Chef Wise

With its quirky name, bright ruby red appearance and scrumptiously tart taste, the Chuckleberry is fast becoming the 'berry of the moment.' Speciality food company Cottage Delight, which has been making traditional preserves in Staffordshire for over 40 years, has recognised the delicious potential of this berry with the creation of Chuckleberry Jam, the latest addition to the company's best-selling range of award-winning jams, marmalades, curds and honeys. Chuckleberry Jam is an exciting preserve that packs a delicious fruity punch. With a definably tarter flavour than the more commonly known blackcurrant, this dark and juicy berry is a delicious blend of the redcurrant, gooseberry and jostaberry* and creates a stunning topping for cheesecakes and a scrumptious filling for crumbles. That's not to say that this tasty preserve should only be saved just for baking – it's also delicious enjoyed with vanilla ice cream or Greek yoghurt for a simple desser...

Hawkshead Relish have been named as finalists in two categories of these prestigious awards run by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), the body which represents the UK food and drink manufacturing industry. Growth Business in Northern England and Exporting Company will see this Lake District based artisan producer up against some household names in brands at the finals gala dinner on 7th September 2015 at The Brewery, London. 'Reaching the finals in these national industry awards is a huge achievement in itself, given that these awards epitomise the UK's food manufacturing both large & small. It also highlights that despite the size and type of operation, we are all part of the overall benefit to the economy, being £12.8bn in exports.' commented Maria Whitehead (co-owner & director). The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the UK food and drink industry, the largest manufacturing sector in the country. Members account for 15.7% o...

The West Country based speciality food producer, The Bay Tree, is celebrating Sandwich Week by using its loaf. The experts in preserves and chutneys are piling on the pickle, slathering on the sauce and adding that little extra something to turn the humble sarnie into something truly upper crust! In business for 20 years, The Bay Tree continue to grow their extensive range so there's no need to stick to the same old boring, everyday accompaniments. Now is the time to get fancy with your fillings! Spicy Tomato & Caramelised Onion Chutney  – Add some pizzazz to a cheese or ham sandwich. Weight 320g                  Unit Cost £2.25             SRP £3.35 Farmhouse Pickle  – Traditional English pickle that's tip-top with a trusty Farmhouse Cheddar. Weight 310g        ...

Well if it isn't that time already. Picnic time! Time to whip out the Welsh blankets and dust down hamper, The Pickled Village puts the pick to picnic. Yes we do. Choose from the Complete Devilish Pickle -  a traditional ploughman’s pickle with a hot twist or for something with more grrr try our brand new addition, The Provocative Pickle, a pickled onion pickle with balsamic vinegar , wee silverskin onions and  a good chilli kick. Moreish beyond belief, even if we do say so ourselves. It’s the perfect partner to any strong cheese and surprisingly delish when combined with cheese to make picnic tarts As well as tickling taste buds, The Pickled Village always entertains with tongue-in-cheek names like the Red Rapscallion   (red onion marmalade with redcurrants and chillis) or the Cuban Mojito Breakfast (a thin-cut marmalade with lime and rum). Camille has   entered into a joint venture with Bramble Foods in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.   ...

Rhubarb is very abundant this time of year so it is easy to get hold off and you can do lots more than just making pies and crumbles with it. Now this recipe is one that is nice and spicy for chutney kind of dip, but you do not have to make it like this you can use other spices all depending on what you like. Hot or cold it goes well with cheese, oily fish and any strong flavours. The sharp rhubarb cuts threw and provides a balance. You will need 1 tbsp vegetable oil ½ tsp mustard seeds 400g/14oz rhubarb, finely sliced 4 green chillies, chopped 1 large onion, finely diced 2 cloves of garlic, very thin slices 5cm/2 in piece of fresh root ginger, grated. 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 2 tbsp golden caster sugar The juice of 1 lime. A good bunch of fresh mint finely chopped Like all good chutneys you need time and a low heat for the best result so take your time, but not this time you can make this in about 15 to 20 minutes. Heat th...

