Now back from honeymooning in Antigua, and married over a month already, life is settling down back to normal. What a truly amazing experience it all was!
Obviously, we set out to try as much food as possible whilst we were away, and we certainly weren’t disappointed. Plenty of fresh fish and sea food which was fantastic for us!

We were staying in a picture-perfect resort called, Galley Bay. Fairly close to the main town of St. Johns. Unlike us, we actually socialised with other couples on the resort! A couple from Cleveland, Ohio, who got married and same day as us, and another couple from Rhode Island who actually got married on the beach whilst we were there. Our conversations mostly consisted of mimicking each other’s accents and then listing words that are different in the UK from the US.

Apart from the amazing food on the resort, we got to experience some truly delicious food when we went exploring the island in our hired jeep. A small restaurant right on the beach called OJ’s. Kayleigh and I ordered fresh grilled whole snapper. Wow, it was so delicious! Especially with some of the local hot sauce drizzled across the top! It was really great to be able to experience some authentic local food, but equally, we wanted to try a restaurant that Kayleigh had researched before we went. ‘Sheer Rocks’. A small restaurant and bar, located right on the rocks overlooking the beach and sea, voted the best restaurant in the whole Caribbean! It honestly was unlike anything I’ve experienced before, the setting was breath taking and the food was one of the best meals I’ve had in I can’t remember how long!

When we went to Sheer Rocks for lunch, we ordered from a tapas style menu so we got to try a few things from the menu! Giant grilled prawns, warm courgette salad, calamari, edamame beans, feta salad with watermelon martinis and banana daiquiris to wash it down! Delicious!

‘Grilled Mahi Mahi Tacos’

This was a classic dish that got served for lunch by chef Ivy, from a little beach hut by us. Mahi Mahi is a local fish that is often used.

Instructions:

In a small bowl add 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, ground cumin, dry cilantro, and 1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper. Stir to mix.

Pat Mahi Mahi dry and rub spice mixture onto all sides of the fish. Set aside.

To a food processor add, greek yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, chipotle pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and lime juice. Set aside.

Heat grill to medium high heat.

Add fish to grill and grill for 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from grill and let side.

Add tortillas to grill and grill 1 minute per side to warm up and remove.

To assemble tacos, add one strip of grilled fish to corn tortilla, top with thinly sliced purple cabbage, sliced avocado and a drizzle of chipotle lime crema.

Optional garnish: fresh lime wedges to squeeze on top and fresh coriander

Mexican food is definitely up there on the top of our ‘favourite cuisines’ list. We love the depth and variety of flavours associated with Mexican food. Sweet, citrus, spicy all working together to give the best experience! Since we have been enjoying such amazing weather of late, last week we decided to set up a Mexican feast outside! We decided to go completely vegan, kind of by accident, but you will find that Mexican food can lend itself to vegetarian/vegan food really easily.

We ended up going with roasted butternut squash and peppers and making little tacos with all of the other sauces and sides we made to go with it. I will leave you with a couple if simple recipes.

Roasted butternut squash and peppers mix:

Ingredients:

• Butternut squash
• Green Pepper
• Desiccated coconut
• Coconut oil
• Coriander
• Maple syrup
• Cayenne Pepper
• Lime juice

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 200c and chop the butternut squash and pepper into bitesize chunks, marinate in cayenne pepper, coconut oil, maple syrup and season. Bake for around 20 minutes until soft but charred around the edges, at this point add the desiccated coconut to toast for around 5 minutes. Add a squeeze of lime and fresh coriander and pop in a large sharing bowl.

Chili herb dipping sauce:

Ingredients:

• Scotch bonnet x 1
• Coriander
• Parsley
• Basil
• 3 garlic cloves
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive oil 4tbs
• Water 50ml

Method:

This is a punchy hot sauce, but it has a beautiful fruity flavour from the scotch bonnet. In a food processor add 1 scotch bonnet (seeds in) large bunch of coriander, basil and parsley with the stalks, garlic, olive oil, water and seasoning. Blitz into a smooth bright green sauce, add a squeeze of lime and pop into a dipping bowl with a spoon for the brave.

