Staff home testing - is it ever too early to BBQ?

Written by Suze
Published on 19th March 2015 at 14:53 • No comments yet, be the first!

Although winter is still hanging on rather firmly (come on sun, it's March already...), in the Spicery Kitchen we're well into testing recipes for summer spiceboxes, and even autumn! So this month the staff recipe-tester-volunteers found themselves faced with a rather summery selection of foods. Here's how they got on - enjoy your sneak-peek at some upcoming recipes!

Andrea - order processer - Chicken Cafreal (upcoming WK Discoverer Box)

How to choose?! Halloumi or chicken...I had taste-tested this recipe at work cooked with both, so I found it very difficult to choose which to use when it came to cooking it at home. So I did both!

And I'm very glad I did so. I divided the marinade between the chicken and the halloumi, skewered them separately and put them under the grill to cook. The mango chutney that accompanied the dish (careful, hot!) was way easier to make than I ever thought a chutney could be, as were the raita and salad.

With my homemade chapatis, the dinner really turned out well and I'd definitely make it again as a midweek meal. Josh - marketing and media - Karahi Paneer with methi naan breads and pineapple chutney (FNC Vegetarian upcoming box)

With a new found love of paneer meeting my long term love affair with naan this spread was right up my street. This was actually my first time ever cooking paneer which taught me a valuable teflon-coated lesson: non-stick all the way. As I scraped the adhered cheese from the base of my cast iron casserole I realised my mistake. Otherwise the cooking went pretty smoothly though I didn't keep a particularly close eye on the clock so ended up eating a fair bit later than intended!. The curry and naan really hit the spot but the surprise star of the show was the pineapple chutney which really helped to set it all off - delicious alternative to its mango based brother.

NAAN HOT TIP: when cooking the breads make sure you've rolled the dough out nice and thin and have very hot pan - it seemed to help the bread bubble up for the semi-pro look.

Robyn - spice blender - Date Night in Buenos Aires (current Date Night box) I’ve always fancied jetting off to Argentina, and this week I got the chance to go there via the testing of Date Night in Buenos Aires. The starter of empenadas proved difficult (chorizo & sweet potato filled pastries) seeing as I forgot that I don’t actually own a rolling pin. I came up with a genius idea to use the cling film roll to roll out the pastry, it worked a treat! I wish the same could be said about the filling and closing of the little things, but they were definitely worth it.

The steak was great, and served with the chimichurri was incredible, no more peppercorn sauce for me. The other half forced me to cook veggies even though we had a salad, she later said after I had cooked them that we didn’t need them, cheers then! Dessert was spiced dulce de leche and after forgetting to buy the shortbread I knocked some up with my new found rolling pin! A great end to a dreamy date night in South America.

Jess - HR and customer service - Indian BBQ (Big Night In box coming soon!)

A BBQ in March is a bad idea, problem number 1 - where do you get charcoal from at the beginning of March? Luckily a friend had hoards left from the summer before so we were away.

I set about the cooking, following every instruction to a T until the milky mix for the naans didn’t start frothing... I decided to race ahead and get a few more bits done whilst I waited for a reaction but alas nothing. Turns out I had put about 3 x the amount of milk I needed, hence the lifeless mixture. I thought another tablespoon of yeast would fix it but no, start again, and start again I did.

By this point the order of ceremonies had gone right out the window and with the clock ticking I raced my way through as many stages as I could. Along with the first few pitter patters of rain the BBQ set alight and we all ferried into the freezing garden.

Despite the horrendous state of the kitchen and the freezing noses and toes, all the food went down a storm, the kids were loving the chicken and soft paneer cubes, the veggies all got eaten and even the skeptical huddle who stood around the warming BBQ watching me unstick dough from my fingers onto the griddle were surprisingly pleased with the outcome (perhaps a few comments about them being ‘well-done’).

Pudding was served indoors with warm cups of unwatered down chai tea (there was no way I was opening the freezer for ice ). The Mumbai Mess was less spicy than it could have been but still delicious and well deserved, and definitely appreciated by the kids!

As the last guest walked out of the door, two new ones arrived and helped us finish off the leftovers with dry-fried naans and a bit of bombay mix!

Suze - recipe developer - Catalan Seafood Fideua (upcoming WK Discoverer box)

Chorizo, pasta, peas...this dish ticked off three of my favourite foods in one, perfect to take home and test! A lucky friend was having a birthday and came over for dinner, so I served up this pasta version of paella to great applause. I enjoyed stirring that enormous amount of paprika into the softened onions and peppers, and then all it needed was a splosh of fragrant saffron stock and the vermicelli….and it was done!

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It looked impressive, but actually took very little time to make (helpful as I was trying to subtly bake a cake too!). Loved the aioli on the side, and it’s a dish I’ll definitely make again for myself :)

Tung - head of ingredients -

I decided to do this month’s WKDiscover & dessert for this month’s testing, interestingly this month’s WKD is my dads own recipe for an Vietnamese beef stew. Cooking someone their own recipe is always a anxious affair especially when the person is your dad however he was delighted that we nearly kept to the original recipe.

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The instructions were clear and the aromatic aroma of the five spice sent a very savory smell across the house, occasionally I had to ward off my hungry little sister who kept on trying to gain a glance of the stew. One downside to the stew according to my dad was the heat level, he would of liked it to be much hotter however I had to explain to him that many of our customers may not have the same heat tolerance which he thought was fair.

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The dessert was a real treat both my mum and dad really enjoyed the dessert which is a huge compliment since they rarely ever eat desserts, the biggest fan of the dessert was my little sister who now after tasting the dessert has demanded I cook a dessert every time I come home. the instructions were very clear although we had a slight problem with the caramel sauce which we thought was splitting but we allowed time to take its course and it came out wonderful, GREAT WORK DEVELOPMENT TEAM !

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