Our Easter Extravaganza

Happy Easter Feasting

Easter stands for so many different things in many different parts of the world. From religious suppers to family feasts; through time immemorial; crossing countries and cultures - Easter is a celebration that won't pass without the sharing of great food and wonderful company.

Families gather to catch up after the long winter months, as spring once again smiles on us with hope for a fulfilling year ahead.

Easter eggs, bunnies, bonnets and even barbecues get dusted off and paraded for all to join in the fun.

But - what do we eat? Every family has their favourite foods to feast on and traditions to follow and share. What we'll do this week (and develop over the coming weeks) is to suggest some of our own ideas and recipes that offer a twist on tradition and bring Stokes' ethos to your table, with our promise of ... FOOD MADE BETTER.


Tweet of the Week

Here's a simple yet delicious dip tweeted by @BryonyEHopkins.

It combines the sweet chilli flavours of Stokes Chilli Jam with the creamy deliciousness of ripe avocados.

Mix cream cheese and crushed avocado to the consistency you prefer, then add our Chilli Jam gently until it just bites back at you through this cooling creamy combination.

Thank you Bryony - keep tweeting: tweet here, or post here. 



Roots, roasts and cold cuts

If you are cooking beef or lamb this Easter, here is a great website to help you on your way. It's produced by the Agriculture and Horticulture Marketing Board, the AHMB and helps you choose a local butcher, understand the right cut and cook it superbly.

If you are planning to have a lovely pork joint, don't forget that last month's Newsletter had some useful tips for the perfect crackling. If you missed it, just scroll down and see if you agree.

If you have any ideas to help readers with tasty tips for Easter we'd like you to share your ideas with our growing network friends: tweet here, or post here. 

Whether you are planning pork, lamb, beef, fowl or fish this Easter, Stokes have the perfect accompaniment to dress the side of the plate, add a tasty twist to the gravy, or bring your cold cuts back to life:

Roasting Roots intensifies the natural sweetness of the carrots, parsnips, onions or beetroot (I personally love a mix of all four, particularly if they are basking slowly under a shoulder of lamb - part roasting, part lapping up the lamb juices as it cooks).

You can develop the flavours further by drizzling some runny honey over them first, then spooning in some Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard - it's simply delicious.


Groovy Gravy

You've made your roux, added your stock, it's simmering, you taste it - and it's ok ... just ok. At this stage, how do you turn 'ok' to 'wow'.

The first is a non-Stokes tip. A larder must have is a bottle of Knorr's 'Touch of Taste' concentrated liquid stock. I always have a bottle of beef and one of chicken to hand. A little in your simmering gravy is a transformation.

But, there's more. If your gravy is to go with lamb, add a spoon or two of Stokes Mint Sauce. The vinegar sharpens it and the mint flavours it. If it's for beef, add a spoonful of Chilli Jam (for a gentle chilli lift); Classic English Mustard (for a warming heart); Stokes Brown Sauce (for the blend of our secret spices that makes the sauce so special).

Play with it - you'll be pleasantly surprised. 



For the love of Mackerel

I love mackerel and apparently it loves me back, thanks to the healthy hug of its oily fish Omega 3. But Mackerel also absolutely adores horseradish and loves beetroot equally.

So, here are a few mackerel based ideas for starters and snacks to enjoy this Easter (or any time quite frankly). The picture above shows a simple mackerel salad of roasted squash, cooked beetroot, flaked smoked mackerel tossed together with rocket leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Two delicious accompaniments for this are Stokes Creamed Horseradish and Stokes Beetroot Relish - the latter complimenting the beetroot, the former loving the mackerel. Try mixing equal amounts of each for a pink beetroot dipping sauce with smooth horseradish tang.

For a lovely smoked mackerel pate, flake your mackerel into a bowl and mix with a few capers and chopped spring onion, then combine with equal quantities of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce and crème fraîche. It's very tasty on water biscuits or spread it on toast, grate mature cheddar cheese on top and grill it until the cheese browns and bubbles.

Pan-fried mackerel fillets with beetroot and fennel.

This is another great recipe from BBC Good Food which includes a useful hint for filleting the mackerel:

Put one of the mackerel fillets on a board and cut a ‘V’ down the centre, either side of the pin bones, to create two smaller fillets, then remove the bones.

Try it with the horseradish and beetroot relish combo mentioned above. Click here or on the image for the recipe.


Comfort Food

Comfort food - it's not just for the children. There's nothing more grown up than a succulent fish finger sandwich, or as comforting as delicious egg mayonnaise (in a sandwich or on a baked potato). And then of course there's the bacon butty with ketchup, brown sauce or curry ketchup, the Stokes way.

Happy Easter.

Simple,  honest,  delicious

 FOOD MADE BETTER

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris, I wonder where my Stokes sauce is

Mother's Day - 26 March

Did you know: Mother's Day began being celebrated in the UK way back in the 17th Century, long before the American version of Mother's Day was conceived.

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent. Traditionally it was the day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone off to work in domestic service, were given the day off to visit their mothers.

Happy Mother's Day all you Mums.

Here are a couple of simple ideas that even budding young chefs can get involved in to help celebrate a weekend of 'mummyness'.

Dippy Eggs Florentine

The recipe uses: 1 large slice of ham; 8 small spinach leaves; 8 cherry tomatoes; 4 eggs; a handful of grated cheese; and buttered toast cut into dipping soldiers. With a grown-up's help, turn the oven on to 180C to warm up while you line 4 ramekins up. Cut ham and spinach into strips with a pair of scissors and add evenly to the ramekins.

