Chicken, Fennel & Apple Pasta Salad

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Chicken goes so well with creamy textures and the aniseed flavour of tarragon and fennel.
Our salad uses tarragon mayonnaise to create an unctuous herbal sauce which combines with pieces of crunchy tangy apple.

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Pesto, Chicken & Vegetable Tray Bake

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By all means have pesto on pasta but do try it with other foods too. It is great on fish and has some simple chicken thighs and vegetables singing in the oven.

Make an all-in-one tray roast with sliced leeks, carrots some skin-on potatoes, a few tomatoes and skinless chicken thighs and spooned over some pesto Pesto 20 minutes before the end of cooking time. Delicious!

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Take a look at our '20 Ways with Pesto' for some more ideas.

Chicken with Saffron & Green Olives

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This dish explores the flavours of Andalusia, a sun-baked southern region of Spain.
Saffron brings a subtle honeyed fragrance to the fruity olives and zesty orange making a wonderful sauce for succulent chicken.

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Hibiscus Lily's superb spicy, sticky, tangy chutney

Photo: © Hibiscus Lily

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A good dollop of chutney is always an essential companion to cheeses and meats, hot or cold. A piquant tang of sweet and sour will enliven many foods as well as rev up the taste buds.

Read full review

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We are pleased to award Hibiscus Lily our 'Artisan Food Trail Approved' status for their Hot and Spicy Date & Tamarind Chutney.

To find out more about Hibiscus Lily visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here where you’ll find a link to their website for further information.

Peruvian-Style Grilled Chicken

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The new Cook Sauces from Capsicana are extremely versatile and can be used in a variety of ways.

Visitors to the Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2015 will be able to try this sauce and others, where Capsicana will be exhibiting on stand V123

The packs each carry a couple of recipes, one very simple, ideal for a quick midweek meal and the other a little more involved for maybe a Friday night or weekend.

In The Artisan Food Trail kitchen we often like to experiment, so we took Capsicana’s Chilli & Lemon Peruvian Cook Sauce, added a few extras and turned it into an extra special marinade for chicken.
The Cook Sauce can also be used as a condiment which we included in a simple dip to go with the chicken.

The trick to getting the maximum amount of flavour to permeate the meat is to get the marinade under the chicken skin as well as on the surface.
Nothing beats barbecuing for a smokey flavour but a hot oven will cook the chicken just fine, still producing a crispy, caramelised, burnished skin.

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Chicken & Spinach Curry

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This is a mildly spiced Indian curry – don't be fooled by the amount of chilli powder used here as it is the Kashmiri variety. Kashmiri chilli is a lot milder than regular chilli powder with a gentle warmth and sweet earthy notes.
If you don't have any you could use paprika instead with a dash of
cayenne pepper.

As we said, this curry is not hot but rather more aromatic with a degree of warmth coming from the garam masala (we used the Spice Kitchen blend). The generous amount of spinach used creates a silky texture with rich flavour.
Serve simply either with basmati rice or chapattis or naan breads.

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Fragrant Coconut Chicken with Mustard Seeds

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The beauty of this recipe is that it makes a lot of sauce. We reckon it will do six people generously and although the recipe is for four you could increase or reduce the amount of chicken to suit. Allow two chicken thighs per person but always make the full quantity of sauce. Once the chicken has been scooped out and eaten you can freeze for use on another occasion.

Just defrost and then warm through with more chicken or something different, such as prawns or fish.
This recipe uses fresh curry leaves but if you do have difficulty in obtaining them, then use dried, although fresh is best. You can find them in most Indian stores and, dare we say it, in a supermarket whose name begins
with ‘M’!

Chilli tip: We deseeded our chillies for a milder flavour but if you like it hot, leave the seeds in or use more chillies – it’s up to you.

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A turkey with taste from Morton's

For most people Christmas is probably the only time they will buy a whole turkey to take centre stage on the festive table.
Christmas comes but once a year, so why not invest a little more in making sure you have the best bird for the occasion. To get the best you really need to think about buying a turkey that has been reared in the most natural way as possible and also consider the breed – Bronze or Norfolk Black are unrivalled when it comes to taste and succulence.

All Morton's turkeys are free-range

We are proud to have Morton's Traditional Taste on The Artisan Food Trail. They rear their free range turkeys in Norfolk to the highest welfare standards – all birds are free range and have been grown slowly which develops into a true traditional taste to savour.





At Morton's you can be sure of a true tasting turkey this Christmas as they follow a quality code to guarantee that their turkeys do not disappoint.

