Stokes Sauces: May Day Weekend - celebrating Summer's birth

Beltaine Inspirations

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/mayo-range

Ancient Celtic celebrations on the eve of May Day were fire festivals to welcome the Summer or the 'light part of the year'. The Irish-Gaelic word for May is Beltaine, literally translating as 'brilliant fire'.

Our own reflections and celebrations of May and the coming May Bank Holiday Weekend are of course food related. We are truly blessed with the range of fresh, vibrant vegetables, succulent meats and wonderful fish that this little island so generously provides.

Asparagus
with Mango & Orange Dressing

To 25 g of melted butter, whisk in 3 tbsp of Stokes Mango & Orange Dressing and 1 tsp of Stokes Dijon Mustard. Simply dress your poached new season asparagus and add a few shavings of Parmesan cheese.

Spring Chicken & Couscous

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/traditional-condiments

Here's how:

Fry 8 bone-in chicken thighs skin side down then flip them over until they are brown. Remove them from the pan and set aside. Finely slice 2 onions and grate 2 cloves of garlic then soften them in the same pan with a little more oil.

Roughly chop 2 or 3 carrots and 2 leeks. Add the carrots to the pan but hang on to the leeks. Stir in 2 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard and 2 tbsp of our Bloody Mary Ketchup, return the chicken and cover with about 500 ml of chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, then add the leeks and simmer for 10 minutes more.

Remove the chicken, carrots and leeks with a slotted spoon and put 250 g of couscous into the pan. Mix it into the liquor with a squeeze of lemon and top up with boiling water to just cover the contents, if necessary. Cover, and let it stand (off the heat) for 5 minutes. Now, tip the contents into a serving dish, fluff up the couscous and pop the chicken and vegetables on top.

Lamb with Minted Greens

Succulent lamb leg steaks are delicious, particularly if your butcher will cut superb thick tranches for you.

Here's how:

Cook your steaks as you would normally. I like to pan fry them in butter and thyme leaves, pop the pan in the oven for 7 or 8 minutes then finish off on top, basting constantly in butter, removed from the pan and rested.

Keep the pan and its cooking liquors. Cook your greens - asparagus, manges touts and courgette - and drain the green vegetable-infused water into a bowl or jug. Stop the greens cooking in ice cold water, drain and set to one side.

Stir 1 tbsp of flour into the lamb's cooking liquor to make a roux, then pour in the vegetable water stirring it into a gravy, adding a lamb or chicken bouillon for depth of flavour. Stir 2 or 3 tsp of Stokes Mint Sauce into the gravy to add the sweetness of the garden mint and cut the lamb fat with the gentle acidity of the vinegar.

Re-heat the greens by tossing them in oil or butter with 2 tsp of our Mint Sauce (which is garden sweet unlike most others) and serve with the lamb, gravy and mashed potato.

Lemon Drizzle

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

You'll need:

225 g of butter
225 g of caster sugar
275 g of self-raising flour
2 tsp of baking powder
4 eggs
4 tbsp of milk
4 tbsp of Stokes Lemon Curd
175 g of granulated sugar
The juice of 2 lemons

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Mix the granulated sugar and lemon juice to create a runny glaze and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, beating to a smooth batter.

Line and grease a baking tray (30 x 23 x 4 cm), then pour and level the mixture into it before baking for 40 minutes. Whilst still warm but cooling on a wire rack, brush the cake with the glaze.

More foodie thoughts for the week: