Non-Meat Christmas Feasting - some vegetarian alternatives for Christmas

Noël sans Dinde

For many, the bird, the beast, the fowl, the fish - these just aren't options even for Christmas. So it's Christmas without the Turkey.

There are lots of great vegetables to share around the table but few centre pieces for the meat-free meal. These are just a few ideas you might like to try for a change this year.

They are our take on tried and tested recipes using the magic of Stokes to make sure your non-meat Christmas tastes wonderful.

What's more, each of these recipes uses a little something special from our new Festive Foodie Collection, Stokes tasty favourites chosen by our 'taste aficionados'.


For a Tasty Conscience


Chilli Baked Camembert & Grapes

This simple starter is as easy to make as it is tasty to eat - and tums don't lie.

Baked Chilli Camembert & Grapes

Here's how:

Open a couple of decent sized Camemberts, sit them on a greased roasting tray, prick holes out with a knife, filling each with a little Stokes Chilli Jam held in place with a sliver of garlic and sprigs of rosemary. They'll be runny and scrummy after 15 minutes in a medium oven.

Lovely yes, but served with roasted grapes and our Cranberry Sauce - lovelier still. Spread green and red seedless grapes on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and a squeeze of runny honey with 1 tbsp of chopped thyme leaves. Cover well and bake until caramelised on a medium low heat for 30 minutes or so.

Put the grapes in a bowl and stir in 2 tbsp of Cranberry Sauce before spooning it over the runny Camembert.

Festive Squash

Here's how:

Set in a nest of Christmas vegetables, this makes a tasty and attractive festive picture. Use a small / medium acorn squash per portion. Take off the top and scoop out the inners then roast on a medium heat until the flesh is tender when prodded with a fork.

The filling is whatever you make of it - try ... in a bowl combine: cooked basmati rice, wild rice and lentils. Chop and fry a diced shallot, red pepper, grated garlic and an assortment of mushrooms. To this add 2 tsp of garam masala,1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg, 2 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam (more if you like it hotter) and 1 tbsp of our Creamed Horseradish Sauce.

Combine this with the rice, adding 2 tbsp of olive oil and a handful of chopped coriander. Stuff the squash(s) and bake at 180°C/Gas mark 4 for 20 minutes.

Garnish as you wish - sliced avocado works well and a sauce of 4 parts Stokes Real Mayonnaise to 1 of Chilli Jam and 2 of Tomato Ketchup.

Mushroom & Cranberry Loaf

You'll need:

• 2 shallots, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 400 g of cooked red and green lentils
• 250 g of chopped assorted mushrooms
• 60 g of chopped chestnuts
• 45 g of flour
• 100 g of breadcrumbs
• 50 g of dried cranberries
• 200 g of fresh cranberries
• 4 tbsp of sugar
• 6 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry Sauce
• 2 tbsp of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce
• 1 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam
• 3 tsp of dried mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg 

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.

Mix the shallot, garlic, lentils, mushrooms, chestnuts, flour, breadcrumbs, dried cranberries, 2 tbsp of Cranberry Sauce, horseradish, chilli jam, herbs and nutmeg - basically everything except the fresh cranberries, sugar and 4 tbsp of cranberry sauce.

Mix it and fold it, working it all well together.

In a pan, mix the fresh cranberries, the sugar and remaining 4 tbsp of cranberry sauce. Dissolve the sugar and simmer gently for 5 minutes to soften the fruit and create a syrup.

Pour this syrup into a greased, lined loaf tin then spoon in the loaf mixture on top, pressing it down thoroughly with the back of a spoon. Bake for an hour or so. Let it cool down for 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the tin, inverted, so the cranberries ooze on top and down the sides.

Savoury Christmas Strudel

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.

Take and cube the flesh of a butternut squash. In a bowl, coat it with olive oil, 1 tbsp of our Stokes Chilli Jam and 1 tbsp of chopped thyme then spread it on a roasting tray and roast for 20 minutes to tenderise it.

Finely dice 1 red onion and add it to 100 g of Feta Cheese, cubed into a bowl with 2 tbsp of garam masala and 2 or 3 tbsp of Stokes Red Onion Marmalade. Take a 270 g pack of filo pastry. Melt 100 g of butter in a bowl over simmering water.

Lay 1 sheet of filo onto a damp tea towel and brush it well with melted butter. Add another sheet and brush again ... repeating for each of the 6 sheets of pastry. Spread the chilli squash along the middle of the stack of buttered sheets adding the cheese and onion mixture evenly with it.

