Burnt Ends Bao & Pitt Cue Soho

I don't know whether you made it to Pitt Cue Co.'s barbecue truck underneath the Hungerford Bridge last summer, but if not you're in luck, as they've just opened a tiny place on Newburgh Street. We popped in during soft launch to be immediately greeted by pickle backs, that combination of a shot of bourbon followed swiftly by a shot of pickle juice. Most people wrinkle their noses at this, but once you drink it that sweet sour kick you get is addictive. Even if it does have a hint of Big Mac about it.

Downstairs is tiny, and the four of us squished in for dinner and ordered virtually everything from the menu. Trays came out laden with smoked meats, pickles and other sides. Pulled pork was soft and juicy, pork ribs glorious. Beef brisket was smoky and tender, and beef ribs fatty and charred. Burnt ends mash was insanely addictive, and ample helpings of beet slaw cut through the richness. Crispy pickled shiitake mushrooms were an absolute revelation and I still drool at the memory. It turned us feral, and we grabbed at each others' trays, trying to get a good taste of it all. All washed down with a New York Sour, I can imagine myself spending a lot of time here when they open properly on Monday 16th January.



We popped into the kitchen to give a wave to Tom and Neil who were manning the stoves and they kindly sent us off with a packet of burnt ends. These are the ends of the briskets that take on the most smoke flavour when they're cooking and often thought of as a delicacy. In thinking about what to do with my bounty, my brain kept screaming "MASH! Re-create that mash!" but I decided instead on buns. More specifically, the buns you get at dim sum restaurants ('bao' in Cantonese), usually stuffed with char siu (barbecue pork). The buns are steamed and they are soft and sweet, rich smoky meat within. The burnt ends were an obvious replacement.

The dough was a lengthy process, and I turned to the ever-trusty Sunflower for guidance. Her recipe involved making a flour roux first, then adding this to dry ingredients. I am not much of a baker to know why, but it worked so I'll go with it.

After a couple of hours proving, the dough was then flattened and stuffed with the burnt ends mix to then be pleated shut.

Left to prove in the steamer for a little longer, I was worried that they wouldn't work. They seemed like they hadn't risen much.

Happily, they doubled in size when they were steamed. The buns came out a more cream colour than what you might be used to at dim sum restaurants, but this is because commercially made bao is made with super bleached flour. Incidentally I found some when I was at my local Chinese supermarket picking up something else while this dough was proving. Typical.

I was really happy with the result; soft, pillowy buns broke open to reveal intensely smoky and juicy meat. I ate 4 of these with ease.

Burnt Ends Bao

Makes 9 - 10

(Adapted from Sunflower)

20gr plain flour
100mls water

Whisk in the flour to the water while it is heating gently. Keep whisking until it has thickened and take off the heat. Leave to cool.

1 tsp instant yeast
80mls water
Flour roux as above
300gr plain flour (or bao flour)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
60gr sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the yeast with the water and set aside. Sieve the flour and the baking powder together.

Mix the flour roux with the dissolved yeast liquid, sugar, salt and oil.

Using the mixing paddle or a sturdy wooden spoon, add half the liquid to the flour mixture and mix well. Add the rest of the liquid using a tablespoon so that you get a soft but not too sticky dough. I used all the liquid but you may need less. Mix well but don't knead it and leave it for 15 minutes. Then give it a quick knead until it is smooth, and leave to prove somewhere warm for 1.5 hours or 2, basically until it has risen 1.5 times in size.

Filling:

Any kind of barbecued meat, or char siu. You'll want it to have a bit of sauce though so that it's not too dry.

10 squares of greaseproof paper
1 tbsp white vinegar

When the dough has risen, dust it with a bit of flour and knead for a minute. Divide into 9 or 10 pieces and roll into balls.

Flatten the dough into a circle. It's better to have the middle a little thinner than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling into the centre and start gathering the dough from the right handside - try to pleat and twist towards the centre so that you have a middle gathering at the top of the bun. Place on a square of greaseproof paper and leave to rise for another 15 minutes.

Add the white vinegar to the water in the steamer - this is supposed to make the bao fluffier - and once the water is boiling, add the buns to the steamer and place the lid on. Steam for 10 minutes on high and then remove. Eat while hot; any leftovers can be refrigerated and steamed gently to reheat, or frozen.

