Shortbread was the obvious easy to make choice and so I fired up the oven and got to baking.  The sugars are very fragrant and I was a little unsure about whether or not I should replace all the sugar with the lavender infused version or just mix it 50/50.

In the end I decide to just go for it and substituted it 100%.  Despite the incredibly strong aroma of lavender the cookies are actually very subtle in taste and the lavender is not at all over powering.  The flavour builds as you eat and you get a lovely lingering, but gentle lavender taste left after the biscuit is finished.

I took half the batch I made into the office the next day and all my colleagues loved them and want me to make more.  The rest have been happily devoured by myself and MrsA.

The next challenge is what to bake with the others. I’m thinking glazed buns for the cinnamon sugar and doughnuts for the vanilla.  If you have any better ideas let me know in the comment section below and I might just give your idea  a go.

Here’s the recipe I used for the Lavender Infused Shortbreads -

Lavender Infused Shortbread Recipe

 

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Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

A traditional shortbread biscuit made with Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Lavender Infused Sugar

Author: Mark Adams

Recipe type: Biscuit

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

• 500g (2 packs) softened, salted butter
• 200g Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Lavender Infused Sugar
• 500g plain flour
• 250g rice flour

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F
2. In a large bowl and using either a hand or electric whisk, cream together the sugar and the butter
3. In small batches sift in the plain and rice flour mixing thoroughly between batches until it binds together.
4. Flour your hands and knead gently until smooth but do not over-work.
5. Wrap the dough in cling film and put in the fridge for about half and hour. This will make it easier to roll.
6. After about 30 minutes remove the dough from the fridge and discard the cling film.
7. On a well floured surface roll the dough out until it is about 6 or 7mm (1/4 inch) thick.
8. Using a suitably sized pastry cutter (mine was a 9cm scalloped edged) cut out your biscuits.
9. Lay them on a baking tray(s) lined with a sheet of baking paper.
10. Gather up any excess dough, re-roll it and cut more biscuits, maybe using smaller cutter as the dough gets used up.
11. Place the tray(s) in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until they are just starting to turn golden.
12. Remove from the oven, sprinkle them with some more of the sugar and leave them for 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
13. Eat the same day or store in an air tight container where they should last for a few days (but I bet they don’t)!
14. 

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Disclosure: The Lavender Infused Sugar in this recipe was supplied by Sainsbury, all other ingredients were bought by us.

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One of the most simple but wonderful meals she showed me how to cook is a Provencal dish, Roast Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic. Do not be afraid of the large quantity of garlic. Slow cooking mellows the garlic so that it becomes a creamy and buttery puree that enhances the flavour of the chicken.

Roast Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 30 mins

Total time

1 hour 45 mins

 

Cooking equipment needed: Ovenproof pot large enough to hold the chicken with a tight fitting lid.

Author: Mrs. L.

Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: French

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken
• ¼ to ½ cup of olive oil
• 40 cloves of garlic
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon of Pommery Meaux Mustard (If you can not find this brand of mustard, look for a medium strength whole grain mustard)
• Salt
• Pepper
• For serving: toasted slices of country bread

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 190c
2. Rub the inside of the chicken with the 1 tablespoon of mustard.
   
3. Then sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Stuff the chicken with the fresh herbs and 6 of the garlic cloves.
   
5. Place the chicken in a pot that is just big enough to hold it
   
6. Pour some of the olive oil over the chicken ensuring that the chicken is nicely coated with the oil.
7. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chicken
   
8. Strew the remain cloves of garlic around the chicken and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the garlic.
   
9. Cover tightly and bake in the oven for about 1/1/2 hours until golden brown and cooked through.
   
10. Allow the chicken to rest for about 20 minutes before carving.
    

Notes

To serve: Carve the chicken and put on a platter surrounded by the cloves of garlic. Put the cooking juices in a sauceboat. Serve the chicken with crusty bread. Mash the garlic lightly to remove it from its skin and then spread on the bread or on the chicken.