Fold the short sides up and over, then the long sides, pinching them together at the top. Put the strudel onto a greased baking sheet and brush with a beaten egg before baking on a higher 200°C/Gas mark 6 until it is brown, crisp and mouthwateringly good to go.

Stokes Festive Foodie Collection

Save 10% OFF the individual product price. Just £25 including post & packing. Order here and enjoy.

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Pud-free Christmas - lighter desserts when the pud's too much here.








 

Stokes Festive Foodie Collection - for tasty festive feasting here.












As seen on TV - Liam Bakes with Stokes on Channel 4 here.

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

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Non-Christmas Puddings - something lighter for dessert

Puddings for the lighter appetite

Not everybody likes the traditional Christmas Pudding - too heavy, too rich, too much after such a large roast and extraordinary trimmings.

We have looked for and found some lighter alternatives. They are lighter on the palate, aromatically cleansing and have a twist of Christmas cheer.

What's more exciting is that these tasty treats each use the Cranberry Sauce or Seville Orange Marmalade, or both, from our new and exclusive Stokes Festive Foodie Collection - here.

Marmalade Ice Cream 
with Italian Panettone

There's a lot of Panettone around at this time of year. Tear up about 100 g of any you have leftover, cover it well with 3 or 4 tbsp of caster sugar and grill it until the sugar caramelises.

While this is cooling, whip 400 ml of cream to soft peaks and add 1 tsp of vanilla paste. Crumble and stir in the cooled Panettone. In a freezer proof container, spoon 2 tbsp of the Panettone cream followed by 1 tbsp of Stokes Seville Orange Marmalade, repeating four times (4 good tbsp of marmalade). Freeze.

Give it ten minutes on the side before serving this deliciously refreshing dessert.

More Non-Christmas Pudding

Marmalade Upside Down Cake

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.

Peel and thinly slice 1 or 2 oranges (blood oranges give a particularly attractive end result) and marinate them in Grand Marnier (or a cheaper brandy and sugar mixture).

Line and grease a round baking dish fitting the marinated orange slices into the base. Warm 100 g of our Seville Orange Marmalade and 75 g of Cranberry Sauce in a pan and pour it over the oranges. Leave this to cool whilst making the sponge.

Beat 110 g of butter together with 110 g of Muscovado sugar. Separately, mix 150 g of self-raising flour with a gentle touch of ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg (one teaspoon of all four will give the cake sufficient 'Christmas' - add more to taste), a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of baking powder.

To the butter mixture add an egg with 2 tbsp of the flour mixture, beating it in well. Repeat with a second egg (2 eggs in total). Fold the remaining flour mixture into the butter mixture with 3 tbsp of orange juice.

Spoon the batter over the orange base and bake for 35 minutes. Cool, remove, flip (orange side up) and serve with cream.  

Cranberry & Orange Brioche Pudding

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.

For the custard, heat 600 ml of milk with a vanilla pod until it just boils. Meanwhile mix 3 egg yolks, 25 g of caster sugar and 2 tsp of cornflour to a smooth paste.

Pour the milk into the paste and mix well before straining the mixture back into the pan. Add 4 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry Sauce and simmer very gently until it begins to thicken.

Firmly push 6 to 8 brioche rolls (halved) into a casserole dish so that they sit snugly together. Pour over half the custard and let it settle.

Scatter with a handful of cranberries or blueberries and equally spread with 4 tbsp of our Seville Orange Marmalade. Pour over the rest of the custard then leave it to absorb all the ingredients for an hour or so then bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Serve it with cream, ice cream or more custard. 

Stokes Festive Foodie Collection

Save 10% OFF the individual product price. Just £25 including post & packing. Order here and enjoy.

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Meat-free Christmas - vegetarian alternatives for the feast here.










 

Stokes Festive Foodie Collection - for tasty festive feasting here.












As seen on TV - Liam Bakes with Stokes on Channel 4 here.

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

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

The Festive Foodie Collection - a delicious collection of festive flavour

Tums don't tell tales

This is the first time we have created a collection of yumminess for festive feasting.

Chosen by Stokes' taste aficionados, it ticks all the Christmas boxes.

There are combinations to make great party dips; to dress up the Christmas meal whether spooned onto the side or stirred into the gravy; and essentials adding life to the leftovers.

Your tums will thank you and your taste buds delight at this delicious array of Stokensian joy.