Chaconia, Deptford

I'm a bit of a lurker over at Chowhound, the food message board; I don't often have time to post, but when I remember I dip in and out and although a lot of it is made up of tourists wondering where to eat in London, you can pick up a load of good suggestions. It was there I first heard of Chaconia, a Caribbean (or, more specifically, Trini) cafe in Deptford. Being a mere 15 minute walk from home to me, I had to visit, especially as the words 'best roti in the UK' were used.

Without a website or any ideas about opening hours, I chanced my luck and headed for 12pm. Alas, it was closed. I meandered around the high street for a bit taking in the stalls of Deptford Market that line the high street, and on my way back, around 12:30pm it was open. So I'd aim for 1pm. A lovely woman behind the counter welcomed me warmly and I ordered a potato and spinach curry roti.

As the lady was making my order, she explained to me that everything is freshly made on the premises. When I told her the compliment I'd read about the roti, she beamed with pride. Made into a wrap, the package was then wrapped in greaseproof paper and popped in the microwave for a few seconds - "roti has to be PIPING hot!"

Soft, chewy roti wrapped gently spiced potato and spinach. Cooked with plenty of cumin seeds, the roti meal was deliciously fulfilling. Make sure you ask for the pepper sauce, as the home-made luridly orange sauce was as hot as hell, the fruity scotch bonnets shining through in the dominant flavour. A cup of sorrel, which the lady told me was made with hibiscus and cinnamon, tasted fresh and fruity without being too sweet.

"Make sure you come back for goat! I make good goat. No pressure cookers." I am excited about next weekend's lunch already.

Chaconia

26 Deptford High Street
London SE8 4AF

Tel: 020 8692 8815

Steaks & Burgers

It would have been madness to turn down a box full of beef, sent to me by Donald Russell, especially when I was promised a load of 100% pure steak mince burgers. The bank holiday weekend was coming up and there were barbeques to be had. Being the generous people they are, they chucked in a load of steak for good measure.

The sirloin, rump and rib eye were slung on for a good flaming. After being rested for as long as we could bear it, we carved them up for a steaky starter. We all had our favourites, but surprisingly mine was the sirloin (I'm usually a rib eye kind of girl). The creamy fat that lined the meat provided just the right amount of richness.

So onto the main course. Since the meat was already prepared for us, I couldn't help but cause myself more hassle and decided to try making my own brioche buns. This, of course was fraught with difficulty after I firstly had to do a mad dash for bread flour, and then while the dough was proving, realised the yeast was 6 months out of date. It didn't seem to affect it though, and they turned into little beauties. It was well worth the hassle, as their buttery sweetness was the perfect vehicle.

Some preferred their burgers simple, with just a slice of slappy cheese (the only cheese that I offered because I love it and I'm stubborn).

I like a bit of greenery in my burger, a little red onion and a slice of tomato. A touch of mustard to smear on the bun and a little ketchup is also required. I was sad I forgot the pickle.

The burgers from Donald Russell were appropriately beefy; at first I was a bit dubious about them, what with being 100% steak mince. Other burgers I've tried usually have a bit of fat in them, and these could have done with some to be extra juicy. We ate our first burger and I thought something was missing. When we slapped the others on (yes, we ate two burgers each...) I realised it was salt, and a liberal hand while they were cooking rectified that.

The brioche recipe was from Smitten Kitchen - I made a couple of adjustments and converted it to UK measurements (I'm not going to go into how much cup measurements annoy me), so here it is:

Brioche Burger Buns

Makes 8

450gr strong bread flour
150gr plain flour
2 eggs
2.5 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp milk, warmed
230ml water
1.5 tsp salt
30gr butter
1 sachet of active dry yeast
Sesame seeds

In a bowl, add the warm milk, water, sugar and yeast to it and give it a good mix. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, add the two flours, the salt, and rub the butter in to create a crumbly texture. Beat an egg and add it in, then mix in the yeast mixture. Combine well. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until it's nice and smooth. Put it back into the bowl and cover it with clingfilm, leaving it for two hours to rise to double the size. It might not take that long if your kitchen is warm enough.