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This blog post has been sponsored by Thomson Al Fresco UK. If you are looking for an affordable vacation. Thomson Al Fresco has self catering mobile homes and family camping holidays in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Croatia.

This dish would be a wonderful and easy dish whilst enjoying your Thomson Al Fresco self-catering holiday in France!

Thomson Al Fresco generously gave to me a wonderful French Hamper from French Flavour Limited. French Flavour carries a wide selection of French products.  The Pommery Moutarde de Meaux was in the hamper.

Contact details:-
Thomson Al Fresco
www.thomsonalfresco.co.uk
Tel: 0843 636 2644

French Flavour Ltd
Unit F16
Bersham Enterprise Centre
Colliery Road
Rhostyllen
Wrexham
LL14 4EG
www.frenchflavour.co.uk
Tel: 01978 356835

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So I was very happy when I was offered a sample of Geisha, currently one of the most rare and desired coffees around. Specifically grown on the Coffea Diversa plantation in Costa Rica, close to the Panamanian border, Great Taste Gold award-winning Geisha is one of the most sought after types of coffee trees with green beans (that haven’t yet been roasted) selling for a staggering $130 a pound.

I was just about to strip and clean my old faithful Gaggia Classic Espresso Machine in readiness when my sample arrived and, lo and behold, it was marked as cafetiere ground. This was pleasant surprise, as these days I seem to use my cafetiere much more often than I fire up the espresso machine.

Making a trial brew taught me two things really fast, I needed an extra scoop of coffee in the cafetiere and serving this coffee too hot just kills the flavour. Okay Gomez, lesson learnt, this is not your average supermarket supplied brand; let’s try that again.

Ah, that’s better! So what can I tell you about it? Consistency wise, it’s quite thin, probably from a lighter roast, but in no way is it wishy-washy. It’s actually quite full bodied and the aroma in the cup is sweet with hints of caramel.

As I’ve already said the flavour of Geisha is best at moderate temperatures, but the good think is that the flavour profile doesn’t change as the temperature drops so this is a coffee you can linger over and savour.

So who should drink it? Well, everyone that’s looking for a coffee with a clean, clear taste but still wants something that, although delicate, is still full of flavour.

What the importers say :- The plantation is incredibly special as it grows the largest number of different coffee varieties in the world. Coffea Diversa has pioneered the botanical garden approach to coffee cultivation in which aspect the Estate remains unique.

Geisha, one of the Ethiopian wild and extremely rare coffee varieties, boasts a soft, delicate profile with quietly complex aromatics that reward patient attention with notes of lavender, cocoa and hints of molasses – varying from woody to melons to a mix of sugar and spices. A rich, sweet and spicy aroma with a smooth taste and a thin body full of flavor and acidity.

Available via Knightsbridge based Sea Island Coffee, importers and retailers of gourmet coffees sourced from some of the finest and exclusive coffee growing regions in the world, Geisha is priced at £8 for 125g.

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Sainsbury’s Tomato Purées

To my taste, the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Italian Cherry Tomato Purée with Basil was the star of the show! The tomato flavour is bright and fruity which is then enhanced by the fresh aromatic basil flavour. The next time I make my home made tomato basil soup, I will add in some of this tomato purée to enhance the flavour.

The tomato purée with garlic and tomato purée with chilli are good standard tomato purées that will add a very subtle hint of either chilli of garlic to your casseroles and stews. I used the tomato purée with garlic in a lamb casserole. There was no overpowering taste of garlic. Of  course you can always add your normal amount of garlic and chilli to your dish and use these purées to boost the flavour.

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I said yes without really thinking and found myself struggling to come up with a design. I decided that creating a cookie that looked like a Red Nose would be far too obvious and that I needed to find something a little more ‘off the wall’.

I took inspiration from one of the starters that I had previously seen on this year’s Great British Menu, and so ‘Beans Means Dosh’, as I call it, was born.

My design, is supposed to depict that age-old fundraising favourite of sitting in a bath of baked beans.

