The Italian Collection from Life of Spice + sausage rolls two ways

Are you looking for a perfect Christmas present for your favourite foodie?
If the answer is Yes, Life of Spice has an inspiring range of products to please any gourmet.
They produce premium gourmet rubs and spices which are stored in attractive aluminium tins.
Produced in small batches using the freshest dried herbs and spices, their versatile range offers a variety of delicious flavours.
Excellent with steaks, fish or vegetables, all Life of Spice products are vegetarian and vegan friendly, include no artificial preservatives or E-numbers.
Their produce comes in environmentally friendly aluminium tins that are fully recyclable.

Last month I received two boxes from Life of Spice range - The Italian Collection and The American Rub Collection.

The Italian Collection from Life of Spice includes an Italian Herbs herb collection, Pepper Smurf rub collection and The Italian Job salt collection.

Italian Herbs is a classic selection of Italian herbs to give that authentic trattoria taste to pizza and Italian dishes.
Ingredients: Oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, marjoram and sage.

Pepper Smurf is a classic Italian peppered steak rub with a few extra herbs to get your tastebuds singing.
Ingredients: Sea salt, rosemary, basil, marjoram, lemon peel, pepper, garlic, garlic flakes, citric acid, crushed red peppers and rice flour.

The Italian Job is a sea salt infused with basil, thyme and citrus to bring a taste of the Mediterranean to your table.
Ingredients: sea salt, basil, thyme, lemon peel, orange peel, oregano and citric acid.

Life of Spice produces all rubs and spice blends right here, in the UK, from the finest quality, freshest ingredients they can source.
Life of Spice products contain no artificial ingredients, and are gluten free and dairy free.

During the BBQ season the rubs and spice blends reign supreme, but you can obviously use them all year round. Meat eaters could cook a delicious steak with Pepper Smurf rub. Seafood, like prawns, goes really well with Italian herbs. A Greek salad could be prepared with either Italian Herbs, or The Italian Job sea salt.

Most of the dishes I prepared with the Italian Collection rubs, flavoured salt and herb blend are vegetarian, though sausage rolls were cooked with both meat (pork sausages) and vegetarian sausages.

These are versatile ingredients which will enhance many a dish. I love flavoured salts, and The Italian Job is an excellent product.

Add it to the roast potatoes or any other vegetables...

 or season the water for boiled potatoes...

A soup or stew would be enhanced by the addition of the herbs and flavoured salt. For example, cook a classic leek and potato soup with extra greens (like a courgette) and season well with Italian herbs.

My guys love sausage rolls. As we're a family with mixed diets - vegetarian + meat eaters, I do tend to cook different versions of the same dish. With sausage rolls, it's pretty easy to bake a batch which will suit different tastes.
For meat eaters use plain pork sausages as a base of the sausage rolls. For the meat-free version you might choose Linda McCartney's vegetarian sausages.

Sausage rolls two ways (makes 12)
You will need:
1 pack of Jus-Rol puff pastry, ready to roll, 320g
3 pork sausages
3 vegetarian sausages (or 6 of each, depending on your diet)
1 egg, yolk and white separated
1tsp Italian Herbs
sesame seeds (optional)

In two medium sized mixing bowls put sausages - skin the meat ones first. Beat an egg white and add to the vegetarian sausages. Sprinkle Italian herbs over both types of sausagemeat. Mash the sausages so that the herbs are incorporated. I added the egg white to the vegetarian sausages, as they are more solid and less pliable.

Roll out the puff pastry. Slice lengthways in half.
Shape the sausagemeat into long sausages which you place in the middle of the pastry. Beat the egg yolk and brush the edges of the pastry. Overlap the edges so that you have two long sausage rolls, which you slice into smaller pieces.
Brush each piece with the egg yolk and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.
Place the mini rolls on the oiled foil over a baking tray. Put the tray in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is puffed, golden and flaky.
Eat hot, with mustard or ketchup.

Both versions are tasty.

The Italian Collection will make a lovely Christmas gift for foodies. The box looks stylish, and tins will keep the herb and salt blends fresh for longer.

If you place and order through The Life of Spice, you will receive 1 free tin with each collection ordered using the following code: LOS-NDBLG.


Disclosure: I received Life of Spice products for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.

Chipolatas with chocolate glaze and Hasselback potatoes (#UnileverHalloween)

After a long walk at Cogges earlier today we had a quick platter lunch - just sandwiches and fruit. For dinner I wanted to try a recipe for sausages with chocolate glaze. An original recipe appeared in one of those seasonal Waitrose booklets a year or two ago. I have snipped a page out of the booklet, and recently came across it, while sorting through my magazine clippings. I couldn't find any venison sausages, and got beef chipolatas instead. I have also slightly adapted the recipe, by changing some ingredients, and also served the sausages with Hasselback potatoes. I have added juniper berries, Knorr beef stock pot and a dash of red wine.

