In a just a few week’s time we will be celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. What better time to share our recipe for the ultimate celebration food – Coronation Chicken. Here’s our take on the classic with a simple and delicious Coronation sauce paste and toasted flaked coconut. Available in store now and as part of our Diamond Jubilee street party menu.

Coronation sauce paste:

• 3tbs good quality medium curry powder
• 5cm piece fresh ginger
• 1 bunch fresh coriander
• 150g passata
• 1tbs vegetable oil
• 1tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Salad components:

• Medium free range chicken
• 200g Camargue red rice
• 4 heads little gem lettuce
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 100g shallots
• 150g dark raisins
• 175ml apple juice
• 50g toasted flaked coconut
• 150g Greek yogurt
• 150g Mayonnaise
• 1 x quantity Coronation sauce paste
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Serve 4-6

Method:

1. To make the Coronation sauce mix, blitz together the curry powder, fresh ginger and ¾ of the fresh coriander (roughly chopped including the stalks), the sugar and passata to make a paste.
2. Cook the spice paste in the oil for 10mins uncovered until there is no raw taste left and you have a dark flavoursome cooked paste. Set aside to cool.
3. Season the chicken inside and out and roast in the oven for an hour or until the juices from the thickest part of the leg run clear when pierced with a skewer.
4. Once cool enough to handle, shred the chicken to bite sized pieces and then set aside and allow to cool fully.
5. Cook the red rice on a gentle simmer in salted water, drain and set aside to cool.
6. Heat the apple juice and once boiling add the raisins and allow them to plump up and absorb the juice. Allow to cool.
7. Very finely slice the shallot and separate into rings.
8. Finely chop the red and yellow peppers into a small square dice and set aside.
9. Break the baby gem apart, rinse and dry.
10. To make the salad dressing, mix the yogurt, mayonnaise and the Coronation paste till you have a smooth dressing.
11. Gently coat the shredded chicken with the Coronation dressing adding a squeeze of lemon at the same time.
12. Start to layer the salad, beginning with the baby gem, red rice, chicken, peppers, shallots, raisins, the remaining fresh coriander and the toasted flaked almonds.

It’s decision time for you all pie lovers out there, as we arrive at the shortlist stage of our Make My Pie competition.

After a brilliant response and some excellent pie entries, our tough panel of Melrose and Morgan chefs have whittled down the list to a shortlist of their eight favourites.

Now, its over to you to decide which of these delicious sounding pies is going to make it through to development, before it goes on sale later this year.

Will it be the indulgent ‘Autumnal’ or ‘Rabbit’ pies, exotic ‘ChiChoChi’ or ‘Spice of Life’ pies, taste of summer ‘Primavera’, vegetarian ‘Squtternut Bosch’ or old favourites ‘English Breakfast’ and ‘Sunday Lunch’ pies?

Our Executive Chef, Caleb Laws who headed up the judging panel, said of the shortlist;

“The Make My Pie competition entries really were top notch. There were some fantastic sweet and savoury pie ideas, but it was the innovative savoury creations which really got our attention. I went for strong flavours with classic, but interesting combinations. As a pie-mad New Zealander I cannot wait to start developing the winning pie!”

The winning entry will get to see their pie on sale at Melrose and Morgan, credited to them as the winner, for a limited run over the month of October. The winner will also receive £100 in Melrose and Morgan vouchers to spend anytime they like.

Click here to read more about the shortlisted recipes and to vote for your favourite. 

Voting closes on 31st May.

Next week, 23-29 April, is UK Coffee Week, the nations biggest celebration of coffee, raising money for the Project Waterfall charitable initiative delivering clean water supplies to Africa’s coffee-producing countries.

In support of this excellent cause, our baristas will be serving delicious espresso and filter coffees from our new friends and master roasters from Broadway Market, Climpson and Sons. After our huge success with Climpson Estate in our shop coffee machines, we’ve added a select range of Climpson and Sons ground and whole coffee beans for you to try at home too.

It’s hard to choose between their exceptional coffees, however, our general manager Josh has developed a favourite in the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, which our head barista Roee recommends using as a filter coffee. It has a sweetness and lingering chocolatey finish without the expected bitterness, which means even the sweet toothed can leave out sugar and still enjoy the pure, clean coffee flavours.