Quick & Easy pickled red onions

Ingredients:

• Red spring onions
• 2 limes – Juiced
• 10ml white wine vinegar
• Salt
• Small pinch of brown sugar

Method:

This is the easiest way to get a pickled onion bite to a dish without boiling spices and vinegar for hours! Slice the onions (these could also be shallots or leeks if that’s all you have), cover in the lime juice, vinegar and salt/sugar. This is so tasty added to your Mexican meal to add crunch! We would recommend serving these dishes with a plate of warm soft tortilla wraps, natural yoghurt, avocado, crunchy red cabbage and some mango for added fruitiness.

Enjoy!

‘Plastic Free – Every little helps…’

It’s true, we are all talking about plastic waste more now, and although we may not all be aware, it’s certainly taken the spot light in news articles over the past couple months. That being said, are supermarkets really doing their bit to help? Still, every week when the Ocado order arrives, I am baffled by the amount of ridiculous packaging! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not only Ocado doing this. I get that some things currently are totally un realistic not to use plastic, but when you are receiving 1 aubergine wrapped in a plastic bag, or two lemons on a plastic tray, in a plastic package… Really? I know not everyone has the luxury of space to grow their own veg or be close to a farm shop or grocers so the supermarkets need to pull their finger out. For those of you that are local, I can highly recommend Lathcoats farm shop (Great Baddow) for fresh veg with of course no plastic! And you will be supporting a local business too.

‘Pea, Mint & Goats Cheese, Pearl Barley Risotto’

So, following on from last month’s edition talking about fresh home grown produce, we thought we would leave you with this fresh simple recipe since we had our first harvest of peas ready for picking!

Ingredients:

• 1 shallot
• 3 cloves of black garlic
• 150g pearl barley
• 200ml veg stock
• 1 lemon
• 150g fresh peas
• Mint (around 6 large leaves)
• Big sprig of thyme
• Goats cheese
• Parmesan
• Spinach

Method:

Finely slice the shallots and sweat them down in a pan with salt and pepper. Just before they start to brown too much, add the pearl barley and ensure you give it a good mix for a couple of minutes to give all the grains a coating of oil. At this point, add your garlic.

Add stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, blitz up the peas (keep a handful to one side) with lemon, mint, 100ml of water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The result should end up in a paste texture.

During the last 5 minutes of you pearl barely cooking, add the pea and mint puree that you have made and mix in well. Grate as much or as little parmesan as you wish at this point too and add it to the pan along with the peas you kept to one side.

Dish up into pasta bowls, top with chunks of goat’s cheese, thyme and a drizzle of olive oil.

Enjoy!

Over the past year, Kayleigh and I have been planning our wedding for this August. Through this process and finding our band, ‘Three Mile Hill’, we have stumbled on a budding new brewing company in the heart of Chelmsford.

‘Who are Chelmsford Brew Co. ?’

BLUESHACK Beers – Chelmsford Brew Co. is a small family set up brewing company, located in brewery fields, in Great Baddow. Hans, the bar manager at the Lion Inn in Boreham, decided to set up Chelmsford Brew Co. with a little help from his dad and brother. Having made a fair few home brews in a little blue shack at the end of the garden, and refining some recipes, BlueShack Beers was born.

‘The Big Launch’

BlueShack Beers have currently already been out on sale in the Lion Inn, the Ale house, and most recently Chelmsford Beer and Cider festival. On the 7^th March, they had an official launch event at the brewery which we were lucky enough to be invited to! It was a great afternoon, with 5 different brews being offered out, with plenty of snacks and live music from ‘Three Mile Hill’. It was really fun to be talked through the brewing process and actually see the process of their most recent brew, and to smell the hops fresh from the tank!