Chipolatas with chocolate glaze and Hasselback potatoes
Ingredients:
a pack of beef chipolatas (340g)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
a pinch of caster sugar
1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
2tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used Maille balsamic vinegar)
1 Knorr beef stock pot
15 dried juniper berries
a dash of red wine
1 1/2 tbsp grated dark chocolate (like Lindt dark cooking chocolate)
for potatoes:
2 medium potatoes
2tbsp olive oil
1/2 Mexican flavour pot


Start by slicing the potatoes thinly across without going all the way down. The potatoes should still hold together. Mix olive oil with the Mexican seasoning and using hands, smear the mix all over the potatoes. Put the potatoes in a small ceramic dish or roasting tin, and in the oven preheated to 200C. Cook for about 40+ minutes. Check with a wooden skewer if they're cooked.

Fry the chipolatas in the oil, turning frequently until evenly browned on all sides. Transfer them to a plate. Slice an onion in half, and then slice thinly each half. Cook in the oil left from sausages. Add a pinch of caster sugar and cinnamon, stir for about 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and juniper berries, stir well and cook for another 5 minutes. Dissolve the beef stock pot in 120ml of boiling water. Pour over the onion, add the sausages and simmer for 5 minutes. Grate the chocolate and sprinkle over the sausages, stir well. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Don't worry about chocolate making the sausages sweet. As it is a dark chocolate, it only adds richness and depth to the glaze. These sausages will be lovely served on the Bonfire night.

In this recipe I used two Knorr products: Beef Stock Pot and Mexican Flavour Pot. Mexican Flavour Pot is a new product from Knorr range of flavour pots. This is a seasoning paste made from red pepper, herbs (oregano, coriander), cayenne pepper, smoked chili powder, garlic, onion, cumin, black and white pepper and other ingredients.

For two potatoes I used 1/2 pot, and that was quite hot for us. If you enjoy spicy hot food, you might want to use the whole pot, but for me that was quite enough. The flavours of Mexican seasoning work very well with roasted potatoes. I think it would be lovely with roast vegetables like sweet peppers, fennel, tomatoes and other.

This is my second recipe for #UnileverHalloween culinary challenge.
I received a hamper of Unilever products to create a recipe suitable for Halloween and Bonfire.

See my Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes for Halloween.

Pumpkin, pork and chorizo stew

It's cold and miserable outdoors, just the right time for slow-cooked stews and casseroles. Imagine ladling a rich smoky stew in a deep bowl and dipping a chunky bread in it. As I have just had a big delivery of colourful pumpkins from Abel & Cole, I am cooking everything with pumpkins these days, from cupcakes to stew. Pumpkin, pork and chorizo stew is a great comfort food and a belly warmer.

Pumpkin, pork and chorizo stew (serves 4)
Ingredients:
1 small pumpkin
700g pork belly
2tbsp olive oil
pepper
100g chorizo
3tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
1 cube of Knorr ham stock
1tbsp fresh thyme, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic
2 parsnips
1 carrot
9 dried apricots, sliced in half
1 tin of plum tomatoes (400g)
1 tin of butter beans (235g drained weight)
1 potato

Wrap a small pumpkin in foil. Cook it in the oven preheated to 200C for a half an hour to soften a tough skin.
Once the pumpkin is cool, remove the skin and seeds and cube the flesh. Set is aside.
Cut the pork into big size cubes. Heat the oil in a big pan and fry the pork for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle it with fresh thyme & pepper and pour 1tbsp soy sauce over it.

Chop the chorizo and fry it for about 3-4 minutes in the pan where the pork has been cooked. Chop the parsnips and carrot, put them in a big pan and add boiling water. Put the pork and chorizo in as well. All the vegetables and meat should be well covered with water. Add 2tbsp soy sauce, a cube of ham stock, finely chopped garlic and sliced apricots. Open tins of butter beans and plum tomatoes and add the contents to the pan. Cook simmering for half an hour, then add a chopped potato, and cubed pumpkin. Cook for another 30 minutes on low.

I didn't add the salt, as the stock cube and soy sauce gave all the saltiness that was needed.

I used Kikkoman's naturally brewed soy sauce in this recipe. It is a versatile ingredient, which is much more than an Oriental cuisine product. In fact, it is a universal seasoning, and I often use it instead of salt in salads and roasts.
I was recently invited to make a one-pot warming winter dish as part of Kikkoman Blogger recipe challenge. The task was to make anything so long as it not oriental in style.

