Stokes Sauces: St George's Day - very English feasting

The Feast of St George - 23rd April

Unlike the celebrations for St Patrick, St David and St Andrew, our poor old dragon-slayer and Patron Saint of England is celebrated by fewer and fewer genuine patriots.

The pubs of England won't bustle unduly and town squares won't resonate to merriment bursting forth from Englishmen in shining armour and ladyfolk sporting frocks and maiden comeliness.

But ...
we few whose pageantry admire,
and marcheth upon
bellies full of English fayre,
do celebrate this day and feast
for England and St George
flags raised mightily aloft
and tables wealthy laden
with Stokensian culinary flair.

Our Celebration of English Foodie Favourites

When you wander round the 'wikisphere' in search of English food favourites, you find many common threads including tea and toast, jam sandwiches, bubble & squeak, bangers 'n' mash, Yorkshire pudding, Piccalilli, ploughman's lunch, fish 'n' chips and - yes - chicken tikka masala.

Individual toads in their 'oles

To make individual Toads in the Hole, we're using muffin tins with the sausages divided and the batter poured into each. If you prefer one big one, replace the muffin tin with a large roasting tin. Perfect with peas and onion gravy. Tip - add 2 tablespoons of Stokes Red Onion Marmalade to the onion gravy for deeper, sweeter caramelised onion taste.

You'll need:

200 g of plain flour
5 eggs
100 ml of milk
100 ml of cold water
1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/product/traditional-condiments/cider-and-horseradish-wholegrain-mustard

Here's how:

Put all the flour in a large bowl adding two eggs and half of the milk and water, mixing well. Mix in the remaining eggs, milk, water and mustard and chill for 30 minutes or so.

Put a drop of oil in the base of 4 sections of a muffin tin and heat it up in a medium hot oven for 5 minutes. Put 2 half cooked sausages in each section and pour the batter mixture around the sausages.

Bake for 20 minutes and serve with peas and rich onion gravy.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Never ever has this dish been made or served in India either prior to or since independence. It was invented for us and is commonly listed as top of the English culinary pops.

There are many many recipes for this dish. It is the ingredients for the masala sauce that gives it it's wow factor.

Before this though, here's an instant way of cheating. In butter, fry a chopped onion and a chopped red pepper in a wok (or similar) until soft and juicy.

Now - tip a pack of pre-made supermarket chicken curry into the wok, add 3 tbsp of low fat yogurt, 2 tbsp of Stokes Curry Ketchup and 1 tbsp of Garam Masala. Cook through and serve.

They'll think you made it from scratch - let them !

For the propper job...

You'll need:

2 tbsp of ghee or butter
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, grated
1 tsp of: ground cumin, chilli, ginger.
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground turmeric
2 tsp of medium curry powder
1 tbsp of garam masala
2 tbsp of Stokes Curry Ketchup
1 x 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
175 g of low fat yogurt
2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinned and cut to mouth size pieces
2 chicken thighs - ditto.

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/product/ketchups-and-sauces/curry-ketchup

Here's How:

Using a wok (or similar), soften the onion for 5 minutes then add the garlic, cumin, chilli, ginger, cinnamon and turmeric and stir for 2 minutes to release the spices.

Add the tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. Now add the yogurt and ketchup, curry powder and the chicken pieces and simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes.

Ideally, do all of this 2 or 3 hours before you need it and gently re-heat the dish before serving.

Ploughman's Lunch

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/category/relish-and-chutneys

It is a joy that this noble pub lunch is returning to some of the house specials boards, as there's little to beat a pint and platter of all things wonderful.

There has to be a pork pie and thick slices of English ham as well as some of the many wonderful English cheeses we produce. And of course pickles to bring it all together with a good helping of Stokes Piccalilli.

Piccalilli is a wonderful old English preserve for young vegetables. Our piccalilli offers crunchy garden vegetables in a sweet, tangy, mustard sauce spiced with turmeric.

One of its best buddies is ham hock or ham hock terrine - which you can get on an exceptional ploughman's lunch.

Fish 'n' Chips - yes please