Stokes Festive Foodie Collection

Save 10% OFF the individual product price. Just £25 including post & packing. Order here and enjoy.

Tasting notes & tasty tips

Stokes Red Onion Marmalade - is lusciously thick with caramelised red onions in sticky black treacle and a sharp balsamic finish. It's amazing with just about anything - try it with grilled cheese on toast.

Stokes Chilli Jam - is a deliciously sticky jam, bursting with sweet chilli peppers, red peppers and red chilli heat. It's particularly good with mature Cheddar or a soft brie.

Stokes Real Mayonnaise is really very special. We use only whole eggs from British free range Welfare Assured hens into which we drizzle very fine British rapeseed oil to create the product's core.


Then, to make our real mayonnaise stand out from the rest, we add extra virgin Koroneiki olive oil from Crete.

Stokes Tomato Ketchup is packed with plump, sweet tomatoes that have ripened on the sun drenched slopes of southern Italy. We gently simmer 200g of the little beauties for every 100g of thick and truly tomatoey ketchup.

Stokes Coronation Sauce is as tasty as it gets. To a luscious base of our award-winning mayonnaise, we add curry powder, turmeric, sultanas and apricots to create this creamy, fruity, spicy jar of joy.

For a classic Coronation 'Turkey' - just add leftover turkey. For something a little different, stir in a couple of spoonfuls of creamed cheese and flake a poached salmon steak into the sauce.

Stokes Piccalilli has crunchy garden vegetables in a sweet, tangy, mustard sauce spiced with turmeric. It's a traditional favourite with cold meats and fantastic with cheese.

Stokes Cranberry Sauce is crammed with a host of big juicy North American cranberries. Knowing eyes have watched them bubble gently with sugar to balance the sweet tartness of this intensely fruity sauce.

Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce lets you enjoy its full flavour without bringing tears to your eyes. A lovely chap called Robbie mixes half wild and half cultivated horseradish, washed and shredded to which we add single cream for this gentle, deliciously smooth sauce.

Try these mini Yorkshire Puddings - perfect party canapés.

Stokes Seville Orange Marmalade follows a simple, classic English recipe. It is packed with tangy Seville oranges, medium cut for flavour and texture. Try it in these festive desserts - here.


Simple Party Dips

Put a few spoonfuls of Stokes Real Mayonnaise in a bowl and - just add:

• Add our Cranberry Sauce for a lovely dip for a cocktail sausage or pie.
• Add Tomato Ketchup and Chilli Jam for chilli prawn canapés.
• Add Creamed Horseradish bringing velvety warmth to a crudités dip.
• Add Coronation Sauce, crème fraîche and chopped tarragon for pure 'wow'.
• Add finely diced crisp cooked smoked bacon and chives for delicious 'baconaise'.
• Add Red Onion Marmalade as a creamy base for cheesy canapés.
• Add Cranberry Sauce and Horseradish Sauce to dip your chicken drumsptcks.
• Add Chilli Jam as a dipping sauce for mini meatballs and falafels.

Your Festive Foodie Collection

Save 10% OFF the individual product price. Just £25 including post & packing. Order here and enjoy.

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Meat-free Christmas - vegetarian alternatives for the feast here.










Pud-free Christmas - lighter desserts when the pud's too much here.







   




As seen on TV - Liam Bakes with Stokes on Channel 4 here.

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

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

As seen on TV - more videos and social sharing

Don't miss the fun
on Facebook & Twitter

From Liam Bakes on Channel 4 , Liam and his friends are having great fun in the kitchen cooking up a mayo dance with Stokes Real Mayonnaise - great show, great dance, great mayonnaise. Take it away boys ...:

To see the video, click here:

 

Our second winner of the Advent Card has declared herself. For the days running up to Christmas the busy elves in Stokes dispatch will randomly put an Advent Card in one of the deliveries to an unsuspecting, but worthy Stokes customer. Those who get one and send a selfie back to us will receive a 6 x bottle case of our Award-Winning Tomato Ketchup.

Another timely video take a look at the classic Bloody Mary which has been given a boost with Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup. It really works - give it a go. Take a look at the video here:

 And finally Esther ... cute !

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Meat-free Christmas - vegetarian alternatives for the feast here.










Pud-free Christmas - lighter desserts when the pud's too much here.













Stokes Festive Foodie Collection - for tasty festive feasting here.

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

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Make ahead and freeze - get ahead of the taste game

Planning ahead

When thinking about the coming season of festive feasting, there's a lot you can do sooner rather than panic about it later.