Whole bean and ground Climpsons Estate and Brazil Daterra Estate, both £7.50, and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Swiss water Decaffeinated Brazil, both £8.00, are available at both our stores.

Coffee over ice

If you prefer your coffee a little more on the chilled side, then Jimmy’s Iced Coffee has made its spring/summer debut in the 330ml cartons – perfect for a little pick-me-up or picnic next time the sun decides to show its face.

Jimmy’s Ice Coffee Original and Skinny Love are available at both our stores at £2.40 a carton.

Coffee and chocolate

For those who definitely like it sweet, then there is no better partner than coffee and chocolate. Our Valrhona chocolate tart is infused with coffee for added depth and rich undertones. £2.95 each / £12.95 for a 6 portion tart.

For a serious coffee-chocolate hit, Rococo’s Chicchi di Caffe chocolate covered coffee beans are also back in stock at £9.50 for a 200g bag.

We are very lucky that our friend Ulrich Gerza and his wife Barbara Ungaro (old residents and customers from Primrose Hill) kept in touch when they uprooted to the beautiful Podere Fonte Christiano estate in the Umbrian hills of central Italy.

There, Ulrich and his family press olive oil from the olives that grow naturally on the steep hillsides of their estate – the first cold pressing of which he sells exclusively to us at Melrose and Morgan.

The first bottle arrived to us for tasting a few weeks ago and the full consignment has just landed in our shops, the elegant dark glass bottles concealing the vibrant green oil inside.

Umbria is the only one of Italy’s 20 regions to boast DOP (Denomination of Protected Origin) olive oils. Mountainous and dominated by the Appenines, it is one of the smallest regions and the only Italian region having neither coastline nor common border with other countries.

Whilst there is no proof of this producing anything special, there is a certain romance in the idea of this mountainous, landlocked seclusion concentrating flavour into the olives that grow there.

Certainly Ulrich’s 2011 ‘vintage’ is quite special. The unusual weather conditions in central Italy last summer; a cold dry July, followed by a heat wave in August and an unusually warm dry autumn, resulted in a low yield but very high quality olive harvest. Ulrich pruned his trees to further exacerbate these qualities in the fruit giving his oil an intense but smooth character.

Pablo, our resident Italian (Lazio born and bred, so no regional bias) describes Podere Fonte Christiano as; “A unique olive oil. Gentle at first, then becoming peppery and almost spicy at the end.” He continues; “This is a ‘finishing oil’ not something to cook with – and don’t use strong vinegars, you don’t want to mask its flavour.”

To get the best from this oil, use it at the end of cooking, drizzled on chargrilled meat and fish or to lightly dress salads. Crucially it should be used cold to preserve its delicate flavour and nutrients.

We think it’s best poured liberally onto charred Artisan Bakery sourdough, first rubbed with a little garlic and a few flakes of Cornish Sea Salt.

Podere Fonte Christiano is exclusive to Melrose and Morgan and available at both our stores at £14.95 for 500ml.

Hurrah, the first official long weekend of the year. And, what better way to celebrate than with a little low key experimentation in the kitchen. Days off are, for us, a great chance to try out some new recipes and get excited about seasonal ingredients in a more gentle domestic way.

To help inspire your own kitchen dabbling we’ve put together some of our favourite ideas and combinations for you to try at home.

Happy Easter.

Weekend breakfast

Lie ins and lazy breakfasts have got to be the ultimate luxury, so make the most of the four opportunities ahead of you with the perfect ‘wake me up’. Slice segments of pink grapefruit and dress with warmed Regents Park Honey and thyme leaves – lovely with thick River Cottage natural yogurt.

Warm salad

A salad of warm purple sprouting broccoli topped with a dressing made from salted capers, lemon zest, Ortiz Anchovies, parsley and mint. Delicious with new season roast lamb and a great way to update your Easter entertaining.

Classic leeks mimosa

Celebrate lovely, young new season vegetables – poach baby leeks in white wine and water with a few Steenbergs whole peppercorns and a couple of bay leaves. Finish with a simple vinaigrette and the finest grating of a hard boiled Fenton Farm egg.

