School Holi-yays!

School's out for...spring? That's the song right?

The kids have been released from school and are roaming the pleasant pastures of freedom, for two weeks at least. So we're celebrating the little chefs around the spice-nation and we are here to offer a few ideas for keen kiddie cooks! We've had some wonderful entries into our Wall of Fame by junior spicerers and we want to encourage many more to take part during their time off!

Granted not all dishes have been successful, below demonstrates the necessity for shots of milk while chowing down on a particularly pokey spicebox, but we love the enthusiasm!

Take a look at this brilliant Little Chef sent in by Gemma. He is looking pleased as punch after completing his first curry! I would be too! We particularly love the matching hat and apron (perhaps a Spicery side project?!)

Here's little Bailey, brilliantly demonstrating the various spice packets included in a typical spicebox! At only 6 years old, he's probably one of the youngest spicerers we've ever had, we're lucky he took the time away from cooking Big Plate Chicken to pose for this picture sent in by Sarah. We hope his sous chef in the background is keeping things under control in his absence!

Cooking our recipes with Poppy and Sophie is an absolute breeze! We were reliably informed by Mum that it was 'so easy, even a 10 year old can cook it!' Good job guys!

So to channel the energy of these exemplary junior spicerers, we have a couple of recipes which will be great for the family to try out together over the Easter holidays. First up we have the Persian Khoresht. A subtle fragrant spiced stew, which isn't packed with chilli, so you can put away the milk shots! We’re serving it with a delicious mint and garlic butter-coated yogurt along with sabzi polow - sabz means ‘green’ in Persian, see, they're still being educated outside of school!

If the kiddies like a bit of constructive cooking, then Yucatan Tacos will be perfect! With a colourful mix of flavours, this kit is for slightly more adventurous ones, but I'm sure they'll be up for the challenge!

Finally, to celebrate this lovely season and to please the children with a particular sweet tooth, (which is all of them right?) we have Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Jamaican Pineapple Upside Down Cake

It's a traditional favourite in Jamaica and our sophisticated, spiced up version is easy to make and looks really impressive! Jamaican Upside Down Cake

• Total Time: 1 hour
• Serves: 8

• Heat rating: 1/5
• Dietary stuff: Contains dairy & gluten

Ingredients

• ½ a small ripe pineapple (or about 200g ready prepared pineapple) - peeled, cored and chopped into bite size pieces
• 200ml double or whipping cream
• 80g butter
• 3 medium eggs
• 320g soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 200g self-raising flour (or use plain flour plus 1 tsp baking powder)
• 150ml sunflower oil
• Mixing bowl
• Baking parchment
• Whisk
• A sous chef (one adult!)
• 22cm (approx.) round cake tin greased and lined with a single piece of baking parchment (don’t leave any gaps at the base for the caramel to leak out)

Spices

• CAKE WHOLE SPICES: 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 bay leaves
• CAKE GROUND SPICES: 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• CREAM SPICES: ½  tsp ground allspice, ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C/gas mark 4
2. Put 120g of the soft brown sugar and the butter in the lined cake tin with the CAKE WHOLE SPICES and place in the oven for 5 minutes or till the butter melts
3. Mix the flour, the remaining soft brown sugar,the CAKE GROUND SPICES, and a big pinch of salt in a bowl. Beat together the oil and eggs, then gently mix into the dry ingredients to form a batter
4. Remove the tin from the oven and mix the melted butter and sugar, then arrange the pineapple in the tin on top of the CAKE WHOLE SPICES
5. Spoon the batter over the top then smooth over and bake for 40 minutes or until the cake has risen, is springy to the touch and when you insert a skewer into the centre it comes out clean.  Leave to cool, in the tin, for 5 minutes
6. Whip the cream to soft peaks with the CREAM SPICES and the caster sugar
7. Carefully get your Sous Chef (the adult!) to turn the cake out onto a serving plate and remove the baking parchment.
8. Serve the cake warm or cool (don’t eat the CAKE WHOLE SPICES, they're a bit crunchy!) with the allspice whipped cream on the side!  

Yum yum! We all hope you enjoy the holidays and fingers crossed for lovely weather! Finally, we'll leave you with Eva's moment of magic while sampling her first Ancho Chilli Chocolate Pot!

Happy Spicing!