I.O. Shen

Rosewater, Pistachio, Cranberry, Blueberry & White Chocolate Oat Cookies

18th October 2016 by Rosie

Wow! That’s a mouthful of a recipe title for sure! However, it does tell you exactly what’s in the cookies I made, doesn’t it?

Inspired by the original recipe by the finalist of the Great British Bake Off, Holly Bell, which is incredibly versatile and can easily be altered, depending on your mood and fancy. Last night, I decided to go a little Persian with some wonderfully fragrant Nielsen Massey Rosewater, some delicious green pistachios from Sainsbury’s, along with some cranberry & blueberry mix which I’d bought from Holland and Barratt and some creamy chunks of Callebeaut white chocolate. The recipe made about 21 cookies (I forgot to count before we started eating them, still slightly warm from the oven, sorry!)

250g Butter, room temperature
150g Soft brown sugar
1½tsp Nielsen Massey Rosewater
150g Self Raising flour
230g Quaker Porridge Oats
100g Cranberry & Blueberry mix
100g White chocolate chunks
100g Pistachios, chopped

Preheat your oven to 160ºC.
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (I used 4 baking sheets and baked them in pairs).
Cream the butter and sugar, along with the rosewater until light and fluffy. (I was watching The Fall on BBC iPlayer as I was baking, can you tell?!) It’s much easier to use a hand mixer when creaming your butter and sugar, and I use my Kenwood K-Mix one.

Add in the flour and oats and stir to combine fully.
Gently stir in the cranberries, blueberries, chocolate chunks and chopped pistachios.

Take out plum sized balls (I used a level table spoon measure for my cookies).
Place the cookies on to your baking tray and flatten them out roughly to about 1cm thick. You need to leave about 2cm between them to allow them to spread a little.

Bake for 16 minutes.
The cookies will still be soft when you remove them from the oven, so allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

Remove the cookies to a cooling tray and leave until cold.
Store in an airtight container, but you won’t be able to resist them for too long!

This recipe uses Nielsen Massey rosewater which had previously been sent to me as a gift, along with other vanillas and flavourings.

Elderflower Cordial

21st June 2016 by Rosie

Such a simple drink to make, using only 5 ingredients. Elderflowers are synonymous with the start of the British summer and are in season for such a short spell of time, that it’s a shame to waste those fragrant blossoms when making cordial from them is such a simple thing to do.

You need to pick the elderflowers on a warm, dry day, allowing any dew to evaporate before picking. Make sure that you only pick heads that have just opened and are still the beautiful creamy colour, without any of the flowers starting to turn brown. Find a nice country lane or hedgerow, away from busy traffic routs that could taint and the delicate blossoms with chemicals.

1.5 litres water
2kg granulated sugar
2 Lemons
20 Elderflower heads
85g Citric acid

Pick the heads and very gently shake any bugs free from them.
In a large saucepan, add the water and the sugar. Gently heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Using a potato peeler, pare the lemon zest from the lemons and slice the lemons into ½cm thick rounds.

4. In a large bowl, add some cold, clean water and gently swish the elderflower heads to remove any remaining insects. VERY GENTLY shake the excess water off them.

5. Snip the elderflowers from the stalks (to leave too much stalk on them can leave a bitter taste).

6. Bring the water and sugar syrup to a boil and turn off the heat.

7. To the sugar syrup, add the elderflower heads, lemon zest, lemon rounds and citric acid. Stir well.

8. Place the lid onto the saucepan and leave, covered and undisturbed, for 24 hours.

9. Line a colander with two layers of muslin and drain the cordial through into a clean bowl.

10. Squeeze the muslin to extract all of that delicious cordial. Discard the lemons and elderflowers.

11. Pour the cordial into clean, sterilised Kilner bottles.

This will keep for up to about 6 weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze the cordial in ice cube trays/bags for use later.

To sterilise the bottles, you can either wash them and dry them, upside down in a warm oven, or wash them through your dishwasher cycle.

BBC Good Food Show Summer 2016

16th June 2016 by Rosie

I’m home from another fantastic day at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham. Today was day one of the show which runs for four days until Sunday 19th June, so there’s still plenty of time to book your tickets online, or alternatively, you can just turn up and pay your admission fee to gain entry. However, if you pre-book your tickets online and use my code BL20, you can grab yourself a cool 20% off your admission price! That’ll give you even more money to spend on delicious produce.

As it’s the summer show it’s also the BBC Gardner’s World Live show too, so there’s a huge amount to see outdoors in the way of plants, furniture, exhibitions etc. My fave was this lovely girl that I saw beside the path on my way back to the car.

I’ve spent the day walking, eating, drinking, chatting, watching chefs (& friends) on stage, not to mention cuddling these two fantastic Italian Chefs and have brought home a whole cacophony of goodies with me.

Lexus UK are once again sponsoring the show, and I watched a good friend of mine, Julie demonstrate her cupcake decorating skills with Marcus Bean on the Lexus stage.

I’ve met some really lovely food producers who are all incredibly passionate about their products (and rightly so too!) My haul includes:

The ever delicious gluten free sauces from Debbie & Andrews. You can find them on stand F685. I came home with Sweet Chilli and Chicken & Mango flavours.

I can’t wait to get cooking a delicious tagine with the gluten free Harissa Sauce and a delicious pasta dish with the Pesto sauce from Taste Collectiv. Go and say hello to Mark & Victoria on stand F181, and treat yourself to their range of 5 sauces.

