Creamy chicken & courgettes - my "Masterchef" box challenge!

This meal wasn't intended to be what it turned out to be, at all.  However, sometimes us cooks are just blessed with happy accidents like that.  I can hear you all laughing hollowly and saying "maybe for some people!" and yes, it's true that more often than not, when you go off piste and start creating something from scratch, it can go appallingly wrong.

However (and you knew there was one of those coming, didn't you!), I have learned that where "home creations" are concerned, it is good to keep the list of ingredients down.  The more flavours you throw at a dish, the more likely it is that at least two of those ingredients will clash.  Which makes me wonder how on earth this recipe wound up with fifteen ingredients - and still worked.  I guess we'll just call it luck.

Originally, it was supposed to be an easy recipe of pork and courgettes with a sauce made with Sainsbury's Speciality Ingredients' Porcini Mushroom Paste.  The changes began to set in when hubby got to the butcher and discovered that the pork is no longer on special offer and the chicken breasts were cheaper.  So, we swapped from pork to chicken - which was perfectly acceptable.

However, discovering that the lid of the Porcini Mushroom Paste was loose and the contents had obviously been tampered with, wasn't so acceptable.  I sat there looking disconsolately (and slightly disbelievingly) into the paste jar, wondering what the heck I was going to do now.  We, quite obviously, couldn't use the Porcini paste, which was a great shame.  I expect it was simply a matter of someone back at base having got curious and opened the jar for a sniff rather than somebody maliciously opening the jar to include something dodgy in the paste (it happens!), but there were too many chances to warrant taking any of them with it.

So, into the bin it went and I was left with no base for my sauce.  It occurred to me that this was rather like the Masterchef Box Challenge.  Along the lines of "here are your ingredients, now make something edible!".  Initially, I was a bit stuck - until I remembered a can of Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup that had been lurking in the can cupboard.  That was a start - but what other flavours to go with the creaminess of the sauce that would increase the flavour dimensions?  Fill in the blank : " ........ and mushroom cream sauce".  Sherry?  Yes!  "Chicken in a Mushroom & Sherry cream sauce" that made sense!  A sort of fricasee.

I set off along those lines.  The only thing I would do differently in the future, would be to not include quite so much smoked bacon as the saltiness was a bit intrusive amongst the flavours.  Hence, I've adjusted the recipe down to three rashers from the six rashers I started off with.  I want the bacon in there, as it adds a great base note from which to build the flavours and can increase the savoury quotient, when you've a lot of potentially sweet ingredients, like onion and sherry.

I had a few mushrooms lurking in the bottom of the fridge, so they went in to help with the mushroom effect of the soup.

The only sherry I had to hand was a cream sherry - which is a sweeter type.  Hence, to offset some of that sweetness, I added a teaspoonful of white wine vinegar just to sharpen it all up a little - which worked perfectly.

I'm a very definite convert from using stock cubes, to using stock powder.  I was sent six different flavours of stock powder from Essential Cuisine to try - and so far, have only used three of them.  I made use of the chicken version in this dish and it is so great to be able to infuse stock flavour into something like a cream sauce, without having to introduce water that then needs to be reduced again.  It keeps the intensity of the flavour, which in turn means you don't need to use as much of the powder.  It blends in perfectly, without any hint of powderiness or lumps and has been a real godsend for several dishes I've made just recently.

I served the chicken mixture with some of Napolina's Mafalda Corta pasta, which is delightfully wiggly but comes in short pieces as opposed to something like tagliatelle - which always results in the majority of the sauce going down the front of my shirt.  I joke with you not - you just ask my hubby about the Chinese noodle dish I only just ate, one day.  Awesome.

Because of the mushrooms and courgettes included in the chicken mixture, I reckon this is a pretty darned versatile dish.  You could serve it with pasta, as I did, or alternatively with anything from rice through to mashed potatoes.  Yummy!

CREAMY CHICKEN & COURGETTES    (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

3 rashers smoked streaky bacon, diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 medium courgettes, cut into 3-4mm slices
3-4 chestnut mushrooms, cut into 3-4mm slices
3 boneless & skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size chunks
freshly ground black pepper
half a tsp of dried thyme
2 tbsp cream sherry plus a teaspoonful
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp Campbells' condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 heaped tsp low salt chicken stock powder (or 1 low salt chicken stock cube, crumbled)
200ml water
2 tbsp double cream
a handful of parsley, chopped finely.

