Well Hello Happy!

Chocolate month has come early this year at My Secret Kitchen!

Once a year we have a promotion on our Ultimate Chocolate Brownie mix and usually around Easter time but I thought we all needed a chocolate pick me up a little earlier this year. (and Happy New year by the way). The wet weather has been miserable for most and truly horrendous for some and so to sprinkle some love to all our customers and hosts there are several ways you can get an Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix for free in February - find out how here or just contact your local consultant.

So say a happy hello to Chocolate Orange Brownie Love Muffins! Somewhere between a fondant and a Brownie but much much easier! And nestled inside is a gooey wedge of chocolate orange; sweets for your sweet on Valentine's day or sugar for your little honeys during half term, there are bountiful ways to make Ultimate Brownies with us (find a set of recipes inside the Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix box too).

 

Speaking of Valentines day, here is an all out show stopper - our Ultimate Chocolate Brownie baked in a large heart mould with raspberries, dusted in icing sugar and drizzled with white chocolate....

 No-one needs to know it took you just half an hour to prepare, bake and decorate. Enjoy!

Clare
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Bomtastic Bombay

Our new Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix has been causing quite a stir. We just about made it to the warehouse on time for Christmas and since its conception we have needed to make more than expected as it seems we are still passionately in love with all things curry.

(Apologies that our Moqueca Curry Paste is out of stock - we are busy planning when the next batch can be made).

Since day one our food has been the star of our show. Every My Secret Kitchen product has at least five other uses,recipes or ideas - like a toolkit of flavours our range can help you create something amazing with the minimum of effort. As for our food values, we make and present everything in a simple honest fashion - we only recognizable ingredients and quite simply try to make the best possible version of whatever is on our menu.

So using our new Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix as an example, (if you are unfamiliar with a cheese ball it is simply a gorgeous flavoured ball of cream cheese but of course the seasoning mix can be used for so many other dishes) I thought I would share with you five super tasty recipes and ideas to spice up your life.

Spinach & Bombay Onion Dip - our spices mixed with spinach, parmesan in a base of mayo and sour cream - can be served warm too with Indian appetisers - find the recipe here

Cheese & Bombay Onion Tear & Share Beer Bread - using our Original Beer Bread Mix and onions sautéed in butter and our Bombay Onion Spices, topped with cheese - find the recipe here

Baked Bombay Fish Parcels with Balsamic Reduction - mix the Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix spices with breadcrumbs and sprinkle onto white fish. Wrap in a greaseproof paper parcel with cherry tomatoes, lemon and wilted greens; bake for 10 minutes, open the parcel for the last 5 minutes of cooking to brown the top.

Bombay Rosti Potatoes - super simple shredded cooked potato mixed with My Secret Kitchen Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix and grated parmesan cheese and then shallow fried until golden.

Smoky Bombay Spiced Dukkah - 150g jumbo cashews and peanuts tossed in 1 tbsp. My Secret Kitchen Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil with 2 tbsp. My Secret Kitchen Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix, 1 tbsp. sesame seeds and 1 tbsp. dessicated coconut. Sauté over medium heat for just a few minutes until warmed through and the mixture is starting to brown at the edges.

 

 

 

 

These recipes can also be adapted for our Nacho Fiesta Cheese Ball Mix too so have fun experimenting, sprinkling and stirring up your own surprises too.

 

Enjoy!

 

Clare

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Dinner for Friends

I reckon all foodies like to show off every once in a while. Our My Secret Kitchen mantra is 'make your meals more amazing' which is all about our products giving simple ways of making the everyday taste extraordinary -whether its a touch of Balsamic Reduction, or easily rustling up the best Brownies EVER (I promise). I totally understand that we all feel so busy and time poor in the kitchen but every now and then its such a delight to take more time preparing a meal. So I wanted to share with you my dinner for friends last night - how many My Secret Kitchen products can I get into one evening? And make it a Danish meal at that.

For some time now, we have been meeting roughly once a month with our nearest and dearest friends to take it in turns to dine with a menu from around the world. Phil started it several years ago with a cooked-from-scratch Indian meal and since then we have travelled to Australia, Afghanistan, Ecuador and Ethiopia to name a few, on a magical mystery culinary tour.

Last night was my turn and Denmark my country of choice. Thanks to my Danish neighbours and friends for their inspiration in the form of this fabulous 1978 Danish Cookery Book - love it!

After much deliberation and too many episodes of MasterChef, here is my menu with no less than 10 My Secret Kitchen products in 3 courses. And don't ask me for the recipes, this was my evening of make-it-up-as-you-go-along and self indulgent foodie heaven!

