A dash of Italian

Speaking of piada it makes me think of Cicchetti – pronounced chee-keh-tee. For the uninitiated cicchetti are to Venice what tapas are to Barcelona. If you're interested in more check out the Italian label for chapter, verse and ideas.

Here's a little something to go with the flatbreads using broad beans.

If you can't face the thought of blanching and podding 500g of broads beans, split the difference and mix 250g of cooked petit pois.

Here goes :

Favetta

500g broad beans, blanched and

refreshed and then podded

1 roasted garlic clove

100ml olive oil

zest and juice of half a lemon

100g Pecorino cheese – grated

salt and black pepper to taste

Put the broad beans, olive oil and garlic into a food processor and whizz quickly so that you achieve a rough mixture – you do not want a pulp! Tip the mixture into a bowl and add the lemon and zest and add 50g of grated pecorino. Season - but remember that Pecorino is sharper and more tart than Parmesan so taste before you season.

Serve on bruschetta or crostini garnishing with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of grated Pecorino or serve the favetta in one bowl with piadas, ready to roll up and dip.

The ultimate finger food!

The boring stuff - the broad beans

You won't like this but it'll be worth it.

Blanch your broad beans – bring a large pan of water to the boil and then add the beans, bring back up to the boil. Drain and refresh – in other words rinse in fresh cold water. Tip onto kitchen roll and pat dry. Tip into a bowl.

Place the bowl of beans on a tray that fits into your lap along with two large food bags. Sit in your favourite chair and tune in to your favourite “guilty pleasure” tv programme. Pop your beans to reveal the bright green beauties inside. Place the discarded outer skins into one bag and the beauties in the other.

A tea towel on your lap will stop the tray slipping.

My piadas

You can leave your piadas rough around the edges if you want rustic or you can cut into circles – small is beautiful – especially if you're serving to guests and want to show off. Cutter or rustic, this is the question!

To help, the cutter I used was 10 cms in diameter – in truth 12 cms would have been better – it was the largest I had. I'm having the larger one made as we speak.

Use a timer when you're cooking your breads – if you get distracted you won't get burnt offerings. Another tip. If you intend to freeze your breads then cook for 1 minute each side only - then when you're ready to use from the freezer you've the extra minute each side before serving.

When you cooking your breads you'll get four in a large non-stick frying pan.

Here's my piada :

Happy feasting.

Perfect Piada or Piadina

You'll see that the recipe given is for the larger, piadinas. I made the smaller piadas – you will get 12/14 breads approximately – it depends how precise you want to be.

Piadina

Makes 4-6 breads (large)

500g plain flour

½ tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

300ml water

Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt and then gradually add enough water to make a dough that is soft and a little sticky. Add the olive oil then knead for 10 minutes, until smooth. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into four to six pieces and flatten each ball into a round to fit your frying pan – it should be about 3mm thick but can be quite misshapen. Prick each bread all over with a fork to prevent puffing.

Heat the frying pan until very hot, then cook each flatbread on both sides. It is fine to have patches of charred dough. Keep each flatbread warm by wrapping in a tea towel until you have cooked the remainder.

Fill, fold and get ready to feast.

P.s. I wouldn't recommend making the breads in the current heat. I made the smaller piada and it takes a while. It's worth the effort and I have them in the freezer ready to sample – hold that thought.

As promised – Piada

As I said in Just in case you hadn't noticed Piada is a thin Italian flatbread. Piadina is the larger version – typically from the Romagna region – no yeast required! It's a perfect receptacle for street food or more accurately “kiosk” food – sweet or savoury and there's a size to suit every appetite.

It's not very often I recommend nay rave about “store bought” stuff but here's my suggestion not just for the summer, for any time.

You can buy piada or piadina from most supermarkets. The bread takes 2 minutes each side to warm and colour in a dry, non-stick frying pan. Keep your warmed breads wrapped in foil until you're ready to serve.

Here's what they look like :

Here's a serving idea :

Check out this taco stand – fill your piada with whatever takes your fancy – cheeses, meats, salads and slot into the stand.

I got a pack of four stands for £9.99, great quality.

How very international!

Just in case you hadn't noticed …

… it's a tad warm out there! We're not used to it in the UK and one of the problems is that it's really difficult to know what to eat.

Everything is a massive effort and the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven. It's just about possible to use a pan on the hob.

We have friends coming to supper and I want to serve something nice and, as importantly, I don't want to spend time in a hot kitchen.