For Christmas devotees, you can even extend the festive fun as you ding dong merrily in the kitchen over the coming weekends.

But, it's not just the Yorkshire puds, mince pies, red cabbage and stuffing you can make ahead and freeze. Even with acres of leftovers to eat, it's good to have a casserole or two under the proverbial belt, ready to defrost and enjoy.
.

Lamb with Christmas Spices 

Click here or on any image to order

This has the essence of Christmas in a hearty stew. 'Christmas' works so well with this lamb neck fillet (1.5 kg) cut into chunks and browned with diced onion, grated garlic and fresh ginger.

Add the wonderful Persian fragrances of ground cinnamon (a pinch), coriander (1 tsp), cloves (pinch), ground almonds (3 tbsp) and cardamom pods.

Stir in a couple of spoons of flour and 750 ml of beef stock. bring it to the boil adding a good shake of Stokes Tomato Ketchup and 3 or 4 good spoonfuls of Stokes Spiced Apricot Chutney.

Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add a pack of ready-to-eat dried apricots and simmer, lid off, for 15 minutes more. Cool it, freeze it and enjoy it mid-week between Christmas and the New Year.

Chestnut Stuffing Roll

Instead of actually stuffing the bird, this is a roulade of sausage, chestnuts, apple and cranberry to roast and be carved at the table.

Here's how:

Squeeze the meat from 10 good butcher's pork sausages into a bowl with roughly chopped parsley, sage and thyme. Roughly chop 1 x 200g pack of chestnuts and add this to the meat with 1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard, 1 tbsp of Stokes Bramley Apple Sauce and 3 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry Sauce.

Finely slice a juicy Bramley apple and add this too, with about 75 g of frozen cranberries. With your hands, combine everything with 50 g of breadcrumbs and an egg.

Lay a sheet of foil on a worktop with the same amount of cling film on that. Now sit a dozen or so rashers of streaky bacon side by side on the film having stretched them first with the back of a knife. Spoon the sausage and chestnut mixture along one side of the bacon and carefully roll the foil forward taking the bacon and its contents with you until you have a bacon-wrapped stuffing roulade.

Freeze the roulade at this stage. De-frost and roast at a medium heat for 45 minutes until the sausage is cooked and the bacon is crisp. This should give you 8 generous slices.

Rich Red Cabbage

Here's how:

Finely slice 1 red cabbage, 2 red onions and 2 Bramley apples and fry them in butter, turning the contents regularly.

Add a pinch of ground cinnamon, coriander, cloves; 1 tbsp of Stokes Chilli Jam and 2 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry & Orange Sauce (we cook this in ruby port).

Stir in a splash of orange juice, 175 ml of port, 1 tsp of Balsamic vinegar and 125 ml of water.

Bring the contents up to a gentle boil, cover and simmer for an hour, stirring from time to time.

If it is too wet, drain it, cool it and freeze it in portions to make it easier to defrost and cook just what you need when you need it.

Yorkshire Pud Roulette

Adding a flavour such as mustard to a Yorkshire Pudding batter gives you a pud with a difference. Dividing the batter into three, each with a different flavour and baked randomly lets you play 'Russian Roulette' along with your crackers, jokes and tricks on Christmas Day.

Your basic batter mix:

• 140 g of plain flour
• 4 eggs
• 200 ml of milk

Plus:

• Stokes Classic English Mustard
• Stokes Chilli Jam
• Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce

Ho Ho How:

Get the oven as hot as you can. Put a drop of vegetable oil in each of the 12 cups of a non-stick muffin tin and put it in the oven to get the oil piping hot.

Put the flour into a bowl, beat in the eggs until you have a smooth paste and add the milk slowly, beating constantly.

When you have your batter, divide it into 4 bowls adding 2 tsp of each of our bullets (mustard, chilli or horseradish) to each of three bowls, leaving the fourth as a plain batter.

Carefully take the tin from the oven and randomly spoon the batters into the hot cups. Now back in the oven for 25 minutes until the puds have risen and browned.

You can cool them and freeze them now if you've enough willpower - it's far too tempting to eat them and start again later though.

Taste the festivities - stock the Stokes

Add the Taste of Stokes to your festive feasting 

- place your orders here

More foodie thoughts for the week:





St Andrew's Day - Cullen Skink, Clapshot & Cranachan here.









   



Meet our first Advent Card winner and enjoy more video fun here.











The perfect gift of tasty scrumptious yumminess - here.