Beans Means Dosh – Red Nose Cookie Challenge Competition Entry

First I went looking for a cookie recipe, in the American cookbooks we have in the cupboard. All the American cookie recipes seem to contain egg, which I decided must be there to help with the chewy consistency they prefer. As chewiness was not something I was looking for I decided to fall back on my standard plain biscuit recipe, a kind of not so short shortbread.

I baked three different sizes of cookie for the bath; I ended up using the middle sized one which measures approximately 17cm x 8cm. The large one was too fragile and broke and the small one just looked completely the wrong scale.

I built the bath edging from white icing, the figure was constructed from marzipan and the baked beans the cut off ends of orange jelly beans from the supermarket pick and mix. I used a tube of orange cake decorators icing to fill in the gaps.

I have included the recipe below, together with instructions, should you wish to give it a try yourselves. Alternatively you can buy mine for a suitably sized donation to Comic Relief.

4.0 from 1 reviews

Red Nose Day Cookie Challenge 2013

 

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Beans Means Dosh – My entry for Sainsbury’s Red Nose Day Cookie Challenge

Author: Mark Adams

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

Cookie

• 225g butter, softened
• 110g Caster sugar
• 275g Plain flour

Icing

• 100g icing sugar – sieved
• 15ml water
• Or you can just buy ready made icing in a tube.

Decoration

• 1 Block of Marzipan
• 1 Set Writing Icing Pens (Make sure 1 is orange)
• 125g Orange Jelly Beans

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 170c
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and until it is soft (you can use a food mixer) Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Sift the flour into the mixture and using a figure of eight motion bring it all together to form a dough.
4. Shape into a ball using your hands, wrap in clingfilm and pop it into the fridge for 20 minutes to rest.
5. Cut about a quarter of the dough and using your hands and a rolling pin shape into a slab about 15cm by 7cm by 0.75cm thick (it will expand during cooking)
6. Carefully lift the dough and place onto a greased (I use butter) baking tray in the center of your oven for 15 to 20 minutes until they have a light brown colour.
7. As you have plenty of dough I would suggest making at least two cookie bases.
   Roll any left over dough into 3cm balls, flatten with the palm of your hand and bake as simple biscuits. Just make sure that you leave enough distance between everything on the baking tray to allow for expansion.
8. Carefully remove from the baking tray and allow to cool on a wire rack.
9. Mix the sieved icing sugar and water together in a basin
10. Beat until smooth.
    The icing should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If it’s too thin add more icing sugar, if too thick a few drops of water. Either way do it a little by little.
11. If you have made your own icing now spoon it into a piping bag with a flat nozzle.
12. You might find it easier to put the cookie base on a small board to make it easier to handle and rotate.
13. First build the bath edges from your icing.
    Using a flat nozzle pipe icing around the edge of the base. Once you have completed the first layer you can then pipe another one inside the first so your edge is 2 wide. Then you can repeat the process on top of the first layers. I did three layers on mine. You can smooth out the edges by dipping the tip of your finger in a glass of water and smoothing the icing.
14. Next construct the figure.
    Cut off a piece of the marzipan and form a block approximately three quarters of the width of the distance between the bath edges and about 3cm high. This will be the body.
15. Take two smaller pieces of marzipan and roll to form the arms (see picture). I used a knife to make 3 small cuts into the end of the arms to give the illusion of hands.
16. Take another two small pieces and flatten for the feet. Again make some cuts to imply toes.
17. Stick all these pieces onto the base using some of the left over icing.
18. Using the orange writing icing outline the inside edge of the bath also tracing round the body, arms and feet.
19. On a chopping board and using a sharp knife cut the ends off the jelly beans so that you have a lot of small orange domes. These will be our baked beans.
20. Using a drop of the orange writing icing as a glue stick these domes onto the base to fill in the space.
21. Then using the orange writing icing again, fill in all the gaps between the jelly bean domes.
22. Finally make two further marzipan balls, one for the head and one for the nose. Stick the nose onto the head using the icing. As my writing icing also contained red, green and yellow tubes I coloured the nose red, for obvious reasons, added a stripe for a mouth and two small dots of green for eyes. I then stuck the head to the body again using the icing.
23. Stand back and admire!

