Summerhill Honey, Lemon & Cardamom Granola

Oh Honey! This granola recipe is zesty, aromatic, crunchy, sweet and nutty… it’s gorgeous served with yogurt and rhubarb compote for breakfast, or for making snack bars and makes a great topping on a fruit crumble too. The ingredients are a celebration of local landscapes; my own native Orchard County, Armagh, the rolling hills of County Down and the bright yellow fields of Limavady where Broighter Gold‘s Rapeseed oil is harvested.

Fred from Summerhill honey has been keeping bees for over 8 years now and has maintained a local strain of bees who’ve become accustomed to our inherently erratic weather. They’re a hard working brood and during spring they forage around the orchards in Armagh helping to pollinate the cider apple trees – that keeps them going until the summer blossoms start to bloom in Co. Down where they return to forage on clover and Blackberry blossoms.

I appreciate the passion and effort of people like Fred and we need more people like him to help preserve our Bee populations because they are under threat. The number of bees is expected to fall by a third across the island and yet they play such a critical role in our agricultural industry and our food supply chain. Without them, we can’t grow fruit… our apple farmers depend on bees to pollinate their crops and there are new initiatives to help grow Bee populations – you can learn more about how to help here. I like to help my local bee communities by buying local honey from producers to help support their cost of keeping bees in the area.

I picked Summerhill honey up in Arcadia Deli and Fred tells me the honey is also stocked in Indie Fude, Bridewell coffee shop, Goodness Health and The Courtyard. His honey took 1st prize in the Ulster Beekeepers honey show, 2017 and also 1st prize in the Comber Flower Show – you really don’t need to make this granola to enjoy the best of this honey, but I think you’ll enjoy it all the same if you do!

Summerhill Honey, Lemon & Cardamom Granola

Makes: 10 servings – stored in an airtight container the Granola will keep for 2 weeks

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

380g Rolled oats

2 Lemons, squeezed & zested

50mL Broighter gold lemon oil

200g Summerhill honey

100g Roasted chopped hazelnuts

100g Sliced almonds

2 teaspoons Ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon

Pinch salt

Method

1. Whisk the lemon juice, zest, oil and honey in a bowl until the ingredients are well-mixed (warm the honey until it runs if it’s solid at first).
2. Mix the oats, hazelnuts, almonds, cardamom, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
3. Pour the liquid mixture over the dry mix and combine well so all of the dry mix is coated.
4. Spread the mixture onto a baking try lined with baking paper or a silicone sheet – my mix volume needed two baking trays.
5. Bake for 1hr at 120⁰C tossing the mixture every 15 mins to ensure an even bake.
6. Allow the mix to chill before serving with rhubarb compote and yogurt.
7. Best served in good company on a lazy Sunday morning!

SculleryMade produces artisan goods using quality, local ingredients in Belfast. For recipe ideas using local ingredients check out our blog at http://scullery-made.com

For local artisan ingredients that inspire our blog, visit: The Farmer’s Market at The Inns on the first Saturday of every month at BT8 7HN

SculleryMade – Ormeau Rd., Belfast

Contact: Caoimhe@scullery-made.com

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Chocolate, Rosemary & Sea Salt Pots

A couple of years ago, a friend from home moved in with me while she was working near Belfast. What started off as a connection born from home quickly grew into a friendship seasoned with tasty home cooked meals, Game of Thrones feast nights and red, red wine… a few bottles were harmed in the making of this friendship! She gave me an incredible book a couple of years ago that has really shifted my approach to recipe building. The book, written by Niki Segnit, published in 2010 is called “The Flavour Thesaurus: Pairings, recipes and ideas for the creative cook”. In it is a collection of over 4,000 flavour pairings. Some classic, some really unusual! Both for beer and food, this book has served up some inspiring flavour combinations for me to try.

I was searching through Niki’s book for inspiration for rosemary and chocolate recipes having picked up a bar of dark chocolate made by Cobden + Brown and rosemary infused sea salt made by Red Dog Foods in Arcadia Deli on the Lisburn Rd. The flavour thesaurus listed a simple recipe for a rosemary infused creamy chocolate desert, originally credited to chef David Wilson and I added a sprinkle of rosemary infused sea salt as garnish to contrast the sweetness in the dish.

Caroline and Tony, the couple behind Cobden + Brown have been making chocolate since 2013. Their son, Jonathan was diagnosed with Coeliac disease and an allergy to eggs and Caroline, who had been making all his meals from scratch thought she’d give chocolate making a whirl with Jonathan as chief recipe taster! Together, they’ve done a great job at picking the best formulations and now Cobden + Brown produce award-winning, allergen-free, specifically gluten-free and egg-free, chocolate in Lurgan. Some of their dark chocolates are dairy free too and suitable for Vegans. For this recipe we used their award winning 70% dark chocolate single origin Ecuadorian.

If you’ve followed our blog before, you know we love Red Dog Foods who make the rosemary infused sea salt. We used their Southern Sauce with English mustard in this recipe for chicken wings with MFC’s baby buck cheese – soooo good! Barbara Ann and Paul, the couple behind Red Dog, are BBQ masters and have a range of sauces, salts and BBQ rubs. This rosemary infused sea salt was delicious with this sweet recipe, but would make a great addition to rosemary salted fries/chips, rosemary roast potatoes and the obvious rosemary salted lamb chops.

This is a simple recipe, a rich desert and an unusual combination of flavours that work beautifully together. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Chocolate, Rosemary & Sea Salt Pots

Makes: 6-8 servings (keep the servings small – it’s a rich recipe!)

Preparation time: 20 mins

Chilling time 2-3hrs

 

Ingredients

250g caster sugar

250ml dry white wine

juice and grated rind of 1/2 lemon

600mL double cream

2 large whole stems of rosemary

165g Cobden+Brown dark chocolate, grated

25g Cobden+Brown dark chocolate, grated for decoration

Pinch of Red Dog rosemary sea salt

 

Method

1. In a hot pan, heat the sugar, white wine and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the rosemary stems to the pan and pour in the cream and simmer.
3. Add 165g of grated dark chocolate and stir on a medium heat until the chocolate dissolves and the mixture simmers again.
4. Remove the rosemary stems, pour the mixture through a sieve to catch any rosemary stems remaining.
5. Pour the mixture into small serving glasses and chill for 2-3 hours.
6. Once the mixture has set, sprinkle grated dark chocolate and rosemary sea salt to serve.
7. Best enjoyed in good company!

 

SculleryMade produces artisan goods using quality, local ingredients in Belfast. For recipe ideas using local ingredients check out our blog at http://scullery-made.com

For local artisan ingredients that inspire our blog, visit: The Farmer’s Market at The Inns on the first Saturday of every month at BT8 7HN

SculleryMade – Ormeau Rd., Belfast

Contact: Caoimhe@scullery-made.com

Share your recipes with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – connect with us by clicking on the link below.