You know what is one of hubby and my most favourite thing to do over the weekends?  You guessed it – making delicious food!

But it’s not just the fact that we make nice food that we enjoy; more importantly, it is making food that brings back memories of wonderful places we’ve visited, special memories we shared when we first had it… and then, getting to share a piece of that with our nearest and dearest, or even just for the two of us.  I think what it really boils down to is that we actually love to make food with meaning.

However, we don’t always want to spend hours in the kitchen; especially if there is beautiful summer days to enjoy outside on the patio.  And beautiful summer days inevitably remind me of Italy and that real ‘outdoorsy’ lifestyle that we fell in love with.  And if I think of Italy I think of focaccia, cold meat, cheeses… and balmy days where lunch has to be enjoyed outside in the shade.

 So these chunky breadsticks really reminded me of our time in Italy.  What’s great about it is that you don’t have to spend much time in the kitchen!  Sure, it takes a little longer to make as the dough needs to prove, but that just gives you time to spend outside, sipping on a glass of wine!  These ones are made with sundried tomatoes anchovies, but you can really add anything you like; think of olive tapenade with a sprinkling of rosemary, or even red pepper pesto with herbs and feta.

Sundried tomato and anchovy breadsticks

(makes about 24 breadsticks)

Ingredients:

Making the bread

4 cups whitebread flour

2 teaspoons salt

10g instant yeast

4 teaspoons sugar

1 ½ cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

For the filling

4 tablespoons anchovies, roughly chopped

1 cup sundried tomato pesto

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

1 cup grated Grana Padano

A few grindings of black pepper

Poppy seeds, to garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. In a bowl, add the flour, salt, instant yeast and sugar.  Mix well and then add the lukewarm water little by little.  Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough.  Once you’ve reached this stage, add the tablespoon of olive oil, and knead that into the dough.
3. Place the dough into a large bowl. Sprinkle a little bit of oil the top to stop the dough from sticking and cover the bowl with cling film. Place the dough in a warm place and leave to prove until it has doubled in size.
4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Roll it out with a rolling pin unitl thin and even.
5. Spread the sundried tomato pesto over the dough then sprinkle anchovies, the rosemary, the Grana Padano cheese and grind over some black pepper to taste.  (Be sure to spread to the edges.)
6. Fold the dough in half and form a rectangle.
7. Cut off the edges where there is no filling, and then cut the dough into one 2.5 cm strips.  Give them a slight twist.  (You are looking for a loose corkscrew effect.)
8. Place your breadsticks on a lightly floured baking tray (keep them slightly apart to leave enough room for them to rise).  Brush them with water and then sprinkle over some poppy seeds.
9. Leave them to rise until they are twice their size.
10. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp.

It is lovely when you serve it shortly after baking – just leave it to cool long enough so that it won’t burn your mouth!  We had ours with some lovely Italian cold meats and cheese.  And the wine of course!