Unless you’re a natural-born foodie, it can be difficult to constantly develop new recipes to keep your meals a little more interesting. If you’re not a natural-born foodie like me, you might want to check out the M&S website, particularly their Adventures in Food section, which showcases new recipes each month.
This month M&S at Bourne challenged us to try out some of their online recipes, and they provided the ingredients. I am a berry fan, so we decided to try a couple of their Summer Berry recipes by food writer and TV presenter Rosie Birkett. M&S has worked with some of its berry suppliers for over 40 years and is proud to work with farmers who have been farming for generations; they champion British berries, and summer is the season to celebrate provenance.
Cherry Mozzarella and Rocket Salad
Ingredients
- M&S Date & Walnut Toasts or Crusty Bread
- 1 handful of fresh basil leaves
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 green chilli
- 3 tbsp extra virgin oil
- 60g rocket leaves
- 480g Mozzarella di Bufala Campana
- 350g cherries
Preparation
Pit and halve the cherries. Drain the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and tear it into pieces. Deseed and finely chop the green chillis. Toast the pumpkin seeds.
Method
- Arrange the cherries on a serving platter with the mozzarella and rocket.
- Whisk the olive oil with the chilli and vinegar in a small bowl, and season.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and scatter the pumpkin seeds and basil.
- Serve with toast or crusty bread, if you like.
413 Cal/Serving
Serves 4
Cherry and Ricotta Galette
Ingredients
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary
- 325g cherries
- 2 tbsp clear honey
- 250g ricotta
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 egg
- 320g ready-made puff pastry
Preparation
Beat the eggs. Pit and halve the cherries. Finely chop the fresh rosemary.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4.
- Roll out the pastry and cut a circle 26cm in diameter.
- Lay the pastry on a baking sheet and score around the edge to create a narrow border.
- Use a fork to press a pattern into the border, then prick the rest of the pastry base.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven.
- Brush the pastry all over with beaten egg.
- Reserve 1 tsp icing sugar and dust the rest over the pastry.
- Return to the oven for 5 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
- Remove from the oven for 5 minutes, until the pastry is golden.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
- Spread the ricotta over the pastry and drizzle with the honey.
- Arrange cherries on top, then scatter with rosemary.
- Dust with the remaining icing sugar and serve.
348 Cal/serving
Serves 6
What we thought?
We are both big fans of Cherries anyway and knowing how passionate and committed M&S are to the sustainable sourcing of quality British ingredients gives you the confidence that you are going to get great product every time. The Cherry and Mozzarella salad made a delicious alternative to a tomato and mozzarella salad which Simon often throws together for us on a hot summer’s evening.
Now the Cherry & Ricotta Galette was something else. As you can see the recipe says it serves 6 and whilst Simon and I tried our hardest to stick to just a quarter portion each (we thought it said serves 4) we enjoyed it so much we ended up polishing it off. I can’t imagine anyone else being able to resist just having one portion.
I’m sharing the blog love today, so why don’t you pop over to Life As Mrs D and read her fun Come Dine With Me series.
This recipe features in Twinkl Picnic in the Park Blog