Gizzi Erskine, leading pop up chef and food writer: “The simple ideas can be the best”
I have so many dreams and projects semi in the pipeline or temporarily on the back-burner. There’s the children’s novel I’m going to write, the play cafe for children and parents or the pop up bangers and mash canteen I will one day open, and the cookery workshops I’ll start to show school kids how to plan and cook easy, healthy meals they can then teach their parents. One day I’ll do them all. The time’s not right just now. But one day. I promise.
Perhaps the time is right though for you to make your dream a reality? Maybe you have a foodie project of your own in the pipeline? If you do, sit up and pay attention. This could be just the opportunity you need to kick-start your career in food (or film, or photography, or music), and see you partnered with an incredible celebrity mentor to help you realize your brilliant idea.
Launching People
Samsung’s Launching People initiative brings together pop-up chef and Sunday Times cook Gizzi Erskine, award-winning actor and producer Idris Elba, portrait and fashion photographer Rankinand singer-songwriter Paloma Faith, on a search for undiscovered British and Irish talent. They will act as mentors as they help food lovers, budding film makers, musical game changers and picture takers launch their original ideas.
The chosen candidates will work with one of the four inspirational mentors to collaborate on a unique project. Their journey, from meeting the mentors to the launch of their project, will be documented in a television series on Sky 1 to be broadcast later this year.
Personally, I can’t wait to see who will be collaborating on a food project and working one-to-one with Gizzi Erskine. Might it be you?
Gizzi will be looking for outstanding potential in the person and idea she chooses to support. She says:
I want to see someone that has a serious passion for the industry – I want to understand their passion and be able to see and feel it. I want to show that you don’t have to be conventional to be successful. I’m looking for someone who’s happy to break the rules – and maybe teach me a thing or two along the way. The simple ideas can be the best. But a simple idea with a bit of glitter on it is far more exciting.
Do you have that glittery idea?
Watch this video to find out what else Gizzi will be looking for when she’s selecting talent to mentor…
If you’ve got an extraordinary idea and think you’ve got that special something, then head over to www.launchingpeople.co.uk before Thursday 6 March 2014 to pitch your idea. Gizzi, Idris, Paloma and Rankin will each choose one person to work with, helping to bring their ideas to life and launch their project.
How do I get involved?
To apply you need to make a two-minute video all about you and your ambition. This is your chance to show off your passion, your personality, and your project idea, to get the attention of the Launching People mentors. They then just need an image and a little copy and you’re good to go. You can find out more and upload your submission at: LaunchingPeople.co.uk.
What’s up for grabs?
There are two exciting opportunities for everyone:
The mentors will select four candidates with whom they’ll work one-to-one. The chosen protégés will spend two to three weeks together, working closely with their mentors in a house fully furnished with Samsung’s latest technology on their personal projects, building towards a grand launch event and making their ideas and ambitions a reality.
And the public will get to vote for one winner in each category to receive £500 for personal tuition and Samsung technology up to the value of £2,000.
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Maybe I should think again and come up with a pitch myself…
Disclosure: this is a sponsored post and I was supplied with information by the Samsung Launching People initiative, along with photography and video content. As ever though, all views expressed are completely my own and are 100% honest.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran a contest to win a copy of the Passion 4 Juice recipe book. Here are the eight winners and their winning juice and smoothie combinations…
Sylvia from Happiness is Homemade: (for summer) 10 frozen strawberries, 2-3 sliced bananas and 1 can of 7up; (for winter) 5 dates, 1 banana, 100 ml of almond milk, 1 tsp of hot chocolate powder
Janie from The Hedge Combers: who likes green smoothies and her “oddest one to date” used fresh stinging nettles in lieu of spinach
Choclette from The Chocolate Log Blog: who a suggests her ingredients for a banana, avocado and chocolate pudding would also be a great combination for a smoothie
Bintu from Recipes from a Pantry: who is rather partial to a spinach and peach smoothie
Rachma Bush: who likes like a beetroot, apple and fennel juice
Emma from Adventures of a London Kiwi: whose favourite smoothie combination is spirulina and banana – she says “it’s a kiwi favourite and much nicer than it sounds!”
Dannii from Hungry Healthy Happy: who loves anything anything with spinach in it – “it gives me a proper boost in the morning,” she says
Nazima from Franglais Kitchen: for winter she likes a Chai spiced smoothie – she made one with almond milk, banana, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla and ginger, and if you’re feeling indulgent a bit of vanilla ice cream!
Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition. Winners – please email me or direct message me on Twitter with your addresses, and a Passion 4 Juice recipe book will be winging its way to you very soon. Enjoy!
Well, it seems I am not the only person who enjoys cooking with paprika. January’s Spice Trail challenge received a bumper bag of spicy paprika dishes, from bread and biscuits to meaty casseroles, tasty pasta, warming soups and a whole host of exciting vegetarian dishes. So let’s get this show on the road and take a look at this month’s round-up…
Strong Cheddar cheese and paprika are a perfect match, as in these lovely savoury biscuits from Corina at Searching for Spice. Corina recently took these to a gathering at a friend’s house and, even though they weren’t the only cheesy biscuits on offer, hers were the first to go. I can see why!
Helen from The Crazy Kitchen brings two dishes to this month’s paprika party. First up are her vibrant vegetable burgers, and while they might be cheap and cheerful, using a bag of frozen veg and a tin of baked beans as their main ingredients, I bet they taste a million dollars. The secret’s in the spicing, which features garam masala, chilli and fresh coriander as well as paprika.
Helen’s second entry come in the form of these cute little sausageless rolls, based on very similar ingredients to her vegetable burgers. As well as being beautifully spiced, these tempting little rolls are also an ideal way to sneak veggies into unsuspecting little ones. I know I’d have no arguments getting my girls to eat a plate of these.
Gayathri from Spices Galore offers us this stunning couscous salad with a chermoula dressing, laden with gorgeous herbs and spices, such as cilantro, mint, cumin, coriander and, of course, lots of lovely paprika. This tasty salad has to be as good for you on this inside as it looks on the outside.
There’s more chermoula on the menu next, this time a sumptuous chermoula marinated halloumi from Deena Kakaya who I think is as much of an artist when it comes to preparing food as she is a cook. Her dishes always look incredible. The fresh Moroccan herb and spice mix sounds like a fabulous foil for the soft, salty halloumi and sweet apricot in this dish. As Deena says herself – lip-smacking!
