Tag: Recipe

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Recipe – Easter Nests

It’s a time-honoured tradition (in our house anyway), Easter is all about the chocolatey nests. A great way to spend an afternoon with the kids – and you get tasty treats out of it too!

Ingredients:

400g milk chocolate

5 shredded wheat, crushed

Roughly break up the chocolate and put it in a glass bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and leave until all the chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally (this can be done in a microwave, just heat for 10 seconds at a time until the chocolate is melted). Stir in the crushed shredded wheat, making sure it’s all completely coated in the chocolate. On a lined baking sheet, arrange each large spoonful of the mixture into a nest shape and nestle a small chocolate egg, or a selection of mini eggs, into the ‘nest’. Then just leave them to set! If you can get a hold of them, arrange a little easter chick on the nest for decoration.

If you’re the adventurous kind, add some citrus peel to the mixture before shaping or stir in some tiny pieces of chopped marzipan for an extra burst of flavour. Or come up with your own variation – we’ve always wanted to try it with mini marshmallows…

This is a fun and achievable activity… here is a nest made by Poppy

made-by-poppy

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Recipe – Sweet potato, sausage and sage frittata

The sun is finally starting to come out (briefly but it’s something!) and that means it’s time to leave the stews and soups behind and bring out the summer meals. You don’t want to spend too much time cooking though, when you could be enjoying the sunshine, so this quick, simple Frittata recipe is the perfect meal choice. The sweet potato is a novel twist on a spring classic.

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, diced

6 sausages (spicy sausages work particularly well), sliced

1 onion, diced

1 sweet pepper, sliced

6 eggs, beaten

1 tsp sage, chopped

handful of baby spinach leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Method

– Boil a pan of water and add the sweet potato. Keep on the boil for roughly 8 minutes, until the sweet potato starts to feel tender. Then drain and keep to one side.

– In a heavy based frying pan, shallow fry the sliced sausage until cooked through, then remove onto a kitchen towel lined plate and keep to one side.

– Fry the onion and pepper in the left over oil from the sausage, until the onion is translucent.

– Add the sausage back to the frying pan, along with the sage, and fry until the peppers are soft. Then add the sweet potato and spinach, stir until thoroughly mixed.

– In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well and season with the salt and pepper.

– Turn the hob down to simmering temperature and pour the egg over the sausage and vegetable mix in the pan. Be sure that the egg is evenly spread throughout the pan.

– Leave to simmer for roughly 6 minutes, until the egg has cooked around the sides of the pan and begun to firm across the top.

– Take the frittata off the hob and grill until the egg is completely firm all the way through and the top is golden brown.

– Serve with salad or green beans and eat out in the sunshine!

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Recipe – Tikka Paste

January is over and February’s well on its way, but it still just isn’t quite spring. It’s this time of year that I find myself most in need of a pick me up, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. For me, diet is always a contributing factor to my mood, so my pick me ups come in the form of deliciously healthy meals. This week’s recipe comes after racking my brains (and rooting around the internet) for something to lift my mood and wake up my brain – something that I’ve discovered turmeric is great for! Also known as ‘Indian saffron’, turmeric is a staple spice in a lot of Indian cookery.  This easy recipe for a tikka paste not only contains this fantastic spice but is also extremely versatile.  It can be used for paneer or chicken skewers, as a standard curry paste, to spice up a soup or add some flavour to a rice salad.

Ingredients:

½ tsp ground turmeric

10 black peppercorns

6 cloves

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp garlic paste/ minced garlic

1 tbsp ginger paste/ minced ginger

½ small onion

150g natural yoghurt

½ tbsp. tomato puree

1 tbsp gram flour

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Dry fry the peppercorns, cloves, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and poppy seeds in a frying pan, stirring constantly just until you start to smell the spices. Remove them quickly to avoid burning and grind straight away. This can be done in a Vitamix or other blender for ease, or with a pestle and mortar if you’re more traditional!  Once ground to a fine powder, add in the chilli powder, ground cardamom, ground turmeric, garlic paste, ginger paste and onion. Blitz in a blender until a paste begins to form.  Stir in the yoghurt, tomato puree, gram flour and oil, until well combined. That’s all there is to it!