Method :

1.  Heat a deep frying pan or wok and add the bacon.  Fry on a medium to hot heat until all the water has come out of the bacon and it is starting to fry in its own grease.  Add the onion and keep the contents of the pan moving until the onion has softened.  Remove and set aside.

2.  Add one tbsp of the rapeseed oil, then the courgettes and mushroom.  On the same heat as previously (hopefully, the pan is still hot), fry until the courgettes are softened and are showing some colour.  Only let them sit for seconds at a time.  It is best to keep them moving as in such a hot pan it would be easy to let them burn, when they become bitter and nasty.  You don't want that!  Once they are softened and coloured (the mushrooms are just along for the ride), remove and set aside.

3.  Add the remaining tbsp of rapeseed oil and, while the pan is still hot, add the chicken.  Fry quickly on a hot heat to colour and seal the outside of the chunks.

4.  Add a good quantity of freshly ground black pepper and the thyme.  Stir to combine.

5.  Add the bacon & onion mixture to the pan and stir to combine.

6.  Add the sherry and vinegar to the pan and allow it to bubble like mad to burn off the alcohol.  When reduced by half, add the stock powder and water.  Stir again.

7.  Add the mushroom soup and stir well to ensure all the lumps are dispersed.

8.  You can now turn the heat down to a simmer.

9.  Add the courgettes and mushrooms and the cream.  Stir gently and allow to simmer until the chicken is completely cooked.  Stir through half of the parsley.

10.  Serve with pasta ribbons and a sprinkling of the remainder of the parsley.

Printable version
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It's never too late for a menu plan!

Over the last few weeks, I have slipped out of the practice of declaring what our menu plan is - and this has been annoying me.

I feel that, if I were a regular reader of my blog, I'd enjoy the menu plan posts as it would give me a hint of what was to come (much like the "preview" pages in magazines).  I'd then make a mental note (and like as not immediately forget it, knowing me, but I'd try) to remember to come back and look at recipe X or Y when it appeared.

I've also been pondering on giving Rhubarb & Ginger a bit of a spruce-up, so don't be surprised if you detect a few changes in the look of the blog in the coming weeks.  Nothing major, just a bit of a spring-clean.  Yes, I know it's autumn - I was hoping you wouldn't notice that.

Anyway, it's rather belated, but here's our menu plan from last Tuesday for the week :

Tue : Pizza

Wed : Chicken & courgette porcini pasta

Thur : Fish pie, carrots, peas and green beans

Fri : Harissa lamb flatbreads with hummus & salad

Sat : Leek & ricotta tart with salad

Sun : Slow cooker braised beef, mashed potato, parsnips, broad beans & broccoli

Mon : Bacon & celeriac gratin with peas, sweetcorn & broccoli.

My step-daughter and step-son (hubby's children from his first marriage) came down to see us from their home in Kent on Tuesday.  It was marvellous to see them, as we haven't been able to get together in way too long.  The distance has been prohibitive - that and the cost of train fares and my inability to drive long distances.  A friend was coming down for the day and they hitched a ride along with them in the car, which was just fab.

We didn't know how long they were going to be here for - or what we'd wind up doing - so opted for the easiest dinner possible for that night - pizza.  It all worked out perfectly (other than being over far too quickly) and not having to worry about cooking was just the job.

The following day, I had planned to try out one of the Sainsbury's "Speciality Ingredients" range - the Porcini Mushroom Paste.  I had a plan to use it along with some chicken and courgettes in a pasta dish.  However, when I went to open the jar and have a preliminary sniff (which I find can establish which way I want to go with the rest of the ingredients), the jar opened with no resistance (which isn't normal) and the contents looked exactly like someone had taken half a teaspoonful out of the jar.  After much debate, we all opted to regrettably chuck it in the bin (everyone denying having wielded the teaspoon) and I was left with no ingredients for the mushroom sauce.

However, I decided to treat it rather like a Masterchef box challenge - as in "here are your ingredients, now go make something edible".  You'll just have to wait for the blog post (which would indicate that the end result was really rather good) to find out what I did.

Last night was the first time since God was a boy, that I have made Fish Pie.  In fact, I can't remember having made one before - although hubby swears blind that I've had a couple of false starts at it in the past.  Now I do accept that it is possible that this is true, as owing to my brain having melted (I had a stroke) some four or five years ago now, there are a number of years where the details are a bit fluffy in my memory.

