- Food Lovers Club

Half Term Heat

Autumn Half Term is usually the chilly, damp lull before the storm. The break before dark nights, Halloween, Fireworks and Christmas, all rolling into a snowball of excitement. This week we beat the chill with a little chilli foodie fun, Sop Suppers, and more.


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Pop of the Hots

 

Slice through the Autumn / Winter chill – with stir fry and sweet chilli.

It doesn’t have to be HOT, but it does have to be TASTY to cut though the DREICH. (a fantastic Scottish word for – well, the weather outside … seriously yucky).I’ve heard tofu described as ‘a blank sponge that soaks up anything you season it with‘. That’s probably why it’s so good in the Vegan stir fry HERE.

Whether you’re Vegan, Vegetarian or neither, adding our Sweet Chilli Sauce into the final stirs brings this dish to sparkling life.

Little carnivores will love this too – promise.Sweet Chilli Sauce adds a spicy tingle to an old favourite – fishy goujons in a ciabatta sandwich.If your Half-Term-Horrors / Angels (delete as appropriate!) are still feeling the chill, apply some healthy heat.

Sweet Potato Wedges (a little different and really good for you). Sprinkle them with a lovely Persian spice called Sumac. It looks like paprika, but has the flavour of bitter lemons – fab.

Air fry the wedges to a crisp outer, soft, fluffy inner finish, and serve with our Chilli Ketchup –  a twist on the best – savour the rich, natural tomato taste, then feel the heat of the spices gently kicking in. Spice up your shepherd’s pie, potato wedges, fish cakes and more…

Turning up the heat:This might be a good one for next weekend – guaranteed to keep the ghouls and ghosties away.

Quickly marinate your chicken wings in our Habanero HOT Sauce, then hit the chicken button on the air fryer. Check that the meat is cooked right through, the juices run clear and the skin is crispy.

Serve with sour cream, fresh limes and chopped coriander to balance the fiery, fermented Habanero chillies, that add a rich, intense depth to the tomato base and subtle but inspired fruity finish to the sauce / marinade.All three are available in this unique collection – our Chilli Tasting Collection – just £18 (plus P&P).

Shaping Up : Sopping Up

 

Shape the team up in this half term break. It’s the last pit-stop before dark nights, Halloween, Firework parties and Christmas, all roll into a growing snowball of excitement.

Sop Supper:What, why, how?

There are many interpretations of a sop supper – here’s a ‘potted’ history:

The term ‘sop’ is said to mean ‘morsel’, and culinary history suggests a ‘sop supper’ was the last meal of the day in medieval France, which consisted of broth with bread to sop in it, instead of a spoon.

It’s also thought that Jesus and his 12 apostles shared bread dipped in sauce, or sop, at the Last Supper.

Yorkshire (God’s country) still enjoys it’s variations to this day. But, different households have different traditions, passed from Granny to Granny no doubt.In short, it’s a beef stew with lots of gravy served with bread (often a sweeter teacake would be used) to ‘sop’ up the juices.

TIP:

Try adding a little ‘heat’ to the stew using Chilli or Chipotle Ketchup and Creamed Horseradish Sauce – drop stir, drop stir, drop stir to taste.

 

Half Term Maths

 

JUST ADD … Stokes:

Because we focus on our mantra of ‘Taste Without Compromise‘ we only use the finest ingredients in our proudly premium products.

They are made to our inspired twists of traditional recipes, lovingly cooked by our passionate team.

The resultfewer Eeees, more Aaaahhs.

So, be confident in Stokes and add fantastic flavour to favourite meals.Naughty Nachos

Naughty, but nice – something to nibble and share for supper. Build your favourite combination, with or without chilli.

[See Andy’s Beef Brisket Chilli Nachos RECIPE HERE.]

And ‘just add’:

Burger Relish – a salsa-style rich, slightly sweet blend of red pepper, tomato, and onion, with a subtle hint of chilli. Combine it with a little Chilli Jam, to add a sweet, addictive little kick to the otherwise gentle salsa, all now oozing big flavour.DID YOU KNOW?

Tacos originated from Mexican silver miners in the 18th century. Gunpowder was wrapped in a paper like a “taquito” and inserted into rocks before detonation. By this time, tacos became known as the food of the working class, which included miners.

For our busy half-termers, they’re fun to make and packed with flavour.

RECIPE: Follow Chef, Andy’s recipe for a heart-warming Chilli – HERE.

But, mix ‘n’ match the flavours by topping the taco with different sauces (according to taste).  One of our stunning BBQ Sauces collection adds a little gunpowder of its own to the tacos.Now we’re thinking along the same lines, imagine what you can do with baked beans?!?

The RECIPE for this very posh Beans on Toast can be found HERE.

Truly scrumptious – but, how about a smoky background heat by adding Chipotle Ketchup. If that’s too smoky for you, give it a gentle chilli charge, using our Chilli Ketchup instead. Or, what about BBQ beans cowboys, using our Original BBQ Sauce, it’s sweet, thick, and smoky – hi ho Silver, away!