Currently there are 3 cask ales; (Port Jackson dark ale, Blueshack Pale ale and Blueshack Bitter), and 2 keg beers on offer; (Radio city pale ale and Fou-Fou Red American amber).

I would highly recommend getting down to a venue to try these beers out. The beers are all fantastic and imagine we will see these starting to appear in many other locations around town soon!

We were lucky enough to be invited to the Riverside Inn for the launch of Andi Walker’s taker over. Following the big success of his pop up, Andi has become a permanent fixture from January 2018, showcasing his new bistro inspired menu.

‘Who is Andi Walker?’

Andi first entered the public eye after appearing on MasterChef the Professionals back in 2015 and becoming a semi-finalist. Before MasterChef, Andi held the Head Chef position at The Woodford and at Kings College Cambridge. Andi has also had experience in a three-AA-rosette restaurant in Suffolk. Since MasterChef, Andi has hosted The Noise of Strangers Pop-up event in Leeds, as well as creating and serving an exclusive autumn menu at a fully-booked two-night event at Café Otto in central Paris. At the beginning of October, he also reached the finals in the Chef of the Year category at the Essex Life Food and Drink Awards.

‘The Big Launch’

Andi’s new set up sees the restaurant being split into three distinct areas, with three menus. There will be bar snacks and little bites in the bar area, a full gastro menu on the ground floor dining area and continuing the 7 course tasting menu upstairs. The tasting menu is set to run on Friday and Saturday nights whilst the Gastro and bar menu will run all week. For those of you that have been to the Riverside Inn before, you will notice a few decorative changes to the upstairs, but generally still keeping the same feel.

The evening started with some complimentary bubbles or cocktails which continued throughout the evening, and the bar area was full of family, friends and press. There was around 70 people there and unfortunately the canapés were a little light in the area that we were seated. That being said, what we did try was delicious. They showcased the bar snacks menu.

Ham Hock in a crisp breaded coating accompanied by a mustard mayo. Very tasty, and the first piece of meat I have eaten since Christmas! The meat was very soft and tender, still moist but maintained the crispy breadcrumb coating. I can see why this is on the bar snacks menu as they go down very easily, and could picture having a few drinks with them. Similarly, there was breaded monkfish with a tartar sauce. I have always been a big fan on monkfish anyway, but this did not disappoint. Monkfish has a real meaty texture to it, quite a robust fish, cooked really well so it was still soft and fell apart in the mouth. Perfect with the pot of tangy tartar sauce.

There were also samples of the ‘Essex sausage roll’. Now this is none of you Greggs mass produced stuff. This had to be one of the best sausage rolls I’ve had in a long time. The pastry was perfectly flaky and had a sweet honey coating, the meat was well seasoned, tasted fresh and homemade. Dipped in brown sauce? perfect! I did see some southern fried chicken and butternut squash bahji’s circling but unfortunately didn’t get to taste them! They flew off the trays. The bread and marmite butter, was also a hit. Well it was for me as I’m a marmite lover, soft fresh bread with some marmite butter slathered on; could have filled myself up on just that! I went and found Andi at the kitchen pass as he was plating up desserts. Raspberry cheesecake; topped the evening off nicely, not too rich, bursts of sharp raspberry and a really nice creamy undertone.

I would definitely recommend giving this place a go. It seems to be set for a drastic improvement on any of the previous food that has come from the Riverside Inn, and Andi will definitely bring the pub up to where it needs to be to compete with the ever-growing range of places to eat in Chelmsford.

‘A Few Words’

During the organised chaos of the evening, I was able to grab a few quick words with Andi. A truly genuine guy, He has worked his menus around fresh, seasonal, local produce. Therefore, the menus will be constantly changing depending on what is in season and what is available at the time. He said that he is “really looking forward to getting started and getting into service now. It has been really tough job and feels a little drained, but it’s all totally worth it. The area hasn’t really got much in the way of places to eat like this, so hopefully the locals really get behind it and help make it a success.”