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So, what exactly is ceviche? Well, basically, it’s a seafood dish popular in coastal regions of central and South America. It is made by marinating freshwater fish in citrus juices such as lemon or lime and spicing with chilli. As no heat is used the fish must be prepared fresh. The origin of ceviche is disputed, although Peru claims it as its own.

We arrived at Ceviche, 15 minutes early, to find that it was hopping! So busy was it that there was no room to wait at the bar whilst they prepared our table, and so we detoured to the Hotel Chocolate opposite much to the delight of the female members of our party. On our return, our table was ready and we threaded ourselves through the bar,into the restaurant area at the rear and to our table.

Loud and exciting, this is not the place to come for a romantic dinner for two, but although deep and meaningful conversation was difficult, we were soon caught up in the atmosphere and with the help of a few Pisco sours (a traditional Peruvian cocktail) having a thoroughly good time.

The easiest way to describe Ceviche’s concept, is to think of it a little like “big tapas” or “little dishes”. Basically you would start with something from the ceviche bar and follow it up with a further two or three dishes per person. The dishes are very easy to share and so everyone can try a bit of this or a bit of that.

To start we ordered the Don Ceviche, Fresh seabass ceviche in Amarillo chilli tiger’s milk, limo chilli and red onions. I thought this dish was absolutely amazing, the quality of the fish was superb and the taste was clean fresh and vibrant.

Don Ceviche

We also ordered Drunk Scallops, Tiradito of thinly sliced king scallops, pisco, pomegranate, limo chilli, lime and coriander.

Drunk Scallops

On the side we had Yucas, Fried cassava with Huancaina Sauce. Chicken Saltado Tequeños, Wonton fritters filled with Chifa style chicken and vegetables and also Cheese and Chard Tequeños, this time filled with melted cheese, fresh chard and Botija olives.

Yucas and Cheese & Chard Tequenos

Chicken Saltado Tequenos

From there we moved on to some more familiar South American territory, grilled skewers (Anticuchos) and what were billed as classic favourites (Recuerdos).

We had skewers of Corazón, Tender beef heart marinated in panca chilli, anticucho sauce with choclo corn and Pulpo, braised octopus marinated in coriander with chorizo chunks served with a warm creamed quinoa.

Pulpo

Corazon

Paiche Amazon Fish, Marinated in Amarillo chilli, with sweet potato salad and alfalfa sprouts garnish.

Paiche Amazon Fish

From the daily specials we had a couple of portions of Peruvian short pork ribs in a spicy marinade.

Pork Short Ribs

We also ordered Huancaína Macaroni, Peruvian cheese and Amarillo chilli sauce macaroni pasta.

Huancaina Macaroni

For me the food delivered not only on flavour but they also introduced me to some interesting new combinations, scallops and pomegranate for example.

Even though there were five of us, we didn’t need to go overboard on the number of dishes we ordered, as they really are quite generously proportioned. In fact, not everyone had room for dessert. We tried two different desserts, the first being from the special board and unfortunately I can’t remember its name and the second being Encanelado de Pisco, which is cinnamon sponge soaked in Pisco spirit syrup served with Dolce de Leche ice cream.

The Dessert with no name!

Encanelado De Pisco

I would happily go back to Ceviche again if I was in London and looking for somewhere casual with bags of atmosphere. Recommended.

Ceviche
17 Frith Street
Soho
London
W1D 4RG

Tel: 020 7292 2040
Email: welcome@cevicheuk.com
Web: http://www.cevicheuk.com

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Beetroot & Chocolate Cake

Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to spoil that special someone. If you’re planning a romantic dinner at home, indulge in the perfect home-made dessert with a little help from G’NOSH  – Beetroot and Chocolate cake – made using two of the finest aphrodisiacs known to man, chilli and chocolate, which are bound to set the pulses racing.