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

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150

Celebrate St. Andrew's Day with some fine Scottish Fayre

St Andrew's Day

St Andrew's Day (30th November) celebrates Scotland's patron saint. It's also a great excuse for the fine folk of Scotland to enjoy a bank holiday.

But who was St Andrew the Apostle?

St Andrew, according to Christianity's teachings, was one of Jesus Christ's apostles revered in Scotland from around 1,000 AD but he didn't become its official patron saint until the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.

Like Jesus, Andrew died a martyr, crucified in Greece on an X-shaped cross in 60 AD. This type of cross is also known as a saltire - the symbol that makes up the Scottish flag today.


The 3 C's of Scottish Cuisine

Cullen Skink

Cullen is a fishing town on the Moray Firth, an inlet popular with haddock. Most recipes simply call for smoked haddock, with some adding 'preferably undyed'. Nick Nairn specifies Arbroath smokies - headless, gutted haddock, hot smoked over wood in the traditional fashion. There are theories, but nobody knows for certain where the word 'skink' comes from.

You'll need:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 or 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 300 ml of milk
• 3 or 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 250 g of smoked haddock
• 1 tbsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard

Here's how:

Gently fry the onion in butter for 8 to 10 minutes. We don't want to colour it, just soften it, then stir the mustard into the onions. 

Boil the potatoes until they too are soft, drain and set aside.

Put the milk into a pan with the cloves and bay leaf. Bring it up to a gentle simmer and add the smoked haddock for about 5 minutes.

Cool the pan then remove the haddock, keeping the milk but throwing the cloves and bay away. When cool enough to handle, break up the fish, removing the skin and bones.

Add  the milk, fish and potatoes to the onions, season and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Clapshot & Haggis Pie

Haggis neeps & tatties is the traditional Scottish trio but this dish uses 'clapshot' which originated in Orkney. It is basically a mash of neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes), sometimes including chives or onions. We're going to make this 'shepherd's pie' style combining haggis and minced beef as the base, with clapshot on the top.

The gravy is one to look out for.

Here's how:

Peel, cut, boil, mash and cool equal amounts of tatties and neeps. A lovely, buttery combined mash will spread smoothly over the meaty base.

Cook a 450 g (approx) of haggis to the packet's instructions and set aside.

Gently fry 1 diced onion and 1 grated carrot in a little butter then add 450 g of minced beef. When the meat colours, add 3 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup, 1 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce, 2 tsp of chopped thyme leaves and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Stir in 2 tbsp of flour and pour in about 500 ml of beef stock. A few peas add sweetness and a little colour. Simmer for 20 minutes then carefully add the cooked haggis. If there is too much liquid, increase the heat to reduce it; if it's too thick then add more stock. Haggis is very highly seasoned so be careful and taste it first if you're thinking of adding more.

Slange var ~ cheers !

Simmer for a further 10 minutes then spoon it all into a casserole dish. It's easier to layer the mashed clapshot when the meat has cooled. Cover the meat with the clapshot then pop it into a medium hot oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

For the Whisky Gravy:

Boil the alcohol off 150 ml of whisky for 2 minutes then stir in 1 tbsp of Stokes Dijon Mustard and 2 tbsp of Stokes Cranberry Sauce.

In a separate pan, boil 500 ml of beef stock to reduce it by half then pour it into the whisky and mustard with 100 ml of double cream, heating it up before serving.

Cranachan

Our 3rd 'C' is a traditional Scottish dessert of oats, cream, whisky and raspberries. It's a delicious way to clean the palate after a meal of smoked haddock and spicy haggis.

Here's how:

Toast 85 g of porridge oats in a dry pan being careful not to burn them.

Whip 570 ml of double cream to soft peaks. Now very gently (lovingly shall we say) fold in: 7 tbsp of whisky; 3 tbsp of Stokes Raspberry Extra Jam; 3 tbsp of honey; and 400 g of fresh raspberries. Spoon the mixture into glass bowls with the toasted oats and serve.

Once you are used to the ingredients, try creating a deconstructed Cranachan, layering the ingredients for visual effect.

Once you've tried this, you'll never want to make a trifle again.

Taste the festivities - stock the Stokes

Add the Taste of Stokes to your festive feasting 

- place your orders here

More foodie thoughts for the week:






Make ahead and freeze - for tasty time savers click here.









   




Meet our first Advent Card winner and enjoy more video fun here.

The perfect gift of tasty scrumptious yumminess here.










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

 FOOD MADE BETTER 

www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150