Gourmet Recipes is brought to you by Real Food Direct

If you are looking for picnic ideas this summer why not try one of our seasonal sandwhich filling ideas

Beef and caramelised onion

Rare roast beef, onions sautéed gently until soft and then finished with Balsamico, served in thick slices of bloomer with watercress.

Antipasto sandwich

Artichoke hearts, pitted olives, rocket, Parma ham or salami, sliced tomatoes, rocket, Parmesan and Balsamico on Ciabatta

Turkey and Blue Cheese

Sliced cooked turkey, crumbled blue cheese, walnuts, baby leaves, and Balsamico on sourdough

Imaginative Cuisine – Balsamico Vinaigrettes

Labels: Blue Cheese, Onion, Parma ham, Sandwich, Turkey, Welsh Beef

Ingredients

• 3tbsp Drink Me Spiced Chai
• 50g medium oatmeal
• 2tbsp boiling water
• 50g light muscavado sugar
• 125ml milk
• 50g butter, melted
• 225g plain flour
• 1 x 200g tub Greek style yogurt
• 1½tsp baking powder
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 4tbsp runny honey
• A pinch of salt
• A little extra medium oatmeal for dusting

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6.
2. Place the Spiced Chai in a jug, add the boiling water and stir until dissolved and smooth. Then top this mixture up with the milk and set aside.
3. In a large bowl sift together the plain flour with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Stir in the oatmeal and sugar and make a well in the centre.
4. In a jug mix together the melted butter, yogurt, beaten egg and honey then stir in the Spiced Chai mixture and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir together until just mixed together, if it looks a little lumpy this is fine as over mixing will result in rubbery muffins.
5. Divide the mixture between a 12 hole deep muffin tin lined with muffin cases then sprinkle each with a little extra oatmeal.
6. Cook in the preheated oven for 15–18 minutes or until well risen, golden and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes in their tin before removing and cooling on a wire rack. Just delicious served slightly warm.

Labels: Drink Me, Honey, Spiced Chai, Yogurt, muffins

Serve this delicious bread with cheese and soups or use it to turn beans on toast into a gourmet experience.

* For best results use Traditional Dried Active Yeast if making the loaf in a bread maker and Fast Action Dried Yeast if making by hand.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 rashers smoked back bacon
• 1 1/2tsp/7.5mlsp dried yeast*
• 6floz/175ml water
• 1tsp/5ml sugar
• 6oz/175g strong brown flour
• 41/2oz/125g strong white flour
• 3oz/75g Munchy Seeds Chilli Mix (or another Mix if you prefer)

To bake in a bread maker

1. Trim the rind and fat from the bacon keeping it in one long strip, chop the bacon. Put the fatty rinds into a pan with the onions. Cover and cook over a very low heat for 5 minutes. Discard the rinds, and add the chopped bacon. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Leave to cool.
2. Meanwhile stir the yeast, water and sugar together. Leave for 10 minutes.
3. Put all ingredients into the bread maker and set to mix and cook a 1.5lb/675g loaf immediately (do not use the delay facility). Remove cooked loaf from pan and cool.

To bake in an oven

At step 2 stir all ingredients together (do not mix the fast action yeast with the water first) and knead on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes. Put into a covered bowl and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (approx 1 hour).

Knead for 5 minutes. Shape into an 8in/20cm round and put onto a floured baking sheet. Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. Bake at 210C/425F Mark 7 for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through, (the underside of the loaf will sound hollow when tapped). Cool on a wire rack.

Chilli Munchy Seeds

Labels: Bacon, Onion, bread, chilli, munchy, recipe, seeds

Ingredients

• 8 pork belly rashers
• 30 ml maple syrup
• 30 ml Balsamico
• 1 tsp Chinese 5 Spice
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 small piece of ginger finely diced

Instructions

1. Mix all marinade ingredients together and pour over the pork, leave for a few hours or overnight.
2. Remove the rashers from the marinade and cook on the barbeque until cooked through and nice and golden, brushing with remaining marinade as necessary as they cook.

Imaginative Cuisine Original Balsamico

Labels: Balsamico, Belly Pork, Oriental, Rashers, recipe