Our Produce, supplying Staffordshire with great value local food

Serves 4

Ingredients: 300g fish pie mix, 2 chopped spring onions, extra virgin rapeseed oil, bunch of asparagus, 500g risotto rice, at least 2 litres of stock (I use chicken), garlic clove, grated parmesan, lemon juice, parsley, seasoning

Risottos are fab and can be made out of all sorts of ingredients, basically all following the same principle.

Heat a generous tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, fry the spring onions (can be a finely chopped regular onion), add the crushed garlic for a minute ir two and then stir in the risotto rice covering it with the hot oil and onions. Add stock gradually and keep stirring and adding until it’s all absorbed. Just keep adding-don’t let it go dry- it needs to have a wet, sticky sort of consistency (sounds lovely!!). The rice will take about 20 minutes to cook, depending on how firm you like it; add plenty of parmesan to taste, a tablespoon or so of  lemon juice and also salt and pepper. About 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the fish and pop on a lid to steam the fish, making sure there is still enough liquid in the rice for it not to run dry. Meanwhile steam the asparagus in another pan for five or so minutes ready to pop on top of the risotto when you serve, adding a knob of butter. Before serving up the risotto, finish by stirring in a generous quantity of chopped parsley.

Honestly..practice makes perfect…!

Hi Jenny,

Just wanted to say a big thank you for doing my order at such ridiculously late notice. I am so sorry to have been a pain, and was amazed that you managed so much of it! I really didn’t expect it.

The prawns and curry kit went together beautifully on Friday night; the lamb was delicious on Sunday with roasted veg, and today I went for a long walk (9 miles from Tutbury to Hanbury & Fauld and back to Tutbury) with my friend Clare – muscles killing me now! – and put the oxtail in first thing this morning and left it slow cooking all day. That went down a treat with him indoors.

Probably my favourite thing, though, was the Easter chocolates from Bittersweet. They were gorgeous! Real quality chocs.

Thanks so much for your hard work.

Julie

Ingredients: 4 boneless chicken thighs, 2 pork sausages, 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon 

Squeeze the sausagemeat out of the skin and use half of each to make a smaller, skinless sausage. Open up the thighs, place the sausage on the meat and then wrap the chicken around the sausage. Now wrap the bacon rasher around the chicked thigh, place in a baking dish and cook for 30-40 minutes in a hot oven.

(Get inventive – you can always stuff the thighs with something else..how about some finely chopped mushroom and spring onion, with some spinach all just pre-sauteed in butter with a little garlic?) Let me know the results of any experiments!

I’m celebrating this week, as I’ve had my first recipe submission from a customer…come on the rest of you..SHARE your secrets! I haven’t yet tried this myself but it sounds intriguing..

Ingredients: Tin of prunes (or 12 dried soaked overnight and stewed until tender), 12 whole blanched almonds, 8oz/227g plain flour, 1 egg yolk, 10z sugar, pinch of salt, a little white wine or cider to mix paste. To garnish: 2oz caster sugar and grated plain chocolate.

Pop an almond in the centre of each prune, replacing the stone if it’s still in. Mix a pastry paste with the flour, salt, egg yolk, sugar and wine. Roll out the pastry and cut into 12 rounds, enough to wrap each prune. Once wrapped, bake in a moderate oven on a well buttered baking tray for about 30 minutes, turning half way through. Roll in the sugar and chocolate to finish. Sounds great!

 and it has eased my weekly shopping burden.  The seasonal produce is really good and we have enjoyed trying different varieties of vegetables which you can’t get in the supermarkets. 

Claire, Draycott in the Clay

(Fantastic with sausage or gammon and egg, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms!!)

Ingredients: Rapeseed oil, potatoes. At least one large potato per person!

Simply peel and cut the potatoes into chunky-chip-sized piece . Par boil for about 5 minutes; meanwhile put a couple of teaspoons of oil in one or two roasting tins/dishes (depending on how many you are making) and pop them in a hot oven. Drain the potatoes well, and spread them, ideally just one layer deep, into the hot fat in the roasting tins, shake about a bit to coat the chips and the cook for about 40 minutes, giving them another good shake about half way through.

No more Mc Cains ever again!!!!