September 2013

Spicing up the bumper harvest!

We’ve had some amazing sunny weather this year which will hopefully bring with it a huge glut of late summer fruit and vegetables.

Fantastic as it is having lots of fruit and veg, it’s sometimes hard to think of new and interesting ways to use it - that’s where spices can come in to create new and exotic dishes or simply liven up your standard recipes! Here’s a few ideas using this month’s free sample, cassinamon (a spicery invention which is a 50:50 blend of cassia and cinnamon):

Turlu Turlu - a spiced, roasted version of the Mediterranean favourite, ratatouille. The aubergines and tomatoes in this dish work particularly well with the warming, sweet flavour of the cassinamon. Toss some chopped summer veg (a mixture of aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes and onions) with a drained tin of chickpeas, a good glug of olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 2 cloves of garlic and a really big pinch of the cassinamon. Roast in the oven for around 1 hour or until the veg is softened and starting to brown around the edges. Serve with rice or jacket potatoes.

Apple chutney - a tasty method for preserving some of that surplus autumnal fruit. Bring to the boil 1kg of chopped, peeled and cored cooking apples with 1 chopped onion, 400g sugar, 400ml vinegar and 1 tsp chilli flakes together with the free sample of cassinamon. Cook for 30 minutes or until the apples have broken down and the mixture is thick and jam-like. Serve with chunks of cheese and some crusty bread.

Blackberry & Apple Crumble - the classic fruit crumble with an added bit of Spicery magic! Cook a couple of large peeled, cored cooking apples with a couple of handfuls of blackberries, 4 heaped tbsp of sugar and the contents of the free sample of cassinamon until the apples have just broken down. Cover with your favourite crumble topping and bake in the oven until golden brown.

Happy Spicing!