Now the messy bit - scrunch up the tomatoes in a bowl with your fingers and spoon two with the juice into each ramekin. One by one, break the eggs into a bowl, check for shell pieces and tip into the ramekin, then the next egg etc. Now, sprinkle the grated cheese on top evenly and put the ramekins on a baking tray in the over for 15 minutes or so until the egg whites have cooked. Mum will love them.

Thanks to BBC Good Food for this. Click on the image (or here) for this and other Mother's Day ideas, including this delicious Lemon Curd and Blueberry Cake - you'll love it Mum.

Click here for the official Red Nose website

Red Nose Day - 24 March

What better reason to get baking than to raise a penny or two for Red Nose Day.

Join the thousands of families, schools and clubs who will be baking, selling and sharing to raise monies for good causes - and to have great fun in the process.

Stokes staff, family and friends will be baking like mad, ready for the big day. Over the coming weeks we'll try to share some of our favourite ideas and recipes with you.

We'd like you to share your ideas with our growing network friends: tweet here, or post here. 

As usual, 'Aunty' (the BBC) has some great 'cake sale recipes' on the BBC Good Food website. Just click the link here for loads of fun ideas.


 Lemon & Poppy Cake

You'll need: 175g softened butter; 175g caster sugar; 200g self-raising flour; 4 lemons zested; 2 tbsp Stokes Lemon Curd; 3 eggs; 2 tbsp poppy seeds; a 125g pot of natural yogurt. For the icing: 200g icing sugar; 3 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp Stokes Lemon Curd.

Heat the oven to 180C / Gas 4. Grease and line your cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, then beat in the rest of the ingredients. Spoon into the tin and bake for 40 minutes. Cool and set aside.

For the icing, beat the lemon juice and curd into sifted icing sugar. Add more juice if it's not runny enough and pour over the cake.


Fundraising foodies

If you are getting ready to raise money for Red Nose Day and baking is part of your fundraising plans, you'll find lots of ideas and recipes at AllRecipes.

Just click on the fun looking raspberry and almond shortbread biscuits on the left.

For the jam, why not use Stokes Raspberry Extra Jam.

Support your local butcher

Last week was National Butchers' Week, but every day could and perhaps should be National Butchers Day - the perfect excuse for a lovely roast, or one of their own ready meals.

Good butchers no longer just chop it and chill it. They and supermarket butchers have to contend with aisle upon aisle of ready made oven-ready and microwave meals for busy families.

Your local butcher will be making trays of delicious meals ready to pop in the oven, all skillfully made with good quality meat.

Oh for a succulent Turkey roast; perhaps a delicious shoulder of Pork; or a leg of lovely Lamb ... pass the Stokes.

Stokes Redcurrant Jelly

It's rich, dark, smooth jelly oozing with flavour from the very high fruit content (53% pureed redcurrant). Great with roast chicken, lamb or duck and just as good in a cold meat sandwich.

A good spoonful in the gravy gives it a luscious sweetness. Slice open and simmer a green chilli in the gravy until the bite balances the sweetness for the perfect pour.

Stokes Bramley Apple Sauce

This is a traditional apple sauce made, of course, with British Bramley apples and a dash of British dry cider for a simple delicious twist. A firm favourite for roast pork.

Sauté onions and apple slices in butter with a hint of cinnamon until soft. Add flour for a roux, build up the gravy with chicken stock and add two good spoons of Stokes Bramley Apple Sauce - it's a must try.

Stokes Mint Sauce

Our classic mint sauce is a delightful blend of garden mint and white wine vinegar, with unrefined raw cane sugar for a simply delicious recipe of this traditional sauce for lamb. 

Pop it into your gravy for minty acidity or mix with Stokes Real Mayonnaise to spoon into piping hot new potatoes.

 How's your crackling

Click on the image for larger print, give it a go and we hope you'll crunch safely this weekend.

These are just some of Stokes relished, jams and sauces that love roasts and bring cold cuts to life next day.

It's all about taste


It's not just 'tomato ketchup', it's Stokes Tomato Ketchup with 200g of Mediterranean ripened sweet tomatoes simmered into every 100g of award-winning ketchup.

It's not just mayonnaise, it's creamy, lush Stokes Real Mayonnaise with British free range eggs and wonderful Koroneiki Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Our free range eggs may include eggs from free range hens currently kept indoors for animal health reasons.

The whole Stokes concept was conceived through the desire for ‘taste’. Not just good taste, but truly, honestly, passionately great taste.

Instead of spooning your mayo onto your chips, salad or new potatoes, try this:

Bloody Mary Rose Sauce - Mix 1 part Stokes Real Mayonnaise to 2 parts Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup. Perfect as a prawn cocktail. Delightful as a dip.

Classic Devilled Eggs - Halve hard boiled eggs and scoop out the yolk. Mash the yolks with mayo, Stokes Classic English Mustard and parsley until smooth. Pipe into egg white half’s and sprinkle with paprika for delicious ‘Devilled Eggs’.

Easy peasy mayo biscuits! Mix together 2 cups of self-raising flour, 1 cup of milk and 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Spoon the mixture onto a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes.

 Instead of dolloping your ketchup onto your bacon butty, bubble 'n' squeak or omelette, try this:

Add Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce to ketchup for a tangy treat with hot dogs.

Spoon ketchup into your meatball mix for deep rich tomato flavours.

Heat a tin of cannelloni beans, tinned chopped tomatoes, a glass of red wine, Italian herbs and reduce. Add  2 parts ketchup to 1 part Stokes Original BBQ Sauce for healthy homemade smoky beans.

 March Hares, Daffodils and Tasty Treats

We will be back next week with more ideas for Red Nose baking, and Mother's Day and the fast approaching culinary calls of Easter.

Simple,  honest,  delicious

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150