Now I know it is November but this is a really good time to make thing like this. Make it let it sit in the cupboard and use on Christmas day, or thanksgiving. This Cranberry sauce has a little more punch than most so please give it a go, so much better than any shop bought one You will need 450g/1lb fresh cranberries 300ml/10floz ruby port 115g/4oz caster sugar 125ml/4floz fresh orange juice 1tsp corn flour 1tsp English mustard powder The juice and zest of 1 lemon A pinch of ground cloves A pinch of ground cinnamon A pinch of ground nutmeg 75g/3oz sultanas 55g/2oz flaked almonds 1tbsp grated orange rind A pinch of Salt to taste It could not be easier to make so here we go, get a large pan and add the cranberries, sugar and orange juice. Turn the heat on and just let if cook for about 10 minutes, until all the cranberries have started to burst. Now add the sultanas, almonds, orange rind and lemon juice and rind, then let it all simmer for 5 ...

Now this is a great present that you can make, package and send to friends as extra Christmas presents. We all know how expensive mustard can get if you buy it in the shops and it is like this with a little adjustment you can get the mustard that you want. In total this makes about 8floz of 240 gram of mustard. Now if you do not like your mustard to hot do not use English mustard powder but if you like it hot experiment with different ratios  to get the mustard that you like . This makes medium hot mustard, if you do not like grain mustard just use powder. Also if you are going to make this you will need a heavy based saucepan. You will need. 240ml/8floz cold water 169g/6oz yellow mustard seed 56g/2oz dry mustard powder 240g/8floz cider vinegar 1 small onion 2tbsp brown sugar 2 garlic cloves 1tsp. salt ½tsp. ground cinnamon ¼tsp. allspice ¼tsp. dried dill ¼tsp. dried tarragon ⅛tsp. turmeric 1tbsp runny honey Now take your mustard powder an...

Now to make sauerkraut is very easy as in you only need two ingredients and lots and lots of time. Sauerkraut means “sour cabbage" and is produced in Poland Germany and Russia in fact in any number of countries. It is finely cut cabbage that has been fermented, a cooking process that fell out of favour over her in Briton for some years but is gaining in popularity once more. Sauerkraut has a very distinctive flavour and a long shelf life.  And it keeps for ages in a air tight jar. For you basic Sauerkraut you will need 2.5gk/ 5lbs hard white cabbage 3 sea salt Now the process of making Sauerkraut is called lacto-fermentation, now this sound technical but it is just pickling by any other name . Basically you use the yeast of the cabbage and air born bacteria to do the work. And do not worry because I use a word like bacteria in cooking . When there was no such thing as  frozen food, supermarkets and no way of getting fresh food in the long cold wint...

Now I always had for to many vegetables for my allotment when I had it at the end of the season. Now this is the sort of thing that you can make and store so none of them go to waste. And even if you do not have an allotment or any kind of garden it is nice to make, put in nice jars and give away at Christmas if you like You will need 250g/9oz green beans 500g/1lb 2oz cauliflower florets 250g/9oz courgettes 100g/3½oz salt 3 onions 300ml/10½floz malt vinegar 300ml/10½floz white wine vinegar 2tbsp English mustard powder 2tbsp ground turmeric 1tsp ground ginger 1tsp dried chilli flakes 25g/1oz corn flour 250g/9oz granulated sugar First you want to draw the water from your vegetables so first prepare them. Trim and cut your vegetables in to similar sized pieces, beans cut into 1.5cm/⅝in pieces, cauliflower florets cut into quarters and courgettes cut lengthways into 1cm/½in slices. Put your vegetables in a non-metallic mixing bowl, sprinkling with t...

As pickling seem to be getting popular again I am going to post this recipe , it is not necessarily pickling as such as you are cooking the vegetables a little but it does give an almost instantaneous result. And it is really full of those rich Indian spices that are so good to eat. You will need 3tbsp palm sugar or light brown sugar 175ml/6floz cider vinegar 120ml/4floz mustard oil, peanut oil or vegetable oil 2 or 3 garlic cloves 1or 2 in/ 2.5 to 5cm fresh ginger 400g/14oz cauliflower florets 5 medium carrots 225g/9oz baby turnips 2tsp whole brown mustard seeds 2tsp salt 1tsp chilli powder 1½tsp paprika ½tsp garam masala To start you need to prepare all the vegetables first. Peeled and crushed the garlic then grate the ginger in to the garlic. Now cut the white cauliflower florets into small pieces, peeled and cut the carrots into 5cm/2½in pieces. Finally peeled and half the baby turnips. Finally take your brown mustard seeds and crush them as...

