Recipe Round Up & Stop Gifting Bottles Of Wine, Gift These Instead

My top 3 food & drink items to gift my friends instead of wine.

Jul 21, 2023

Hello from sunny London! I hope you had a glorious week my friends!

Before I jump into the recipe round up, I HAVE to tell you about this incredible dining experience I went to on Tuesday…

My friend invited me to go to a special Disney+ and Taste Film preview experience for The Bear season 2. Essentially, we watched the first 4 episodes of The Bear (a series about a young chef from the fine dining world comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop after a heartbreaking death in his family), while also devouring a menu that had been specially curated around the episodes. From a chicago fizz, to beef tenderloin with cherry vinegar, everything was absolutely divine and the experience was phenomenal. I’d highly recommend it! Check out Taste Film - they organise an array of events all over London for a variety of films. SO fun. Also, Amy (the founder of Taste Film) is simply wonderful and goes out of her way to provide the best experiences!

Okay, onto the recipe round up…YUM.

The Weekly Recipe Round Up

20-Min Pork Belly Fried Rice - This is my easy recipe for pork belly fried rice made with crispy pork belly pieces, eggs, and lemongrass coconut fried rice - ready in 20 minutes. It's so simple to make and only uses a handful of ingredients. It's one of my go-to weeknight dinners, I hope you enjoy it!

Easy Butter Bean & Spinach Curry - This is my super simple butter bean and spinach curry that only uses a handful of spices and a few other ingredients. It takes less than 30 minutes to make and is a perfect weeknight dinner!

Coconut Bao (Steamed Buns) - These fluffy coconut bao (steamed buns) are filled with a gorgeous lemongrass and pork mixture. The dough only requires two ingredients and is super easy to make.

You all know how much I love hearing from you telling me that you’ve made my recipes. So, please feel free to email or DM me with photos or a message letting me know how you got on!

This issue is free for everyone this week! Please enjoy the below!

Stop Gifting Bottles Of Wine, Gift These Instead

I am SO passionate about this and NOBODY else is talking about it?!

A bottle of wine is a classic gift for a birthday, graduation, or dinner party. But, there is an abundance of food and drink that is so much more exciting than a bottle of wine.

Don’t get me wrong, a bottle of wine is a lovely thing to take to a dinner party, and if you and your friends enjoy that, keep going, go for it! This discussion is for those of you (you know who you are), who just want to mix things up a bit. Whenever I’ve gifted these items to a someone, every single person has been so overjoyed and interested in what I’ve got for them. The gift always comes with a little informative story, and people love that.

So, I’m going to share my top 3 favourite food and drink items to gift people (as well as some exact products I buy). Now, you also have to bear in mind that these gifts are for people who do have an interest in food. For those who just get takeaways or aren’t food-fans, then a bottle of wine might be more appropriate!

Reasons why I believe gifting a bottle of wine is “so last year”:

Everyone has their own taste in wine, and people are picky. So, unless you’re really lucky and know exactly what your friend’s taste in wine is, then you’re probably going to buy them a bottle of wine that isn’t their cup of tea.
It’s an “easy” present to buy, and people expect it. It requires little thought and is just “standard” in my opinion. The person you gift it to will obviously appreciate it, but it’s nothing special (this sounds really harsh haha, it’s not meant to be!!).
Not everyone drinks wine. In this day and age, there are many more people going teetotal. What with all the Hollywood stars deciding not to drink, it’s causing a domino effect all over. So, be inclusive and pick something that sparks a conversation!

Okey dokey, here are my top 3 items that I LOVE to gift people:

1. EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (EVOO) - my absolute go-to.

Now, you might be like what?! But seriously, a GOOD bottle of EVOO is 1. such a treat to receive because you never buy it for yourself and 2. a lot more expensive than you think (starting at around £15 per bottle).

I’ve gifted bottles of EVOO and I always get the best responses. People always expect some kind of alcoholic bottle, so when they figure out that it’s Olive Oil, they’re so chuffed. I always love to do a bit of research on the bottle I’ve chosen and then tell them all about it too. Oooo and also, BIG TIP…EVOO is best used quick. So, tell your friends that it’s not like wine, where it gets better with age. Tell them to use it regularly and often. On salads, in dressings, or just drinking straight from the bottle (yes, it’s that good).

So, what is so special about EVOO and why is it so expensive?

Quality of Olives: Extra virgin olive oil is the highest grade of olive oil, and it comes from the first “cold-press” of the olives. To produce high-quality extra virgin olive oil, only the finest, ripest olives are used, which tend to be more expensive.