So far as I was concerned, however, this was the first Fish Pie I'd tackled.  Fish Pie has always been unachievable in the past because of the price of fish.  However, our local supermarket has brought out a bag of fish pieces (cod, smoked haddock and salmon) for a reasonable price.  I added the contents of a bag of "cheap as chips" small prawns to it and hey presto!, we had enough for a fish pie.

Again, you'll have to wait for the blog post for this one, as it was a resounding success!

Son & heir's "tower of power"

Son & heir reluctantly went back to school today - I know!  On a Friday!  Hardly seems worth it - and we are basking in the silence.  Not that he made that much noise - it was the things around him that did all the noise making.  It seems odd to not hear huge explosions going off in his bedroom (gaming - not my cooking - what are you like?) and I almost miss the sound of his electric guitars as he works out the latest tune.  You'll note the "almost" - not having to yell at him to turn the bass amp down is the best bit about his being back at school.

Tonight's dinner is a bit of a departure from my "usual" fare (if I have a "usual" fare).  Having seen flatbreads being made on the t.v. on two occasions this week, I had the idea for tonight's meal.  The plan is to fry off some lamb mince in another of the Sainsbury's "Speciality Ingredients" range - this time the Harissa paste.  Having spread some hummus onto a flatbread, then added some rocket leaves on top, the spicy lamb mince gets added on board and the whole lot doubled over, for easy conveyance - and much falling out sideways, probably easier to eat with a knife and fork - to the gaping maw.  I'll be adding some marinated beetroot and cherry tomatoes, along with a cucumber/yoghurt/mint thingy alongside.  I really like the concept - it remains to be seen whether it works in practice!

Saturday and Sunday are likely to be quite hot (weatherwise) so I've scheduled a tart with salad for Saturday.  It's a Sylvana Franco recipe for her Leek, ricotta & gruyere tart, but owing to the price of Gruyere these days, I'll be substituting Maasdam for it.  Either way, it'll be cheesy and leeky - can't ask for more than that!

Something along these lines ...

I'll be making use of the slow cooker again on Sunday.  It's great for potentially hot days that might turn rainy - as there's no sitting over a hot cooker if the weather is nice and you wind up with something warm and comforting if the weather is horrid.  So you win either way.

The braised beef will be Silverside, done in red wine and a selection of other bits and pieces that haven't quite cohesively formed up in my head yet.  I expect there'll be whole shallots, mushrooms and a yummy Knorr Rich Beef stock pot - which are so gorgeous I'm always tempted to eat them with a spoon.  This is another one I'm looking forward to.

I'm not sure what Monday's weather will be like, but I've scheduled in a Bacon & Celeriac Gratin which should be good.  Well, it's bacony, cheesy, celery-y (you know what I mean!) with a dash of potato, all held together with onions and a thick cheese sauce.  Just writing about it is making my mouth water ....

Not my garden, but can you imagine - eating comfort food whilst sitting in the garden?  Oh yes!

I've not got any additional makes or bakes planned - although we do have a complete glut of rhubarb in the garden and I know I have the ingredients for some Cherry chocolate brownies in the cupboard - and a new brownie pan needing a try-out.  We'll see!

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Slow cooker pork shoulder with parsnips and celery in cider

This recipe marks something of a turning point in the seasons.  The weather, although we are still getting the occasional warm to hot day, is turning more towards the autumnal.  For the next week or so, we'll be in that betwixt and between twilight world of not knowing whether to serve a salad or a casserole.  I figure that the best thing is to serve a combination of both, although perhaps not on the same plate!

I've already returned back to having to wear a cardigan whilst blogging, as our flat has such thick walls that it can be really warm outside (literally, just outside the window by my left arm), but in here it's really quite cool.  I thank the powers that be for that when the temperatures are up in the thirties - I think I might die otherwise - but as I've got older  (watch out, I'll have my ear trumpet out next!) I find I notice the cold more.

 

So, when I discovered this pork recipe in the Good Food Magazine, it very much appealed to me.  I thought it looked like it was showing the promise of some lovely autumnal flavours, whilst being homely and comforting to eat.  However, I didn't want it to have to spend two and a half hours in an oven that is expensive to heat - which meant breaking out the slow cooker.

