Open and Enjoy

Lets face it, most of us need to get dinner on the table in under 30 mins.  Week-end cooking and entertaining is where we can spend more time and effort in creating ellaborate dishes that taste great but why should we compromise mid-week?  So, here are a few ideas to make those every day meals more amazing with My Secret Kitchen products lending a helping hand.  The products features are particularly suited to just 'open and enjoy' with your mid-week suppers, Enjoy!

Featuring: Tapenade with Smoked Garlic & Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt

A new meaning for Ham, Egg and Chips?

Poached egg, parma ham and new potatoes roasted in Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil and sprinkled with Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt. All made extra tasty with a few teaspoons of Tapenade with Smoked Garlic.

Featuring: Jumping Jack Chilli Jam & Wild Garlic Secret Spices

Gourmet Burgers at home

Grilled butterflied chicken breast glazed with Jumping Jack Chilli Jam in a toasted bun and Wild Garlic Secret Spices mayonnaise.

Pasta with a difference

Artichoke Pesto pasta with camembert, lemon & pinenuts.  Roast chicken and cherry tomatoes with Balsamic Reduction.

                                                                       

Breakfast, lunch-on-the-go or an easy family friendly dessert  Granola, greek yogurt and Maple Caramel Sauce topped with plums, peaches and chocolate shavings

Confessions of a chocolate lover

Clare Moran - Co Founder My Secret Kitchen

I know I know, its Lent, but with Easter just around the corner who hasn't got chocolate on their mind?

At My Secret Kitchen we are also promoting our Ultimate Chocolate Brownie and Chocolate Peppermint Sauce in March and April so what a lovely excuse to experiment with chocolate again. In our Brownie Bliss recipes we have created Coconut Brownies with a Lime Glaze or for a simple and equally delicious dessert Ultimate Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Peppermint Fondue



I'm in awe of anyone who's decided to give up chocolate for 40 days - or indeed to give up anything food related.  Trying to give up anything I love is a near impossibility and believe me I've tried, but I am proud to be a very happy chocolate fiend.

(Have you read 'Beyond Chocolate' by Sophie & Audrey Boss? thoroughly recommended)


So, here are my 7 chocolate confessions in all their chocolatey glory...




1. I count chocolate covered raisins as one of my '5 a day'
2. As a student, for 6 months I lived on brain food of Kit Kats and black coffee
3. Yes, it was me who stole the chocolate buttons from the kid's sweet tin late last night
4. The little pea sized brown smudge on the sofa is evidence of the bar of cooking chocolate that side-stepped straight to my tummy
5. I buy low-fat hot chocolate mix - and then prepare it with double cream
6. I always lick the bowl when making Ultimate Chocolate Brownies - and never share
7. Petit dessert pots made with Chocolate Peppermint Sauce are the only cure for a case of the Mondays

Clare
x

Tagine Dream

I’ve fallen in love all over again - with Moroccan flavours.   

Our recent launch of Saffron Tagine Paste has inspired me so much; Phil and I had friends for dinner on Friday and and once again we turned to North African cuisine and flavours for inspiration. 

What’s even better is that I realised so many of My Secret Kitchen products could lend a helping.  

Our Moroccan Menu:

Moroccan Spiced Banana Soup with Duck & Fig Rolls

Featuring: Saffron Tagine Paste, Wild Garlic Secret Spices, Fig Pudding Pickle
This may sound a little crazy, but the combination of our tagine paste used in a base of onion, potato, carrot and chicken stock with a couple of ripe bananas give the soup a gorgeous spicy yet sweet flavour and velvety texture. The duck rolls are made with shredded cooked duck meat and our fig pudding pickle reduced with a pear and a touch of honey then rolled in phyllo pastry and shallow fried.

Saffron Marinated Chicken with Chermoula Couscous and Aubergine Tagine with preserved lemons

Featuring: Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt, SmokedRapeseed Oil, Wild Garlic Secret Spices, Tapenade with Smoked Garlic, SaffronTagine Paste
This is a really simple dish that takes care of itself - chicken thighs marinated in a saffron spiced marinade with our wild garlic secret spices and then slow cooked to be extra tender. Couscous is always a dream to prepare - as long as it is well seasoned, here I made a chermoula dressing to add flavour.  The aubergine tagine used pre-roasted aubergines and our tapenade with smoked garlic, combined with our saffron tagine paste and finely chopped preserved lemons.  Seasoning with our Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt completes each of the dishes.

Pistachio Ice Cream, Mango & Mint Sorbet & Ras El Hanout Caramel

Featuring: Mango Mojito Dessert Sauce, Maple Caramel Sauce
My favourite kitchen gadget has to be my ice cream maker.  For this dessert I prepared a pistachio ice cream - with a touch of maple caramel sauce as well as a mango and mint sorbet made with pink grapefruit.  The ras el hanout caramel was an interesting moroccan touch made by caramelising sugar and a little water, pouring onto a baking sheet and sprinkling over the ras el hanout seasoning and leaving to cool before breaking into pieces to garnish the dessert.

This month, our teams of consultants are testing out the soup with the duck and fig rolls at their team meetings - its a tough job but someone's got to do it!

Happy cooking,

Clare

x