Food Hygiene

S & J's Pantry is pleased to announce that following the inspection by the food hygiene service, we have been awarded a rating of 5 for hygiene.

New Fair Trade Lines

Following the success of Fair Trade Week, and interest it generated, S & J's Pantry have added some new lines to the fair trade range.

 The first additions are three new fair trade coffees.  From different countries in Africa, they are all from Arabica beans and are medium strength.

 A new departure for us is the Divine chocolate range.  Made from Ghanaian cocoa beans, there are a number of different varieties.

Finally, we have added to our fair trade sugar range which now features Golden Caster, Demerara and Muscovado Sugars.  We also sell the mixed grain variety of Geobars, a fruity seend and grain bar.

Recipe for Quiche.

Quiche recipe.

Equipment:
6 inch flan tin, mixing bowl, polythene bag or cling film
Ingredients:
Pastry.
225g (8oz.) Dove's Farm plain flour,
113g (4oz.) Longley Farm Jersey Butter.
Small amount of milk, water or milk and water mixed.
Beans or peas for blind baking.


Filling.
1 small head of broccoli
2 rashers of smoked bacon, roughly chopped.
1 small onion, chopped.
2 small eggs, beaten.
200ml (1 tub) Longley Farm crème fraîche
75g (3 oz.) S & J's specially selected mature Cheddar, grated.
Salt and pepper seasoning.


Method.
Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour. When the texture is like fine breadcrumbs add enough liquid to bring the mix together into a lump. It should not be sticky.
Put the pastry into a bag in the fridge to allow it to rest.
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/ gas mark 4/ 360°F.
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface.
Line the quiche tin with baking parchment.
Place the pastry into the tin, press it well into the corners. Trim round the tin with a knife.
Add a layer of beans or peas to hold the pastry flat.
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.


Boil the broccoli for five minutes and drain them into a bowl.
Fry the chopped bacon and for about 5 minutes, until the onion is soft.
Place the cooked bacon and onion with the broccoli in the bowl.
Add the eggs, crème fraîche and half the grated cheese. Mix together, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the mix to the pastry case, leave a small gap at the top to allow the mixture to expand when it is cooked.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake for 25 -30 minutes until golden brown.
Serve Hot or Cold as liked.



The recipe can be varied with different cheeses, meats and vegetables.

The quiche illustrated used salmon instead of bacon.

A slight snag.

Su's cookery demonstration on Tuesday hit an unexpected snag.  The brand new, purpose built demonstration kitchen does not have an oven!!  Yes, you read right, there is no oven in the demonstration kitchen.  We could not believe it either.  There is a bain-marie, a fridge (well, four refrigerated drawers actually), an induction hob, an induction wok and a griddle (although the griddle does not seem to work at the moment!)
This gave us a difficult decision, as it is not possible to make quiche without an oven.  (Or at least, not as far as we know)
We considered the possibility of making the quiches at home and just showing the steps in the process.  This would have been a seemingly endless series of  "Here's one I prepared earlier", and we thought that it would be a poor cookery demonstration if all she did were to boil vegetables, fry bacon and mix a few things together.
The answer was to spend our own money(!) and buy an oven.  Fortunately T.J. Hughes round the corner were selling suitable table top ovens so the full demonstration will go ahead as planned.

Hope to see you there.

New guest cheese.

Having stocked the Comté as guest for a few weeks, we decided that it was time for another.  This time, we have moved our search from France to Wales.

 The Aberwen cheese is made on the Bodnant  estate using milk from the Conwy Valley.  It is made to a 300 year old recipe and has a dense, crumbly texture.  It is a traditional cloth bound cheese.  The flavour is strong with notes of citrus.  Aberwen means White Estuary in Welsh.

Cookery Demonstration.

Su. from S & J's Pantry, will be giving a cookery demonstration on Tuesday March 18th.  This will take place at 11-00a.m. in the demonstration area near to Customer Services at the centre of the market.  The theme of the demo.will be quiches.  Come along and see how easy it is to bake delicious food.  Give your mother a treat on Mothering Sunday.

St Patrick's Day: 17th March

Why not celebrate St. Patrick's Day by baking some traditional soda bread?  There are many variants of the basic recipe, but here is one to try.

Irish Soda Bread.

170g/6oz self raising wholemeal flour
170g/6oz plain flour
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
290ml/ ½pint buttermilk
Method.
Preheat the oven to 400 F/200 C/ Gas mark 6
Tip the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir.
Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to make a soft dough. You may need to add a little milk/buttermilk/water if the dough seems too stiff.
Turn onto a floured surface and knead briefly.
Form into a round and flatten slightly before placing on a floured baking sheet.
Cut a cross on the top and bake for bout 30 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

The ratio of white to wholemeal flour can be varied to taste.

All the ingredients, apart from the salt, can be purchased at S & J's Pantry.