The cake also includes the gorgeously purple G’NOSH Beetroot & Mint dip, this delicious iron-rich ingredient containing 73% beetroot and is full of antioxidants, making it a not-so-guilty pleasure. The dip adds extra depth to a classic, and keeps this rich chocolate cake wonderfully moist.

The recipe is devised by award winning Chef, Pâtissier and Chocolatier, Waitrose Consultant and media personality – Will Torrent, who works closely with top celebrity chefs including Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty.

Serving tip: Serve a large slice on one plate with two spoons to share

Valentine’s Day Dessert – Chocolate & Beetroot Cake Recipe

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to spoil that special someone. If you’re planning a romantic dinner at home, indulge in the perfect home-made dessert – Beetroot and Chocolate cake – made using two of the finest aphrodisiacs known to man, chilli and chocolate, which are bound to set the pulses racing.

Author: Will Torrent on behalf of G’NOSH

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• For the cake
• Ingredients:
• 75g cocoa powder
• 180g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 250g G’NOSH Beetroot & Mint dip
• 3 free-range eggs
• 100ml olive oil
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• For the ganache
• 100ml beetoot juice
• 10ml olive oil
• 100g milk chocolate
• 100g dark chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C
2. Sieve the cocoa powder, self-raising flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the caster sugar
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the G’NOSH Beetroot & Mint dip, free-range eggs, oils and vanilla extract until it comes together.
4. Add the beetroot mixture in with the dry ingredients and mix together and then pour this in to a pre-lined 8” cake tin or 12 individual cupcake cases or domes.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until it is springy to the touch. The smaller cakes will take less time.
6. For the ganache: place the beetroot juice and the olive oil into a sauce pan and bring to the boil.
7. Once boiled, pour over the chocolate and mix together. You could use a hand blender to do this to emulsify the ganache.
8. When the cake is cooked and cooled, pour over the beetroot ganache before serving

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So I just feel the need to really encourage anyone who happens on this blog post, if you care about what you eat, please try out your local butcher or farmers market. Don’t be intimidated to go to your butcher just because you may not be familiar with all the different cuts of meat. A good butcher will help you decide what cut of meat is best for you and how to cook it. So if you want a steak but not sure what kind, tell him/her what you like in a steak i.e. you like to cook it well done or rare, you like a bit of fat or no fat. If you want to make a stew or roast, a good butcher can suggest a good cut. If you just see a piece of meat that looks good, they will be more than happy to suggest ways to cook it.

Many butchers will be able to tell you where they source their meat from and usually make their own mincemeat and burgers. Ask them if they make it themselves, most do.

As I get around Wales, I go to several butchers. In Cardiff, I love Martin Player High Class Butchers  located on 10 Park Road Whitchurch Cardiff CF14 7BQ 02920 6094. Martin Player sources his Welsh beef locally as possible from farms in Carmarthenshire or the Vale of Glamorgan. All of their producers adhere to strict working practises and animal welfare. They sell less expensive cuts like ox cheek (one of my faves  for stews) up to the more expensive fillet. They make their own sausages and burgers which are award winning. Martin and his staff are happy to help you decide what to buy and give cooking suggestions.

Martin Player Butchers

Same goes for my favourite butcher in Brecon, Morgans Family Butchers, 102 The Struet, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7LT. DH and I make a pilgrimage to Brecon to stock out freezer with beef at least once per quarter. Steve Morgan’s family raise Welsh Black Beef, and Welsh lamb and I must say his beef is superb! Their beef, lamb and home-made sausages have won many awards at the Royal Welsh Show and Steve proudly displays his ribbons in his shop.

When near Raglan, I enjoy going to N.S. James Family Butchers, Crown Square, Raglan, NP15 2EB. Over 90% of the meat they supply has travelled less than ten miles to their premises. In addition, they have their own licenced slaughterhouse.