I like variations on a theme - fancy chefs call it fusion.

I think it will be a smidgeon of Spanish, add a dash of Italian and complete with a drop or two of the Middle East with the dressing.

So far I've decided on Stromboli which is basically a rolled up pizza that you slice, which will contain – apart from the standard ingredients like tomato paste and mozzarella – finely sliced chestnut mushrooms, baby spinach and black olives.

My smidgeon of Spanish will be diced chorizo, fried so that it releases its delicious oil. Set aside and when ready to serve, stir fry with finely sliced sweet peppers, blanched asparagus tips and halved baby tomatoes.

My pomegranate molasses dressing will be served with king prawns.

I'm not sure this is the end of my supper menu – just the story so far.

What can I serve to mop up the oil and dressings – piada – small Italian flatbreads. What I love about these is that they are small, manageable and perfect either to mop or to create a small wrap, best of all you don't finish up with food all over yourself as with the larger versions and wreck that beautiful new top you love so much!

More about piada coming next …

Champion Cherries

Here's an idea for a fast “jam” which is perfect to use in another version of a sharing sundae, not forgetting of course the warm chocolate sauce to go with!

Cherry Jam

250g black cherries, stoned*

2 tbsps of arrowroot

2 tbsps Kirsch or Cherry Brandy - optional

4 tbsps maple syrup

See* below about choice of cherries. Using a blender, blend the cherries with 120ml (4¼ fl oz) of cherry syrup, arrowroot, 2 tbsps of Kirsch or Cherry Brandy and the maple syrup. Blend until smooth then pour into a saucepan, bring to the boil and let it reduce for 10 minutes until it becomes jam like. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool and thicken.

*You can use fresh cherries if you wish but their season is short and they are expensive. I used frozen Dark Sweet Cherries which I get from Sainsbury's and come in 500g bags.

If you use fresh cherries then you'll need more juice than they will give. You can get cartons of cherry juice from either Waitrose or M&S.

Using arrowroot as a thickening agent gives you a glossy jam. It has no flavour so it's perfect it doesn't interfere with the ingredients.

Cherry Thursday

4x23g Amaretti biscuits

2 dollops of cherry jam – reserve a small spoonful

to decorate

drizzle of cherry compote

2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

or try out the maple and pecan version

Chocolate Sauce for drizzling

Sprinkle half your Amaretti biscuits into the bottom of the glass. Drizzle with cherry compote, add a dollop of cherry jam. Add one scoop of ice cream. Repeat. Top with the warm chocolate sauce and top with a small spoonful of jam.

50g dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids

25g unsalted butter

125ml double cream

1 tbsp caster sugar

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie (in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, not touching the bowl). Heat the rest of the ingredients in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir through the melted chocolate. Drizzle, warm, over your Cherry Thursday.

This jam is not meant to last as with your own home made or a shop bought product. It's a quick and easy shortcut. It has other uses apart from the sundae - serve it with plain yogurt, or another alternative filling in a sponge cake.

It's too warm to spend too long slaving over a hot hob!

Outside the box …

… just to give you something different from the norm.

If you were thinking of making a Victoria Sandwich anytime soon, here's an idea – instead of using jam for the centre, try gooseberry curd.

Gooseberry Curd

900g gooseberries

50ml water

50g butter

3 fresh eggs

450g sugar

Top and tail the berries and place in a large saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until the berries are soft and mushy.

Remove from the heat and push them through a sieve into a medium sized mixing bowl, pressing the fruit through with a wooden spoon. Discard the stuff left in the sieve.

Use a bain marie – melt the butter. Beat the eggs lightly and stir into the bowl with the sugar and gooseberry purée.

Cook the mixture, stirring frequently for 25-30 minutes or until it thickens.

Remove the bowl from the heat and pour into clean, dry, warm, sterilized jars. Seal and cover.

Label with date and contents when cooled.

Makes about 900g of curd – 2lb in old money.

Be careful – some fruits contain more juice than others – if you want to be sure weigh the purée and use an equal amount of sugar. Personally I'd find adding an equal amount of sugar too sweet. If your curd is too thin then add a teaspoon of slaked arrowroot to achieve the thickness required.

The curd is best kept in the fridge and has a limited life – two to three weeks at best. Bear in mind too that the curd contains lightly cooked eggs and so there is a risk to the usual groups – i.e. expectant mothers, babies, younger children and the elderly.

Cherries coming next!