Consequently, I've changed the method of the recipe quite considerably to suit the slow cooker.  I would ordinarily link to the original recipe so that you have the choice of which recipe to use, but I can't find it online anywhere yet.  As time goes by, if anyone finds it online somewhere and would like to let me know, I'd be happy to link to it.

Hubby wasn't too sure at all about this recipe, as when he went to the butcher to buy the pork shoulder all the pieces in the shop seemed to be very fatty.  Still, he persevered and bought a good sized piece, but it did nothing to change his fear that the meat would be globby and covered in horrid fat.

Not our piece of pork, but it illustrates the degree of fat involved

When it came to trimming and cubing the meat, I saw what he meant, as the piece did indeed look a bit worryingly fatty.  However, once I'd removed the rind and a good percentage of the underlying fat, it looked a lot better.  I have found recently that I just can't do high fat meals in the way that I used to - my tummy seriously rebels!  Even plain old chips are a bit of a lottery these days, so I was very keen to remove as much fat as I could - bearing in mind that the dish needed a small amount of fat to keep the meat moist and juicy in the cooking.  Plus, as the dish was being cooked for some five hours, I felt there should be plenty of time for the small amount of fat that was left to render down.  So, accompanied by the three waggy tailed dustbins who were very happy to provide a home for any offcuts from the pork, I spent a happy fifteen minutes or so with a very sharp knife, trimming and cubing.

I don't really know what it is about trimming up meat, but I really enjoy it.  It may be the conversion of what appears to be a fairly "useless for the cause" chunk of meat into "perfect for the cause" pieces, but I find it really satisfying.  So do the dogs.  *chuckle*  In fact, Dustbin no. 1 - Jonty the Saluki - will appear out of nowhere as soon as he hears the butchery knife being removed from the knife block.

Getting back to the recipe, the end result was absolutely cracking.  I served it with some creamy mashed Maris Piper potatoes, Tenderstem broccoli, carrots and peas, for our Sunday dinner.  Even cautious hubby declared that it was "delicious" and cleared his plate.

It was one of those simple dishes that isn't made up of a huge amount of ingredients, but every ingredient just works with all the others.  There was no need to think "next time, I'd add this or leave that out", it was just perfect right the way it was.  Sometimes, those simple recipes are just the best.  So it was with this one.


SLOW COOKER PORK SHOULDER WITH PARSNIPS & CELERY IN CIDER   (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1kg pork shoulder, trimmed and cubed
2 onions, sliced
2 celery sticks, cut into 1cm pieces
3 small parsnips, cut into chunky pieces
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp plain flour
330ml bottle of cider
500ml approx of pork or chicken stock.

Method :

1.   Heat 1 tbsp of the rapeseed oil in a frying pan until very hot, then add the cubes of pork and quickly brown on all sides.  Try to achieve a good colour on the cubes, but without burning.  Decant the cubes into your slow cooker (or crockpot), turn to low and replace the lid.

2.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining tablespoonful of rapeseed oil to the frying pan and add the onions, celery and bay leaves.  Cook until the onions are softened and beginning to turn golden brown.  The celery should have softened by now too.  Decant the lot into the slow cooker and replace the lid.

3.  Put the parsnip pieces into the frying pan and stir fry them until they have achieved some colour on at least two sides, then decant them into the slow cooker and replace the lid.

4.  To the frying pan, add the cider and the stock and season well with freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt.

5.  While the liquid is heating up, place the flour into a small bowl, add a tablespoonful or so of water and mix until all the lumps are gone.  Drizzle this into the cider/stock mixture and stir consistently to prevent lumps forming.   The gravy should begin to thicken, so continue to stir until you are happy with the consistency.

6.  Decant the gravy into the slow cooker and stir the contents to mix it through and settle them into an even layer.  Turn the slow cooker to high, replace the lid and leave it to chuckle for the next 5 hours.

7.  Before serving, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.  Then check that the gravy is the correct consistency for your taste.  If the gravy requires further thickening, then place a tablespoonful of cornflour into a small bowl.  Slake it by adding a small amount of water and drizzle it into the slow cooker, stirring quickly all the time.

Serve with mashed potato, carrots and a green vegetable of your choice.

Printable version.

Bacon & Blue Cheese Filo Tart - quick, before the sun disappears!

In actual fact, this tart isn't reliant upon sunny days.  We've eaten it with potato wedges instead of salad in the middle of winter - and it was just as good.

