Dietary: Vegetarian

Cookies for Christmas is a must to bake during the festive period! People tend to think dark chocolate has a bitterness to it, however did you know using a pinch of Maldon Salt actually blocks out the bitterness due to salt having sodium ions! With a generous sprinkle of pistachios, these cookies will give off flavours of mild nuttiness and natural sweetness.

  1. Line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 190C.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, and then add the flour and cocoa powder. Knead in the chopped chocolate until smooth and well mixed. Roll into a rough disc and wrap in cling film, then place in the fridge to chill.
  3. On a light floured surface, roll the dough until is it 2cm thick and then use a 7cm cutter to cut roughly 25 cookies. Place onto the baking tray and bake for 8 – 10mins.
  4. Take the cookies out the oven and allow to cool. Once cool, dip one half in the melted chocolate and sprinkle with finely chopped pistachios and a sprinkle of Maldon salt.

Join us in creating this quick and easy to follow beetroot hummus. It’s refreshing in flavour and makes a delicious dip or a healthy spread on top of your cracker! Adding a pinch of Maldon Salt and cumin adds a little more spice and richness to the appetizer. A generous drizzle of olive oil on top of the hummus also makes the texture of the smoother in consistency and luxurious in texture.

  1. Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until the elements break down and it becomes completely smooth.
  2. Spoon into a serving bowl and top with a sprinkle of nigella seeds, caraway seeds, a drizzle of olive oil and a final pinch of Maldon Salt.
  3. Serve with your favourite crudités, toasted bread or crackers.

Want a Christmas Cocktail concoction to ‘wow’ your guests this year? We’ve teamed up again with Hayman’s Gin to make the delicious Pomegranate Fizz. Infused with their Sloe Gin, the vibrancy from the red pomegranate juice shaken together creates this cocktail to be perfect for the festive period.

  1. Place the sloe gin, pomegranate juice, lemon juice, sugar syrup and Double Dutch Cranberry and Ginger Tonic Water in a shaker and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
  2. Add ice to the shaker and shake again for 30 seconds until it feels cold. Add a pinch of Maldon Salt to enhance the sweetness and break down the bitterness of the gin.
  3. Strain into the coupe glass. Garnish with a rosemary sprig and some pomegranate seeds.

We’ve teamed up with Hayman’s Gin to create our very own ‘Maldini’ cocktail. Using their London Dry Gin, we’ve paired this with a Maldon Salt solution base, where you use water and salt together to create a balance to the drink.

Salt with Gin? We know this might surprise a few people, but did you know that the use of salt with alcohol actually enhances the sweetness and balances the bitterness of a dry gin! It really is delicious and makes a great cocktail for your guests at a dinner party.

  1. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir for approximately 15 seconds until diluted.
  2. Pour into a Nick and Nora or Martini Glass (chilled) and serve with cornichon on a cocktail stick.

Romy Gill creates the delicious Moong Bean Dal ahead of the Diwali festivities. Moong Bean Dal is a highly popular vegetarian dish and contains a bundle of nutrients and high protein.

Did you know the that Moong dal is the split version of the whole mung bean? When melting away in the pot whilst cooking, the bean retains a gentle softness and gives a whole vegetal and beany taste towards to the dish. Romy enhances this further through the use of adding tadka, where ground spices are heated in ghee and then mixed together with the Moong Beans.

  1. Soak the lentils for couple of hours or overnight. Wash and drain the water from the soaked lentils.
  2. Add the lentils to a medium-sized saucepan with Maldon Salt, turmeric and water.
  3. Cook the lentils until soft for about 40 minutes on medium heat and occasionally stir.
  4. While the lentils are cooking, we make the tadka. Heat the ghee in a frying pan, once the ghee has melted, add chopped spring onions and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add the grated ginger, chopped green chillies and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chopped tomato and chopped coriander into the pan and cook for another 4 minutes.
  6. Lowering the heat, add yogurt and garam masala, combining well together. Add the tadka to the moong dal. Add the rest of the water to the pan.
  7. Whilst mixing slowly together, cook on low heat for about 5 minutes.
  8. Leave to rest before eating with any flat bread or rice.

Stem Broccoli is packed with nutrients and infused with the flavours of sweet and earthy goodness. Romy Gill shows how roasting this vegetable actually enhances the flavours, whilst also adding a crisp-tender texture to the dish. The broccoli is laid on a bed of creamy feta, which brings a briny, tangy flavour to the dish.

The feta is easily creamed due to the cheese being made from sheep and Goat’s milk, which is much more softer than normal cheeses.

  1. Preheat oven at 170C.
  2. On a baking tray, add the stem broccoli and remaining ingredients, mixing them well together. Roast for 8-10 minutes.
  3. For the creamy feta, crumble the feta in a food processor, adding in the ingredients until a fine paste is made.
  4. Serve by spreading the feta on a large plate, and then place the roasted broccoli on top. Sprinkle with toasted almond flakes and a final generous pinch of Maldon Salt to elevate the flavours.