Now for this jam it is almost the same as the strawberry jam I posted the other day by a little different in how you make it. Of all the jams this is my favourite homemade jam. And the good thing unlike the strawberry’s this year you can still get a good crop of raspberries. For this jam you will need. 1kg /2lb 3oz raspberries 1kg/2lb 3oz granulated sugar or caster sugar ½ lemon, juice only Once again you will need your big thick bottomed pan, all jam making need a big pan to allow for the boiling of the sugar. This time you do not need to let the raspberries sit overnight in the sugar. This time just tip them and the sugar into the pan and give everything a good vigorous stir round.   This should help you start getting the juices out of the fruits. Then add the lemon juice and place the pan on a gently heat to start with slowly melting all the sugar. Let the sugar dissolves completely; keep stirring gently all the time. Once your sugar has melted then you can ...

Now having spent most of last week posting bread recipes this week I will post some recipes for thing you can put on the bread. Now this is mainly because I have been out picking my own strawberry’s and that gave me this idea. Now jam making is like brad making but you just have to follow the same rules and you will make great jam. For this jam you will need. 1kg /2lb 3oz strawberries 1kg/2lb 3oz granulated sugar or caster sugar ½ lemon, juice only Now if you want to do this properly the main thing to remember is that you will need a big thick bottomed pan. Boiling jam bubbles up to start with and you want to have plenty of space in the pan to accommodate this. Now you can go out and get a proper jam pan or if you are like me go to a car boot sale and you will no doubt find someone selling an old pan or something that you can use. Now to do this properly, start by going over your strawberries, reject any that are overripe, have soft spots or are bruised. If you can y...

Now if you have your own raspberry then you will have this problem and that is most of the raspberry all ripen at the same time. This is not a problem as you can make jam with the ones you do not eat but how about trying something a little different. It does take a little time but is very different and afterward you can keen in in the fridge for about two week. Also use in cakes instead of jam or just on a piece of toast in the morning.   4 raspberry punnets 6 egg yolks   3 eggs 115g/4oz sugar 150g/5½oz cold butter 1 gelatine leaf First get you gelatine and soak it in some cold water so it goes nice and soft. Then in a blender or a food processor blend the raspberries to a puree. Once you have done that pass them through a fine sieve into a saucepan. Tap the sieve on the side and do not push the raspberry’s down as you will just block the sieve with the pips. Now heat the raspberry puree for 2 to 3 minutes so it reduced a little and then set to one...

Another Greek influenced recipe for you today. Most of the Mediterranean countries have this tradition of pickling vegetables and I do not know why we do not do more of our own. Once you have done it once you will wounded why you have never done it before.   Ingredients 1kg/2¼lb aubergines a few celery leaves 1 bunch spring onions 120ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil 10g/½oz garlic 25ml/1fl oz lemon juice salt and pepper To get things started bring a large pan of water to the boil. Drop in the aubergines and let them boil them for about 10 minutes, until they feel soft when you prick them with a small knife. Make sure that there is plenty of room in the pan for them to move around and turn them as they need to be cooked evenly.    Remove them from the water and let them drain. The best way is to hang them from the washing line and let the water drip off.   Now in another small pan blanch the celery leaves and the spring onions for a few ...

For Christmas, you always want to have things that are really of the season.  And with this recipe you get the flavour of both  in one , mulled wine and cranberry sauce. It is a mix of sweet sharp and good old red wine spice that goes really well with your roast, what ever it is, on the day. Ingredients 450g /1lb fresh cranberries 290ml/10fl oz water 340g/12oz sugar The juice and zest of one orange 3 tbsp port. ½ glass of red wine Pinch of cinnamon Pinch of nutmeg Star by getting your wine sugar and water in a large pan. Add the mixed spice, give it all a good stir, and then bring it to a boil.  Turn this down to simmer and let it reduce a little.  Once it has reduced add the orange juice and zest of the orange and let that cook some more. Once all the liquids have reduced so you have more than ¾ of the liquid left, then add the cranberries, bring it to the boil ounce more, and then simmer for about 10 minutes till a...