Disclosure; I received a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce. All the other ingredients were purchased by me.

If you are looking for seasonal recipes, check out this delicious soup recipe from Cheryl (Madhouse Family Reviews) called Autumnal Hug in a Bowl.

One sizzling hot day: The Charcoal Challenge

We are bang in the middle of a real summer now. What do you do during these hot days? Are you enjoying the meals outdoors? Having picnics and BBQs?

I have applied to take part in the Charcoal challenge sponsored by Moneysupermarket.com, even if we don't have a BBQ in the garden. Or at least one in a good working order, we have a couple of ancient stands left by the previous owner of the house, and I use them to burn the leaves and twigs in the autumn and early spring. Thankfully, our friends Jay and Annette came to the rescue and arrived to our house with their own BBQ, so that we didn't have to spend any money on the disposable one and could just splash on food and drinks (all applicants were given £50 to host a BBQ party).

For me the BBQ is not just about meat, but also about eating lots of vegetable dishes. One of my favourite aubergine dishes can be used as a super accompaniment to the meat, or eaten on its own. I love it on a chunk of nice bread, cold from a jar in the fridge. But it's lovely piping hot as well.

That's the way my Mum taught me to cook them, a cooking tradition from the south of Russia: you need to slice the aubergines, and put them under the heavy lid for a couple of hours with a sprinkle of salt. Cook them in the deep pan with plenty of oil until brown and soft. Chop the tomatoes and garlic and give them a quick fry, add a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Layer the aubergines in a deep dish, add the tomato sauce, then aubergines and tomatoes again. If you have fresh parsley chop it and add on top.

Aubergines  à la Russe worked well with the BBQed meat

Jay was in charge of the BBQ and it was he who did all the lovely marinades for the chicken wings (with sesame oil) and the pork ribs. They were smokey and juicy, and utterly delicious to eat sitting on the lawn in the shade of the apple trees and rose bushes. He also BBQed big shallots, which turned rather sweet and sweaty under their skins. And we had sausages and burgers too. All the meat came from the local butcher and cost about £20 for the whole lot.

We were sitting in the garden and enjoying the evening, as it was getting cooler. It is amazing how quiet and peaceful it is in the garden among the big trees. You don't hear the cars, and the world seems to stand still (that is apart from our kids).

I prepared two simple salads: a tomato, cucumber & feta salad with the coriander, and a warm potato salad with the plain yogurt and fresh mint. Jay and Annette brought a very fancy green papaya salad (it was a type of a coleslaw, thinly shredded and well seasoned). I have never had a green papaya salad before, it definitely added an exotic touch to our table.

Kids were munching on the crudites with houmous and beet dip. We had juice and lemonade, and a jug of Pimms with strawberries, mint and orange for the adults.

By the end of the evening, when we felt absolutely stuffed, we were chatting and watching the little robin dipping in the water in the bird bath.

We were so full that I don't think anyone fancied a dessert (well, kids did have lollies at the start of the evening), so made a jug of mango lassi (2 cubed mangoes, yogurt, milk and a bit of vanilla ice cream).

All in all, it was a lovely evening. It was so nice to sit with the friends in the garden, enjoying the company and great food. And we couldn't have chosen a better evening for the BBQ.


Want to read what the other bloggers served for their Charcoal Challenge?
Visit Madhouse Family Reviews
and Over 40 and a Mum to One.

A posh onion gravy for sausages and mash

Sausages and mash are the ultimate comfort food, which can only be enhanced by a rich sticky gravy, preferably made from onions. I have been playing with different versions of the onion gravy, adding different ingredients like the balsamic vinegar, sherry or brandy. This version which I call the Posh Onion Gravy is made with an addition of the Bramley apple sauce with Calvados from The English Provender (which is exceptionally good, I buy it often and use in many meat-based dishes, like roast chicken etc).

Posh Onion Gravy

Ingredients:

• 2 big onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 dash of brandy or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp apple sauce (The English Provender Bramley apple sauce with Calvados)
• 1 small pot of Bisto stock melts beef
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• Salt (I use the homemade coriander and rose petal sea salt)

Slice the onions thinly (in circles). Melt the butter with oil in a large saucepan or wok over a low heat, add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
After the onions acquire a translucency, add the sherry or brandy, a small pot of Bisto stock melts beef and enough water to immerse the onions in it. Cook on low for another 10 minutes, again stirring often and adding water if necessary.
If adding the cornflour, first mix it with the small amount of the cold water to prepare a thin runny paste, and pour slowly in the onion gravy, mixing well. Cook for another 10 minutes.
Season with salt. Add the Bramley apple sauce with Calvados almost at the end of cooking and mix well.

