When I was 9 years old I saw the Disney film, The Moonspinners, starring  Haley Mills.  It instilled in me a hunger to visit Greece, which has remained a dream for me up until this very present day.  It is on my bucket list of things I want to do before I die and God willing one year I will actually make it!


Greece is set once more to become a prime holiday destination for Brits this summer, following an increase of 11% in the number visitors from the UK in 2013.  Greek speciality foods producer Gaea has created a beautiful hat trick of recipes using it's authentic tapenades and top quality Greek olive oils to get sun seekers into  Greek holiday mode!

Promising a heavenly taste of sun-kissed Greece, this three-course extravaganza features delicious offerings from the Gaea range, and offers a wonderfully unique chocolate mousse that combines chocolate and the finest Greek olive oil.

Enjoy your meal!

 

Prepare the couscous according to the package directions, using either water or chicken stock.  Add the remaining ingredients and fluff with a fork.  Let stand for 15 minutes and then serve.




Combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs with the exception of the flour and oil for frying.  Knead well. Cover and chill the mixture for 30 minutes.   Shape into meatballs.  Flour lightly.   Heat some olive oil in a large skillet.   Once the oil is hot add the meatballs and fry them in the hot oil until lightly browned and cooked through.


Once fried, the meatballs may be eaten along, packed inside flat breads, or served covered with tomato sauce with spaghetti and for extra Greek authenticity, sprinkle with kefalograviera cheese.




Melt the chocolate over low heat.   Stir in the olive oil and Cointreau.    Beat the egg yolks together with half of the sugar until the mixture becomes fluffy with an electric mixer.  Mix this with the chocolate mixture.  Using clean beaters and a clean bowl, beat together the egg whites and remaining sugar, along with a pinch salt, until stiff peaks form.   Fold this into the chocolate mixture along with the orange zest. Chill, covered, in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.  Divide between individual bowls to serve, garnishing each serving with some whipped cream and chocolate flakes if desired.



Olive oil in Greece, which dates back 4000 years, is globally acknowledged for its purity and exceptional taste. More than 80% of the Greek olive oil is extra virgin, which is the top-ranked classification category in the world. This constitutes Greece as the world’s largest producer of extra virgin olive oil. Gaea’s extra virgin olive oil’s superior quality is appreciated by the international trade, which is the reason why Gaea’s exports to all markets are constantly increasing at a fast pace. Moreover, Gaea produces the 1st Extra Virgin Olive Oils in the world that have been certified Carbon Neutral!


 


Natural ingredients from Gaea – the Greek “Mother Earth” are finely chopped, crushed, or blended to make Gaea’s unique tapenades. They are flavoured with other ingredients such as garlic, herbs and lemon, and can be served as a Greek- meze, the typical Greek appetizer to savour and share. Gaea’s tapenades:

Are exclusively made from natural ingredients
Are combined by traditional, authentic recipes of the oldest and healthiest Mediterranean cuisine and serving suggestions. 

For more recipe suggestions check out the Recipe Folder on the Gaea website.

   

I was so excited to learn earlier this month that Heck Sausages are now available at Asda.  You may remember me getting to try them last year and we fell right in love with them.   So happy that I can now buy them closer to our home.  (Asda is the UK's version of Walmart.)    

  

They only have the two flavours at the moment, the meaty ones and the apple ones, but hopefully they will add more as time goes on.  In any case I picked up a package of each when we were there the other day.  They are just so good, I could not resist!  Today I used the apple ones in a delicious stove top braise.  


   


I also had a small cabbage which needed using up, what they call a white cabbage over here, but back home we just called it cabbage.   I browned the sausage and then added thinly shredded cabbage to the pan, and allowed it to wilt slightly before adding some thyme and apple juice, popped on a lid and let it bubble away.



After about 20 minutes or so, I removed the cabbage and kept it warm, whilst I finished cooking the sauces in the pan juices, until they were golden brown all over and lightly glazed with the juices.  A couple of them served hot on top of that lovely cabbage and along side some carrots and some of this spring's Jersey Royal potatoes made for a simple, yet beautiful supper.   Delicious!



*Braised Bangers and Cabbage*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Easy and delicious.  This is a meal that cooks itself.

8 good quality thick and meaty sausages
225ml of cloudy Apple juice (1 cup)
2 TBS runny honey
1/2 tsp dried thyme

Spam was not something which we ever had when I was growing up.  I am not sure why that was.  We never had tinned meat of any kind except for deviled ham, which my mother sometimes bought to make our sandwiches for lunch with.  It came in a tin which was placed inside a paper wrapper decorated with little red devils.  I am not sure, but I think the devils somehow made it taste better!



The one and only tme I can remember ever enountering Spam was at school.  A boy in my class wanted to trade his Spam sandwiches with my peanut butter ones.   I wouldn't trade because I did not know what Spam was and I was a bit afraid of trying something that I had never had before.   Besides, I really liked peanut butter.

 

I was very lucky.  I grew up in a country that was untouched by war in my lifetime and I had a father with a really good job.  People over here in the UK have not been that lucky.     Having been through two World Wars, and rationing, etc.  tinned meat is something which has pretty much been a staple on family tables for a long time.




I am ashamed to say I had never eaten it until I came over here, but I have to say . . . I quite like it actually!  You can buy the low fat one, and so it's not all that bad for you.  It's economical and quite tasty.   I made Spam Fritters last year and they were delicious.  When I saw a recipe recently on  unihomemaker.com  I just had to bookmark it to try here at home.  It looked really tasty.



