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Spice up your alfresco dining this summer with chillies

Now that the fine weather finally seems to have arrived, its time to dust off the barbecue and get ready for some alfresco dining. To add a little more heat to this years barbecues, why not spice up things a bit by trying this great recipe for barbecued prawns marinated in soy and chilli, courtesy of the chilli guru Dan May and taken from his first recipe book; The Red Hot Chilli Cookbook.

Dan May is the founder of the Trees Can’t Dance brand of chilli, and in this fabulous new recipe book, he shares his favourite recipes that celebrate the fiery pepper, and also provides information on the history of the chilli, how to successfully grow them at home and how to recognise the key varieties and fully maximise their flavours.

In this fabulous book, founder of the Trees Can’t Dance chilli brand Dan May shares his favourite recipes celebrating the fiery pepper as well as providing information on the history of chillies, how to grow them at home and how to identify the key varieties and maximize their flavour.

The Red Hot Chilli Cookbook published by Ryland, Peters and Small is available on Amazon and on general release from the end of February, priced at £16.99.

Barbecue Prawns Marinated in Chilli & Soy

Here’s a great Asian marinade that is really quick and simple to make and just perfect for prawns. Marinating in a bag is also an excellent way to ensure everything gets an even coating of sauce. My favourite aïoli is the ideal accompaniment for the spicy prawns and juicy tomatoes.

500 g raw tiger prawns, peeled but tails intact

250 g cherry vine tomatoes

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 large green sweet pepper, deseeded and cut into 3-cm chunks

2 red Jalapeños, deseeded and cut into 1-cm pieces

watercress and toasted pita bread, to serve

Marinade

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Fresh aïoli

2 large egg yolks

4 very fresh garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

150 ml good-quality light olive oil

freshly squeezed juice of 1⁄2 lemon

medium sealable plastic food bag

8 wooden skewers, soaked in water overnight

gas or charcoal barbecue

Serves 4

To make the marinade, mix together all the ingredients and blend to a smooth purée using a hand blender. If you don’t have a hand blender, grind to a paste using a pestle and mortar.

Put the prawns in the sealable food bag and pour in the marinade. Seal securely. Shake vigorously and when all the prawns/shrimp look well coated, refrigerate, still in the bag, for about 2 hours.

Put the tomatoes and half the olive oil in a small saucepan and gently warm for 5 minutes, or just long enough for the tomatoes to start to soften. Remove from the heat and let cool.

To make the fresh aioli, beat the eggs yolks in a large bowl with a balloon whisk. Add the garlic and mustard and beat through. While beating the mixture, slowly add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream. When all the oil has been added, the aïoli should have a smooth, velvety appearance. Add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and gently stir through. Refrigerate until needed.

Light your barbecue. Always do this in plenty of time to have built up a good bed of hot ashes or charcoal that have burnt down to a white glow with no visible flames. This normally takes about 45 minutes from lighting.

Take the refrigerated prawns out of the bag and place on a plate, reserving any remaining marinade. Thread the marinated prawns, tomatoes, sweet pepper and Jalapeños onto the skewers in a repeating sequence and continue until all 8 skewers are filled. Make sure you allow for enough of each ingredient on each skewer, and leave enough space at the ends of the skewers to handle when on the barbecue.

In a small bowl, loosen the reserved marinade with 1–2 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil. Using a pastry brush, liberally coat the skewers with the marinade just before placing on the barbecue.

Cook for a couple of minutes on each side until the prawns/shrimp turn pink and are cooked through. Serve with watercress, toasted pita bread and a good dollop of fresh aïoli.

My Tip: Be sure to soak the wooden skewers thoroughly, preferably overnight, before making up the skewers for the barbecue. This will prevent them from catching fire while you are cooking!

Recommended Chillies: For the skewers – Jalapeño, Cherry Bomb. For the marinade – Thai-style hot red chilli or red Bird’s Eye.

Owners of Indian restaurants in the UK have said that they are facing a crisis as immigration rules have tightened up making it difficult for them to hire chefs from India. It is estimated that the Indian restaurant market in the UK is worth over £3 billion and the owners of these restaurants have said that they need to employ Indian people so their dishes are made in the appropriate manner.