To make paneer or chicken skewers, use the paste to marinate the paneer/chicken before grilling. For a curry, use in place of shop bought curry paste and add coconut cream for a richer meal. For soups, use a small amount in place of stock. Or experiment and come up with your own uses – let us know what masterpieces you create!

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Recipe – Gremolata

Herbs can be in short supply in the garden at this time of year: although there still seems to be plenty of parsley around. Gremolata is a great way to make use of this herb. This super easy, extremely versatile recipe will use up all that parsley hanging around, plus give you a garlic-y hit – always necessary over winter.

finish-gremolata

Gremolata

Ingredients:

2 cups (500mls) parsley

4 tbsp (60mls) finely grated lemon rind

2 tbsp (30mls) garlic

Chop the parsley and garlic until very fine, if you have a Vitamix this will do the job for you, then mix together with the finely grated lemon rind. This spread can be used in all sorts of ways too; freeze in an ice cube tray and then use to season stews and soups, mix with cream cheese for a delicious cracker spread, use as a garnish or mix with breadcrumbs for stuffing or coating. My personal favourite is mashing with butter, smearing on bread and then toasting in the oven for quick and delicious garlic bread. In a sealed container, kept in the fridge, this spread should last a while so you can have the chance to try it all sorts of ways!  In fact here is a great variation using walnuts.

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Christmas Cocktails Rose Delight

It’s our final Christmas cocktail before the day itself and this is one of our favourites! This Rose Delight is a wonderfully fruity drink with an unusual floral twist – and so easy to make! Inspired by our Summer Rose fragrance range, this cocktail is fast becoming a signature drink in our household. For a sophisticated yet playful theme, why not give this a go?

rose-cocktail-glass

Ingredients:

2 measures Rose Syrup

2 measures White wine

Sparkling water to taste

It’s best to use a large measure and make this in a jug, just mix together the wine and rose syrup then add sparkling water to taste.  Alternatively – for a stronger flavour – use sparkling wine and leave out the water.  Decorate with a sprinkle of petals and a straw.

Seasons greetings everyone  from the St Kitts Herbery team.

 

 

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Christmas Cocktails Festive Fruit Cup

It’s week two of our Christmas cocktail concoctions and the turn of the fabulous Festive Fruit Punch. No matter how much you enjoy Christmas, it’s undeniable that the winter can be cold and miserable. This fruity cocktail is guaranteed to give you that hit of summer we all need to see us through!

festive fruit punch glass

2 measures crème de fraise (raspberry liquor)

2 measures crème de cassis (blackcurrant liquor)

1 measure vodka

1 measure sugar syrup

3 measures cranberry and raspberry juice

6 frozen raspberries per glass

Pink sugar crystals (optional)

This cocktail really is best shaken (resisting a James Bond joke here!), simply pour all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and mix well, before straining over your frozen raspberries. This drink looks its best in a traditional cosmo glass – to decorate the rim, dip in lemon juice and then pink sugar crystals. Voila, you can serve summer for Christmas!

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Christmas Cocktails Chocolate Alexander

It’s December and Christmas is on its way.  To help you celebrate in style this year, we’re going to be posting one of our favourite cocktail recipes every week this December! To start you off is the ‘Chocolate Alexander’.  Created when I was still a teenager and alcopops weren’t yet around, we made our own of whatever we could.   I can’t drink quite so much of this these days, but I still give it a good go!

chocolate alexander glass pic

1 part vodka

1 part crème de cacao

1 part tia maria (or similar)

1 part baileys (or similar)

chocolate milk (chilled) to taste

It’s really easy too – just stick it all in a glass and give it a stir!  For an extra pretty touch, garnish the glass by melting some chocolate and dipping the rim of the glass, then quickly dipping in chocolate vermicelli and leaving to set.  Cinnamon chocolate works great for this if you’d like a Christmassy twist, you can also replace the Tia Maria with an orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier.  Or try Amaretti instead of vodka (or as well as vodka, we won’t tell anyone).

(Warning: This is a lot more alcoholic than it tastes  – not to be confused with regular chocolate milk!)

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Ginger Chocolate Biscuits

As the days get shorter and winter draws closer, there’s nothing better than tucking up with a cup of tea and a homemade biscuit.  Since its chocolate week it’s only right that it should be a chocolate one.  Chocolate biscuits have always comforted me and this recipe gives them a warming ginger twist.