I changed it a tiny bit.  I made use of store cupboard ingredients and used a pouch of the already cooked Uncle Ben's brown basamati rice that I always have in the cupboard and I added some shredded savoy cabbage both for colour and taste.  We like cabbage in our fried rice.



I also grated my carrot instead of cutting it into chunks, which meant it cooked much faster.   I was going to add some grated swede, but forgot.   Oh, and pineapple chunks.  I thought they would be really good, but it was bucketing down and the pineapple was out in the shed.  I didn't fancy getting wet.  But I reckon some pineapple chunks would go really well in this.  

 

In any case, I really hope that you will try this.  It's really, REALLY tasty and is now on our favourite list as Casa de Rayner.  I spose you could use leftover ham if you wanted to, but the Spam was really tasty.  In fact I am craving it again already.   I know . . . I'm such a glutton.




Beat the eggs and cream together.  Coat a large skillet lightly with olive oil and heat.   Dump in the eggs and quickly scramble them.  Remove the scrambled egg to a bowl and keep warm.  Add a bit more oil to the pan.   Add the spam and brown it well on all sides.   Scoop out and keep warm with the egg.  Add the chopped onions, garlic and shallot.   Cook to wilt and then add the carrots and cabbage.   Cook, stirring, until wilted.   Add the curry powder, salt, pepper and soy.   Stir in the rice and return the eggs and spam to the pan.   Stir in the frozen peas.  Heat through.  Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.  Serve hot.



Did you know that the 3rd to the 9th March 2014 is Spam Appreciation week?  Neither did I, but it's official.  2014 is going to be a fab year to remember for the iconic meat SPAM ® Chopped Pork and Ham, as  the Monty Python gang reunite, and a whole new generation of people get to enjoy their humor and acquaint themselves with their favourite meat!  This is no better time to realize just how unique, tasty and versatile SPAM with it's incredible 75+ year history can be.

To honor and celebrate this special week, fans are again being asked to demonstrate their love of SPAM ® by uploading a video, photo, drawing, or even writing a short sentence to show their appreciation of SPAM ® products.  There are five theatre wekeend breaks to be won courtesy of Show and Stay, plus 100 runner up prizes.   The competition opened on the 20th of January and will be closing on the 28th February, 2914.  The best entries will then be displayed on
www. spam-uk.com for appreciation.

Here's the video that won last year's competition.



A few facts about SPAM®

• More then seven billion cans of SPAM products have been opened since it's launch in 1937
• They may only be islands, but Hawaii and Guam go crazy for the stuff.  In Aloha State more than 7 million of the products are sold per year and Hawaii even hosts its own SPAM JAM festival in Honolulu.  While in Guam an average of 16 SPAM ® products are consumed by every person per year.
• SPAM ® Chopped Pork and Ham is made from more than 90% prime shoulder pork and ham.
• Clebrity SPAM® fans include James May and Heston Blumenthal.
• In South Korea, SPAM ® Chopped Pork and Ham is considered a gourmet delicacy and is often given as a gift.

So now you know it all!

SPAM ®, it's not just a fad to follow . . . it's dinner.

 

I had a couple of chops in the refrigerator that I picked up at the butchers the other day. Nice thick free range chops.  We don't eat red meat very often, so when we do I like to make sure it's the good stuff.



And of course because it costs more I like to prepare it in a tasty way.  I would hate to ruin any of it.  It goes without saying that I have my favourite chef's when it comes to tasty recipes.  Delia Smith and Mary Berry for baked stuff . . . Gary Rhodes, Jamie Oliver . . . and Nigel Slater when it comes to everything else.  I also like a little bit of Bill Granger thrown into the mix.  All great.  



You can keep Gordon Ramsay and the rest.  Their work doesn't really appeal to me.  Of course my all time favourite is Nigel Slater (as I have told you before, I know.)    I can't stress it enough . . . he cooks like I do and he cooks like I want to eat.



His recipes are so basically good that you can use them as a basis for other things.   For instance today with these chops.   His recipe looked fabulous, but I didn't exactly have everything he was calling for . . . so I took his basic premise . . . and I switched it up with what I did have to hand.



I didn't have any cream and so I thought about what I might have that was in the fridge and that would give the same rich and creamy result and I came up with Herb and Garlic Boursin cheese.   It worked perfectly.  Of course it is a little more solid than cream and so I added some chicken stock to slacken the sauce a bit . . .



My cornichons had baby pearl onions in the jar and so I threw in a handful of them as well.  Magnifico!  What a beautiful sauce!  It went beautifully with these chops and with the mash.  It was mellow with just a bit of a bite and some lovely crunch and tartness from the cornichons, which went beautifully with the pork and the mustard . . . and of course the boursin cheese made for a bit of richness which was just wonderful. 



I ended up with a fabulously delicious supper dish for two.  You could easily multiply this up to larger amounts. I do hope you will give them a try.  Bon Appetit!



Pour off most of the fatty residue in the skillet, leaving as much brown drippings as you can.  Add the white wine and bring to the boil.  Boil for about 2 minutes, reducing it somewhat and scraping up any pork drippings.  Whisk in the mustards and boursin cheese, whisking constantly, until you have a nice thick sauce. If it is too thick, thin with a bit of chicken stock.  Stir in the cornichons and pickled onions if you have them.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.  Pour the sauce over the chops and serve immediately.

This goes fabulously with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable if desired.

Note:  Cutting the fatty edge of the pork chops at regular intervals helps them to lay flat when you are cooking them, and allows for a much more even colouring when you are browning them!