However, the immigration authorities believe that an Indian person is not necessary to be able to cook an Indian curry. He believes the restaurant should focus on training more British workers to fill the jobs, rather than focusing on bringing in foreign chefs from India.

Several colleges in the UK have already begun offering courses which are able to teach students the complex skills required to cook some of the most popular Indian dishes. An example of this opportunity is a course run by Bradford College, and they are seeing many non-Asian applicants.

The reason why employment has become more difficult for Indians is that the occupation shortage list no longer includes this profession. New regulations also state that chefs that have been employed from outside the EU must be paid at least £28,000 per year. The owners of Indian restaurants have stated that this is simply something they cannot afford to pay.It is estimated that there are over 11,000 Indian restaurants in the UK and they are responsible for employing around 100,000 people. The head of the British Curry Awards is Enam Ali and he has commented, “Skilled curry chefs from India are now no longer able to get a UK Visa and this is going to put the Indian restaurant industry in some amount of trouble.”

Additional regulations from the immigration authorities, such as minimum skill levels, are also making employment difficult.

San Miguel is a beer company that has never before extended its brand beyond its signature beer in the UK. However, this is about to change with the launch of San Miguel Fresca. The company describe this new product as a, “Refreshing lager that is perfect for drinking in the sun and can be enjoyed with a piece of lime.” The product has been created through a partnership between the San Miguel Brewery and Carlsberg UK.

The name of the new beer comes from the word Fresca, which is used in Spain to describe the chilled drink that is capable of quenching thirst. A statement released by San Miguel stated, “We are using our finest barley and hops in the production of this beer and we think it provides an invigorating and refreshing beverage that consumers are going to be able to enjoy in the UK for the first time this year.”

The beer comes in bottles which are 330 millilitres in size, and it contains 4.4 percent alcohol. It is part of Carlsberg’s portfolio in the UK which includes other beers such as Staropramen, Mahou, and Tuborg. It is expected that the company are going to be spending around £6 million on the marketing of the new beer, which is going to be formed of a combination of press advertising, outdoor posters and digital marketing.

The director of marketing for Carlsberg is David Scott and he has commented, “There is a strong demand in the UK for refreshing beer and we think that San Miguel is the perfect brand to take this sort of drink forward. We think that the drink will be very successful and will be met with substantial support, we are sure the marketing campaign is going to be effective in introducing this new beer to the population.”

While it is not a new fruit, the pineberry is making its first appearance in large commercial markets. The fruit recently received a lot of attention and many stores across the country sold out of the fruit very quickly.

The story of the fruit dates back to 2003, when three Dutch people were in France and they found a fruit that look similar to a strawberry and brought it back to the Netherlands with them. The plant they thought was a strawberry created a white fruit with red seeds, but despite the plant looking similar to a strawberry, it is said to have a taste that is closer to a mix between pineapple and strawberry.

After several generations of carefully growing the plants, it was strong enough to be grown on a commercial scale. This process has taken six years and the fruit is now being offered through a company called VitalBerry, which is based in Holland, and the fruit is going to be sold in Waitrose supermarkets.

The reviews about the new fruit have been mixed. Some culinary experts are saying that the sale of these fruits is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and they say the fruits taste rather watery. However, other experts have been saying that the fruit is fantastic.

There are some problems that are going to be faced by companies that want to deliver the pineberry to the retail market. For one, the berries are very small when compared to typical strawberries and each plant produces a very small number of the berries.

If the new fruit is going to be commercially successful, then there needs to be a proof of demand from commercial buyers first. If this doesn’t take place then there simply is not going to be enough money to develop the fruit into a scalable product.

Chocolate heaven awaits you in Bournemouth hotel this Easter

Easter is all about chocolate, and for those chocoholics out there who want more than your usual fare, then you need to book yourself into Bournemouth’s unique and chic Chocolate Boutique hotel. Gerry Wilton is the chocopreneur who has created the first chocolate themed hotel in the world, and a night or two here is a luxuriously indulgent experience.

From the moment you enter this hotel you will be able to scoop up handfuls of dark, milk and white chocolate buttons, and when you reach your cosy room, decorated in chocolate hues obviously, you can dip fresh strawberries into a fountain of cascading chocolate.

