From China with love

The next two weeks hails the New Chinese Year of the Rooster (29th January) and the weekend of overpriced flowers - Valentines Day.

We made a pretty good attempt at dressing the haggis with Mr@stokessauces Haggis Gravy recipe from the previous newsletter - though I did add port to the roux.  Thank you Mr@ !

Chinese New Year

This weekend we'll see what damage can be done to a duck in a faux Chinese 'duck 3 ways' - long, slow, low roasted leg pieces, sealed and steamed over water till they flake served with hoisin and orange sauce; breast with sweet chilli sauce; and breast with BBQ / chilli sauce...

 ...and, with the exception of some dark soy sauce, brown sugar and a couple of oranges - it's all Stokes.

Stokes Sweet Chilli Sauce is great on its own. Try glazing the duck breast as you pan fry and roast it off, then add a smokiness to the pouring sauce by adding Stokes Original BBQ Sauce. Stokes Hoisin Sauce, again - it's perfect straight from the bottle. For the legs, warm, some brown sugar, soy sauce and orange juice in a pan, add the hoisin and combine to taste for a delicious pouring sauce.

You can have great fun with the chilli BBQ sauce by combining Stokes Tomato Ketchup, Brown Sauce and Original BBQ Sauce in a pan, warming it through with Stokes Chilli Jam for its sweet chilli kick.

Be brave - just play then let us know what your favourite sauce combinations are; tweet here, or post here.


The humble ketchup

...from a spoonful in your cuppa soup to a dollop in your beans.

For Stokes Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup that should actually read: the honest ketchup - made with 200g of plump, sweet Mediterranean sun-ripened tomatoes for every 100g of ketchup; trusted ketchup - carefully simmered to deliver its velvety texture rather than milled like most others; loved ketchup - if you've tasted it you'll know what we mean (if you haven't, you really should).


Glorious Glazes

These glazes should add a twist to grilled, fried or stir fried chicken, pork or salmon steaks:

• Stokes Tomato Ketchup, soy sauce, sesame oil, sherry.
• Stokes Tomato Ketchup, red wine vinegar, curry powder, honey and Stokes Cider & Horseradish Sauce.
• Stokes Tomato Ketchup, balsamic vinegar, Stokes Hoisin Sauce.

Cheaper cuts and flavoursome leftovers

January is usually a time of temporary austerity after our festive frivolities. So here are some ideas for flavouring cheaper cuts and stretching the culinary purse strings.

Pork Fillet with Cider & Mustard 

A fillet of pork is great value but needs help in the flavour department. Dice a medium sized onion and a cored, pealed eating apple and fry in olive oil and butter until soft or translucent. Add a good spoonful of fresh thyme leaves, a crushed chopped clove of garlic and an inch of grated ginger. Meantime, cut the fillet in half lengthways then the two lengths into 1cm slices. Coat well in seasoned flour and brown in handful batches in a separate pan, adding them to the onion mix when ready.

Pour in 400ml of dry cider and a chicken stock pot and stir gently to form the sauce, which the flour will thicken. Now for a desert spoon of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard and two spoons of creamy Philadelphia Cheese. Simmer covered for 25 minutes, add a punnet of button mushrooms and simmer for a further 10 minutes uncovered. This works really well with seasonal greens and mashed potatoes.

For a twist though - add some heat with a couple of chopped chillies in the onions and serve with rice.

Leftover Lamb Tagine

This is a simple way to turn leftover lamb (particularly shoulder cuts) into a delicious Moroccan tagine. Cut your leftover lamb into one inch cubes and set aside. In a casserole, soften a medium sized finely chopped onion until translucent (I prefer butter but you might use oil).

Add 2 cloves of garlic (grated), one desert spoon of Ras el Hanout (available in most supermarkets - always in the larder) and two similar spoons of Stokes Spiced Apricot Chutney.

Pour a tin of chopped tomatoes and the same volume of hot water with a chicken stock pot into the mix. Stir in half a dozen dried apricots (diced) and bring to a rolling simmer to blend all the ingredients.

 A tin of chickpeas and the seeds of a pomegranate, together with the diced lamb now go into the simmering casserole. Heat thoroughly then, if you have time, let it rest for an hour or so to let the flavours marry. When you're ready to eat, add a handful of fresh chopped mint and parsley, re-heat and serve on a bed of couscous - ya salam!

We'll deal with those over priced flowers next time.

Simple,  honest,  delicious

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

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