EVOO uses the Cold Press Method: The best extra virgin olive oils are cold-pressed, which means they are extracted without the use of heat or chemicals. Cold pressing preserves the delicate flavours and nutrients of the olives, but it requires specialised equipment and is a slower and more costly process.

Limited Production Areas: As you probably already know, very similar to wine, EVOO is produced in specific regions due to their perfect olive-growing conditions. These regions may have limited land available for cultivation, further affecting the supply and pricing of the oil.

Storage and Transportation: Green gold (aka EVOO) requires careful storage and transportation to maintain its freshness and flavour. For example, all EVOO should be stored in dark, airtight containers to ensure the sun doesn’t damage the quality of the oil. This obviously increases costs and therefore the end price!

Right, so how can I find good quality EVOO?

Do your research - depending on where you live, you may have a local olive farm that produces fresh EVOO…what a gift that would be! If not, then your local supermarket will most likely have 2-3 great bottles of the stuff.
Look for dark bottles - the sun damages the quality of oil, so any good quality product will have a dark or opaque packaging.
Origins of the olives - the story behind the olives gives you a great background as to what they will taste like and the energy that’s gone into producing this oil.
The price - yes. For a good bottle of EVOO, you’re looking for a price upwards of £15.

Now that you have a little background of EVOO, here is my recommendation:

Citizens Of Soil - they’re Greek Bottle costs £18 and tastes like “fresh-cut grass on the nose, then flavours of banana and tomato leaf with an avocado bit coming through. There’s a slightly peppery finish that's a sign it's rich in Oleocanthal (anti-inflammatory, antioxidant 'superfood' compound)”. An incredible bottle of EVOO and I buy it on repeat! Click here to learn more about it!

They’ve also actually got a great article on how to taste extra virgin olive oil here.

2. BEANS - okay once again, just hear me out.

Most people have a poor relationship with beans, or at least they just see them as boring legumes that are tasteless and dull. WELL, did you know that good quality beans are actually delicious and have SO much flavour?!

In Spain (and many other countries), beans are sold in jars, and they taste 1000x better than tinned beans. Tinned beans have a much tougher skin, and a whole lot less flavour. Beans that are good quality and have been cared for…you can literally eat out of the jar.

So, this is what you should be looking for:

Jarred beans.
GOOD tasting beans - look for a Great Taste award badge, or a great story line.
Price - yes, generally, really good quality beans have a bit of a price tag on them. For example 1 tin of butter beans from my local supermarket costs £0.70. But a jar of good quality beans can cost £4.00 or more, but it’s SO worth it, and your friends will be so happy, trust me.

So, if you decide go jump aboard the bean train, then I’d recommend buying 3-4 jars of good quality beans for your friend. And buying a variety e.g. butter beans, chickpeas, white beans, haricot beans, kidney beans, black beans…

My recommendation:

BOLD BEAN CO - I am in love with this company. Amelia (the founder), is an absolute gem. She set up the company in 2021 and is absolutely smashing it, they’ve recently come out with a bean cookbook called Bolds Beans and it’s filled with gorgeous recipes! My personal favourites of their beans are the Queen Butter Beans, and their Queen Chickpeas. Check out their website here.

3. SALT - “hahah” is what you’re probably thinking. But I am serious.

What salt do you use? How expensive is your salt? You’ll find that most chefs or enthusiastic cooks use good quality sea salt flakes, not pure white table salt. Why, you ask? Because it tastes SO much better and it genuinely transforms your dishes.

So, what’s the actual difference?

The main differences are in their taste, texture and processing.

Table salt is the granulated white salt seen in most saltshakers. It’s typically mined from underground deposits which is then processed to remove other minerals. The result is very fine and very strong salt that is quite crude on your dishes.

Sea salt on the other hand is a general term for salt produced by evaporation of ocean water or water from saltwater lakes. It is less processed than table salt and retains trace minerals. These minerals add flavour, colour, and result in a flaky, less intense and more gentle salty flavour.

Okay, so how to find good sea salt?

Colour - While refined sea salts are white, almost all unrefined sea salts have a slight colour to them. The colours come from the mineral content the salt receives from where it has been harvested.
Mineral Content - Look at the packaging and see what the salt’s composition is. It should not be entirely sodium chloride. You want to find numerous trace minerals – the larger the quantity, the better.
Do some research in your local area - if you have any sea near-ish you, do a little of Googling to see if there are any local sea salt producers. For example, because the UK is relatively small, we are lucky here that we have an array of companies producing sea salt e.g. Dorset Sea Salt, Cornish Sea Salt, Maldon Sea Salt, Blackthorn Scottish Sea Salt…

I use two main sea salt brands: