Gourmet Recipes is brought to you by Real Food Direct

You could win lots of tasty Christmas treats worth £50
Five lucky users will win a Luxury Fine Food Hamper from realfooddirect.co.uk packed full of mouth-watering treats.

Christmas is the time to indulge in the very best luxury food, so what better way to celebrate the festive season than with a foodie gift for your family?

This fantastic range of gourmet goodies provides treats for everyone, from chocoholics to diabetics and coeliacs.

For more information visit: www.goodtoknow.co.uk

Labels: Uncategorized

For years we have been persuaded and pressured into calling Christmas trees Holiday trees and Christmas cards Holiday cards. We are even encouraged, so as not to offend anyone, that we should wish people “Happy Holidays” not Happy Christmas. Oh really? Well Real Food Direct has got news for you. We want to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and that’s why our hampers are called Christmas Gift Hampers. Not Holiday Hampers.

Real Food Direct is a totally independent online retailer offering a range of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh food and beverages all of which have been produced by the very best companies in the independent food sector. We also supply a great range of high quality sustainable products from both World and European sources.

For instance our fine quality French Champagne is presented in an attractive but simple “Champagne & Chocolate” hamper priced at only £34.95. Then we have our box of South African delights at only £32.95. And those prices as with all our great hampers are subject to a 10% discount if ordered before the end of October 2009.

Real Food Direct only supplies the very best quality hampers at excellent prices and of course they are delivered either to your doorstep or the house or business of your friends. So please order any hamper from our extensive range now or before the end of October. When you place the order, whether it’s for the delightful Mulled Wine and Mince Pie Hamper at only £19.95 or the fabulous Luxury Hamper at £199.95 we will give a 10% discount bonus. Just enter the voucher code HAMPER when you place your order.

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Cranberry Jelly
This is a delicious relish that is great for any left over Christmas lunch or even with your roast. Packed with lovely fruits and spices, it is fantastic with cold meats, in sandwiches it is far too good to save just for Christmas, cranberries are a superfood and very healthy so feel good and choose this relish all year round.
Buy Hawkshead Cranberry Jelly

Christmas Pudding Gluten-free
Jenkins and Hustwit produces an excellent selection of superb, highest quality hand-crafted speciality cakes, fruit cakes, Christmas Cakes, Christmas Puddings and other products for its many discerning customers.
Buy Jenkins & Hustwit Gluten-free Christmas Pudding

Mulled Wine and Mince Pie Gift Box
This is a great gift or you could just buy it for you and the partner. It includes all the components you need for a cosy night in front of the fire!
Contents: Gourmet Mulling Syrup 200ml, Handmade Star Mince Pies x 6, French Red Wine 75cl Chateau Lauduc Bordeaux Claret
Buy Mulled Wine and Mince Pie Gift Box

Gourmet Mulling Syrup
A non alcoholic syrup which contains a special blend of spices. You can use it to make mulled wine, cider or juice. When heated, it fully dissolves and doesn’t leave any residue or powdery aftertaste, which can sometimes occur with sachet type alternatives. Simply add to your chosen drink in an 8:1 ratio, heat and serve.
Buy Selsley Herb & Spice Gourmet Mulling Syrup

View Real Food Directs complete Christmas food selection

Labels: Christmas food, Christmas lunch, Gourmet

Another flagship food hall has gone into liquidation this week – Farmer’s City Market in Richmond. This is concerning for the industry as I know there are other embryonic plans in the industry based on its perceived success. This latest set-back follows the failure of Food Inc in Bayswater at the beginning of the year and the well-documented struggles of Wholefoods Market in Kensington who continue to announce large losses.

In British Food Fortnight, what is the future for urban food halls concentrating on selling British produce to the British public? I am particularly keen to find out the answer to this question as I have lost £15,000 in bad debts to the two outlets named above in this calendar year. I am wondering whether we should continue to offer credit accounts to these potentially large customers. This week I would really value some thoughts on why places like this aren’t prospering as the rest of the industry seems to be. I was at a well-known farm shop in the North of England yesterday, who is reporting year on year growth of around 15%. Our turnover as a wholesaler is projected to be around the same for this financial year – and this is largely due to farm shops buying more from us. Regular readers of this blog will know that we celebrated our 10th anniversary earlier this year by inviting our top 50 customers. The vast majority were farm shops, not urban food halls. (more…)

Labels: food halls, markets

Drink Me Chai is a luxurious blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, black tea, milk and sugar. Its the perfect way to cheer up the day and take 10 minutes out for pure kind thoughts. New for this year is the Fairtrade Chai Gift box which was received very well at IFE 2007

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 4tsp Drink Me Spiced Chai
• 2tbsp boiling water
• 50ml Baileys
• 25ml vodka
• 100ml milk
• a handful of ice cubes
• to decorate, chocolate shavings and cinnamon sprinkles

Method

In a jug combine the Spiced Chai with the boiling water and stir until dissolved and smooth. Transfer the Spiced Chai mixture to a cocktail shaker, add the Baileys, vodka, milk and a few ice cubes and shake until well mixed. Strain the mixture into an ice filled highball glass then dust with chocolate shavings and cinnamon sprinkles before serving immediately.

Drink Me Chai

Labels: Chai, Spiced Chai, cocktail, spiced