However, in this instance, I served it with a Melon & Cucumber salad - the sweetness of the Canteloupe melon went so well with the salty bacon and blue cheese.

I've been making this dish for quite some time now and when I remembered it the other day, I looked back across the Recipe Index and was surprised to note that it wasn't there.  Mind you, this was cause for some celebration because it meant that I could tick off another "bloggable" dish on the menu - one which I had done countless times before and was not only easy but reliable!

You might think that, being made with Filo pastry instead of shortcrust or puff, this might be a low-calorie, "good for you", healthy option.  I have very great delight in putting you right where this is concerned and would quite categorically state that there is very little about it that is good for you - apart from being good for your soul.  You will very definitely feel downright spoiled, indulged and maybe even a little bit naughty when eating this tart.

You see, fundamental in the creation of the filling is the use of 300g of your best, creamiest, rich and delicious Philadelphia cream cheese.  Oh, don't suck your breath in like that - the wind might change and you'll stay looking like it.  Yes, I know I could have used low fat Philadelphia - but why?  This tart is supposed to be rich and delicious - and nothing but the full fat version will do.  If you're so bothered about it, don't make it very often and don't eat a huge piece - but do make it, and do cut yourself a generous piece.  Go on - you're worth it!

One word of warning as regards the ingredients though.  The Rocket is absolutely essential.  I can remember baking this tart once in the past when I had forgotten to buy some Rocket.  "Oh, it can't make THAT much difference, surely!", I thought.  Wrong.  So wrong.  This is one of those tart fillings that something magical happens to when it goes into the oven.  One of those clever chemistry things.  Now obviously, the eggs are there to bind it all - that's a given.  However, the Rocket seems to act as some kind of subtle scaffolding that provides aeration as well as flavour.  When you first start mixing it in, you don't think it's ever going to lay down and behave - but it does.  Then, once it has baked, it emerges with no discernible Rocket.  It's there, doing a valuable job, but quietly and in the background.  The one time I tried to make the tart without it was an utter disaster as the filling was too rich, too thick, too claggy and just, well, too much of everything.  So - don't be tempted to leave the Rocket out.  I've tried it and it's not good.

One more thing - when you are shopping for ingredients and if you shop at Sainsbury's, do try their common or garden "English Blue Cheese" which is vaguely red coloured (not unlike Shropshire Blue) and completely unassuming.  I picked some up purely because of its price (it was the cheapest blue cheese I could find - it was the end of the month and money was a little tight) and was surprised to find that it is actually very palatable indeed.  Perhaps a little on the salty side - but knowing how salty some of the Danish blues can get, we can forgive it that.  I think it did a sterling job at being crumbled on top of the tart - and is responsible for that deep yellowy orange hue.

If you're curious about the Melon & Cucumber salad, it was a simple matter of getting a bowl and putting into it some rocket, some Canteloupe melon balls (cubes would do fine, if you don't have a melon baller), some finely sliced cucumber that had been skinned and had its pips removed and several sliced cherry tomatoes.  Once served onto the plate, I added a couple of marinated Sweetfire beetroot, which provided the zing! to the melon's sweetness and the saltiness of the tart.  We didn't bother with a dressing, as the melon provided plenty of juice.

I like to think of it as a beautiful partnership.  The incredibly unhealthily rich and delicious tart, paired up with a very healthy sweet and sour salad.  Delicious.

BACON & BLUE CHEESE FILO TART   (serves 4-5) 

Ingredients :

4 large sheets of filo pastry, cut in half to make 8 individual sheets
extra virgin olive oil
300g (or slightly less) of lean back bacon, diced
3-4 spring onions, sliced finely
2 eggs
300g tub soft cream cheese
2 large handfuls of rocket leaves
50g (approx) blue cheese
2 tbsp pine nuts.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas4.

2.  Taking a spring form tin, lightly brush some oil around it.  Then, brush the first sheet of filo pastry lightly with oil and lay it into the tin, sticking it to the oiled sides.  Continue with the other sheets of pastry, brushing with oil and laying into the tin, until the tin is completely covered and the edges are stuck to the sides.  These edges will be turned down and form the "crust".

3.  Place the bacon pieces into a heated but dry frying pan and cook over a medium heat until any water has been removed and the bacon is just beginning to brown.  Hopefully any fat should have rendered out by now.

