masala - or any type of curry powder/paste that you  have, don't let my extensive list of spices put you off!  

Add in the onion, cook for one minute before adding in the garlic and ginger. Cook these for several minutes until the onion is translucent. Then stir in your crushed spices and cook for a further minute or two, then add in the dried spices and stir. After this tip in the chopped tomatoes and stock cube add a little water and bring up to simmer, cover and leave o cook for about 20-25 minutes. Before you're ready to serve put the green beans on top of the curry - cover for two minutes, and then shy should be cooked but not mushy, stir well and serve.

I serve this with some jasmine rice and a side of aloo-gobi.




All veggies came from our box from Fruitfellas - I feel healthier just looking at this!


Saturday, December 5, 2009

Spaghetti and Meatballs


After the Party....

so it was Sarah's birthday and we had a party, there's was enough mess and chaos to lead me to believe we were all 16 again, raiding your parents drinks cabinet, and drinking the concoction of 6 different spirits mixed into a coke bottle.


Let's just say some of my plants were quite the worse for wear afterwards, including the basil and chili plant, so based on this unplanned harvest I made this nice meal, and fed it to my brother who was visiting before returning to his home in the snowy French alps.

Ingredients -
sauce
1 white onion - finely diced
12 tomatoes - skinned if you prefer and then diced

nice bunch of home-grown basil

1 home grown chili

2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 pound of minced beef

1 large potato - mashed

1 egg

marjoram and thyme (fresh or dried)

Grated Parmesan - a grand old lump - grated

a cup of breadcrumbs
Spaghetti cooked to your liking - my secret confession is I like mini squishy - very non-foodie I know!


I made the sauce first and let that cook away while I made the meatballs and then spaghetti while I cooked the meatballs. Fry the onion up in some olive oil for a minute or two before adding the garlic and sliced chili - cook it all until, it's softened nicely - then add in your tomatoes. Season. Bring to a gentle simmer and cover.

Cook for about 30-40 mins until it's thickened up nicely, it's perfectly ok to use tinned tomatoes here, I just had lots of tomatoes that day. I always add in a small teaspoon of sugar to sauces made using tinned tomatoes.


In a clean bowl - mix together the meat, breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, herbs and mashed potato. Season. Then bind it all together with the egg. This made about 16 meatballs, and three is a big serving, so have some for tomorrow - make your own Meatball subs if you fancy.

Roll each bit of mixture into golf ball sized balls, then coat them in the breadcrumbs.
Heat some oil in a pan and cook your meatballs in batches of around 5 or so. Turn gently and brown evenly on as many sides as you can. Serve them on top of a bowl of spaghetti and topped with some of your tomato sauce. These were just super and perfect for a Sunday night in by the fire.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Baked white fish with tomato and olive sauce

Big fish, little fish (cardboard box)














Ok, I know this pic doesn't look great, I just couldn't get a good image of it and was way too hungry to faf around. I just ate this for dinner though, so trust me, it was delicious.

This is based on a recipe my mum often uses. You can do it with any white, non oily fish. In this case I used haddock, which is meaty and substantial, and delicious.

Ingredients:
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, sliced
about 15 good quality large green olives, sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 fillet of white fish per person

Begin by making the sauce. Saute the onion and garlic until they are soft, add the olives and tomatoes and cook gently for a few minutes until the sauce is reduced. you can add some white wine now if you like.

Place the fish in a baking dish and top with the sauce like this














Bake in a hot oven for about 20 mins.

Serve with brown rice and veggies for a really healthy dinner or you could have it with spuds or just a nice salad and some crusty bread. Its very easy to make, really healthy and totally yum!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ratatouille

Last of the holiday posts I've prob written enough about my holiday now, and lord knows I've been back a month now and only just catching up on the posts now..... Ratouille seems like a very simple thing to post, but this tasted so good and satisfying. It's the most wonderfully satisfying veg stew there is and topped with some grated emmental and drowned in red wine it's no wonder. Makes a perfect side dish - or can be served on pasta as a main meal in itself. 1 onion
1 red pepper

1 courgette
2 cups red wine

6 tomatoes - diced

Salt
Pepper

Fresh parsley

3cloves of garlic - sliced super thin
Olive Oil


Heat up your oil, fry your garlic for one minute before adding in the onion, Cook till translucent, then add in your peppers and courgette, fry these for about 3-4 mins, then tip in your tomatoes, and allow to cook for two mins before adding in the wine.
Simmer for about 10-15 mins - it might seem like a while, but I find it takes that long to cook up together. Sprinkle with parsley before serving, oh yes and some cheese. Check out the action shot of the sausage cooking Delo got - very clever

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Pizza

A lovely Pie for the 4th of July!














Its the 4th of July! I wanted to celebrate and what could be more american that Pizza!?
Ok, I know i should have gone for burgers or something, but after spending time in New York, I came to the conclusion that it was the Americans, not the Italians, who actually invented this dish.

This was my first ever attempt at making it, but I like to think Im a bit of a dab hand at baking with yeast, so I was looking forward to the challenge. Unfortunately, my photos didn't come out too well, and Lucy is off in France so I cant get her to work her designer's magic on them. Maybe we will update them when she gets back... anyway, the most important thing was that this tasted AMAZING and was a big hit with Colm, who pretty much lives on Pizza.















Thanks to Sarah's Mum, who unknowingly provided the recipe for the dough, but I halved it as there were only two of us. The quantities below will make one large pizza (or two small ones)

Pizza Dough
8 oz strong white flour ( or you could use half white, half wholemeal)
1 level teaspoon sugar
1 level teaspoon salt
1 egg
4 fl oz warm water
1 sachet easy blend yeast.

Blend all the dry ingredients in your food processor. Add the egg and warm water and mix using a dough hook. Keep the mixer on until the dough in soft and silky (alternatively knead it for about 10 mins until you get the same effect). Leave the dough in an oiled bowl, covered in cling film in a warm place until it had doubled in size.

while its rising make the sauce:

Tomato sauce:
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
2 tbsps tomato puree
2 tsps oregano

Saute the garlic in some olive oil in a frying pan. Add the tomatoes, puree and oregano and simmer until the whole thing is reduced and thick.

Knock the dough down. You dont need to rise it a second time, but you could leave it in the fridge at this point for use later, which is what I did as Colm was running late!

Roll the dough out on a floured board and manipulate until it is about 1/4 and inch thick and the right size for your oven tray (I used a large rectangular one but you could use one of those round pizza tins). Make sure the tray is well greased with olive oil before you do this. If you like a thinner base you could do two and roll it out as thin as you can without making holes.

Spread the sauce over the dough and top with whatever you like best on a pizza. We did Cheddar cheese (because I couldn't get any mozzerella in the local centra) salami and black olives. Drizzle some olive oil over the whole thing and pop into a very hot oven for 10-15 mins.