Serve warm with your choice of sausages (I cooked the pork and Bramley apple sausages as well as Toulouse sausages), baked apples and mashed potatoes.

From the witch's cauldron

Take one witch with a cauldron aka Mamma Varese with her pots & pans, put on a thinking bonnet and try to use all the pumpkin flesh that was left over from the carved pumpkin.
And in the spirit of Hallowe'en make your food playful and funky. Should be dead easy, shouldn't it?!

Now I have seen somewhere in the Blogland the image of the stuffed peppers which had been transformed into the mini-Jack-O'Lanterns, but can't seem to remember where, not that it matters, as I am just using the idea for my own recipe.

I have recently received a packet of a new Tilda rice: British Curry rice, created by 2010 MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker, so I wanted to try it, but you can choose any other Tilda rice, jasmine or long grain, or cook whichever rice you fancy.

For 6 stuffed sweet peppers/mini pumpkins
250g cooked rice
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 sausages (I used the Italian style sausages)
olive oil

First prepare your containers for rice mix. Put the peppers into a medium pan with boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes. Take them out of the water.
Place the mini pumpkins in the preheated oven and cook for half an hour, take them out, once they are not too hot to handle, cut off the tops and scoop the inside.

Take the skins off the sausages, add to the frying pan with the olive oil and chopped onion, and using a wooden spoon, break it into pieces. Fry for about 5-7 minutes. Let it cool a bit, mix with rice.

Fill in the pepper and pumpkin shells with the rice mix, place on a tray and in the oven, bake for about 15 minutes at 180C.

You can also add a bit of grated cheese on top  for the last five minutes in the oven. Or top up with a spoon of plain yogurt or soured cream.

Taking a thin knife, cut out the eyes, nose and a scary smile.

For "Ghost soup" use any orange-coloured veg that you have at home: pumpkins, squashes, carrots and sweet potatos. Start with roasting all the cubed veg on a tray in the oven, drizzled with the olive oil, add a few cloves of garlic and a few rosemary sprigs. Roast for about 35-40 minutes at 180C.
Once the veg is done, place it in a medium pan, add a few tablespoons of dry red lentils, pour water and cook on low for half an hour. Later blitz the soup with the blender.
I am not making a proper list of ingredients, as the whole idea of this soup is to use the veg that you have.
I think I had at least 2 carrots, a parsnip too, though it is not orange-coloured, about 600g of cubed squash,  sweet potatoes and scooped pumpkin.

To make the ghost, add a few blobs of plain yogurt on the surface of the soup, using a wooden toothpick or skewer, carefully connect the blobs and do the lines, so that the white of the yogurt is drawn on the orange soup, and by dipping the skewer in the soup, make the dots for the eyes and mouth.

Serve with a good chunk of fresh bread, preferably stonebaked or sourdough.

Sausage rolls with apricots and herbs

Am I allowed to do a bit of name-dropping on my blog? When we were staying in Cornwall in July, we were invited by Jane and David Cornwall for tea. If you're not familiar with this name, how about his nom de plume: John Le Carre? Both Jane and David are wonderful hosts, very attentive and genuinely interested in what you say.

Last time we visited them, we were offered a whole feast with our tea, including some scrummy sausage rolls. My Mum liked them so much, that after we came back home from holidays, I decided to treat her to a freshly-baked batch.

For 20  mini-sausage rolls:
1 roll of Jus-Rol puff pastry    

6 good quality pork sausages with herbs

2 tbsp chopped apricots

1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried mint

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp chopped spring onions

1 egg, beaten with milk

Preheat the oven to 180C

Unroll the puff pastry on a clean work surface, cut into two long rectangles.
Remove the skins from the sausages and place them in a big mixing bowl. Chop the red onion and sping onions finely and fry in the frying pan with the olive oil until translucent. Allow to cool before adding to the sausage meat. Add dried herbs and chopped apricots. Mash them well together with your hands.
Divide the sausage meat in two and form two long sausages. Place each of them onto the pastry just off centre of the pastry rectangles, making sure to leave a 2cm border on each side. Using a pastry brush, brush down one edge of the pastry.
 Pull one side of the pastry over the sausage & pinch the edge to create a sausage "roll".  Cut into 4cm chunky mini-rolls.
Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and bake until golden brown for about 20 minutes.

Eat either hot or allow to cool, they keep well, wrapped in foil in the fridge for a day.