4.  Add the spring onion to the bacon pieces and continue to cook until the onion is wilted.  Remove from the heat and set to one side to cool a little.

5.  Taking a large bowl, add the cream cheese and crack in the eggs.  Using a hand whisk mix lightly together until all the lumps are removed.  Season with a good pinch of pepper but do not use any salt - the bacon will be salty enough.

6.  Add the cooled bacon & onion mixture, leaving as much of the bacon fat in the pan as is possible.  Add the rocket leaves and the pine nuts.  I usually chop the pine nuts just a little before adding to the mixture.  Stir until everything is combined, then pour into the filo pastry case.

7.  Break the blue cheese into pieces and scatter them across the top of the filling mix.

8.  Turn down the edges of the filo pastry neatly (I usually roll them), to form a crust around the edge of the filling.

9.  Place into the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the centre of the tart is firm to touch.

10.  Give the tart some 5-10 minutes to cool before turning it out and cutting.

Serve.

Printable version
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Exclusive chocolates from Cocoa Boutique - a review

Now in case anyone sees this review and thinks "OMG!  She ate the entire box?".  No, I didn't.  Well, not in one sitting anyway.  *wink*

No, I truly didn't.  I had help from the chocolate connoisseur that is son & heir.  Regrettably, hubby was unable to take part in this review as the sugar would have sent his head all floaty light and we might have lost him as a result.  He opted to suck on an occasional 70% Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate Button as a consolation prize.

Cocoa Boutique bills itself as "The Luxury Artisan Chocolate Club" and profess to "scour the globe" to find the best Chocolatiers who produce the best chocolates.  I have to confess that (other than the berry flavoured ones, but then that's my "funny about strawberry" thing coming into play) these are indeed extremely good chocolates.  However, do they truly represent in excess of £30-worth of chocolate?  I can see how it could be so, but my heart recoils that something so - I hesitate to say it - but, ordinary as chocolate can be worth so much money.  I'm afraid it's another case of "the world has gone mad".

However, as a package, the Tasting Box is a lovely thing.  I can just imagine that to receive one in the post as a present would be something very special.  The box is postbox friendly (although our postman wasn't convinced and rang the doorbell - but that was probably just as well, as I'm sure our three dogs would have had an interesting few moments with the box, otherwise) and is well packaged.

The initial cardboard outer layer hides a neat black and white box, under which are the hallmarks of expensive chocolates - layers of delicately overlapping tissue paper which make the unwrapping of the box akin to discovering treasure.  The aromas that issue forth from the chocolates within are lovely and do a very good job of tantalising your taste buds!

Two of the chocolates had suffered a little in transit, which was a shame, but the majority were looking as good as they did when they went into the box.  One of the White Strawberry Creams had split, but the damage did no harm to the flavour.  The Rum Cafe Creams had unfortunately both suffered a squashed top - perhaps making them a teensy bit smaller in height would help?

Aside from that, the box of chocolates were all intact and looking mouthwatering.

Here's what we thought of them, individually, together with marks out of 10 :

Pink Champagne Truffle ..  4/10

The truffle inner to this chocolate was slightly on the greasy side, I felt.  It didn't leave a feeling of greasiness, it was just as it melted it was more akin to a slippery, greasy feeling than not.  The flavour is good, although the champagne element soon disperses, to be followed by the white chocolate of the casing and the tartness of the raspberry pieces that decorate it. 

White Strawberry Cream .. 1/10

I loved the glittery pink sugar that coated the white chocolate shell of this one.  It really is very pretty, but unfortunately that is where it stops.  Again, the inner is just so greasy feeling.  It is rather like eating your way through a chocolate filled with bland butter.  Very little strawberry flavour and just GACK! ~shudder~ I was very glad I only had to eat one of these little babies!


Raspberry with a hint of orange .. 7/10

The milk chocolate in this one is really lovely and goes so well with the raspberry and, literally, a hint of orange.  If you like fruity, creamy milk chocolates, you'll love it!


Milk chocolate almond praline .. 11/10

Notice that score?  Eleven out of ten - that's how good this chocolate is.  It is a big mouthful of creamy milk chocolate that is good enough on its own, but then when you add in a roasted whole almond that has been rolled in a touch of salt and the accompanying praline, oh, heaven.  Sheer, complete and utter heaven.  By far and away my favourite chocolate of the lot.