Now this goes really well with cold turkey sandwiches so just for boxing day you will need some of this.  Also it makes a great home made present that you can give and you still have time to make it.  Like most chutneys it takes a little time to mature and get to it full flavour but this one come along really quickly. The reason for that is that I cheat and use half cider vinegar and half balsamic vinegar. The balsamic vinegar gives it instant ageing in the jar. So it is good to go in about a well so get that preserving pan out and get making some last minuet home made presents. The ingredients you will need are 450g/1lb onions 5 tbsp water 900g/2lb cooking apples 700g/1½ pears 85g/3oz dates 285ml/½ pint cider vinegar 285ml/½ pint balsamic vinegar 1 tsp salt ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground nutmeg ½ tsp ground ginger 225g/8oz sugar So first things first you need to peal and slice you onions, the...

Another Indian chutney today but this one is one you probably will recognise as the mango chutney you know and love.  But if you like you can make this al little more special.  Here you have the basic recipe but you could if you wanted add some chilli or use more ginger and garlic, add slices of lime, experiment with it.  The good thing about making a thing like this is that you can make it your own with   Also do not just have it with curry try it with cheese, it’s very good. You will need 4 large mangoes Salt 4 cloves garlic 450g/1lb caster sugar 2 baking apples 1 small red chilli 1 inch fresh root ginger 600ml/1 pint white wine vinegar Also when making any jam or preserve remember to use a lot bigger pan than you need with a thick base, you do not want it to stick and burn and it will boil up at the every beginning. So start by, peeling, stoning and slicing your mangos then, coring and chopping your apples and put them i...

To make your own mincemeat for mice pies at Christmas is so easy and so tasty.   The fact of the matter is that it just takes a few moments to get together and you can put all sorts of things in it.   Also it does not take any cooking and you can make it now and when you make your mice tarts in December it will be at its best after standing and all the flavours incorporating together. All you need to get is some good clean jars and have a dark cool pace to store them and that is about it. For my mincemeat you will need, 225g/8oz vegetarian suet 225g/8oz cooking apples 125g/4oz candied peel, chopped 225g/8oz sultanas 225g/8oz raisins 225g/8oz currants 175g/6oz Demerara sugar 1 tsp mixed spice 1 orange, zest and juice 60ml/2fl oz brandy Take your apples, peal, and core then and dice in to fine chunks about the same size as the dried fruit.   Then add every thing to a very big bowl and just keep string every thing until you have a big bow...

This is so much nicer than just cranberry sauce. And like any thing like this that you make your self it tastes so much better. After you have made it let it stand in the jars for about three to four weeks at the very least. You need to let it stand so it gives time for all the flavours to develop. You will need 450g/1lb cranberries fresh or frozen not 550g/1¼lb onions 450/1lb tomatoes 675g/1½lb cooking apples 3 cloves garlic 570ml/1 pint ready-spiced malt vinegar 1 tsp ground ginger 2 tsp salt 675g/1½lb Demerara sugar Slice you onions, chop your tomatoes, peal and core your apples and crush you garlic. Get a preserving pan or large saucepan and add every thing in to the pan and stir it together. Now get it on the stove and bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for about 1½ hours, stirring from time to time, you do not want it to stick, you want this to reduce down to a thick liquid that when you pull a spoon threw it you can see the bottom of the pan for a while b...

This recipe takes quite a long while and you do need a big pan to stat with but it cooks down to about one third of what you start with. You will need 2kg red onions and regular onions about half-and-half 4 garlic cloves 140g butter 4 tbsp olive oil 140g Demerara sugar 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves 1 bay leaf 1tbsp rosemary 75cl bottle red wine 350ml sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar 200ml port The hard part is to get all your onions and peel and chop them, but in the end it is worth it. Now if you have a big jam pan then this is the perfect thing to make this in but if you do not the biggest thick-bottomed pan that, you have. Also some kind of lid or try to cover the onions to start with. Put the pan on a low heat, add the oil and butter, and slowly melt the butter. Now add the onions a handful at a time. if you just throw them all in it takes longer for them to start to cook down . Make sure that the onions do not burn you just want them to soften. To help keep a lid...