As promised , finally !

Well we have been very busy, here are the recipies from our cookery demonstation on 4th April with Chris Hand.

Thanks again for Chris for his fabulous ideas and the food was wonderful, I urge you to try the Aubergine Caponata it would be great with any kind of meat or fish, now the weather is finally getting better , this is the ideal dish to serve with bbq food in the garden.

Don’t forget Chris is keen to help with any individually designed private dinner party or buffet, he can also offer cookery demonstrations, and also wine tasting.

We will be offering him all our support with his next venture of his own home deli business and will hope to offer all his produce though ourselves as well, we will keep you posted on updates.

Please contact him direct on 01788 817334 or 07986211557

Thank you all for coming and spending some time with us it is always good to catch up with our existing clients and meeting new ones.

Tomato and Thyme Focaccia

Makes 1

Ingredients

125g Strong White Flour

125g Semolina Flour

7g salt

8g fresh yeast

165g cold water

2 sprigs thyme

4 cherry tomatoes, halved and dried

Sea Salt flakes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

Put the flours, salt, thyme and yeast into a bowl and crumble the yeast with your fingers. Add the water and fix to a paste with a wooden spoon.Bring together in the bowl with your fingers and leave to rest for 15mins.Put it onto the worktop and work until the dough turns smooth, place back in the bowl and rest for a further 15 minutes.Repeat this process one more time. Then roll the dough onto a flattened round, put it onto a baking sheet. Cover the round with Extra Virgin Olive Oil , and put the tomatoes around . Leaveto prove in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When proved make holes with your fingers and sprinkle sea salt flakes on the top. Bake at 180o for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Watercress and Wild Garlic Soup

Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 potato cut into small dice

2 bunches watercress

1/2 bunch wild garlic

500g water or vegetable stock

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a gentle heat and fry the onion until softened but not coloured. Add the potato and water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 mins, until the potato is soft. Meanwhile, cut away the tougher stems of the watercress, when the potato is soft, stir in the atercress and wild garlic, immediately remove from the heat. Puree the soup until smooth in a blender. Season to taste and serve drizzled with a lattle extra virgin olive oil or cream as you like !

Ginger Beignets

Makes about 20 small beignets

280g strong flour

10g ginger

10g yeast

30g caster sugar

3g salt

1 egg and 1 egg yolk ( slightly beaten)

100ml milk ( at room temperature)

30g unslated butter ( melted and cooled)

To make the dough, place flour and the yeast into a bowl and lightly mix. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead for about 10-15 minutes until the dough gets smooth and shiny. Shape into a ball and cover the bowl, rest in a warm draught free place for about and hour ( or until it doubles in size)

Heat the oil in a large deep pan , using the dough roll into small balls ( this amount should make approx 20)

deep fry a few at a time until brown, dust with caster sugrr and serve warm with fruit compote, vanilla ice cream or cream fraiche.

Aubergine Caponata

Makes 4 good portions

1/2 aubergine

1 onion

2 celery stalks

1/2 fennel bulb

1 courgette

2 fresh plum tomatoes

1/2 bunch basin

50g sultanas

50g pine nuts

20ml red wine vinegar

10g caster sugar

salt and pepper

50ml extra virgin olive oil

olive oil for frying

vegetable oil for frying

Method

Cut up all the vegetables into 1cm dice, fry the onion without colour in the olive oil, put into a large bowl.Heat the vegetable oil up in a large saucepan, one at a time fry off the aubergine,courgette,fennel and celery til light golden brown. Drain on kitchen roll then put into the large bowl. Add the tomotoes, pine nuts, sultanas, basil, vinegar, and sugar.Mix gently together, add the extra virgin olive oil nd season with salt and papper. Mix again . taste. The cover with cling film for an hour to let the flavours combine together, after approx 1 hour the caponata will be ready to use !! enjoy !!