A big bird too much?
Maybe you find a whole turkey a little on the large size if your family gathering is small, so Morton's have the perfect alternative – the Two Bird Roast – a part-boned free range chicken filled with duck breast and layered with chestnut, orange and thyme stuffing.

Place your order now!

If you wish to order your Christmas turkey from Morton's Traditional Taste then please visit their page on The Artisan Food Trail here where you'll find more information and links taking you to their website where you can place an order online.

We’re buzzing about honey… plus recipe for Zingy Honey Chilli Chicken

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 Sweet, gooey and scented, it’s easy to become slightly obsessed with honey, well for us anyway. Everywhere we go, we like to pick up a jar of local honey – there’s always a pot to hand in the pantry. The Artisan Food Trail is lucky enough to have Cardona & Son and as well as rearing rare breed pigs in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire they are enthusiatic beekeepers and also run a hive management scheme.

The best place to find good local honey is from your farmer’s market or deli – the label will have the exact address of origin. Decent local honey may not be cheap, but it is the pure unadulterated product likely to carry the signature flavour of our indigenous countryside and even our gardens.
It is truly amazing just how those busy honey bees gather the nectar and turn it into such a seductive food for us to plunder.

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Generally, bees can fly up to six miles from the hive but one or two is more common if food sources are close by. They collect the pollen and nectar in the spring (when most plants are in flower) and take it back to the hive where they process and store honey in honeycombs to be used as their winter sustenance. Bees make more honey than they actually need and a typical hive can hold up to around 25lb (11kg) surplus.

Depending on the types of plants that the bees forage on, the honey can be either runny and clear or opaque and set. The flowers also impart their unique flavour characteristics too, so honeys can vary considerably from region to region.

As well as spreading it on our toast in the morning, we love using honey in cooking – it is great for baking as it has hygroscopic qualities, meaning that it attracts water, thereby keeping cakes moist for longer.

Apart from the kitchen, honey also has a place in the medicine cabinet too. Its antiseptic properties make it a soother of sore throats and it is even good for the skin when applied externally.
Honey lasts practically for ever too, an explorer found a 2000 year old jar of honey in an Egyptian tomb and said it tasted delicious.

As honey is sweet thoughts normally turn to desserts but we’ve decided against this and used honey in a delicious main course savoury dish instead, to demonstrate the versatility of this gorgeous substance.

Zingy Honey Chilli Chicken (or Pork) – View recipe

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Smoked Paprika Stew with Caraway Dumplings

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Autumn is here, the nights are drawing in bringing a chill air that just has you wanting something warming and soul restoring.
Now is not the time for salads and most people’s thoughts turn to wholesome steaming bowls of comfort food in the form of stews, casseroles, creamy mash, and rib-sticking creations to carry them through the winter months.

You really can’t beat a rich stew with some dumplings to satisfy the need for a big foodie hug. This recipe is very much like a goulash with its rich velvety sauce more vivid than the reddest autumn maple leaf.

We used smoked paprika from The Artisan Smokehouse, which is sweet and earthy with a great depth of flavour, everything you’d expect from a really good paprika, but with a little extra excitement for the taste buds – a smokey background.

You don’t have to use chicken in this recipe, it is quite versatile and adaptable. For a vegetarian option just add your favourite vegetables and/or beans and cook until tender.
Other types of meat could be used, such as beef, lamb or even venison, but you will need to cook longer and slower, before adding the dumplings, to achieve a more tender texture.

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Damson Chicken Skewers

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Thanks to Naomi at Agnes Rose we've been experimenting with some of her fruit vinegars. They are great drizzled over salads, meat and vegetables and this recipe adapted from one on the Agnes Rose website transformed some chicken into a tasty and succulent meal.

The recipe usually calls for straight Damson Vinegar, but we used one of Naomi's latest creations. It is still damson based but is infused into cider vinegar with the addition of local Cumbrian honey, which we thought would work really well with the chicken.

The vinegar is most suitable for marinading as it is not too acidic and as well as adding a delightful fruity background flavour it helps the meat retain its moisture. The sugars from the fruit and honey helps the chicken caramelise beatifully, adding extra flavour.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 tablespoons of Cumbrian Damson Cider Vinegar with Local Honey
• salt and fresh ground black pepper

Method
Cut the chicken breasts into strips and place in a bowl. Strip the leaves from the thyme sprigs and add to the chicken and add the Cumbrian Damson Cider Vinegar with Local Honey. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for 2-24 hours – the longer, the better
Place the strips of chicken on 8 skewers and grill or BBQ until cooked in the centre and golden brown, turning once, approx 15-20 minutes.
Drizzle with Cumbrian Damson Cider Vinegar with Local Honey and serve.

Photo: © childsdesign