Stokes Sauces: It's International Chocolate Day

Crunch, melt, grate, spoon - enjoy

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

Today, 13th September, is International Chocolate Day. In our house it seems that every day is 'chocolate day'. In the kitchen, chocolate in varying forms is an ingredient used in a wide spectrum of dishes.

Cakes, biscuits, mousses, tarts, cheesecakes, truffles, fudges, brownies - name it and you can put chocolate in it.

Chocolate with a minimum 70% cocoa solids offers a bitter-sweet flavour that sits so well with dark cherries, Seville oranges and chilli.

It enriches game dishes in Italy; adds a lavish depth to Catalan casseroles; and as a mole in Mexico it combines with chilli as a basic ingredient for many meat dishes.

Cheeky Chocolate

Chocolate Scones

This simple scone recipe combines the classic bitter-sweet flavour of chocolate with the equally classic sweet-bitter tang of Seville oranges.

You'll need:

1 Seville (ideally) orange, zested and juiced
2 tbsp of Stokes Seville Orange Marmalade
700 g of self raising flour
150 g of butter
200 ml of milk (full fat, ideally)
150 g of caster sugar
150 g of dark chocolate buttons, broken into smaller pieces

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

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.

Tip the flour into a large bowl then rub in the butter to a breadcrumb consistency. Now stir in the broken chocolate buttons, sugar, orange zest and marmalade.

Combine the milk and orange juice then pour it gently into the flour mixture to form the dough.

Work the dough a little then roll it out to 2 cm thick. Cut out the scones and put them on a buttered tray (or 2). Brush each with a little milk and bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes until they rise and brown.

Try breaking the scones and dipping them in a mixture of Nutella and Stokes Lemon Curd.

Chilli Chocolate Cups

This embraces the other chocolate partners of cherries and chillis - in this case, using both.

You'll need:

1 x 425 g tin of pitted black cherries
200 g of high cocoa dark chocolate
3 tsp of Stokes Chilli Jam
200 ml of double cream
4 eggs, whites only
2 tbsp of caster sugar, golden

Here's how:

Bring a pan of water to the simmer and melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over the pan.

Tip the cherries and their syrup into another pan to simmer and reduce them to a jam-like consistency.

Whip the cream until it creates 'soft peaks' then add the sugar and whisk further.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. When the chocolate has cooled a little, fold it into the cream with the chilli jam and cherry 'jam'.

Now fold this into the stiffened egg whites. Spoon the absolutely wonderful mixture into cups to chill before serving.

Chilli Con Carne

Adding rich, dark chocolate to a chilli dish gives it a velvety finish and truly deep flavour.

You'll need:

500 g of minced beef
1 beef stock bouillon
1 x can of chopped tomatoes
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, grated
1 red pepper, chopped
1 tsp of chilli powder
2 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam
4 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup (thick with Italian tomatoes)
1 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce (for deep dates and treacle richness with spices)
50 g of dark high cocoa chocolate
1 tsp of ground cumin
Fresh marjoram or dried, 2 tbsp
1 x can of red kidney beans (optional)

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

Here's how:

In olive oil, soften the onion and red pepper for 5 minutes then add and brown the beef mince with the cumin, marjoram, garlic and chilli powder.

Pour in the tomatoes with the brown sauce, tomato ketchup, 1 tbsp of chilli jam and stock bouillon. Cook for 5 minutes to combine the ingredients then add boiled water (about 250 ml) and simmer (lid on) for 15 minutes.

Check the contents with a good stir, adding or evaporating water for the right consistency. Add the rinsed and drained beans if using them.

Season and simmer for 10 minutes before testing for 'chilli heat', adding the other tablespoon or more of chilli jam to taste. Now melt the chocolate into the bubbling pot. Stir it in, let the pot rest (off the heat) and test the flavours again, adding more chilli jam if you like it a little hotter.