Paprika works wonderfully with cauliflower, as in this delightful Creole cauliflower fritters from Kellie at Food to Glow, which boasts no less than three types of paprika in its Creole blend seasoning. I’m really enjoying experimenting with cauliflower recipes at the moment, and these fritters are definitely next on my list to try.
There’s more cauliflower up next from Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and while I might be familiar with cauliflower teamed with paprika, throwing cocoa into the mix provides a much more unusual twist to the proceedings. But, of course, it wouldn’t be a Choclette recipe without a hint of chocolate in there somewhere. Cornish cauliflower is tossed in oil and dusted with Himalayan pink salt, black pepper, cocoa and paprika and simply roasted in the oven, resulting in a wonderful nutty flavour. I am absolutely intrigued and will have to try this out for myself very soon.
Selma from Selma’s Table has also been roasting vegetables – this time we’re served some delicious roasted broccoli with toasted almonds and a sexy smoked paprika dressing. This would be an excellent side dish but I think it looks good enough to eat on its own, and the dressing also makes a great marinade for chicken or fish, or can be used to “perk up” potatoes.
Ai Lin from Nomsies Kitchen offers us a hearty winter warmer with her tasty vegetarian lasagne. Doesn’t that cooked cheese look so good on top of all those succulent, spiced vegetables? Ever since a little girl, lasagne has been one of my favourite meals, and Ai Lin’s veggie version looks a real treat.
Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen always makes beautiful pies and her rich and creamy mushroom and butter bean pie is no exception. Shaheen says she often makes paprika mushroom and potato pies but felt it was time to ring the changes and swapped the potato for butter beans, which she describes as “a lovely change from the stodge of the potatoes”. To be honest, I’d be more than happy eating either.
I am totally intrigued by the coconut bacon topping this cheesy chickpea dip from Janet at The Taste Space; it’s something I’ve never come across before but does sound rather wonderful. Coconut flakes are flavoured with tamari (or soy sauce), liquid smoke, maple syrup and smoked paprika to create the wonderful smokey coconut bacon chips, which you can then use as a crunchy topping for all kinds of dips and I guess salads too. Janet’s chickpea dip sounds marvellous too.
Lapin d’Or brings us not one, not two but three variations on eggs and paprika. As someone who could probably survive on eggs alone, I’m very happy about this. There’s paprika roast potatoes with fried egg, a classic egg mayonnaise spiced up with a good sprinkling of paprika, and eggs fried in bacon fat and seasoned with, well what else? Paprika.
As I said earlier, paprika partners well with cauliflower and this pairing appears again here in my roast cauliflower cheese soup, a slightly different take on that winter warmer classic. And of course cheese and paprika is another winning combination, so this really is a bowl of comfort food at its best in my eyes.
Gayathri from Spices Galore is back with another vibrant dish, this time a Mexican style black bean soup spiced with beautiful smoky chipotle chillies, paprika and cocoa – yes, another appearance! Served with a colourful orange and red onion salsa, this soup is as pleasing on the eye as I imagine it would be on the tastebuds.
This pan fried sea bass from Julie at Julie’s Family Kitchen brings us a fresh taste of summer despite the damp, chilly weather here in the UK right now. The Spanish style marriage of fish with chorizo and spices sounds just heavenly and a wonderful way to cheer up these grey days.
Think of paprika and one of the first dishes that comes to mind might well be a goulash. Linda from Mrs Portly’s Kitchen might not claim this to be an authentic Hungarian goulash perhaps, but it is extremely tasty and the perfect winter comfort food nonetheless. And I just love the sound of her light and fluffy herb dumplings.
Another helping of goulash next from Jacki Harrison-Stanley. As Jacki doesn’t blog herself, I volunteered to cook the recipe she entered into The Spice Trail and I can vouch for the fact this mildly spiced goulash with beautifully tender, slow cooked beef is a real crowd pleaser and my family scoffed the lot very happily.
This next dish, a pork fricassee from Janie at The Hedge Combers, is such a gregarious burst of colour on the plate, you know by looking at it how good it’s going make you feel and how good it’s going to taste. I think pork and paprika are perfect bed fellows but Janie reckons the smoked paprika sauce is also “man enough to stand up to a completely meat free dish”.
Julie from Julie’s Family Kitchen returns with another extremely pretty plate, this time smoked paprika beans and chorizo. The dish was inspired by a meal at an Italian restaurant, although after playing with the ingredients she has ended up with something a little more Spanish sounding. I love the way our experiments in the kitchen can do that sometimes.
Michelle from Utterly Scrummy presents us with another splendid splash of colour and another helping of chorizo in this glorious stromboli. I’d never heard of stromboli before but now understand it to be a “Swiss Roll type savoury filled bread thing” – Michelle’s words! The combination of soft, succulent roasted vegetables, herb, spices, oozy cheese and smoky chorizo sounds like heaven on a plate to me.
Having a slight penchant for sausages, you won’t be surprised that I’m rather taken with this sausage stroganoff from Angela at My Golden Pear. Sausages are a great budget alternative to more expensive cuts of meat when it comes to cooking stews and casseroles; the best quality sausages you can afford will always be cheaper than the equivalent weight of lamb or beef. As well as cheap, Angela’s stroganoff is also simple, quick, and tasty. Definitely my kind of food.
I come over all Homer Simpson when I look at this incredible plate of pulled pork from Karen at Lavender & Lovage. Isn’t this just utterly droolsworthy? Karen says the secret to this recipe, which comes from the Ginger Pig Farmhouse Cookbook,is to usegood quality free-range British pork, along with this delectable spicy rub made from a tantalising assortment of herbs, seasonings and spices, including mustard, garlic, chilli, cumin, celery and fennel seeds and, of course, smoked paprika.
Here is another classic Hungarian paprika dish from Alexandra, aka The Lass in the Apron. Her fantastic veal schnitzels are served with a beautiful scarlet-hued sauce made from soured cream, onion and paprika, a trio common in Hungarian cookery. I haven’t eaten schnitzel for many years, but I think it is definitely time to remedy that and I think this might be just the recipe to try.
