Co-op-style dinners are the most fun and least hassle. And more affordable for the host. This pizza tart is a perfectly
portable dish, writes DOMINI KEMP

I WAS CHATTING WITH a colleague about the fact that “in this current economic climate” (sorry, I had to say it), it’s amazing how much effort restaurants are going to these days to try and lure people through their doors. In some ways it’s a real shame that restaurateurs (ourselves included) didn’t do more of this in the boom years, as the amount of new talent and creativity that’s blossomed has been a wonderful thing, even though trade has been fairly brutal. During the busy years, no one had to make too much effort as there was plenty of business to be done. As one chef recently said to me, “Sometimes it feels like restaurants not only have to wine and dine their guests, they also have to sing, dance and give them a cookbook, just to get people though the doors.”

I don’t think customers have ever had it so good. The problem is that everyone (including the customers) wishes they were flusher to enjoy all these great offers. I suppose people wanting to cut back but still have fun is one of the reasons that unusual or co-op style dinner parties at home are becoming more common: book clubs, pop-up restaurants in people’s homes, it’s all the rage.

Twice now I’ve been asked to a friend’s house for dinner and both times, orders were given to bring over some food. The first time, the instructions were very specific. I was to bring some sort of heavy-duty salad, cheese and bread. Someone else brought a cake. Our hostess made a stew and had some spuds ready to go. It worked a treat. We scoffed the lot, there was little wash-up and the bill for each of us – in terms of our contribution – was pretty do-able. I also loved the fact that requests for help were done in A very matter-of-fact way. I’d go so far to say that there was a sense of pride in contributing to the meal that was very much shared.

This sense of pride is definitely the outcome of these themed evenings people are enjoying around the country. Whether it’s a theme or not, the best part of all this humility is the fact that there’s a lot less judgment and a lot more enjoyment. This sense of freedom has spilled over from restaurant to home and back again. So the next question is what to bring to these events and dinners? Well, I brought a version of this tart to one pal’s house for dinner and initially it was too bready. It’s a kind of pizza tart. But the topping also worked really well if you very lazily top pitta breads (using them as a pizza base) or even naan bread, which are good substitutes if you don’t want to make the dough and can’t find good quality, ready-made pizza bases. I did make some pizza dough (recipe below) which was pretty slap-dash and for which I used instant yeast powder. I prefer using fresh yeast but it’s hard to come by sometimes.

The spinach soup is a bit healthy and girly, bordering on hard work. Don’t make it unless you’re going to liven up proceedings with a good bit of grated Parmesan, a splash of cream or crème fraiche, and a splash of juicy olive oil. This is a soup (based on one from The River Cafe Cookbook Green) that’s full of iron and goodness, so you need to enrich it just a bit to make it go from Popeye poison to a delicious taste of Umbria in bowl.

Leek, olive and feta pizza tart

Check the yeast pack for quantities of yeast to flour. The quick yeast I had said approximately 500g flour to 1tsp yeast. In this recipe, you need only about 200g of strong white flour, so use the appropriate quantity of yeast, depending on what type you buy. If using fresh yeast in this recipe, you need about 10g.

Serves 4

2-3 leeks, finely sliced

50g butter

Splash anchovy essence (optional)

Salt and pepper

Good pinch sugar

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

150ml cream

1 tsp chopped fresh sage or thyme

50g green olives, stoned and roughly chopped

50g black olives, stoned and roughly chopped

2 egg yolks

100g feta

Dough

200g strong white flour

½ tsp dried quick yeast

Good pinch salt

Approximately 100ml warm water

Good splash olive oil

First make the dough. Put the dried ingredients into a bowl. Add most of the water and the olive oil. Mix with a spoon, adding more water until it moves into a ball. I always add far too much water and then end up kneading for ages and adding loads more flour, so err on the side of less water and knead on a lightly floured surface. Bring it together and eventually (10 minutes) it will start to feel smooth and elastic. Put in a lightly oiled bowl and leave to rise for a while (I didn’t have too much time so I only gave it 20 minutes). Knock it back and then lightly oil a 28cm tart tin or baking sheet and stretch or roll the dough (whatever you find easier) and then add the topping. I cooked it straight away at 200 degrees/gas mark six for about 30 minutes. Then I took it out and re-heated it later for about 10 minutes with a good drizzle of olive oil. Alternatively, top some pitta breads and bake until piping hot and when the top starts to brown in parts.

To make the filling: simply sweat the leeks in the butter for about 10 minutes until nice and soft. Add the anchovy essence. Season with a little salt but lots of pepper, add the garlic, sugar and cream, and turn up the heat so the cream reduces. After another five minutes simmering, add the olives. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down. When ready to top the pizza base, stir in the egg yolks and crumble the feta into the bowl. Top the dough and bake as above.

Spinach and lentil soup

500g spinach

50ml olive oil

2 onions, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 head celery, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper

Few sprigs rosemary

Good pinch sugar

1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock

150g Puy lentils

2 whopping tbsp crème fraiche

Good splash olive oil

Grated Parmesan

Remove and discard the really heavy-duty stalks from the spinach and roughly chop. Blanch it in a big saucepan of boiling water for a minute, drain, and squeeze out the water and set aside. Meanwhile, saute the onions, carrots, garlic, celery with some salt and pepper for about five minutes with a lid on. When they are nice and soft, add the sugar, rosemary, stock and Puy lentils. Cook for about 20 minutes until the lentils are really soft. Drain and keep the cooking liquid. In a food processor, pulse the lentils and chopped veg, adding enough of the stock to mix into sludge. Put back into the saucepan along with the rest of the reserved stock. Then pulse the spinach in batches, adding some crème fraiche and cooking liquid so that it gets nice and smooth. Add the spinach into the lentil soup, mix well, adjust the seasoning and add some olive oil, and serve with lots of grated Parmesan.

see also itsa.ie