I also encourage you to check out your local farmers market. Cardiff has 2 fab markets one in Riverside, the other in Roath. I also frequent the markets in Usk and Brecon. If you live in Wales, go to http://www.fmiw.co.uk/ to find a farmers market near you. The stall holders at farmers markets we frequent, take pride in the quality of their produce and food products. So many people think that butchers and farmers markets cost more than a supermarket. Some things are, many things aren’t; I encourage you to investigate for yourself.

To Tesco, I say shame on you! You say you did not know that so many of your beef products contained horsemeat or pork. It’s unbelievable that a major organisation like you does not have sufficient quality control and systems to protect your customers. There is no excuse for this lack of quality control other than the mighty £££ was more important to you than your customers. Millions of people have trusted you, I don’t think you deserve our trust any more. I think it’s time that we shopped more at our local butcher and farmers markets. They really care, not only, about what they grow, produce and sell but also about their local customers.

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So I was interested to learn about G’NOSH.

G’NOSH is the brainchild of Charlotte Knight, a mother of two, and former marketing leader from the Banking & IT sector, who wanted to combine a life long passion for food and entertaining with her ambitions of becoming a foodie entrepreneur.

Formerly from New Zealand, Charlotte spotted an obvious gap in the UK market for fresh, natural flavours and seeking inspiration from the dips back “down under”, she saw the opportunity to create a distinctive brand for her gourmet dips. G’NOSH was born.

They sent along this recipe for me to try, and although I haven’t had the chance to make it yet  it does sound rather fine and so I thought I’d just go ahead and share it.  If any of you get the chance to try ot before I do then please let me know how it goes.

Soy Blackened Mackerel with a G’NOSH Smoky Black Bean Risotto

Soy Blackened Mackerel with a G’NOSH Smoky Black Bean risotto

 

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The dish is made using a fusion of beautiful Asian flavourings and an abundance of healthy ingredients to kick start the New Year diet including the G’NOSH Sweet Black Bean Dip, which is not only protein rich and full of fibre but also provides a delicious smoky touch to the risotto. The dish also uses the oily fish mackerel, which is rich in omega-3 and is an excellent source of Vitamin D, and chilli to optimise your heart health and improve cholesterol levels.

Author: Will Torrent on behalf of G’NOSH

Recipe type: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian fusion

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 fresh fillets of mackerel
• 5tbsp soy sauce
• 5tbsp sesame oil
• 1 stalk of lemon grass, broken in two
• 2 red chillies, finely shredded
• 15g grated ginger
• 1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 limes
• 1 big bunch of coriander (stalks and leaves)
• 1 litre vegetable stock (for every 100g risotto rice)
• 100g arborio risotto rice per person
• 2 banana shallots, finely chopped
• 1 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1tsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small glass of white wine
• 1 pot of G’NOSH Sweet Black Bean Dip
• 10g pickled ginger
• 25g toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Place the mackerel fillets in to a bowl or tray and add the soy sauce, sesame oil, broken lemon grass, one chilli, grated ginger, half of the chopped spring onions, juice of one of the limes and the coriander stalks
2. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight to marinade
3. To make the risotto, heat the vegetable stock in a saucepan
4. In a separate saucepan, add the olive oil and gently fry the banana shallots, garlic and the ginger
5. When the onions become translucent, add the risotto rice, and coat the grains in the oil
6. Add the glass of white wine and reduce, stirring all the time. Once reduced, add a ladleful of stock and simmer, stirring again until all the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and ‘al dente’
7. Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the G’NOSH Sweet Black Bean Dip, keep warm
8. Heat a frying pan and add a touch of oil. Remove the marinated mackerel fillets from the fridge and fry for about a minute on each side. The soy sauce will darken and crisp the mackerel
9. Once cooked, remove the pan from the heat and break up the mackerel fillets into pieces, keep warm
10. Spoon the G’NOSH Sweet Black Bean risotto onto a plate and top with the broken mackerel fillets
11. Finish with the remaining chilli, some picked ginger, spring onions and coriander leaves.
12. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds, drizzle with sesame oil and serve with a wedge of lime

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The recipe is devised by award winning Chef, Pâtissier and Chocolatier, Waitrose Consultant and media personality – Will Torrent, who works closely with top celebrity chefs including Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty.