Martin the Spurs Cook has brought another stroganoff to our paprika feast, featuring both sweet and smoked paprika and a whole host of fresh and dried herbs. I bet it tastes simply divine and just the kind of food I’m yearning for as the rain lashes our house here in Somerset.
More sausages up next to keep me content, this time in the form of a wonderful sausage and apple casserole from Ness at JibberJabberUK. I love apples with my pork chops but I’ve never thought to add them to a sausage casserole, so I look forward to trying this out myself. And of course the paprika and wholegrain mustard in there help to make this a gorgeous winter warmer.
Yet more sausages on the menu, this time in a spicy sausage pasta from yours truly. This is one of my all-time favourite meals. It’s rich, tasty, spicy and incredibly easy to make. Perfect, in my eyes.
Angela from My Golden Pear is treating us with another amazing paprika dish from her kitchen, along with more stunning photography. Her images always make me so hungry; I want to reach my hand into the computer screen and grab a taste. In Angela’s dish, succulent chicken thighs are coated in breadcrumbs, cheese, paprika and garlic, and then baked until golden and crispy. She suggests they might be a kind of grown up version of chicken nuggets. Only so much more tempting.
As I may well have said before, cheese and paprika go together very well, but I’ve never seen them brought together as flavouring for popcorn. But that’s exactly what Louisa from Eat Your Veg has done and the outcome sounds absolutely scrummy. I can’t wait to organise a movie night for my daughters and their friends so I can serve them some of this. I know they’re going to adore it.
I wasn’t really expecting to receive any sweet entries to this month’s Spice Trail challenge, but are final two dishes provide a lovely sweet finale to our spicy paprika feast. These paprika and walnut swirls from Sarah at Tales from the Kitchen Shed look just gorgeous and are inspired by Hungarian Paprikas Kalacs, which translates as paprika bread. This traditional paprika bread is shaped like a Swiss roll and is flaky due to the high lard content. Sarah has cleverly adapted the idea, using her own sweet dough recipe, with a lovely tender crumb, as well as creating a sweet paprika flavoured sugar cream. I don’t believe I’ve ever tried paprika in a sweet dish but that’s about to change as I plan to make these pretty swirls very soon.
Last but most definitely not least, for the pudding course of our amazing paprika banquet, Sarah from The Garden Deli has baked us a big batch of these irresistibly naughty dark chocolate and paprika cookies. While I’m a big fan of chilli and chocolate, paprika and chocolate is a new one on me but I can imagine they taste fantastic together. Another recipe I will be having a go at very soon. And what a marvellous way to end our round-up.
This month’s winner
I was thrilled with the dishes entered for the paprika challenge, all of which look so delicious, and such a varied collection of dishes too. But there can only be one winner for this month’s Spice Trail. Or can there?
The winner is set to receive a very cool gift bag from the generous souls at The Cool Chile Co, and so I passed the tricky task of choosing a winner on to them. This is what Kelly from Cool Chile had to say:
“It was a really close call and we finally narrowed it down to two. So we would like to have two winners!
“The first winner is Food to Glow for her Pan-fried Creole Cauliflower Fritters. We really liked this recipe and loved the fact that the humble cauliflower was the star of the show. The idea of the crispy, crunchy cauliflower, with the well-balanced Creole seasoning, tucked in a soft bun with crispy lettuce is a real winner for us.
“We also liked the Chermoula Marinated Halloumi from Deena Kakaya. This recipe had great flavour combinations and the balance of salty, sweet and spicy made this dish a real contender.”
Huge congratulations to both Deena and Kellie from Food to Glow for their extremely well-deserved wins. Email me your addresses and Cool Chile will send out your fabulous gift bags very soon. And thanks so much to The Cool Chile Cofor their wonderful generosity in offering up not one, but two prizes this month.
Our journey along The Spice Trail continues in February as we celebrate cooking with caraway. What dish will you enter next?
In this month’s Spice Trail, I am calling on fellow food bloggers to get carried away with caraway.
As with most foods, caraway holds nostalgic associations for me. Just one sniff and I’m straight back to North London as a young girl, visiting my Dad during the summer holidays; being taken to a corner shop Jewish bakery somewhere between Tottenham and Stamford Hill, where the whole shop is filled with the distinctive, heady aroma of caraway, and from where we come away with warm bread rolls, rum babas and, my favourite, big fat rum truffle chocolate cakes.
But back to caraway…
If you’re unfamiliar with caraway seeds, here’s what the Leon book of Ingredients & Recipes has to say on the subject:
Indigenous to Europe and Asia Minor, this seed has been long used in Arabic cooking. The plant looks a bit like carrot leaves (same family), with its hollow stalks, and the pre-seed flowers are pinkish. Became popular in Elizabethan England mainly as a sweet snack, sugared and called comfits. The flavour can be most easily discerned in rye bread. Caraway is also big in Jewish food, harissa, apple dishes, sauerkraut and a delicious after dinner stickie drink called kummel (those little seeds are excellent for digestion – just chewing on a few can really take your wind away). One of the oldest cultivated spice plants in Europe, going back to the 13th century. If you don’t have any… go and get some. It’s worth the trip and this spice walks alone.
Caraway is a spice I don’t cook with all that often. But when I do, I wonder why I don’t use it more. That’s why I really can’t wait to see what recipes you come up with this month, as I’d love to cook more with caraway.
Win a Bart Ingredients gift bag
If the honour of being crowned The Spice Trail’s caraway king or queen wasn’t enough of an incentive, this month our winner will also receive a gift bag full of fantastic spices from the good people at Bart Ingredients.
The Bart Ingredients Company has grown over the last 50 years and now sources ingredients from across the globe. Back at the Bart base in Bristol, their culinary experts work with flavours to create herb harmonies and spice symphonies, which add an extra touch of magic to home cooked dishes. By working with suppliers in different corners of the world, they have come to realise that not all ingredients are equal and a myriad of reasons can change the flavour profiles of our favourite spices.
How to enter The Spice Trail
Display the The Spice Trail badge (above and also available here) on your recipe post, and link back to this challenge post.
You may enter as many recipe links as you like, so long as they feature this month’s key ingredient, caraway seeds.
Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Wednesday 26 February 2014.
If you tweet your post, please mention #TheSpiceTrail and me @BangerMashChat in your tweet and I’ll retweet each one I see.
Feel free to republish old recipe posts, but please add the information about this challenge and The Spice Trail badge.