‘Our favourite, foodie recipe books right now’

So, it’s a new year and the January resolutions of drinking kale smoothies, eating nothing but chicken and broccoli with not a carb in sight are over.

As a couple, we try to eat in moderation but cutting out foods never happens as we love to cook and love eating even more. We cook from scratch every day but with busy lives and workloads, we can get into a recipe rut very easily. To inspire us with new ideas and ingredients we buy lots of cook books, where we try out and adapt lots of recipes.

Our favourites at the moment are – ‘Lagom’ by Steffi Knowles-Dellner for Swedish recipes asking for minimal cooking and lots of raw ingredients; Elly Pear’s ‘Fast day & Feast days’ great for the 5:2 diet; ‘A Modern Way to Eat’ by Anna Jones with over 200 vegetarian recipes; Yotam Ottolenghi’s ‘Plenty More’ which takes vegetables from side dishes into bold and spice laden meals and lastly; ‘A lot on her Plate’ by Rosie Birkett who writes crowd pleasing and accessible recipes full of seasonal tips.

We both hate the word diets as it tends to feel negative and, let’s be honest, depressing – we prefer to think about how to cook meals that make you feel happy and a full of goodness, a change in lifestyle.

Elly Pear’s book shows recipes for both fast and feast days within the 5:2 plan; these are fantastic when considering moderation, there are pages that show you which types of food go with others to assist your digestion. Some examples of the recipes we cook on a monthly basis are; Root veg and Halloumi fritters along with the Pear café Frittata which is perfect for lunch boxes the next day.

Everyone is joining the veggie band wagon, whether is Meat Free Monday or Veganuary, it seems vegetarian recipes are most sought after at the moment.

Anna Jones’ book has hundreds of recipes perfect for showing us all how to make the most of seasonal vegetables from breakfast through to dinner; with pages of cooking times, alternative combinations and everyday cupboard staples. The ones we love to cook are – The really hungry burger, she uses brown rice and tonnes of mushrooms to make this convincingly meaty patty, which beats the usual sad and dry bean burgers. The ‘Killer roast’ is brilliant, no flabby Quorn chicken in sight; just well-cooked and beautifully flavoured vegetables and succulent sauces.

Rosie Birkett is a food writer and an Instagram storm, often presenting on programs such as ‘Sunday Brunch’ (we met her at Taste London last year and took a cheesy selfie…)

Her book gives us recipes for dinner parties and family meals, all of which include recipes where ingredients are easy to get hold of and quick to cook; but put on an impressive show to guests. Our favourites are the ‘Octopus, avocado & butter bean salad with a chilli garlic dressing’ and ‘Crispy sesame-crusted tuna tacos with mango salsa’ – both are fantastic for sharing plates, when everyone can dive in. There are even a few cheeky cocktail recipes at the back on the book!

So, why not put the chia seed pudding and protein shake down; pick up a recipe book and give some of these healthy and fresh dishes a try.

So, whilst we will all be making the most of August and the nice weather (fingers crossed) it usually means BBQ time for most of us. Let us leave you with these simple BBQ recipes to impress your guests!

Our jerk marinade

This marinade takes a little while to put together but it really is worth it! Super tasty! It will be enough for a whole chicken, so adjust accordingly to the amount you need.

Obviously the longer you leave this the better, but even after 1 hour you will have some tasty jerk chick or whatever you decide to marinade. I used chicken drumsticks and wings. Coat your chicken in the marinade and leave it for a few hours. For best results, after the chicken has been marinated, I recommend cooking the chicken pieces for around 35mins in the oven at 190 degrees’ fan. This will make sure the centres are cooked through! Now for the best bit, put your cooked chicken pieces onto the BBQ for around 5 mins. This will give that smokey flavour and really crisp up the skin. Whilst you have your chicken on the BBQ feel free to add a little more marinade with a basting brush if you have any left over.