If you want to lift your spirits still further, head to the Chocolate Bar where you can down a decadent chocolate martini or perhaps a chockywockyminty ‘chocktail’ or two before nestling into one of the hotel’s 13 chic chocolate themed bedrooms, such as the Aztec, Maya or Montezuma.

And as each room comes with its own complimentary selection of heavenly handmade chocolates, you can indulge yourself while watching chocolate themed videos such as Chocolat or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory***.

Although the Chocolate Boutique Hotel is already chock-a-block for the Easter weekend itself, there are still some rooms available midweek.

Prices start at £120 per night for a double. To find out more, ring The Chocolate Boutique Hotel on 01202 556857, email info@thechocolateboutiquehotel.co.uk or go to www.thechocolateboutiquehotel.co.uk

When you think of gift hampers, what does that really make you think of? Tins of meat, jars of pickles, biscuits and trifle mix delivered to your door for Christmas in a cardboard box? If this is the only experience you have had with hampers then you seriously need to get online and see what you can buy these days. Gift baskets and hampers are the perfect gift for any gender, any occasion and they will always be appreciatively received.

Food, drink, wine, chocolates or a combination of all, there is a hamper to suit literally everyone. If you want to send a hamper to someone that contains a long lasting memento then you can even get them with cute, cuddly toys. If you haven’t looked for yourself at the great hampers that can be ordered online and delivered straight to your door then you really don’t know what you’re missing.

They are also a lot more reasonable than many people think, and you will be able to find a hamper to satisfy the needs of the recipient whatever your budget. Take Mother’s Day or Father’s day for example, you can easily spend a small fortune on a decent bouquet of flowers that, despite following the instructions to the letter and tipping the sachet into the water, barely last a week if you are very lucky.

A wine or champagne and chocolate for mum and a beer basket for dad will be greatly more appreciated than flowers and socks. If you are looking for a hamper for a teetotaller, then you can get them with special blends of tea and ground coffee, complete with mini snacks such as flapjacks and muffins to make their afternoon tea or coffee break extra special.

Birthdays and Christmas can also be taken off within just a few clicks of the mouse, and they will all be delivered to you, suitably and beautifully packaged, all ready for you just to hand to the lucky recipient. You will soon realise as well that while many will grin and bear the 7^th pair of slippers or 12^th pair of socks they have received, their eyes will light up at the goodies contained within their hamper and won’t be able to wait to dive in.

In short, there is no such person as the one who has everything, or the one that is impossible to buy for. With so many hampers available, nobody has everything and even the hardest to buy for will now be easily satisfied.

Article for hampergifts.co.uk

Nothing adds a special spice to a summer party then the spice that comes from Hormel Foods. Therefore, if you want to plan an Al Fresco party this summer you may want to take a look at the wide selection of recipes that the pros over at Hormel Foods have come up with.

Three great varieties to try out from the folks over at Hormel Foods are the STAGG Barbecue Chili, STAGG Classic Chili Con Carne, and STAGG HOMESTEAD Chili.

Each only has 5% of fat in them and is loaded with tons of high quality ingredients such as beans, ripe tomatoes, juicy beef, rich spices, mouth watering jalapenos, and various peppers.

Great on a jacket potato or a taco, it is truly an easy and tasteful BBQ snack all in one. For those guests who prefer things are the spicy hot side, they will certainly appreciate the fiery hot STAGG® Dynamite Hot, which definitely lives up to its name and packs a punch as an accompaniment to the usually tame burgers and sausages!

Vegetarians on the other hand, can get stuck into delicious STAGG® Vegetable Garden Chili, made to an authentic American recipe and packed full of spicy veggie goodness – from sun ripened tomatoes, kidney and green beans to potatoes, onions, carrots, green peppers and, of course, chilis for that extra kick! Ideal for both Vegetarians and Vegans, it’s less than 1% fat.

The entire range of seven varieties complements warm pitta bread, jacket potatoes, tortillas and rice perfectly, and are available from Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op, with a RRP of £1.99 for a 400g can. For further information on STAGG® Chili, visit www.staggchili.co.uk.