Charlotte Knight was recently shortlisted for the 2012 Red Magazine’s Hot Women Awards start-up category, which celebrates women in the workplace.

G’NOSH Muhumarra Spicy Red Pepper Dip was recently shortlisted for ‘Best Vegan Product’ in the 2013 Cook Vegetarian Magazine Awards

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However, when an old friend brought his American, gluten intolerant, wife over to the UK to stay with us for a few days it wasn’t long before the question of where can we source gluten-free products was raised. Fortunately, our local supermarket stocked a reasonably good range.

I was quite surprised to learn that in comparison to America, not only did our little Valleys supermarket stock an excellent range of gluten-free goods, but that, in her opinion; they were infinitely superior to the ones she was able to source back in the USA. Whilst I admit to a smattering of British pride, in this age of globalised food brands I couldn’t quite believe this to be so, nevertheless she assured me that it was true.

So when the nice people at Sainsbury’s offered me the chance to try some gluten-free sweet Mandarin sauces, I was keen to take them up on the offer. Manchester based Sweet Mandarin, is owned by sisters Helen, Lisa and Janet Tse and was the winner of the best local Chinese restaurant on Gordon Ramsay’s F word for 2009 – 2010. Sweet Mandarin produces three varieties of sauce: Sweet Chilli, Sweet and Sour and also Barbecue.

Twin sisters Helen and Lisa appeared on Dragon’s Den and secured £50,000 worth of funding from Dragons Duncan Bannatyne and Hillary Devey in exchange for a 40% stake of their sauce venture. The sauces were developed in response to demand from customers suffering with coeliac disease. Gluten triggers a reaction in people with this condition and so the sauces are gluten-free and contain no monosodium glutamate, artificial colourings or preservatives. All of the sauces are made of the restaurant with 1000 bottles a day currently being produced. They also suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Whilst branded as dipping sauces, they can also be used in a variety of other ways such as marinades. At the end of this post I’ve even included a recipe for a Bloody Barbecue Mary. We chose to use the sauce as a marinade for pork, but skipped the traditional Sweet and Sour and opted for a Sweet Chilli instead.

As this was the first time we tried the sauce, we decided to use it straight from the bottle with no enhancements in order for us to be able to judge the true flavour. We simply took some pork chops from our local butcher and marinated them in the sweet chilli sauce for about half an hour. We then seared them on both sides, in an ovenproof frying pan. We then added a little water to thin the sauce and stop it ‘catching’ before transferring the pan to a hot oven (200° C) for about 10 min.

The sauce worked very well with the pork chops, producing a sweetness with a nice mild chilli heat. I was pleased that the heat from the chilli was mild, as it’s much easier to add extra chilli if that should be your taste than to try and take it away if it isn’t.

Pork with Sweet Mandarin Sweet Chilli Sauce

The more adventurous cooks amongst us will find that the sauces are also a great base to build upon. You could easily thin them with oil or soy sauce, add extra chilli, lemon, lime or coriander to make many variations on the theme.

One thing is for certain, you don’t need to be gluten intolerant in order to find these Sweet Mandarin sauces a useful addition to the store cupboard.

Sweet Mandarin Sauces are available from branches of Sainsbury’s UK Wide.

And now the barbecue bloody Mary recipe I promised you:

Bloody Barbecue Mary

 

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Cook time

2 mins

Total time

2 mins

 

A great way to dispel the morning after blues!

Recipe type: Cocktail

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 2 part vodka
• 2 part tomato juice
• 1 part Sweet Mandarin Barbecue Sauce

Instructions

1. Pour into a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake it and then shake it again for luck.
3. Pour and drown your Hangover.

3.1.09

The Sweet Mandarin Sauces used in this post were supplied free of charge by Sainsbury’s.

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