 

Ingredients:

125g Ginger chocolate

180g Plain flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of soda

125g Butter or margarine

125g Caster sugar

1tsp Vanilla extract

1 Egg

250g Chocolate chips

100g Crystallised ginger, diced

Method:

– Preheat the over to 170C/Gas mark 3

– Break up the chocolate and melt in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted.

– In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

– Stir in the melted chocolate.

– Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.

– Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Stir until thoroughly combined.

– Stir in the chocolate chips and crystallised ginger until spread evenly throughout the mixture.

– Line a baking sheet and scoop out the mixture into equal portions about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.

– Bake for 18 minutes and test with a skewer. If it comes out wet with batter, continue to cook until the skewer comes out semi-clean.

– Leave to cool for 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool again until they have hardened.

Don’t forget to enjoy with a cup of tea!

 

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Handy Kitchen Herbs

We made some fab hanging baskets recently, stuffed full of beautiful, useful herbs – and it got us thinking! Why not grow your favourite culinary herbs in planters right outside your kitchen door? We know that sometimes everyone needs a reminder of how easy it is to add a twist to otherwise standard foods, so although we’re probably preaching to the choir, here’s our handy list of kitchen herb combinations.

 

Blackcurrant and sage

This unlikely combination is guaranteed to please the taste buds. Just a tiny pinch of sage is all you’ll need to add an unusual flavour to this seasonal fruit. Check out this recipe for fantastic fruity tarts and experiment with the use of sage – you won’t regret it!

 

Strawberries and mint

While there are still plenty of strawberries around, why not have a go at adding a little finely chopped mint and sugar for an easy but exciting pudding. If you’re feeling really adventurous, try your hand at a mint jelly  and serve with crème fraiche.

Potatoes and rosemary

Sometimes the classics really are the best and it doesn’t get better than potatoes and rosemary! Whether it’s a pinch in your mash or a sprinkle on your roasties, it’s an easy trick that never fails to please. Rosemary’s great fresh or dried, so if you need to stock up have a look in our food hall.

Butter and fennel

We all know that everything tastes better with butter, but why not try something new with butter and fennel? Mash a sprinkle of fennel in with your butter for a super easy seasoning, great for roasting fish, slathering on bruchetta or use instead of garlic butter for a great garlic bread alternative!

Yoghurt and coriander

The summer months are a great time for casual eating, finger food and dips in the garden with a cocktail in hand! Spruce up your yoghurt with a handful of chopped coriander leaves – great just with breadsticks, cucumber and carrots or try it as an unusual salad dressing.

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St Kitts Crème Brûlée!

Crème brûlée is one of those desserts that are always impressive – and so much easier than they seem! This foolproof recipe adds a herby twist to a delicious classic.

Ingredients:

4 large egg yolks

60g sugar

560mls double cream

113g St Kitts Herbery white cardamom chocolate

½ tsp vanilla extract

4 tsp sugar to top

 

Method:

.    Preheat the oven to gas mark 2

.    In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy and smooth.

.    In a saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the white chocolate, turn off the heat and whisk until the chocolate is melted.

.    Add 2 tablespoons of the white chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking continually to prevent the eggs from scrambling. This is the most important step to get right or you’ll have a lumpy, egg-y pudding!

.    Add the remaining white chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk until smooth.

.     Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

.    Pour into four 6-inch ramekins or custard cups. Place the cups in a baking pan. Add enough hot water so the cups sit in 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water.

.    Bake for about 45 minutes, until set. If you lightly shake the pan, the crème brulee should wobble with a jelly like consistency.

.    Once cool, refrigerate the custards until chilled – for best results leave overnight.

.    Before serving, sprinkle the tops of each ramekin with 1 teaspoon of sugar. If you can get your hands on a kitchen blowtorch, use this to caramelize the top until golden brown. (If you don’t have a blowtorch then under the grill should work for this). If you’re new to using a blow torch, don’t worry! Just check out this handy guide!

.    Refrigerate for 5 minutes before serving.

Delicious!
                                                                  Delicious!

The cardamom chocolate in this recipe gives this dessert a rich, creamy taste without being too heavy. If you’re short on time, it can be easily adapted into a cold custard recipe!