As entries come in, links to these will be added to the bottom of this page.
At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe and the winner this month will receive a tasty gift box from Bart Ingredients.
The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries.
So what caraway dishes will you come up with for this month’s Spice Trail?Any questions, please tweet or email me.
And if you’re wondering where the round-up of January’s Spice Trail challenge is, which saw us cooking with paprika, I’m working on it now and it will be with you very soon. So watch this space!
Now how’s that for a tempting array of food and drink? Would you believe each and every one of these is packed full of hidden goodies to tempt your children (and any other fussy eaters) to get some healthy stuff inside them?
If you are looking for cunning ways to sneak some extra fruit, vegetables, fibre, nuts or pulses into your family, then I’m sure you’ll find a tasty trick or two among this month’s fabulous Family Foodies round-up. So let’s get started…
As well as turkey, these sliders (aka mini burgers) from Heidi at Mamacook feature hidden vegetables in the form of grated courgette, along with fresh herbs and sweet chilli sauce – a great way to introduce a little mild spice to your little ones. I’m sure my children could put quite a few of these cute little burgers away. As indeed could I.
I love the idea of Caroline from Caroline Makes sneaking vegetables into her own food! That’s exactly what she’s done with this tasty broccoli, courgette and Stilton soup. “I am a pretty fussy eater,” she writes, “and don’t like a lot of veg, so had an idea of sneaking some hidden veg… into my own food! My theory was that if I couldn’t see it, and hopefully couldn’t taste it, I wouldn’t mind eating it.” I definitely wouldn’t mind eating a big bowl of this – and I’m sure I’d be back for seconds.
Heidi from Mamacook is back with a beautiful broccoli frittata, which she says is ideal for babies, toddlers and indeed the whole family. And even though this is a pretty thrifty dish, Heidi’s tip to make it even thriftier is to make sure you cook the broccoli stalk as well as the florets, as it all tastes the same. Sound advice.
Heidi is a dab hand at this hidden goodies lark. Here’s her third entry; spinach and potato bites, and don’t though look so good? They’re a great way to use up leftover mashed potato and an ideal finger food for toddlers. Heidi’s son ate six of them in one sitting, even before he touched his fish fingers, which really is saying something.
There’s sneaky carrot in this healthy take on the chicken burger, a second entry from Caroline Makes, which originates from a Slimming World recipe. They are a great way to make chicken breasts go a little bit further, and Caroline promises you really can’t taste the carrot!
Carrot is another hidden ingredient in these wonderful rice balls from My Tasty Adventures, together with peas, cheese, chicken, herbs and spices, and of course leftover rice. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they are reminiscent of a falafel and I know my children would absolutely adore them.
Pasta sauces are an easy way to disguise a whole host of vegetables and my roast vegetable sauce contains carrots, tomatoes, butternut squash, red onion, celery and courgettes. It’s incredibly easy to make and I’ve been cooking it for my two girls since they were toddlers and they still love it now.
Martin from Spurs Cook brings us another pasta and vegetable dish with his warming cannelloni. There are all kinds of ingredients in this one from mushrooms, leeks, courgettes and carrots to chilli, fennel and anchovies and while it apparently involves quite a bit of preparation, Martin assures us it is well worth the effort. I bet – it sounds absolutely gorgeous.
Just like pasta sauces, soups are another brilliant way to introduce vegetables and other goodies to your children. Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes offers this gorgeously wholesome parsnip, carrot and lentil soup, which as well as being a great tea for little ones is perfect for anyone on the 5:2 diet as it contains just 175 calories a portion.
Ness from JibberJabberUK brings us this delicious carrot and coriander soup, which happens to be the first soup she’s made in her slow cooker since her university days, when she managed to stink out her student flat with a particularly garlicky soup while she was out at her Saturday job. Personally, I’d never complain about the smell of garlic, but it definitely sounds like this soup was much more of a success.
My roast cauliflower cheese soup is very simple to make and the ingredients list isn’t long, yet it tastes rich and luxurious all the same. It’s the ideal way to encourage people who normally steer clear of cauliflower to give it a go, and I’m convinced they’ll be persuaded to change their minds.
Jerusalem artichoke soup has to be one of my all-time favourites and I really like the addition of rosemary in this version from Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen, along with the adornment of delicate Jerusalem artichoke crisps. I must admit I haven’t tried artichokes yet on my two girls, but I am very sure they would be tempted by this lovely soup.
Tina from The Spicy Pear says these delightful fritters were born out of necessity when she needed to use up some carrots and courgettes. They have become a regular feature in her house ever since, and I can certainly see why. They look like a restaurant-style hor d’oeuvre, rather than a meal of leftovers, and I bet they would get gobbled up by my clan within seconds.
Nor would these irresistible chicken cutlets from Sylvia at Happiness is Homemade look out-of-place in a smart restaurant. Sylvia says they were a staple dish of her childhood. Her mother would cook them while she was at school, as a clever way to sneak in some veggies of which she wasn’t the biggest fan at the time.
This stromboli, which Michelle from Utterly Scrummy helpfully explains is a Swiss roll type savoury filled bread thing, looks simply gorgeous. You can imagine how those roasted vegetables and spicy chorizo wrapped up in warm bread are going to come together in fabulously cheesy, oozy mouthfuls of utter scrumminess.
Breadsticks are one of my daughters’ favourite snacks and we get through a fair few of them in our house, so it would probably be a good idea to have a go at making our own. This recipe from Laura at How to Cook Good Food looks perfect, bringing together the sweet and salty flavours of dates and green olive, which I know my girls would really go for.
Fish cakes are another staple food in our house but I’m slightly embarrassed to admit they normally come out of a packet. This tasty recipe from Heidi at Mamacook shows just how easy it is to make your own fish cakes, particularly when you use ready-to-eat smoked mackerel, plus it gives you the opportunity to sneak in a few extra goodies: Heidi’s fish cakes feature butternut squash along with the mashed potato. I’ll be trying these on my girls very soon.
These yummy sausageless rolls from Helen in The Crazy Kitchen look so tempting, you’d never know they were packed full of all kinds of goodies – such as cauliflower, which Helen’s son Jack hates, yet he happily tucked into a plate of these. This recipe will make 24 mini sausageless rolls, plus you’ll have enough filling left over to make a few veggie burgers too.