Divide the dough into 8 and then roll into a burger bun shape and place on greaseproof paper on an oven tray. Leave enough room between them (I had to do mine in 2 batches) for them to expand while cooking. Leave for an hour. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. Glaze with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Place a tray of water on the bottom shelf of the oven, then bake the buns for 15 minutes on a middle shelf. Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Breakfast at St John Hotel

After what felt like eating a million noodle or rice dishes in South East Asia, what better contrast than to go breakfasting at the newly opened St John Hotel?

I've been following their progress for a while. From when the scaffolding first went up outside Manzi's on Leicester Square, every day twice a day I've been peering at that facade, willing it to hurry the hell up and open. Don't get me wrong; I'm not some sort of weird restaurant stalker, it's my route to and from work. Honest.

Sadly, our early December booking was cancelled as the hotel was late to open. Similarly our January reservation. And then hooray! Finally, our day had come.

The room is very white and very simply decorated. We walked in at 8:15am, the only patrons, and it remained that way for a good half hour.

The breakfast buns had to be ordered. Served with a gorgeous yellow raspberry jam, we halved each a butter, a cinnamon and a currant bun. They were warm, flaky and incredibly decadent.

I spent a long time uhm-ing and ah-ing over boiled egg and anchovy soldiers, or Arbroath smokie with potato and egg. The latter won out. The smoked fish was worked into smooth and creamy mash, topped with buttery sauce and a perfectly poached egg. It all looked very beige until the egg was burst; rich, intensely orange yolk spilled forth. It was a matter of very few minutes before it was all hoovered up.

We sat back, replete. The menu isn't huge, what with 5 or so main items but what they do have is resolutely British, very in keeping with the St John style. At £25 a head with coffee, juice and (worthwhile) service, it's a luxury breakfast but well worth the money.

I didn't eat again until at least 2pm.

St John Hotel

1 Leicester St
London
WC2H 7BL

Tel: 020 3301 8069

Bacon & Halloumi Sandwich

As I huffed and puffed my way through a rare hour of Saturday morning exercise, all I could think about was stuffing a bacon and halloumi sandwich in my face. The idea came from a meal I had at The London Particular, but this time I fancied a spicier kick. Tomatoes from the shops are pretty insipid this time of year, so I made a few tweaks.

Chipotle chillis were soaked in a little boiling water for 15 minutes and were then whizzed up into a puree with a teaspoon of lemon juice and then mixed into mayonnaise. Fresh warm granary bread was slathered with the spicy, smoky sauce before a couple of lettuce leaves were added, then some griddled halloumi and finally some excellent back bacon. You might think the sandwich is a complete salt-fest, but the lemon and lettuce balance and freshen it all up. With a steaming hot strong cup of tea, it was a near-perfect Saturday brunch.

Zucca Again

My original visit to Zucca was boozy and blurry, and I came away from it knowing I'd had a fantastic meal but slightly hazy on the finer details. Five months later, I finally made it back for lunch. The place was buzzing, families out with young children and couples lunching. Prices have crept up since I was last here, but it still made for extremely good value as my starter of smoked eel on bruschetta came in at £4.25. Generous streaks of smoky, oily fish nestled amongst the finely sliced fennel, bursts of brine and saltiness from the capers. I only wished for a bit of acidity for balance.

I couldn't come to Zucca and not have one of their pastas; the special of the day was oxtail rigatoni. I was under the impression that rigatoni were big flappy tubes, whereas these seemed very mini. Either way, the pasta was cooked perfectly, enrobed in the deeply meaty sauce and topped generously with Parmesan. It was a healthy starter portion at £7 and towards the end I regretted the previous gorge on foccacia dipped in their gorgeously fruity olive oil.


I'm a huge fan of polenta so I couldn't resist the slow-cooked octopus with wet polenta. The octopus was deliciously tender in its tomato sauce, the polenta surrounded with more of that olive oil but I felt it a bit one dimensional and it could have done with another texture. Again, my companion had the much-lauded veal chop; again, I was insanely jealous.

Stuffed to the brim we declined dessert and opted for mint tea instead. At £40 per head including a bottle of wine, it's not cheap but for the quality of the food, it's definitely good value.

