Happy peaceful yummy January

Back to basics

After the energetic culinary juggling of the festive season, it's good to get back to basics.

You can't beat a good ole' sausage sandwich. Well in fact, yes you can. Just add Stokes Red Onion Marmalade for a 'posh' sausage sandwich - delicious. 

Fridge Soup

I emptied the fridge of the last of the vegetables last week to make 'fridge soup'. Half a dozen carrots, a lonely onion, celery hearts and a couple of rather droopy parsnips were boiled in a light chicken stock with a few straggly herbs.

The hand blender made light work of the softened combination which were drained through a colander into another pan. A good spoonful of Stokes Chilli Jam, another of Stokes Chipotle Ketchup adding a rich smokiness to the soup with a subtle chilli heat coming through.


 Competition

And with just 3 more weeks left before entries close (1st February 2018) for the competition for a holiday of three nights in Crete - if you haven't entered, now's the time to do so.

You'll meet the grower, taste the oil at its source and have £500 spending money to help soak up the atmosphere of this wonderful Mediterranean island.

Click the image left for details and to enter.



Not going out - with Cheese on Toast

On dark winter nights we prefer to stay in at the weekend. After chores and a pub lunch we bolt the doors and relax.

When the stomach rumbles a little later on we slice some bread, grab a strong cheddar and reach for the relish for cheese on toast. Stokes relishes with the cheese grilling on top, lift a simple cheese on toast supper to new mouth-watering heights - like the melted brie and Red Onion Marmalade in the image above..

With any of these relishes you can create taste combinations from chilli kicks to the sweet back tastes of Bramley apples. The horseradish or our English Mustard add a subtle lingering heat.

For a tangy fruit lift spread Stokes Red Onion Marmalade or Burger Relish on the bread then grate the cheese on top - please let us know and share your favourites on Tweet here or Post here.

Leftovers as an Omelette

Just about anything you have leftover or lurking about at the back of the fridge can be warmed up, chopped up, mixed up, added to and served in the fluffy embrace of an omelette.

There's the obvious:

• Peppers, spring onions, tomatoes - delicious with Burger Relish
• Ham & cheese - elevated with Red Onion Marmalade
• Bacon, baked beans and cooked potatoes - breakfast omelette ... Brown Sauce or Ketchup? 
• Mushrooms & thyme - a classic made better with Curry Ketchup
• Ham and spinach - for a Florentine add Real Mayonnaise at the last minute

The specials:

• Shredded Brussels fried with bacon and ginger - add Chilli Jam and lime juice for zing
• Poached and smoked salmon with red onion - spoon on Mustard & Dill Sauce
• Turkey (chicken, pheasant etc) and avocado - with Cranberry Sauce
• Shredded duck leftovers with spring onions and cucumber - add our Hoisin Sauce
• Basil, tomato, mozzarella and salami - with a spoonful of Chilli Jam
• Feta cheese, olives, tomato, onion and green peppers - with Fig Relish for Grecian delight

What else have we got in the larder for January?

The first big foodie occasion is on 25th January as we celebrate the life and works of Rabbie Burns - Burns Night.

Haggis neeps and tatties are not everybody's cup of tea but personally - we love it, particularly with a wonderful Scottish gravy - a glass of single malt.

Here's an idea from Mr @StokesSauces (as Rick Sheepshanks is now known on @StokesSauces) for a veritable cocktail of a gravy to go with your haggis. First, from a nice rich beef stock, build your gravy.

Then whilst it is simmering, reduce to intensify the flavour, add a desert spoon of Stokes Chilli Jam and the same amount of Stokes Cranberry Sauce and blend them into the gravy with a wee (though not insignificant) dram of whisky.

Finally, grate a cube of dark, high cocoa content chocolate into the gravy to further enrich the flavours.

Thank you Rabbie for this reason to eat and thank you too for your words - what a treat.


It's the olive oil that makes Stokes Mayonnaise so ...  Real

The majority of the oil we use is British, from British Oilseed Rape, which paints the fields with a glorious sunshine yellow in May and June.

Great though this is, on its own it wasn't enough. It made a really good mayonnaise ... just not a great one.

We needed more. We needed to add extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO). Another huge challenge because there are so many of them. Spanish? Italian? Greek? And within all of these - which?

Which olives? 

Which olives? Which island? Which hillside? Which producer?

We quickly decided on Greece, tried over 30 different EVOOs in hundreds of different ratio permutations of extra virgin to rapeseed oil.

After m any trials, we got it right: Koroneiki extra virgin olive oil.

3,000 years of history and its abundance on the hillsides of Crete can't be wrong - and nor were we.

Finally - adding 5% Cretan Koroneiki extra virgin olive oil to the mayonnaise made it good enough and us proud enough to call it Stokes Real Mayonnaise.

Koroneiki olive trees produce a small olive but in abundance. It creates an intense, rich green oil with a uniquely exquisite flavour. They have some of the highest polyphenol content possible, boasting powerful health benefits - and it tastes great too !

Crete - it's full of surprises:

If good food makes you happy
...adding Stokes will make you smile ;)

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150