My fellow host of the Family Foodies challenge, Louisa from Eat Your Veg brings this fabulous chicken stew to our table, featuring lovely pearl barley and a whole host of wholesome vegetables. Louisa has been making this stew for her “two monsters” since they were weaning and they always devoured it. Serve me a big bowl of this stew, and I’d devour it too.
Ness from JibberJabberUK is back with another treat from her slow cooker, this time a turkey supreme, made from turkey thighs lurking at the back of her freezer and an assortment of vegetables that needed using up in the fridge. This included celery, which in her house only Ness actually likes. Her whole family enjoyed the turkey supreme, and not one noticed the celery. Nice work, Ness!
These mini calzones from My Tasty Adventures don’t just look good; they also taste good and you can feel good about eating them. They are a great snack for little ones, which you can pack to eat on the go and I’m sure they’d go down very well in your kid’s lunch box. These tasty morsels are filled with asparagus, mushrooms and mozzarella, while the beautiful pastry features turmeric powder and chia seeds.
This vibrant chicken curry from Dip’s Diner gets its brilliant green colour from spinach puree and lots of coriander and is packed full of a wonderful assortment of fragrant spices. You just know this curry is going to taste divine, as well as being so good for you.
Ness from JibberJabberUK is back again with an ingenious cheat’s version of a shepherd’s pie in the form of this tasty, one-pot lamb and potato bake. It also features lots of vegetables, finely chopped up so they are barely noticeable. Plus Ness leaves the skins on the potatoes for even more hidden goodness.
My children go mad for a tasty, meaty pie and this beef pie from Kate (aka the Gluten Free Alchemist) looks like their dream dinner. Kate has a regular battle getting her daughter to eat vegetables and so she has become a bit of a dab hand at disguising them, as in this delicious pie, which is one of her daughter’s favourite meals. As well as the “evil carrot” as her daughter dubs them, Kate’s pie also contains a goodly quantity of parsley, onion, garlic, sweetcorn and tomato.
Jillian from Feed My Family offers us another beefy dish featuring all kinds of hidden vegetables in her beef ragu, perfect served up with either rice or pasta. She uses this ragu to smuggle vegetables into her husband as well as her children!
We’re moving onto sweet treats next and first up is my fig and honey smoothie, which my girls loved even though neither of them would ever normally go near a dried fig. They reckoned it tasted like a chocolate smoothie and were desperate for seconds. A definite result in my book.
In my eyes, chocolate and beetroot is an incredible combination , and don’t these lovely cupcakes from Selma of Selma’s Table look just so tempting? She recently managed to feed this to a friend’s husband who normally can’t even look at beetroot. And yes, he enjoyed them – you really can’t taste the beetroot. Instead they give the cake a marvellous moistness and a beautiful reddish hue.
Louisa from Eat Your Veg has sneaked a fair few goodies into this cheeky little cookies, with wholemeal flour, dark brown sugar, dried apricots, plain chocolate, hazelnuts, desiccated coconut and oats all on the ingredients list. What’s more, the dough keeps well in the fridge for a few days or can be frozen for a later, almost instant, sweet treat.
Kate from Veggie Desserts has also brought a batch of virtuous cookies to our Hidden Goodies party. Her gorgeously green cookies feature oats, raisins, chocolate and, rather unusually, avocado. They are super easy to make, can be whipped up in next to no time and make an ideal portable snack for children and grown ups alike.
More hidden avocado is on the menu from my Hidden Goodies partner in crime, Louisa at Eat Your Veg. Her chocolate avocado mousse looks so good, what child (or adult) could resist? Taking just five minutes, yes FIVE minutes, to make, they must surely be the speediest pud ever, not to mention most nutritious.
Rounding off our inspired menu of hidden goody delights, Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog brings us this glorious Jerusalem artichoke cake. Choclette says you’d never know there were artichokes in the cake, but they successfully added to the overall nuttiness and moistness. It is similar to a carrot cake – but even nicer.
So if you are looking for new ways of getting your family to eat more of their five-a-day, a good place to start would be to work your way through this little lot. I’m sure you’ll agree, we received some fantastic entries to Family Foodies this month. But of course this is a challenge and, as ever, there can only be one winner. The unenviable task of judging falls to Trish Tucker-May from Passion for Juice, so without further ado I’ll hand over to Trish to announce the winner.
And the winner is…
Trish with sons Roary and Jackpot and husband Joe
Trish says, “I loved the fantastic pictures and have pinned many of these recipes to try in the future. I particularly liked the simplicity of all of Mamacook’s recipes. I loved the Polish translation from Happiness is Homemade’s recipe for the Chicken Cutlets with Veggies. Chocolate Avocado Mousse is close to my heart, as it is one I love to make myself. It is so easy, decadent and healthy. The Parsnip, Carrot and Lentil Soup by Tinned Tomatoes stood out as well, as I liked the amount of veg plus the nutritional information for the 5:2 diet was helpful and easy to follow.
“The Beef Pie with Hidden Carrot from Gluten Free Alchemist looks amazing and I will be making this over the weekend. Beautiful pictures and the pie looked delightful covered in stars. Eat Your Veg’s recipe for Apricot, Coconut and Plain Chocolate Cookies looks amazing and I thought the layout was very easy to follow with clear prep times and lovely pictures.
“So as you can see, it has been a very difficult decision but I had to narrow it down to one recipe that I thought was unusual. I would never have thought of putting avocado into biscuits and cooking it with oats. So my choice for the winner is Veggie Desserts’ Avocado, Oat Cookies with Raisins and Chocolate. The photos look brilliant and I like the idea of green biscuits. They look very simple and intriguing. This is definitely a recipe I will be trying with my family. One of my boys hates avocado but if it is alongside raisins and chocolate it is a sure crowd pleaser.
“Congratulations to Veggie Deserts and to all the entrants. I am so inspired by so many clever cooks, writers and photographers. Thanks for letting me take part.”
Thanks to Trish for judging and providing this month’s prize. And well done again to Kate from Veggie Desserts on a very well deserved win. Your prize of a Passion 4 Juice recipe book will be in the post to you very soon.