Zucca

184 Bermondsey Street,
London SE1 3TQ

Tel: 020 7378 6809

A Brioche, Some Chutney

When the lovely PR bods at Wild Card contacted me asking if wanted to try out some packaged soy milk, So Good Soya, I was a bit skeptical. My mum makes her own soy milk from dried soy beans and I often drink it cold and slightly sweetened as a drink. Curiosity got the better of me and I wondered how they would compare. I was sent a couple of cartons, along with a comprehensive recipe list. However, I have been wanting to try making brioche and as I had a lactose-intolerant friend coming over to visit, I decided to use the soy milk to substitute milk in this recipe.

Brioche is a French bread, enriched with butter and eggs. It's sweetness often complements foie gras, and having had a tin of pâté in the fridge for god knows how long, this little starter came to mind. I adapted this recipe, replacing the milk with soy milk. Though the dough was very wet, I added a little more flour, let The Beast do it's thing, and it turned soft and elasticky, pulling away nicely from the bowl . It was sweet and delicious; toasted, smeared with foie gras pâté and dabbed with a little of the plum chutney below, it was a decadent and moreish nibble. In fact, later I couldn't stop slicing more off and slathering it with jam to munch on.

It really was a day of firsts, and I decided to give myself a bit more work to do. That foie gras pâté needed some chutney, after all. A punnet of plums called out to me, and this recipe was born. Recipes on the net suggest adding some diced shallots, but I was all out and I wasn't about to head to the shops. I don't think the chutney suffered from it; it was sweet, spicy with a tangy background and it cut through the richness of the foie gras. It also turned a brilliantly lurid colour.

Plum & Star Anise Chutney

Makes about 2 jam jars

450gr plums
1 star anise
70ml white wine or cider vinegar
100gr brown or demerara sugar
1 1" slice of ginger
4 tbsp water
A little cooking oil

Sterilise the jam jars and lids by covering them and their lids in a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the water (carefully!) and leave to dry.

Wash the plums and slice around in half, twisting the halves off and removing the stone. Chop into roughly equal sized chunks. In a pan, add a dribble of oil and fry the ginger gently on both sides. Add the plums and the sugar and fry on a low heat, covering all the plums in the sugar. Throw in the water and the vinegar, as well as the star anise and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. When it's done, remove the star anise and ginger, spoon into the jars while hot and put the lid on. If you want a stronger star anise flavour leave the pod in the chutney. Leave to cool and put it in the fridge.

I'm not sure how long it lasts, I'd say about a couple of weeks. The chutney worked out perfectly with the brioche and pâté, and I imagine it'll also work well used sparingly with a really strong cheddar. I also used a couple dollops stirred into a red wine reduction to sauce a duck breast, cooked to medium rare, with great effect.

Decadence

A friend turned up at my flat on Saturday with this little beasty, picked up from F. C. Soper in Nunhead. I was beside myself with excitement.

A quick split down the middle, a few bashes with a spanner (I had nothing else), and several minutes spraying myself with lobster viscera later...

With some freshly baked bread, butter, truffle mayonnaise, and a wodge of lemon made for a perfect dinner.

Not-So-Soft Pretzels

Honey & Cinnamon Pretzels

I used to live with a girl who loved pretzels so much that a friend of hers knitted her a pretzel shape out of orange wool. I too love pretzels (and by this I mean big doughy ones rather than the small crisp ones, though being a member of Salty Snacks Anonymous naturally I like them a lot too) but it's not easy to buy them. There's a branch of Auntie Ann's Soft Pretzels in Croydon, but a 40 minute round trip is a bit drastic to satisfy a craving.

Last Sunday while I didn't have any plans, I decided to try and make my own . I consulted 'Bake' by Rachel Allen, and lo and behold - a pretzel recipe jumped forth. As with all bread recipes, it was quite a lengthy one as you need to wait to prove the dough.

Soft Pretzels

Makes 10 - 14

450g strong white flour, sifted
150gr strong brown flour, sifted
1 level tsp fast acting yeast
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
375ml warm water

For the bicarb solution:
75gr bicarbonate of soda
1 litre of water

Mix the two flours, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl (or in my case, the bowl of my mixer). Mix the oil into the water in a measuring jug, and turn the mixer on with the dough hook (or mixing by hand), adding the water and oil solution as you go, until you get a soft dough. Add more water or flour where necessary to ensure it's not too dry or sticky. Knead for 10 minutes, place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to rise to double, about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celcius. Punch back the dough and knead on a lightly floured surface and then divide it into 10 - 14 balls, each weighing about 100gr. Line a baking tray with parchment. Roll each ball into a sausage shape the thickness of a pencil and then roll it as per this video. Allow to rise for a further 20 minutes.

Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan and dissolve the bicarb in it. Leave it on a simmer and add each pretzel, no more than 3 at a time, to poach for 30 seconds each side. Remove and place on the baking trays. Sprinkle with rock salt, poppy seeds or sesame seeds and bake for 8 - 10 minutes, cooling them on wire racks. Alternatively, bake them plain and then brush with butter melted with sugar, honey and cinnamon.

Several things happened while the pretzels were being made. We got hungry, and so scarfed a whole load of quiche and were a bit full. Then, just as we were doing the poaching / baking, I pulled a plate out of the shelf and one fell out. I tried to catch it, but as it broke a piece jumped up and sliced my thumb open, resulting in much blood, a bit of squealing, and general chaos. So therefore I don't blame Rachel Allen when I say the pretzels were just ok. Truth be told, they were pretty tough and chewy, which is not what I want out of a pretzel. I believe this may be down to over poaching of the pretzel. Or pehaps it was over-kneaded? The recipe specifies 10 minutes by hand, but doesn't say for a mixer. One other problem might have been the inclusion of brown flour which perhaps made them a bit heavier.

I have no idea; I'm an ignoramous when it comes to bread. Either way, when I try it again, I'll be halving the recipe; 10 - 14 pretzels is far too many. Any uneaten ones made a good door stop though.

If At First You Don't Suceed, Try and Try Again

Pizza dough was the first dough / bread I've made. I was given the recipe by Josh, from Cooking The Books which I have posted about before, but already I'm improving. The first few times I made it, I couldn't understand why I kept getting a really wet dough. So wet in fact that I couldn't do anything with it, and just had to add more flour to make it workable. This happened twice and it was infuriating.

It took me a while, but I realised that I was using 160gr of flour to 120gr of water. The recipe states 180gr flour. Someone wasn't paying attention in class. Still, my pizzas weren't quite right. The dough was either too wet or too tooth-breakingly crunchy. I would simmer down a tin of tomatoes with garlic and oregano, and this often had a slight petrol taste, from the garlic.

Thankfully I persisted. Mixing up the dough first thing in the morning and then covering in cling film and bunging in the fridge means that I don't have to wait an hour for it to rise in the evening. I simply take it out of the fridge to bring to room temperature, knead for about 3 or 4 mins and then roll it out. Also, instead of simmering down a tin of tomatoes with various fillings, I now just use tinned peeled plum tomatoes. No juice, just the whole tomatoes crushed and spread across the base. Thinly sliced garlic goes on next, then anchovies, capers and olives, basil leaves and topped with mozzerella. This gets baked at the top of the oven on full blast for about 15 - 20 mins, finishing off with 5 mins under the grill. I usually top it with plain rocket for a bit of greenery.

I made this for myself and my housemate, and it was worth the wait in getting it right. She declared it the best she's ever had, and I was inclined to agree. The recipe I use for the dough, for two people, is here.

Chapatis

I like eating with my hands. There's something a bit primal about it, but I think it also harks back to childhood when you'd shovel food into your mouth in a most ungainly manner.

As much as I love and adore rice, I prefer eating Indian food with chapatis or parathas. The breads seem to work with curries and dhals better and is a good vessel for conveying the sauces. So I set about making chapatis.

Most of the recipes for Indian food I use come from Mamta's Kitchen. It's an excellent resource for all things Indian, as it's a live online cookbook. This was no exception.

Chapati flour is a whole wheat flour made from hard wheat, which is high in protein and is therefore strong and can be rolled out thin. The recipe said to add water to the chapati flour until you get a soft dough. I then kneaded it for about 5 minutes until it was soft and smooth. I left it for 10 minutes, and then seperated the dough out into balls, ready to be rolled out.

The chapatis should be rolled out quite thin, with the centre staying a bit thicker. I didn't quite manage to master this technique. Next, the chapatis go in a dry frying pan on a high heat.