1 tbsp All Spice

1 tbsp Black peppercorns

½ tsp Ground cinnamon

½ nutmeg, freshly grated

¼ bunch of thyme, take the effort to pick the leaves

4 spring onions chopped small and roughly

3 garlic cloves chopped roughly

1 scotch bonnet chopped small and roughly

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime

Watermelon Chow

We personally recommend making this simple chow to accompany your jerk meats! its so refreshing and knocks the burning heat out of it for those that aren’t too great with spice!

I have put this recipe here, but feel free to adjust to your own personal liking and for the amount that you want to make.

You will want to start with cutting up some fresh watermelon into small square chunks and put into a mixing bowl. For this, I have gone with half a small watermelon. Add a tbsp of olive oil, a small crack of salt and pepper and the juice of 1/2 a fresh lime. Cut up a small hand full of mint and coriander and mix in with the watermelon, and that is it! serve as a side for those spicy dishes.

BBQ Rum Pineapple

A perfect dessert for those BBQ’s! this is really simple. You will need a ripe fresh pineapple that you must cut into slices and take out the hard core. When everyone is eating their mains, take your pineapple slices and put them in a bowl. Add a good serving of rum to the bowl and leave the pineapple to soak it all up! I left this to soak for about 1hr, but again you can leave it soaking for longer if you wish. Use as much rum as you feel appropriate for what you want. I like a strong rum taste so added a fair bit! I used a dark Jamaican rum for this. (I would definitely recommend using a good dark rum).

One you’re ready, you’ll need to BBQ your pineapple slices on a nice hot grill. Keep an eye on them as you don’t want to burn them, but a nice charing of grill lines is good! Serve up a few slices per portion, drizzle over any rum thats left in the bowl they were soaking in and add a nice scoop of good vanilla ice cream and drizzle of maple syrup. So tasty, and looks great!

Cheers, Billy

Okay, so as I have mentioned before, we LOVE gin. There are so many gins out there on the market now that our choices seem simply endless! But, regardless of how good your gin is, unless you get yourself a premium tonic, its always only going to be ‘just a G&T’ in my opinion.

You’re all probably quite familiar with the current tonic brand leaders at the moment such as Fever-Tree or Fentimans. Now don’t get me wrong, these taste really good and I’m a sucker for the Mediterranean Fever-Tree, but! theres a new tonic on the market that I think is going to start to rival these top two if it gets the traction it deserves!

I first discovered Lamb & Watt tonic at Taste of London festival this year and can honestly say it was a taste sensation! They currently have four flavours on the market; Original, basil, cucumber and hibiscus. The flavours are so clear and fresh, and I know it sounds silly to say but the cucumber one literally tastes like you have just cut fresh cucumber and put it in, or when you try the basil tonic its like you have put half a dozen basil leaves in. I was quite shocked at how good they taste. They are all made using spring water from the lake district which may be the secret of their taste!

Im a big fan of the hibiscus & basil tonics at the moment. I bought a selection online when I got home from Taste and have used them all already! I honestly cannot recommend these enough, definitely worth a try! Plus you can get them from between 79p and £1.19 per bottle depending on how many you buy. I bought mine from http://www.drinksupermarket.com but they are appearing on various other online sites now.

Here is a really simple summery G&T to accompany those BBQs!

What you will need:

– Gin! I will let you decide, but for this one try not to pick one thats too heavy on the spices and go with something a little lighter and more floral,

– Lamb & Watt hibiscus tonic water,

– Frozen mixed berries,

– Mint,

– Grapefruit.

Method for one glass:

Nothing hard here at all! use a nice big wine or spritz glass if you have one, throw in a hand full of frozen berries. I have used these instead of I’ve, but feel free to add ice too if you wish. Slap a few mint leaves to wake them up and release some of its oils and throw them in along with a nice thick wedge of pink grapefruit. Add a good sized double gin, topped up with a bottle of Lamb & Watt hibiscus tonic water. So tasty!

Cheers, Billy