Love is in the air with February’s Family Foodies challenge over at Eat Your Veg. This month we’re looking for your favourite recipes to cook for your family to show them just how much you love them! Can’t wait to see what you all come up with…
A delicious smoothie packed full of goodness – plus your chance to win one of eight Passion 4 Juice recipe books
If one of your New Year resolutions was to take a healthier approach to food, then starting the day with a delicious juice or smoothie is surely one of the easiest way to pack in a whole heap of goodies. For the last couple of weeks, this is what I’ve been doing and I feel fantastic. I’m gradually working my way through the Passion 4 Juice recipe book, created by my good friend Trish Tucker-May, which features some brilliant recipes for juices and smoothies made from both fruit and vegetables.
Together with her husband Joe and two young sons, Trish spends half the year in the UK taking their mobile juice bar from one festival to another, and then the other half of the year she does the same but back in her homeland of Australia. Now doesn’t that sound like an amazing way to live? Before she headed off to warmer climes down under, she gave me some of her fabulous recipe books to give away to readers of Bangers & Mash. I’ll tell you how you can get hold of a copy at the end of the post, but first over to Trish to tell you a bit more about why she loves juicing…
“I feel really lucky as we leave the UK and head Down Under for the summer of festival fun. Spending six months in the UK and six months in Australia, keeping people healthy at festivals, is an unusual but rewarding way to live my passion. But it seems right to me as I get to go home and see family and friends. Also escaping the UK winter has its benefits!
“I have been juicing and making smoothies for 30 years now and I love introducing people to new taste sensations. Here are some other great reasons to make juices and smoothies every day:
Best way to fulfil daily recommended fruits and vegetables
Rapid intake and assimilation of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, enzymes and antioxidants in the body
Very cleansing/detoxifying – assists in the removal of toxins
Weight loss
Very alkalizing – diseases thrive in acidic conditions
Clears the mind and balances moods and blood sugars
Improves your complexion
Increased energy
Improves your hair, skin and nails
Improves your overall health.
“Why not kick-start each day with a taste sensation that will revitalise, inspire and rejuvenate you? With our on-the-move lifestyles and chaotic schedules, it is difficult to find the time to prepare and consume a meal that has sufficient energy and nutrients to sustain a balanced and healthy way of life. Quick and wholesome refreshments, rich in vital nutrients, are in high demand. This is the kind of daily boost we need.
“If it’s a tangy wake-up call, a smooth pacifier or a zesty jump-start you’re after, your personalised fresh pressed juice will do the trick.
“In the Passion 4 Juice book, I have collected some of our bestselling recipes, plus some of my favourite juices and smoothies from around the world. This handy little book is in a wipe clean format, so it doesn’t matter if it gets splashed with juice. Keep it next to your juicer or blender and have a bit of fun trying some of my favourites.”
As I mentioned, I’m enjoying working my way through the Passion 4 Juice book. My favourite juice concoctions so far have been The Morning After featuring ginger, carrots and pineapple and Buzz Juice with apples, celery and beetroot.
And the whole family loved this gorgeous smoothie recipe from Trish called The Cheeky Monkey, made with almond milk, banana, raw cacao, dates and spices. We served ours cold over ice, but Trish recommends this served warm as a lovely winter warmer. We also left out the chilli from the children’s helping.
The Cheeky Monkey Smoothie
1 banana
1 cup of freshly made almond milk
a pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon and chilli – the stronger for me the better
1 heaped tbsp raw cacao
1 tbsp peanut butter
3 dates
Blend all the ingredients in a liquidiser, and then warm in a pan on the stove top – don’t overheat but give it just a bit of warmth so it stays raw and delicious. This should warm you up on the coldest of winter days.
Win the Passion 4 Juice recipe book
All you have to do to win one of eight Passion 4 Juice recipe books is leave me a comment below, providing your ideas for new smoothie or fresh juice combinations. Trish will select her eight favourites to receive a prize.
The closing date for entries is Sunday 2 February 2014 and please note that books can only be shipped to UK addresses.
We all want to feed our little ones good, healthy food, and yet that isn’t always as easy as it sounds. As parents and carers, we play a huge role in shaping our children’s attitudes towards food but the individual child’s tastes and character play a big part too.
Take my two daughters, for instance. Our first daughter Jess is nearly nine, and will eat practically everything you put in front of her. Everything that is, except mushrooms for some reason. But overall she is an absolute joy to feed and cook for and she’s always been this way, ever since weaning. She has an adventurous and curious approach towards food and is always eager to try new things. A lover of strong, bold flavours, Jess delights in being able to eat chillies almost as hot as those my husband and I can eat.
So my husband and I were rather proud about this little foodie we assumed we had created. And then our second daughter comes along; Mia, who is now nearly six. While she will eat quite a varied diet, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and cajoling. And disguising. Mia likes meat and plain foods. Bangers and mash is one of her favourites, or a straightforward roast dinner; sweet puddings and chocolate. You can see the look of suspicion instantly appear in her eyes when I serve up anything different, or smelling of spices, or containing a heavy quota of vegetables.
Yet our children have had exactly the same influences, have grown up being fed the same foods and tasting the same tastes and yet their whole response to food is at such polar opposites.
That’s why I’m thrilled to be hosting this month’s Family Foodies challenge, calling for your favourite family recipes featuring Hidden Goodies.
While I’m not a big believer of making special food for children and would much rather they ate the same good food as the rest of us, we do need to acknowledge that sometimes children need a little extra persuasion to enjoy new foods, tastes and flavours. And yes sometimes, at the end of the day, all we care about is making sure our kids get something nutritious inside them, whether they realise it or not.
So that’s this month challenge. What are your cunning ploys and devious devices for getting some of the good stuff into your kids – be it fruit, vegetables, fibre, nuts or pulses? What are your favourite recipes containing hidden goodies? At the end of this month’s challenge, it would be fantastic to have a store of ideas to share with other parents looking for creative ideas on how to tackle this age old problem.
Win a delicious juice and smoothie recipe book
At the end of the Hidden Goodies Family Foodies challenge, one lucky winner will receive a recipe book from Passion 4 Juice, featuring an inspiring collection of tempting juice and smoothie recipes created by Trish Tucker May. Trish launched her mobile juice bar at the Glastonbury Festival back in 2003 and since then thousands of festival goers have experienced her amazing taste sensations, both here in the UK and in her native Australia.
Family Foodie Entry Guidelines:
You may submit any recipe on your blog that fits this month’s theme, new or from the archive, and feel free to enter as many times as you wish. You’re also welcome to submit the post to other challenges too. If the recipe is not your own, please give the appropriate credit.
Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Tuesday 28 January 2014.
Display the Family Foodies badge (below) on your recipe post, with a link back to both Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash, as well as details of this month’s challenge.
If you’re on Twitter, then please tweet your post to myself @BangerMashChatand Lou @Eat_Your_Veg and include the hashtag #FamilyFoodies. We’ll retweet all that we see.
You may enter from anywhere in the blogosphere, and we’ll happily post out any prizes.
At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe. The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries. Winners will get to display a Family Foodie Winner annotated badge on their blog if they wish and their recipe will go through to the Family Foodies Hall of Fame on each of our sites.
Share your paprika recipes to win a Cool Chile Co gift box
Here we are in a brand new year, and so The Spice Trail is taking us to a brand new spice destination. In January our challenge is to cook with paprika. Hopefully though it won’t prove too much of a challenge. I for one use paprika quite a bit in my cooking. It’s a favourite ingredient in warming sausage casseroles or for adding a spicy kick to a simple tomato sauce for pasta. It’s also great sprinkled over potato wedges and other root vegetables before roasting. But I want to know how you use paprika in your cooking? We had such a fantastic response to the chilli and cinnamon recipes at the end of last year, I can’t wait to see what paprika dishes you come up with.
A little bit about paprika
Paprika is a ground powder of dried sweet red peppers (seeds out first), which were said to have been taken to their spiritual home (Hungary) by the Turks, though as with all peppers they came originally from the New World. True Hungarian paprika is divided into different echelons of quality: noble sweet, semi-sweet, rose, strong and commercial. The Spanish make a wood-smoked (pimenton) that you can buy either sweet or hot. Indispensable in goulash, chorizo, devilling and fish dishes. Taken from Leon: Ingredient & Recipes by Allegra McEvedy
Win a Cool Chile Co gift box
At the end of the paprika challenge, one lucky winner will receive a super cool gift box from the Cool Chile Co, featuring a range of Mexican herbs and spices, including their delicious smoked paprika from Spain and of course a selection of fantastic Mexican chillies.
The Cool Chile Co started in 1993, and the idea was simple: to import a wide variety of the best dried chillies, direct from Mexico, providing the UK with an exciting new range of flavours and heat sensations for real Mexican and home cooking. They have gone on to produce their own salsas, sauces and pastes, faithfully using traditional Mexican recipes and their delicious imported chillies. Personally, I’m a massive fan of their dried Ancho chilli and Mexican oregano.
How to enter The Spice Trail
Display the The Spice Trail badge on your recipe post, and link back to this challenge post. You may enter as many recipe links as you like, so long as they feature this month’s key ingredient, paprika. Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Tuesday 28 January 2014. If you tweet your post, please mention #TheSpiceTrail and me @BangerMashChat in your tweet and I’ll retweet each one I see. Feel free to republish old recipe posts, but please add the information about this challenge and The Spice Trail badge. As entries come in, links to these will be added to the bottom of this page. At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe and the winner this month will receive a tasty gift box from the Cool Chile Co. The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries. All entries will be added to The Spice Trail Pinterest Board. I can’t wait to see what paprika dishes you come up with this month for The Spice Trail. Any questions, please tweet or email me.
Used by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians and mentioned several times in the Bible, our love of cinnamon dates back many centuries. And judging by the dishes entered into December’s celebration of cinnamon in The Spice Trail, it is clear this spice is as popular as ever.
So let’s see what culinary delights we have waiting for us on The Spice Trail this month, starting with some very tempting savoury dishes…
These warming meatballs from Heidi at Mamacook feature cinnamon, coriander and paprika and get an extra spicy kick from a touch of harissa and are sure to be a big hit with all the family. Although Heidi does suggest you might want to up the harissa if there won’t be any little ones joining you for dinner.
When this stew is cooking, Bintu from Recipe from a Pantry says it inspires a follow-your-nose-to-the-smell-and-bury-your-face-in-it moment and I totally believe her. This looks like my kind of temple food; a dish that tastes good and does you good. And you just know, one bowlful won’t be enough.
Perfect for these post-Christmas days, this turkey chilli (a second entry from Bintu at Recipes From a Pantry) is low on calories, tasty, easy and cheap as chips, using leftovers and store cupboard staples like chickpeas and beans. A wonderfully healthy winter warmer as an antidote to all that festive gluttony.
This tempting Rogan Josh from Fiona at London Unattached is another timely recipe for those looking to cut down on a few calories in the New Year. Coming in at only 350 calories a portion, this curry would be perfect for a 5:2 diet fast day. Low on calories it might be, but it’s definitely big on flavour.
Next up is this beautiful lamb tagine from Jacki, with whom you’ll often find me chatting on Twitter about food and Aga cookery. Jacki doesn’t blog herself but I was more than happy to feature her one-pot-wonder of a recipe here on Bangers & Mash.
We have another dish bringing together that perfect partnership of lamb and cinnamon, this time in the form of an Ottolenghi-inspired warm salad with slow roast shoulder of lamb accompanied by roast chicory, swede, carrot and parsnip. The deliciously sweet and sour dressing is created from honey, lemon, cinnamon and pomegranate molasses for a surprisingly sunny winter salad.
And now let us turn our attention to your sweet cinnamon creations…
I adore parsnip cake and it’s a great way to use up the surplus I often find results from veg boxes at this time of year. This recipe from Heidi at Mamacook looks like the perfect one to try out on my children, particularly as it’s fairly low in the sugar stakes and an excellent source of fibre too. Not quite one of your five-a-day perhaps, but not far off…
We often make drop scones on the Aga for breakfast but I think next time we might be giving these apple pancakes from Mamacook a whirl instead. Apple and cinnamon is of course a match made in heaven, and drizzled with a little honey I reckon these pancakes would be just perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch.
I was thrilled when Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes’ email dropped into my inbox with her recipe for Speculoos Shortbread, including how to make your own Speculoos spice mix from scratch. I have been addicted to Speculoos since picking up a jar of confiture de speculoos in France last summer, and I’m very pleased to now be able to make my own spice mix. And I think the first thing I’ll be baking with it is a big batch of this scrummy shortbread.
