I hope you have all had a good christmas and are starting the new year with a skip in your step. Ours was great - lots of family time, not too much rushing around, and so nice not having to jump out of bed early - but that all changed on New Years Eve with a rather spontaneous new addition to the Taylor family - meet Bert our 9 week old jackapoo - we think he is divine, and he is being very good at the moment, but there are no more lie-ins, and unsurprisingly life is generally a bit more chaotic! Luckily Billie quite likes him.
The beginning of a new year is a perfect time to have a revamp and that's exactly what happened at Fino last week - just before christmas I had decided it would be sensible to take the opportunity, while the shelves are less crammed, to get everything out of the shed and give it a lick of paint - so last Thursday the fab Jerry appeared with his paintbrush to do his stuff, and now Global HQ is definitely looking much more bright and beautiful. So we are ready to crack on with 2019, and as a kick starter I am offering 10% off everything until 14th January (excluding multi buys on tins) - if your stocks are running low after christmas, or even if they're not, head to the website - https://www.finooliveoil.co.uk/collections/all-products- and enter BERT at the checkout to receive the discount - hope you will be tempted.
This year I plan to add new recipe ideas to the website more regularly so do keep checking if you're looking for inspiration - https://www.finooliveoil.co.uk/blogs/recipes - here are a couple to start with.
LEEK, BUTTER BEAN AND CHORIZO GRATIN - serves 4
75g chorizo, 4 large leeks sliced, 3 cloves garlic chopped, 800g butter beans, 300ml vegetable stock, 100ml sherry, 2 tbsp Fino arrope, Fino olive oil, 100g breadcrumbs
Roughly chop the chorizo into chunks and fry over a gentle heat for a few mins until slightly crispy - set aside - place the leeks, garlic and olive oil into a pan and saute for about 5 mins until soft. Then add in the butter beans, stock, sherry and Fino arrope - season with salt and pepper - simmer for 5 mins, then pour the leek and bean mixture into an oven proof dish, stir in the chorizo and top with the breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven at 200C for 10 mins so the top crisps up - serve with some green salad.
You could also very easily substitute the chorizo for ham (great if you have any left from christmas), or any other meat for that matter. We also decided that some cheese grated on the top before baking would be a great addition.
PISTACHIO AND CARDAMOM OLIVE OIL CAKE - serves 8
200g shelled pistachios, 8 cardamom pods, 100g polenta, 1tsp bicarb of soda, 50g butter, 175ml Fino extra virgin olive oil, 3 eggs, 200g caster sugar, 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease a 9" cake tin. Place the pistachios on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 3 mins until slightly shiny and nutty smelling. Remove from the oven and cool. Split the cardamom pods to remove the seeds, and grind the seeds into a powder. Tip the pistachios and the cardamom powder into a blender and blitz but careful not to over whizz as it's good to retain some crunch - mix together the pistachios, polenta and bicarb of soda in a bowl. Gently heat the butter and olive oil in a pan until the butter is melted - leave to cool slightly. In another bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, then slowly stir in the cooled butter and olive oil, followed by the nut and polenta mixture. Then add in the zest and juice of the lemon, pour the mixture into the greased cake tin and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Once cooked the cake should be really light and moist - it is delicious served warm with some vanilla ice cream.
I hope you enjoy the recipes, and don't forget to take advantage of the 10% discount for this week only.
Wishing a happy new year to you all - let's hope it is a prosperous one!
And finally just one more pic - think this is my favourite!
Susie x