Dressings and Dips, Maple Syrup Salad Dressing, Birthday Buffet, Wedding catering

Hi Everyone,

Well what an interesting mix of things we have done this week. On Wednesday I gave a talk on Dressings and Dips to Brigg District Farm Women’s club and it was very well received, many thanks to them for making me so welcome, and to Margaret for her kind words after the demonstration. On Saturday we catered a wedding in Scartho and the weather was absolutely perfect, they had a lovely garden party and it was a pleasure to be there. Wishing the newly weds every future happiness. A birthday buffet in the middle and a picnic delivery rounds off the week. I love the variety my weeks throw at me, never a dull moment at “Your Chef”.

A busy week ahead, we are catering the RAF Elsham reunion celebrations all next weekend and it is always a lovely weekend, makes me feel very proud of the veterans and what they did for us all. There will be entertainment provided and I’m sure they will all have a great time.

For this weeks recipes I decided to give you a couple of dressing recipes that went down very well with the Farm Womens club, with the warm evenings upon us it is almost warm enough to be Al Fresco so I thought something along salad lines might go down well.

Maple Syrup Salad Dressing

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbs horseradish

4 tbsps red wine vinegar

5 tbsps olive oil

1 glove crushed garlic

Blitz together, drizzle over a leaf salad

Stilton or blue cheese dressing

50g/2oz blue cheese

1 tsp of mustard

100g low fat yoghurt

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Whisk all the ingredients together and serve over your salad or as a dip with crudités.


I hope you try the recipes they are both personal favourites of mine, if you do, let me know what you think, feedback is always appreciated.

As always if there is anything you would like to see, or any recipes or culinary dilemmas that you have do not hesitate to ask.

Thank you for reading, enjoy your week.

"YourChef" Chris Sharpe

Curried Liver Stir Fry

Another busy week at “Your Chef” I’m pleased to report. We catered for a lovely gathering at Wrawby on Sunday and the weather was extremely kind to us, the wind dropped and the sun shone perfectly for the duration. We provided a barbecue for the very appreciative guests and the home made desserts went down a storm.

This week I have a demonstration to so for the Farmers Wives and the theme will be salad dressings and dips. I have produced a recipe leaflet to go along with the talk so if anyone would like a copy please e mail me your name and address and I will post you one. There are 8 recipes on it all of which will give your salads a nice twist.

We have a wedding to cater on Saturday and it is a garden party so fingers crossed that the weather is as kind to us this weekend.

Craig, who works for us part time, is getting married to Kim on Friday so many congratulations to them, wishing them every future happiness together.

As most of you know I do some development work for Mr Huda’s Surma Secrets and Mr Huda asked me to try and come up with a liver recipe utilising his herbs and spices. I decided to give a liver stir fry a go and I was extremely pleased with the results, it was very tasty. It has lots of vegetables in it, is high in iron because of the liver and it is full of flavour, if you cut the liver up really small you wouldn’t even know it was liver. And apart from all that it’s very quick to prepare and cook.

Curried liver stir fry

Makes 2 portions

8oz (200g) Pigs liver cut into thin strips

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp Mr Hudas Universal curry paste

300g finely sliced vegetables such as onions, peppers, mushrooms, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrot and courgette.

400g fresh egg noodles

In a bowl stir together the finely sliced liver 1 tsp olive oil and the 2tsps of Mr Hudas universal curry paste.

You need a lidded frying pan and a non stick wok. Heat the lidded frying pan and add the liver and curry paste mix, stirring for 3-4 minutes until the liver is sealed and starting to colour slightly. Turn down the heat and place the lid on, leave to cook slowly for 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile heat 1 tsp of olive oil in the wok until hot, add the vegetables and stir fry unitl they have the desired texture, add the egg noodles and stir fry until they are heated through. Finally add the liver and stir through the vegetable and noodle mix. Serve immediately.

Have a great week, don’t forget to send any culinary questions you may have, if we get enough we will put them on the web site so everyone can benefit.