Join Romy Gill in creating these delicious roasted sweet potatoes, perfect to accompany her Hot and Spicy Whole Roasted Chicken.

Sweet potatoes are a great addition to a roasted chicken due to the sweet, earthy and nutty flavour that the wholesome root vegetable gives, elevating the spiciness of the chicken that Romy infuses. With a generous pinch of Maldon Salt, chilli flakes and garlic the seasonings will burst in flavour for the dish.

  1. Preheat oven at 180C.
  2. While the oven is getting hot, marinate the potatoes with Maldon Salt, pepper, chilli flakes, garlic granules and a good glug of olive oil.
  3. Layer them on the baking tray and bake 40 minutes.
  4. Serve with the whole roasted chicken.

Romy Gill showcases how to create the decadent orange and cocoa cake, a definite show stopper to finish a feast for any occasion! Orange and cocoa are an ‘match-made-in-heaven’ pairing – the cocoa is rich and indulgent, with the fresh, zesty tones of the orange. Bundled together, this creates a pudding that is full of flavours.

Why add peanut butter to the cake mix? Adding a generous spoonful to your mixture actually elevates the flavour into giving a warming, nuttier taste to the cake mixture. Also, this creates the cake to be a little more dense in texture, creating a rich cake to be enjoyed by many!

  1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
  2. Prepare a 20cm baking sheet, spread a little bit of butter inside the tin’s edges, and then place the baking sheet inside the tin. Keep aside.
  3. In a bowl add sugar, melted butter and whisk. Then crack the eggs, and add the buttermilk slowly in. Beat the mixture all together.
  4. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, ½ tsp Maldon Salt, peanut butter, juice of the oranges, 1/2tsp orange zest, and then combine properly.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, spread evenly.
  6. Bake the cake for 25 minutes until it is well risen.
  7. Remove from the oven, leaving the cake in the tin until cool.
  8. Carefully turn the cake of on to the wire rack and peel off the baking sheet.
  9. To finish, sprinkle Maldon Salt and orange zest on top.

Romy Gill creates the comforting dish of lemon rice paired with peanuts and curry leaves. Using pantry staples, this dish holds authentic Indian flavours whilst also being very easy to make for your guests. Romy adds peanuts to the rice to give a crunchy texture to the dish, whilst also adding curry leaves for a gentle aroma.

  1. In a saucepan, add water and ½ tsp Maldon Salt, bringing it to boil for 6-7 minutes on medium heat. Drain the water and keep the rice aside.
  2. In a pan dry toast the peanuts on a low heat. Toast them until light brown.
  3. Remove them from heat and add to a bowl. In the same pan add ghee. Once the ghee has melted, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.
  4. Add in the toasted peanuts, Maldon Salt, turmeric, and mix together. Cook with a lid for 5 minutes on low heat.
  5. Once all done, add the lemon juice, mix and serve hot as a side dish or on its own.

Griddling leeks is a wonderful way to enhance the sweet flavours by adding a smoky, charred element. This pairs perfectly with a Romesco – which is a sauce originating from Catalonian Spain made from red peppers, almonds and zingy garlic, vinegar, and chilli. Labneh is simply strained, salted yoghurt – wonderfully simple to make but adds creaminess and sourness to this plate. Topped with a nutty savoury granola using homemade Dukkah, which adds crunch and toasted saltiness. 

  1. Make the labneh a day ahead. Mix the yoghurt and salt in a bowl and then place in some muslin tied with string. Squeeze out any excess liquid and then place in the fridge in a sieve over a bowl overnight. The bowl will catch the drained excess liquid – the longer you leave it, the thicker your labneh will be.
  2. Make the Romesco sauce – toast the almonds in a dry pan until golden, set aside to cool. Add some roasted red peppers from a jar to a food processor along with the toasted almonds, Maldon Salt, garlic, sherry vinegar, parsley and paprika and blitz to a paste. Drizzle in the olive oil, add plenty of seasoning and blitz again. Set aside.
  3. Make the dukkah savoury granola – Place some hazelnuts, pistachios and sunflower seeds on a tray and roast in the oven for 10 minutes. When they are golden brown remove from the oven.  
  4. Take a frying pan and toast your spices and Maldon Salt – cumin, coriander and fennel seeds. Once they are fragrant and beginning to pop, remove from the pan and crush in a pestle and mortar. Toast the sesame seeds in the pan and then add these to the crushed spices in a bowl. Roughly chop the hazelnuts, sunflower seeds and pistachios and add them to the bowl along with some salt and smoked paprika. Set aside to cool.
  5. Heat a griddle pan on high. Slice the leeks in half and brush with oil. Griddle them for 5 minutes on each side until they have char lines and are soft and tender.
  6. On a large platter, spread the labneh on the bottom. Pile up the griddled leeks on top. Spoon over some of the romesco sauce and then drizzle with oil. Sprinkle across your savoury dukkah mix, some final parsley leaves and serve.