Starter
Open sandwich of rye bread (made with Original Beer Bread Mix plus the same quantity of rye flour and a dark stout), anchovy butter, smoked trout, celeriac remoulade (a mayonnaise based sauce with crème fraiche and Thai Dressing with Kaffir Lime), baby leaves and a sweet mustard and dill dressing (with Secret Wild Garlic Spices), garnished with salmon caviar.

Main Course
Slow roasted belly pork (marinated overnight in Miso Dressing with Ginger), pork tenderloin wrapped in parma ham, Jerusalem artichoke puree (seasoned with Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt), baby carrots, potatoes in smoked parsley oil (fine chopped parsley in Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil), and a mix of onions, apples, hazelnuts caramelised in Balsamic Reduction and a pork jus.

Dessert
Pudding was a Danish apple cake on a biscuit base (with Secret Vanilla Pudding Spices) and topped with almonds in Maple Caramel Sauce, crème anglaise, Danish blue cheese ice cream, pine nut brittle, red fruit gel with Hibiscus & Rose Nectar.

The starter was not too filling and the secret star was definitely the anchovy butter. The belly pork was gorgeous and could have been the main part of the dish without the tenderloin. I'm kicking myself for not adding a final dusting of icing sugar on the apple cake but hey, the blue cheese ice cream made up for it! In fact, can we do it all again tonight?

Clare
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Sweet Genius

Round II of my meringue challenge and what better than to showcase our three new product launches for the Autumn Winter season - Secret Vanilla Pudding Spices, Toffee Hot Chocolate Drink Mix and St Clements Cardamom Curd.

Top of the bill is an award winning recipe from our consultant Susie Medcalf, a Spiced Pecan & Maple Caramel Meringue Roulade. Admittedly I've pimped this roulade with Secret Vanilla Pudding Spices but I'm sure she won't mind....

Next a Toffee Chocolate & Fig Meringue Layer Cake - this cake seemed to take on a life of its own, one minute each layer was beautifully stacked and the next it had cracked, hey ho, it still tasted great - very rich, with a hidden layer of toffee chocolate ganache and then masala and figs giving a lovely fruity boozy touch - you could use mascarpone as a change from whipped cream....

But my favourite meringue creation were these mini St Clements Meringue Pies and mini Toffee Chocolate Meringue Pies - simple pastry cases filled with St Clements Curd with Cardamom or Toffee Chocolate Ganache and topped with meringue...gorgeous when still warm and gooey from the oven...

Enjoy!

Clare
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Nirvana Palaver

Food Nirvana - peace achieved after a long process of committed application to the path of food perfection.

There aren't many things in the food world that get my feathers ruffled. Baking is a breeze now that my cupboard is constantly stocked with Beer Bread Mixes and Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix. But there is an achilles' heel in my kitchen.

The meringue may seem innocuous enough but believe me, many tears have been shed in search of that perfect light, fluffy, crunchy yet chewy concoction.

So in search of my foodie nirvana I have tackled the miraculous meringue with everything I've got. I've read and researched the expert opinions but honestly, the more I have read the more it reads like folklore and meringue mysticism. I foolishly thought I could create a 'one size fits all recipe' but it has proved elusive apart from a few consistent rules that I will share in due course.

On my ingredient list to test I found myself facing caster sugar vs. icing sugar vs. brown sugar and then salt, vinegar, lemon juice, corn flour and cream of tartar. Fascinating stuff - especially when you see the before and after photos of my meringue creations...

 

Clockwise from top - with cream of tartar, with corn flour, with lemon juice and the control. I'd like to say I intentionally induced a flat-as-a-pancake result with the control but it was a complete fluke - think I added the sugar too quickly :-)

And after...

In a nutshell, the cream of tartar definitely gave a chewier and firmer texture; the corn flour gave more structure and did not collapse as much as the lemon juice which had a good foam and a soft, chewy mallow-like finish. And the less said about the control the better. So from this, my golden rules for meringue nirvana....

RULES

For every large egg white allow 50g caster sugar + 1tbsp icing sugar.
Egg whites must be at room temperature.
School girl (or boy) error I know but the bowl and whisking equipment must be spotlessly clean.
Humidity is not your friend, have air tight containers standing by for meringue storage and this is definitely not rainy day cooking plus be aware of the moisture that your added flavourings may add to the meringue foam.
Oven temp - in my fan oven the best non-colouration was with 100C for 1 hour and then turn the oven off for another hour.
Leave space on the baking tray for the meringue to spread and always ALWAYS grease your baking parchment with plain vegetable oil.
Do not add the sugar too soon to the whisked egg whites and add slowly a tablespoon at a time and then whisk in the icing sugar.

Ultimately, be clear about what you are wanting to achieve in the final result, which from round one, I have summarised as thus..