Indoor picnic

If the weather turns out as bad as they say, then fret not, here’s your solution – cheat the season and have a Spring indoor picnic with our new British charcuterie from Native Breeds, some Caperberries, Gordal Olives and a bottle of 2007 Riesling Grand cru ‘Vorbourg’ Pierre Frick – the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Super side

Roast long, fine slices of Jerusalem artichoke with garlic and fresh thyme till caramelised and finish with Sun and Seed Organic Walnut Oil to bring out their lovely nuttiness. A great accompaniment for roast meats and just as delicious on its own with a good sourdough to mop up the sticky pan juices.

Easy supper

Steam and generously butter some Jersey Royal new potatoes then lightly crush with wilted spinach and steamed samphire and serve with one of our Roasted Salmon fillets and lemon mayonnaise. Deliciously light and perfect for when you need a break from the rich Easter feast.

Children from 2H, 2S, 2SB and Rainbow class at Primrose Hill Primary School are behind the amazing Easter Egg window display at our Gloucester Avenue store this year.

The children from Key Stage One, aged 5-7 years, painted the eggs for the display as part of a ‘Signs of Spring’ project.

Working on the project, the children said; “We have already learnt about the life cycle of a chicken, and watched some eggs hatch in our Nursery and Reception classes, so we could all talk about where the eggs had come from. We all designed our eggs on paper and chose the colours before we coloured them in with either felt tip pens or acrylic paint. We all enjoyed mixing the acrylic paints to see if we could change the shade of the paint. We found it trickier than we expected, as we’re not used to painting on curved surfaces and the eggs sometimes cracked.“

With Easter entertaining all sewn up, why not make time to squeeze in a little light baking? We love these Spiced Easter Biscuits – golden and delicious and a great recipe for the kids to get involved in.

You will need a 7cm pastry cutter. Makes 20 biscuits:

160g Doves Farm plain flour

1/2 tsp Doves Farm baking powder

1/2 tsp Steenbergs ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp Steenbergs mixed spice

80g caster sugar

80g slightly salted Netherend butter

50g currants

1 Fenton Farm egg

25g Steenbergs vanilla sugar

Method:

• Sift flour, spices and baking powder together and rub the butter in lightly with your fingertips.
• Once at the crumb stage, stir in the sugar and currants.
• Once incorporated, add the beaten eggs and combine till you have a firm dough.
• Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface then roll it out till you have a large sheet about 3mm thickness.
• Use your pastry cutter to cut out circles of the dough and place them on greased baking sheet making sure to leave room for them to spread.
• Bake at 175 degrees for 12-13 min till baked but still light golden.
• Sprinkle with vanilla sugar whilst still slightly warm from the oven then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

These would make a lovely gift stacked together and tied with some ribbon.

As a fun alternative, leave out the currants and cut into Easter shapes and get the kids to decorate the cooled biscuits with coloured icing, edible baubles or what ever takes their fancy.

Every year, as kids, we’d tumble down to the coast to hunt for Easter eggs at our grandparents’ house. In the garden, hidden amongst tree stumps and bushes were lovely local hens eggs each with a caricature of one of the ten grand children. The challenge was finding the eggs and identifying yours from the unlikely likeness and racing back to the house as quickly as possible to get it on to boil for breakfast.

Of course this was all a pre-amble to the real hunt – chocolate Easter rabbits and eggs – that were also hidden around the house. Not surprisingly we would be delirious with excitement.

Aside from the anticipated chocolate fix, looking back, part of what made it so special was the coinciding change in season – a peep of sunshine, budding trees and yellow daffs. Spring time in all its pregnant possibilities.

The story of the Easter rabbit and hunting eggs at Easter come from Pagan traditions. Rabbits, for their prolific breeding abilities and eggs, representing new life, have always been strong fertility symbols. Easter is a time of rebirth and new beginnings, both in the Christian calendar and for the birds, trees, flowers and the land.

Easter is named after a Saxon goddess of fertility and Spring known as Ostara, Eastre or Oestre. Amongst the many stories connecting Spring to the Easter bunny, legend has it that Ostara, feeling guilty about arriving late one Spring, saved the life of a bird whose wings had been frozen by the snow.

