Stokes Sauces: Awesome Autumn - a harvest of colour and taste

The season of buttery mash

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/ketchup-and-sauces

& glossy gravy

My local butcher had trays of home made faggots behind the glass once again - it must be October.

All we have to do is make the gravy, mash the potatoes and sautée the peas with celery & fennel, adding a spoon of Stokes Dijon Mustard and poaching with a little chicken stock.

I just can't stop adding Stokes to big up the flavours and harness the taste.

For instance, the mashed potatoes here are finished with a couple of spoonfuls of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce and the gravy is given a sweet, date puree and spice twist with a couple of good glugs of Stokes Brown Sauce.

Awesome Autumn Suppers

Lovely Lamb Shanks

The beauty of this dish is that once prepared, you just pop it in the oven and forget it for a couple of hours then - wow.

You'll need:

4 lamb shanks (1 each)
1 onion, diced
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 carrots, ditto
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 x cans of chopped tomatoes
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tsp of Stokes Mint Sauce
4 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup
175 ml of beef stock
1 tbsp of thyme leaves, chopped

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/Gas mark 4.

In a frying pan, sear the shanks on all sides and set aside. In a large ovenproof casserole with a lid, fry the onion, celery, carrots, garlic and thyme until the onion has softened.

Stir in 2 tbsp of flour then add the tinned and fresh tomatoes, the mint sauce, ketchup and the stock.

Place the lamb shanks into the simmering tomato gravy making sure they are well covered (add more stock if you need to) then put it in the oven with the lid on and find something to do for a couple of hours.

Remove the meat just before it literally falls of the bone, set it aside and reduce the liquid to a luscious gravy. Serve with piles of buttery mashed potatoes, or this cheesy celeriac bake.

Cheesy Celeriac Bake

Delicious with anything.

You'll need:

2 banana shallots, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard
A grating of nutmeg
Mature Cheddar cheese for grating
2 tbsp of thyme leaves, crushed
500 ml of milk (ideally full fat)
150 ml of crème fraîche
1 large celeriac sliced to 2mm thick pieces

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/traditional-condiments

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5.

Now we're going to infuse the milk by simmering it with the garlic, onion and celery for 10 minutes.

Strain of the solids, leaving the infused milk. Add the celeriac to the milk, simmering for 10 minutes only.

Lift the celeriac out of the milk and layer it into a buttered baking dish. Add the crème fraîche, thyme and mustard to the milk, stir it together then pour it over the celeriac to just cover it.

Grate lots of lovely Cheddar over the top and bake for 40 minutes until the celeriac is soft below a blanket of bubbling golden cheese.

Chicken with Mushroom Gravy

Well, it's a little more than that. The mushroom gravy is flavoured with brown sauce and grainy mustard and the dish is served with a vegetable and apple hash.

Here's how:

Roast a chicken breast joint each on a bed of thyme, limes and orange (sliced) to give it a delightful citrus finish.

For the vegetable hash, crush any leftover vegetables (or create a new batch of leftovers, cooled and crushed).

Thinly slice an onion and an apple. Fry them gently in butter and 3 tbsp of Stokes Bramley Apple Sauce for 10 minutes until caramelised. Tip the crushed vegetables into the apple sauce and fry until the base browns.

Make a rich gravy and whilst it's bubbling, fry off a punnet of mushrooms with some thyme leaves, 2 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce and 1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard, then literally just tip it all into the gravy and simmer for 5 minutes to marry the flavours.

Make Autumn Awesome - just add Stokes