White Chocolate Buttons .. 5/10

At one time, white chocolate was my favourite.  These days it takes a back seat to a good milk and sometimes even a high percentage cocoa dark chocolate.  These white chocolate buttons are what they say they are.  Albeit a tad too sweet for my taste these days, they do - which is unusual - taste of chocolate, at least.

Milk Chocolate Buttons .. 7/10

If only all chocolate buttons tasted as good as these do!  The flavour is rich, rounded and gorgeously chocolatey with a lovely hint of caramel in there somewhere.  Perfect for a quick chocolate fix!

Pamela .. 4/10

These little lovelies caught my eye as soon as the box was opened, with their lovely freckled tops looking all Jackson Pollock in shades of raspberry, lemon and white.  They are supposed to be flavoured with Cassis and Pear, although I couldn't really find any pear in the one I tried.  The dark chocolate casing seems to overpower the flavour, leaving them quite disappointing in that they didn't live up to their appearance. 

Cocoa Dusted Dark Chocolate Salted Caramels .. 10/10

It is only a shame that these share the same box as the Almond Praline, as without that they'd have got the high score of eleven out of ten.  However, as my second best - but second only by a hair - they will have to score a full ten out of ten.  What's not to like?  A casing of dark chocolate that has been dusted in cocoa and filled with rich smooth caramel and that mouthwatering hint of salt.  I'm only glad that there's three of them!


Milk Chocolate Truffle .. 7/10

Now don't get me wrong, these chocolate truffles are by anyone's measure good chocolate truffles.  However, in company with the great chocolates that are in this box, they tend to sit back into the shade of their companions.  They also suffer from the same greasiness as the two berry chocolates but to a much lesser degree.

Rum Cafe Cream .. 8/10

Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, coffee flavouring and rum - four of my favourite things.  For me, the only thing that stops this chocolate becoming one of the greats is its tendency to be a little too sweet.  However, that's nitpicking.  The coffee flavour is fabulous and the mix of the two types of chocolate give this little fellow a depth that others would do well to emulate.


Dark Chocolate Brandy Truffle .. 8/10

Initially a texture more than a flavour, the dryness of the cocoa rolled onto the dark chocolate shell dries the tongue out where it touches.  The flavour of brandy then emerges from the background as an aroma that wafts up the back of your nose prior to gently warming the tongue.  All wrapped up with the glorious richness of dark chocolate, this is a little bit of chocolate mastery.

Vanilla Irish Cream .. 6/10

This one doesn't score so well basically because it lacks the flavour of Irish Cream.  The chocolate is creamy and delicious, but you are left wondering what that faint flavour was and did I miss the Irish Cream somewhere?

70% Ecuador Dark Chocolate Buttons .. 9/10

If there are any left of these by the time this review is done, I am SO going to put them into some muffins.  Yes, it might be a terrible thing to do to expensive chocolate, but then, they'd be superlative muffins.  Oh yes.

Milk Chocolate Honeycomb .. 6/10

I can't help but think that these little knobs of chocolate covered honeycomb were included so that you adults can have something to give to the kids when they spot you're munching your way through a box of fancy chocs.  Yes, they're tasty little morsels, but there's nothing really earthshattering about them.

Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean .. 10/10

I give thanks to whoever decided to include a handful of these coffee flavoured bombs in the Tasting Box.  They are whole crispy coffee beans that have been encased in dark chocolate and as such, are just totally out of this world - so long as you love coffee, which I do.  I like these so much, in fact, that I have taken three and hidden them in a little baggie in my underwear drawer, for those chocolate emergencies or alternatively where I hope I'll forget about them and - one day - find them.  Lucky, lucky me.

Cocoa Boutique is a new company, and they run a membership scheme.  Membership entitles you to receive a monthly box of their chocolates, or alternatively 3-monthly or 6-monthly.  As they go along they will be engaging different Chocolatiers, so the selections will be quite different each time. 

You can find out more about Cocoa Boutique and the chocolates on their website, their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cocoaboutique or follow them on Twitter at @cocoa-boutique where there's even a link to sign up as a chocolate taster - and you wouldn't want to be one of those, now would you?  *wink*

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Barbecue Pork Loin Steaks with Apple, Walnut & Cress Wedge Salad and Cornbread

What a feast this was!

We put this meal together some time ago now, before the weather had turned from being monsoon-like into barbecue weather (albeit briefly) and so the pork steaks were cooked in the oven.