I’ve got delicious and fresh tasting Aloe Vera drinks from Grace Aloe Vera on stand F110, (to which I have to admit I was really pleasantly surprised about; not just on the flavoured versions but on the original flavoured ones too).

Lots of lovely gluten free macaroons, madeleines, savoury crackers and cereal bars from Mrs Crimbles on stand F90.

My mouth was on fire with the Chilli Fudge from Tan Rosie. Who knew you could use scotch bonnet chillies in fudge? Their family recipes are inspired from their heritage in Grenada and Carriacou. Go and find them on stand F632 if you dare…! HAHA!

I wasn’t brave enough to try the Fire Candy from the lovely guys at the Black Liquorice Company – but I dare you to try some yourself! Their flavoured liquorices are delicious though. You’ll find them on F195.

Who knew that you could make a pestle & mortar out of Himalayan Salt, let alone cook on it or build a wall from it? Visit the Salt House on stand F302 to find out more on this one.

I tasted a lovely variety of oils, balsamic vinegars and grape musts from Casa de l’Oli. I think my favourite one was the 5 year old Blanco Balsamic vinegar, teamed up with their lime olive oil.

I bought home some delicious coffee fudge from the Fudge Kitchen (but it’s all gone now as it didn’t last long with my husband and daughter to share it with!). They have lots of different flavours to choose from over on stand F179. (Nice sash by the way!)

For lunch I enjoyed a gluten free Chicken Italia burger from Heck Sausages (stand F97), whilst to follow I bought a deliciously creamy coffee ice cream from the Salome Dairy (stand F916) which just filled the last little space I had left. (Sorry, no photos here – I was hungry!)

I also came home with a bottle of locally (Northamptonshire) produced rhubarb gin from my favourites and the multi award winning Warner Edwards (stand F460)

As well as the most beautiful new apron from my favourite knife manufacturer I.O. Shen Knives who you can find on F682. How beautifully does this go with my blade tattooed knives? I’ve already been told this is a ‘Man Apron’ and therefore has been bagged by my husband for himself! Thanks Nat x.

If you like peanut butter, then you’ll love these guys over at Proper Nutty Butter. Produced in Yorkshire with ‘Nowt but Nuts’ and love! You’ll find them on stand F638

I also have delicious tasting pea flour snacks from Yushoi Snappea Rice Sticks over on F662.

I wish I could go back every day for the next three days of the show, as there is so much more I’d love to share with you, however, I’m having knee surgery tomorrow morning and have to be in hospital at 7am, so sadly only one day at the show for me this year.

If you’re going to the show over the next few days, have a wonderful time. I wish all the exhibitors and organisers a successful show and hope the visitors have an amazing time too. See you all for the Winter show in November.

As an official BBC Good Food Show blogger, I am provided with free entry into the show. Some of the samples detailed above were provided to me free of charge by the exhibitors to try and review – thanks to those who continue to support me and my blog.

National Sandwich Week with the Central Co-Operative

2nd May 2016 by Rosie

Having previously managed the payroll for a very large food manufacture of about 100,000 sandwiches a day many years ago, the invitation from the Central England Co-Operative to create a great sandwich combination using tasty ingredients that could be found in your local store to celebrate National Sandwich week was was right up my street!

As the weather has been very changeable recently, including snow, hailstones, ice, wind and sunshine (and all in one day too!) I decided on a combination of a hot, toasted, sandwich and a lovely salad to go with it. I bought a variety of ingredients including a pack of sandwich thins, Mozzarella cheese, tomato pesto, mixed salad leaves, beautifully sweet Piccolo tomatoes, sweet baby peppers and some delicious mixed root vegetable crips to make my lunch.

After preparing a really quick salad using the leaves, peppers and tomatoes, I simply tipped some of the root vegetable crisps into a small bowl and set about preparing my toasted sandwich.

Drain the Mozzarella and slice about 5mm thick.

The Sandwich Thins are pre-sliced so it’s very quick and simple to separate the two halves. Place a couple of generous teaspoons of the tomato pesto on one side of the bread.

Spread the pesto over the bread into a relatively even layer. Repeat with the other sandwiches as required. I made two for lunch today; one each for my husband and myself.

Tear the mozzarella slices into strips and cover the pesto. I’ve left a small gap around the edges to stop the cheese oozing out (and being wasted) on to my sandwich press. Top with the other half of the Sandwich thin.

Preheat your sandwich maker (I have an Antony Worrall Thompson for Breville flat sandwich press that I’ve had for many years).

Place your sandwich onto the sandwich maker and close the lid.

Toast for a few minutes until the top is nicely browned and the mozzarella has started to melt.

Slice diagonally using a sharp knife.

Serve with a helping of salad and some of the root vegetable crisps.

Tasty (the sandwich that is!)

Rosewater, Pistachio, Cranberry, Blueberry & White Chocolate Oat Cookies

This recipe uses Nielsen Massey rosewater which had previously been sent to me as a gift, along with other vanillas and flavourings.

Elderflower Cordial

BBC Good Food Show Summer 2016

As an official BBC Good Food Show blogger, I am provided with free entry into the show. Some of the samples detailed above were provided to me free of charge by the exhibitors to try and review – thanks to those who continue to support me and my blog.

National Sandwich Week with the Central Co-Operative

I was sent a voucher from the Central England Co-Operative to buy my ingredients to participate in the creation for National Sandwich Week.

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