1. The Meringue Roulade - a flat sheet of meringue that must be soft and pliable enough to fill and roll (when cold).
SOLUTION - add a dash of lemon juice after the initial whisking, before adding the sugar

2. The Meringue Sandwich - mounds of meringue, chewy but firm sandwiched together with cream, ganache etc.
SOLUTION - add 1 heaped tsp of cream of tartar to the sugar for every 4 egg whites

3. The Meringue Nest - a firm foam that can be piped in concentric circles to form a nest, pavlova base or piped onto the top of tarts and pies.
SOLUTION - add a dash of lemon juice plus 1 heaped tsp corn flour for every 4 egg whites

4. The Meringue Layer Cake - quick to cook thin rounds of meringue that can be layered up into a gateaux, light airy and melt in the mouth, also good for mini meringues.
SOLUTION - add 1 heaped tsp of corn flour along with the sugar for every 4 egg whites

My quest is not over. At the very least whilst you wait, I implore you to reject supermarket versions of these tempting treats especially when they are almost too perfectly white, with a chalky texture and a headache inducing sweetness. But now the fun can really begin - to decide on the combination of flavours and amazing My Secret Kitchen products to add to really blow these meringues out of the park....the list is endless and do share with us your own ideas; here are mine so far....

Maple Caramel & Pecan Roulade (courtesy of our consultant Susie Medcalf) - using Maple Caramel Sauce
Toffee Chocolate Meringue Kisses - using Toffee Hot Chocolate Mix
St Clements Meringue Layer Cake - using St Clements Cardamom Curd
Raspberry & White Chocolate Meringue Sandwiches - using Chocaberry Cheese Ball Mix
Tropical Mango Mojito Meringue Nests - using Mango Mojito Dessert Sauce
Chocolate & Fig Roulade - using Fig Pudding Pickle
Hibiscus & Rose Pavlova - using Hibiscus & Rose Nectar

To be continued.......


Clare
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If all else fails - Eton Mess is a legitimate solution to any meringue related culinary disaster

Souper Douper Rescue Remedies

It was party central in our house this week-end. It was our village fundraising ball where I had the pleasure of being part of the catering team.  The event was so fabulous from start to finish with the decorating committee somehow managing to turn our drafty village hall into a fairy tale wonderland and we served 140 of the most fancily dressed fairy tale fans with roast duck, boulangere potatoes, minted pea puree, red cabbage and two sauces.

With Sunday being recovery day it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with some fabulously warming autumnal eats of our own in the form of soups that really hit the spot. My pot turned to the magic that is Miso Dressing with Ginger (a Great Taste Award winner no less) to create two new recipes for your repertoire.

First up is the most clarifying, wholesome Miso Chicken Noodle Soup with Lincolnshire collard greens and wheat free soba noodles...

Next a deeply satisfying Miso Maple Bacon Chowder chunky with baby potatoes, corn, peas and ham caramelised with a touch of Maple Caramel Sauce believe it or not, along with the perfect Asian twist from the Miso Dressing...

Another award winner is our consultant Anne Hales' entry into our recipe competition, her Carrot & Cashew Moqueca Soup with our Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix used to spice it up a little

Finally, something more unusual but absolutely stunning - a Moroccan Spiced Banana Soup which features our Saffron Tagine Paste and a couple of ripe bananas which give a subtle sweetness and velvety texture...

And as if we haven't learned our lesson, we have a Halloween party just around the corner but with these rescue remedies we'll be sure to be feeling souper douper again.

Enjoy!

Clare
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Tagine Time

The weather is on the turn and that's our cue to turn to the comforts of our kitchen. This month at our tastings we are featuring our Moqueca Curry Paste and Saffron Tagine Paste - two of our most helpful helping hands in the kitchen especially when it comes to hearty, enriching meals perfect for Autumn.

You may recall our 'Its a Curry Thing' blog post and three curry recipes that you have been enjoying. Today I turned to our Saffron Tagine Paste to create these three simple tagines to tempt you.

First a rich and satisfying Beef Tagine with Figs and Dates - which uses not only our Saffron Tagine Paste but a great partnership with Fig Pudding Pickle, find the recipe here.

It is served with toasted pitta bread and natural yogurt that I have dressed with a simple Rose Harissa (1tsp Secret Firecracker Spices, 1 tbsp. hot water and 1 tbsp. Hibiscus & Rose Nectar - its spicy hot! You have been warned!)

Next a zesty chicken tagine with fennel, preserved lemons and green olives. Its served with buttery wild garlic couscous, find the recipe here.

Finally, a golden vegetarian tagine packed with coquina squash, yellow peppers, chickpeas, pine nuts and for the fruity sweet touch, gorgeous dried sour cherries (you could use dried cranberries) find the recipe here.

So no excuses now to get some winter fuel for you and your family, slow cook or quick cook, our cooking pastes will hopefully inspire you to cook something great,

Happy cooking,

Clare
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