The two that are photographed here are the two from the Westin Gourmet pack (I think there's just the mince to blog about now, just in case you're getting fed up of hearing about Westin Gourmet!).  I was - in the same way as the French chicken - surprised and disappointed to discover that the pork steaks originated in Denmark.  Now we all know that Denmark are famous for their pork and bacon exports - but surely with all the great pork producers here in the U.K. Westin Gourmet could have come up with some British pork?

That aside, the pork steaks were undeniably tender and sweet tasting.  I had bought two pork chops for son & heir and myself to have and I can definitely confirm that the two Loin Steaks were by far the more tender.  Hubby gave me a taster, you see!

For all that, though, I can't help but say that I was happier with my locally produced pork chop, then ever I would have been with the steaks.  I'd take locally produced and more robust over imported and tender any day.  Quite apart from the miles it has travelled, there's always a question in my mind as to how the product got to be that tender.  Had it gone through some procedure(s) that made it so?  There's nothing on the packaging to say the meat has received any such attention and I wouldn't expect there to be.  It just leaves a question mark in my mind.

Anyway, getting back to the recipe side of things, it was another excuse to break out the excellent Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ sauce and I slathered the steaks in it before putting them into a hot oven for 25 minutes or so (slightly longer for the chops, as they were bigger).

I served the pork with a wedge salad of Iceberg lettuce covered with shredded apple, crushed walnuts and cress - finishing it all off with the excellent Mary Berry & Daughter's Caesar Salad Dressing.  Delicious!  The walnuts and apple were scrummy with the cheesy salad dressing and it was lovely to have the crunch and freshness of the Iceberg lettuce.

I had been at something of a loss to think of what sort of carbohydrate to put with this meal.  We'd had a number of potato dishes recently and hubby isn't a great fan of potatoes at the best of times.  Pasta wouldn't do and all the grains such as quinoa and wheat weren't universally liked.  I suddenly remembered that I'd found a bag of cornmeal in the supermarket and bought it with cornbread in mind.  Perfect!   It had been absolutely years since we'd had any cornbread, so that would do the job.

I'd picked up a little jar of Chipotle chilli paste in the "marked down" section of the supermarket, so decided to use some of that along with some cheddar cheese in the cornbread, just to gee it up a little.

Gosh, but I'd forgotten how much I love cornbread.  I remember when I made my first batch and we were so surprised at how "cakey" the texture was.  Like most Brits, I'd been expecting something more "bready" and wasn't sure about this fairy cake texture at all.  That was until I bit into it and got a mouthful of the unique flavour that cornbread has.  That was it, then.  I was a confirmed cornbread fan from thereon in.

With the chipotle past and cheese included, the cornbread bakes up a little heavier than normal, but still with the deliciously corny flavour that all cornbreads have.  The chipotle paste adds a certain warmth and smoky flavour, with the cheesy depth that a good strong cheddar will add.  Gorgeous!

I've included the recipe I used for the cornbread below, just in case you want to try it.  Don't worry about adding flavours (such as the chilli paste or cheese) to it if it's your first go - make it plain (just leave them out) and sample it in its pure form to begin with.  Then you can decide whether you want to jazz it up for your next go.  I'm sure there will be a next go!

CHILLI AND CHEESE CORNBREAD  (makes 9-10 portions)

Ingredients :

190g plain flour
115g corn meal
half a tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
40g sugar
240ml buttermilk (or plain yoghurt)
1 large egg
55g butter, melted
3 tsp chipotle chilli paste
2 big handfuls of grated strong cheddar.

Method :

1.  Preheat the oven to 200degC/400degF/Gas 6.

2.  Grease a 9in baking pan with melted butter - or alternatively line with baking parchment, then grease with melted butter (helps with turning the loaf out).

3.  In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, including the cheese if you're using it.

4.  In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, including the chipotle paste if you're using it.

5.  Add the contents of the small bowl to the large one and mix together quickly but thoroughly.

6.  Pour into the prepared pan and level the surface.  Then bake for approximately 20 minutes (check it at 20 mins, it should be risen and brown on the surface, springy to the touch and a cocktail stick inserted into the middle should come out clean).

7.  Once baked, allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool further.

8.  Is delicious served warm from the oven, but can be kept for a day or so (if you've any left, which is unlikely!).

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