Christmas just isn’t Christmas for me without a good trifle. And this trifle from Laura at How to Cook Good Food looks like a very good trifle indeed, packed full of gorgeous fruits and spices in the form of dates, apricots, caramel clementines, vanilla and cinnamon. It is also an excellent way to use up leftover Christmas cake.
These pretty muffins from Bintu at Recipes From a Pantry are an absolute breeze to bake, and made even easier because you don’t have to peel the squash. Result! A lovely baked treat for breakfast or at teatime and an ideal way to sneak a little vegetable matter into little people.
I have only recently discovered Kate’s blog, Veggie Desserts, and I absolutely love it. Kate freely admits she is obsessed with using vegetables in her desserts, and the veggies aren’t hidden either but instead stand out, loud and proud. As in this sweet little mince pies with their pastry cases in an intriguing shade of green. Yes, the pastry features spinach. Not something that would ever have occurred to me, but certainly something I will be trying very soon.
Just how temptingly moist and delicious do these brownies from Stacey at Cook Eat Write look? I just want to reach into the screen and grab one. Or two. Oh, go on then, I’ll take the lot…
Focaccia is one of my favourite breads but I’ve never made a sweet version before, and this recipe from Alexandra aka The Lass in the Apron makes me want to bake some. Right now. Sugar and spice and all things nice – in a bread. Just heavenly, I say.
If you’re not keen on traditional mince pies, these dainty fruit pies from Michelle at Utterly Scrummy are the pies for you. Filled with apples, pears, plums and cranberries and spiced with cinnamon and vanilla, these are a much lighter take on the traditional mince pie but look just as delicious.
These edible decorations from Louisa at Eat Your Veg are incredibly cute and would be such a fun activity to do with the kids in the run up to Christmas. And I know just how much my little ones would appreciate the addition of chocolate to the gingerbread too. Sounds scrummy!
Surely nothing sings out Christmas more than cranberries, and this Swiss roll from Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes provides a lovely lighter alternative to all the chocolate and richness at this time of year. And the sponge also features more of Jen’s Speculoos spice mix – wonderful!
Another festive bake up next, this time from me. Here’s my very easy to make tear and share iced buns, flavoured with a touch of cinnamon and lemon, shaped into a simple snowflake design, and sprinkled lovingly with a little confectioner’s glitter. A big hit this Christmas with my two daughters.
Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker brings us these cute gingerbread cupcakes next. Decorated with pretty little Christmas decorations and topped with a yummy cream cheese frosting flavoured with golden syrup and cinnamon, these cakes are guaranteed to be a big hit with little people.
Next up we have some more lovely Christmas cupcakes, this time from Caroline at Caroline Makes, which she baked for her company’s annual employees’ children party. The cakes are beautifully simple, flavoured with brown sugar and cinnamon and topped with a simple buttercream.
I made this festive version of an Eton Mess for our family gathering on Boxing Day and it got an all round thumbs up as an alternative to the traditional trifle I’d usually make. The stewed plum and apple is gently flavoured with cinnamon and star anise, and swirled into whipped cream along with crunchy-but-slightly-chewy chunks of meringue.
Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker is back with more festive baking – this time a tasty cinnamon and date cake which is extremely simple to make but is guaranteed to impress your guests. The dates give the cake a scrumptious sweet stickiness which, according to Ros, most importantly “does not taste like dates”!
Another entry from Caroline at Caroline Makes who brings us a batch of her Christmas cinnamon shortbread. These would make a perfect edible Christmas gift, and are particularly suitable for diabetics as they are very low in sugar.
Yet more sweet treats from Caroline at Caroline Makes as she shares her third entry – chocolate cinnamon rolls. These lovely sticky, chocolately rolls would make a wonderfully luxurious breakfast or why not try them for a delicious dessert?
Next we have some irresistible gluten-free cookies from Elizabeth over at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. She baked these beauties for her dance teacher who happens to be gluten intolerant and can never usually eat the cakes brought in to share at her weekly ballroom dance class. They also proved very popular with Elizabeth’s youngest who kept stealing them off the rack while they were cooling. I can see why!
I’ve wanted to make stollen for ages now, and with this next entry I think I might have discovered the perfect recipe to try. This spiced stollen tray bake comes from Laura at How to Cook Good Food. It’s a fantastic last-minute festive bake, much lighter than the traditional Christmas cake, and filled with marzipan and spices it just has Christmas written all over it.
Next we have another festive shortbread recipe, this time from the very creative Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog. She flavours her shortbread with orange, cinnamon and white chocolate for a fabulously zingy, spicy Christmassy treat, although I don’t think I’ll be waiting until next Christmas to give this recipe a whirl.
Doesn’t this dessert look just divine? I always think poached pears are a very sophisticated sort of pudding, and this entry from Angela at My Golden Pear certainly looks the height of sophistication in my eyes. The pears are poached in red wine, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and served with a brandy snap tuile filled with white chocolate cream. Dreamy.
I really can’t wait to try this trifle recipe from Vohn at Vohn’s Vittles which has homemade gingerbread soaked in brandy at the base – what a marvellous idea. It also features layers of bramble jelly, lemon curd and lashings of whipped cream. This definitely sounds like my kind of trifle.
Last up is my recipe for mulled cider, which includes chilli and black peppercorns for a spicy kick. I’m not all that keen on mulled wine but in recent years have developed a real fondness for mulled cider – must be due to having lived in the West Country so long!
And the winner is…
So there you have it – a brilliant collection of sensational cinnamon recipes – sweet, savoury and festive. Thank you all so much for sharing in this month’s Spice Trail. But as ever there can only be one winner. With such a high standard of entries this month it was a tough call, but December’s winner is…
Kate from Veggie Desserts for her amazing Mince Pies with Spinach Pastry, which I’m sure you’ll agree were such an imaginative and original entry.
With this tasting experience, Kate and her chosen companion will get to discover a whole world of new tastes, textures and exciting flavour combinations. From sweet or savoury, great British grub or international cuisine, there’s a great selection for her to choose from – including refined afternoon teas, olive oil tasting, sushi making, cookery classes, brewery tours and wine tasting experiences. I can’t wait to hear what you go for, Kate!
So congratulations once again to Kate, and thank you to everyone who took part in The Spice Trail this month. Watch this space for news of January’s challenge.
Happy new year everyone and here’s to a super tasty 2014!
Bangers & Mash 