"YourChef" Chris Sharpe

50th Birthday, Web Site, Bramble and Apple Crumble

Well an eventful week at your chef, we have catered family celebrations, 50th birthdays and we’re looking forward to barbecues this week so finger crossed for the weather to be good at the weekend! A dinner for 100 on Wednesday and then we go onto a busy weekend. The 50th birthday yesterday was blessed with vast amounts of sunshine, so hurrah for the weather men getting it right.

Our new web site is now up and running, check it out at http://www.yourchef.uk.com/ thanks to Mike Thorold for getting up and running and looking great. Please have a browse through it and let us have your comments on it. If anyone needs web services Mike comes highly recommended, please contact us for his details if you require any assistance in this field.

This week’s recipe in keeping with the past few weeks is using seasonal produce. The wonderful bramble, in season, full of flavour, lots of uses, one of your 5 a day etc etc..I was always advised to only pick and eat fruit that ripened above 18” but I suppose it depends on how large the dogs are in your neighbourhood!!

Bramble and apple crumble with oaty topping.

Ingredients:
450g or 1 lb brambles
3 large cooking apples
75g or 3 oz caster sugar
275g or 10oz plain wholemeal flour
75g or 3 oz Scottish rolled oats
100g or 4 oz soft light brown sugar
150g or 5oz butter
Directions:

1. Wash the aggregate fruits
2. Peel, core and chop the cooking apples into cubes.
3. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
4. Stew the blackberries and apples together in the caster sugar and a 2tbsp of water for 10 minutes.
5. Pour the stewed fruits into a shallow pie-dish or individual ramekins.
6. To make the crumble topping, rub together the light brown sugar and the wholemeal flour until a crumbs texture.
7. Then add the rolled oats and soft light brown sugar to the topping mixture and mix the ingredients until balanced. Scottish oats in this recipe can be substituted with oatmeal for a softer texture.
8. Spoon the crumble topping over the stewed blackberries and apples.
9. Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on cook’s preferences for crunchy texture. The topping should be golden brown before serving warm.
10. Serve with custard, ice cream or fresh cream.

We’ll do a meaty recipe next week. As usual if there is anything you would particularly like to see a recipe for on here, just drop us a line. There are some anglo asian recipes on the new web site so it’s definitely worth a look.

Have a great week, don’t forget to send any culinary questions you mat have, if we get enough we will put them on the web site so everyone can benefit.

Have a good week……. "YourChef" - Chris Sharpe

Your Chef Blogg end July

“Your Chef” Blogg

Well firstly congratulations to Louise and Matthew who got married on Saturday in Brigg, we catered for their reception and they had a lovely day. The rain didn’t dampen their enjoyment of the day one iota. The groom’s band played and there were really very good. We wish them every future happiness together.

A busy time ahead at “Your Chef”, with bookings in August being up on last year despite the recession. We have also taken wedding bookings for next year. Christmas parties are proving to be very popular this year and The Angel are holding Christmas parties which promise to be a great night out and which are filing up fast, with some being sold out already. Contact Karen at the Angel Suite for further information.

This week’s recipe is for Lemon Curd Brulee, a really simple but very effective dessert; it is quite rich so make it in small pots. I thought with the jam making season well under way some of you may be also making lemon curd. It is nice served with a ginger snap and a few fresh berries.

Really easy Lemon Curd Brulee (delicious gluten free pudding)
5 minutes plus chilling time
Ingredients
568ml/1 pint double cream
200g/8oz Lemon curd
4-5tsp icing sugar
Method
Whip the cream until nearly stiff
Fold in the lemon curd and spoon in ramekin dishes
Chill over night or for 4 or 5 hours
Sprinkle with icing sugar and blow torch or grill on a high heat until Golden brown

If you have any ideas for recipes to include on the blog please ask away.

Just a short blog this week as it is a day late and I am running out of time….
Much more to tell you this week, watch this space.

Have a great week, don’t forget to send any culinary questions you mat have, if we get enough we will put them on the web site so everyone can benefit.

Have a good week…….

Don’t forget the new website is now live visit www.yourchef.uk.com

We also have a dedicated Caterers site for the Scunthorpe region at www.caterersscunthorpe.co.uk why not pop along and have a look.
Comments as always are welcome.