When cooked, you hold the chapati over a naked flame, like in the picture below, so that it puffs up with steam and blisters. This was fairly risky business as I didn't have a pair of tongs and I had to do a lot of tossing of the chapatis - a few steam scalds later, and they were ready to be wrapped in foil to keep warm.


When eaten straight from the flame and still inflated, these chapatis become 'phulkas'. However, as I had 6 more to make I had to settle with chapatis.

I had these chapatis with raita, chickpea curry and courgettes stir-fried with black mustard seeds and garlic. From start to finish, the whole process took an hour and 15 minutes - not long for a meal that I'd consider fairly complicated.

The chickpea curry is a dish I make at least once a fortnight. It's straight-forward to make, but I'd also like to try making some meat curries as I don't think I have as yet. Watch this space...

Over-Night Bread

This is my second attempt at baking bread. I was quite nervous, as my previous attempt, a rosemary focaccia, flopped spectacularly. It was all going so well and had looked just like the recipe. However, the shelf of the oven was being used as a grill rack for an improvised shopping-trolley-barbeque (!!) so when it came to baking and we were still using the shelf, the focaccia had to wait. For a long time. Eventually when the oven was useable, I thought it looked a bit too puffy and flattened it a bit. It came out like a piece of cardboard. That'll teach me for drinking and attempting to bake.

This recipe came from here, but I adapted it as I only had white bread flour. I had only read part of the recipe and had not realised how long it would take, so for the last 45 mins of proving, I stuck it in the fridge, ready to bake in the morning. I attribute it's shortness to this, but it was still very tasty. In fact, it was great sliced in a ciabatta style, lengthways. So here's my version.

Over-night Bread

125gr warm water

1 level teaspoon of easy-blend yeast

300gr white bread flour, split into 100gr and 200gr

125gr cold water

1 level tsp fine salt

Olive oil

Combine the yeast and the warm water in a bowl, cover and leave for two hours. Add the rest of the flour, cold water and salt and stir well. Get your hands in there to get it thoroughly mixed - this is a messy recipe. Cover for 15 mins to hydrate.

Rub some oil on your hands and pat some on top of the dough. Knead for 15 seconds, cover and leave it for 45 minutes. Knead for 15 seconds every 15 minutes. Finally, knead for another 30 seconds, and place it in your oiled and floured 2lb loaf tin. Cover, place in the fridge over-night.

In the morning, take out of the fridge and leave to warm up to room temperature. Sash the top with a shard knife and dust with flour. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees celcius. Add a baking tray with some ice cubes to create steam, and put the loaf in. Bake for 20 mins, then reduce the temperature to 200 degrees celcius and bake for a further 20 mins. Turn out on a wire rack and leave to cool before eating.

It's a really great recipe for the weekend - I got in on Friday night and it was great to have freshly baked bread for my Saturday morning breakfast / brunch.

Neglect

After a flurry of posting, it seems like I've neglected you, dear blog. This is not so! A lot of factors prevented me from posting, such as boring weekday meals, staying at the boyfriend's house and generally not having much time. But I am back.

I've noticed that most of the posts are mainly about Oriental food, which isn't so bad as much of what I eat is Oriental, but some variation is also nice.

I never thought making pizza dough would be so easy. I've always been a bit scared of dough - my main staples are rice and noodles, after all - but after reading a few recipes and seeing just how cheap it is to make your own pizza, I took the plunge. This recipe uses dried active yeast, the kind you get in foil sachets so coupled with the bread flour, this can just be knocked up from store cupboard ingredients.

The recipe I use is here.

Apparently weighing the water is more effective than measuring it by mls. It means my scales bowl gets washed of reisdual flour, so that's fine by me.

Often I'll come home from work and I don't particularly like to wait around for an hour or more for the dough to prove, so I've found that mixing all the dough up in the morning, covering with cling film and putting it in the fridge works fine for me.


It's pretty rough-and-ready, my pizza skills aren't greatly refined but it tasted great. Instead of simmering a tomato sauce for ages, I simply squished down some tinned plum tomatoes (without their juice), scattered with anchovies, yellow pepper, red onion, garlic and oregano, topped with mozzrella, and away we went. And I ate it all.