As he could no longer fly she turned him into a snow hare so that he could still escape from hunters. In remembrance of his earlier bird form she also allowed him to lay eggs on one day of the year.

Eventually the hare angered Ostara and she cast him to the skies to remain as the constellation Lepus (the Hare). From there he was allowed to return to earth once a year but only to give away his multi coloured eggs to children at festivals held each Spring.

This year as a special treat we will be hiding Madame Oiseau and Rococo handmade chocolate eggs and rabbits in our garden. And for breakfast Fenton Farm Eggs will no doubt be crudely drawn to depict our faces.

Boiled eggs followed swiftly by chocolate – some traditions are definitely worth keeping alive.

Madame Oiseau and Rococo chocolates and Fenton Farm Eggs are available to buy in both our shops.

A couple of week’s ago we were invited to the launch of a new Cravero Parmesan from Neal’s Yard Dairy at Quo Vadis. Quite an event in the cheese world as for the last ten years nothing has met the standard of the Cravero Baruffi, the only other Parmesan Neal’s Yard carry.

To show off the new San Pietro Reggiano, Jeremy Lee had put together some fantastic salsify nibbles wrapped in crispy little parcels and covered in a fine grating of the Parmesan and olive oil. All washed down with a glass of bubbly and really delicious.

As we jostled and devoured more chunks of the deep savoury, brothy San Pietro, I had a chance to chat to Giorgio Cravero – from a long line of ‘Giorgio’ and ‘Giacomo’ Cravero’s (yes his father and son are both Giacomo and his grandfather of course another Giorgio) who have been selecting and maturing Italian cheese near Piedmont since 1855.

Giorgio is emphatic about his Baruffi and new San Pietro, but he’s also utterly committed to protecting the heritage of the artisanal Parmesan industry. Over 1,000 artisan Parmesan producers in the region have dwindled to nearer 300 in recent years, where commodity prices have forced farms to join forces or just sell up to larger creameries.

His mission is to protect and foster the few remaining real artisans so we can continue to taste the intense, complex flavours of Parmesan as it should be – quite literally a world away from the dry, dull, powder that most of us grew up on in the UK.

San Pietro is one of these exceptional cheeses – made by the Libbra family at their tiny farm in Modena, it is quite different from the fruity, aromatic sweetness of the Baruffi made by their neighbouring producers, with its rich, beefy flavours.

Massimo and Laura Libbra make only six wheels of Parmesan a day using unpasteurised milk from cows fed on the sweet tasting local forage, which gives the cheese is distinctive characteristics.

Best eaten just as it is with a glass of dry white wine.

Available at both our stores now at £36.05/kg

Spring has sprung and that means delicious new season lamb. Look out for new Spring Lamb Hotpot on our shelves later this month – in the meantime here is a cheeky glimpse of our recipe for you to have a go at at home.

Ingredients: 

800g lamb neck fillet (diced and dusted in seasoned flour)

5 tbsp vegetable oil

500g onions

65g butter

800ml dark chicken stock

1 tsp chopped rosemary

1 kg potatoes thinly sliced

250g carrots thinly sliced

250g leeks wash and chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180oC. Cut the lamb roughly into 3-4cm chunks, season with salt and pepper and dust, with flour Season and lightly.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy-based frying pan and fry the lamb, a few pieces at a time, over a high heat until they are nicely coloured. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Wipe the pan clean. Heat another 2 tbsp oil in the pan and fry the onions over a high heat until they begin to colour. Add the butter and continue to cook for a few minutes until the onions soften. Add the carrots and leeks and continue to colour. Dust them with 1 tbsp of flour, stir well, then gradually add the stock, stirring to avoid lumps. Sprinkle in the chopped rosemary. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Now you’re ready to assemble the pot. Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with a layer of potatoes, then add a layer of meat with a little sauce, then another layer of potatoes. Continue until the meat has all been used.

Finish the top with a layer of nicely overlapping potato slices. Brush the top layer of potatoes with a little of the sauce. Cover and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes, then turn the oven down to 120°C and cook for a farther 2 hours.

Remove the lid from the pot and turn the oven back up to 220°o. Brush the top with a little melted butter and cook uncovered, for a further 16-20 minutes to brown the potatoes.

Serves 6