Cooking Tasty Dishes with The Spice Pioneer

The Spice Pioneer is a monthly subscription kit, bringing you recipes each month that are bursting with flavours from across the world. The Spice Pioneer source the best herbs and spices from reliable and trusted suppliers of the finest authentic seasonings from each corner of the globe.  Based in the North West of England, the parent company Seasoned Pioneers brings you exotic ingredients from around the world.

I am always cooking meals, and the same recipes do get boring over time I must agree, so just having a little something different to look forward to each month is fantastic.

The Spice Pioneer

I have been sent two of these The Spice Pioneers subscription boxes for me to review. They arrived very conveniently, well presented in their own little box. The quality and design of them are really high quality I couldn’t wait to get started.

Monte Baldo

I decided to start with Monte Baldo, which is sourced from Italy. This recipe is an Italian masterpiece which is enough to make for four people, the recipe we are going to make is:-

Risotto alla Milanese (Saffron Risotto),

Pollo alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s Chicken),

Gelato con Olio e Sale (Ice Cream with Olive Oil and Sea Salt),

The Spice box has all the main spices you need to get the full flavours from across the world. The detailed recipe insert tells you which ingredients you will need and how to make in step by step guide which is easy to follow.

 

For our starter which was the Risotto Alla Milanese, for this part of the recipe I gathered from my cupboard, dry white wine, butter, 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 75g Pancetta, risotto rice, Parmesan cheese. The rest of the ingredients such as the spices, stock, saffron, extra virgin olive oil were all included within the spice box.

For our main course I needed chicken, red wine, 1 onion, 6 anchovy fillets, 3 garlic cloves, green and black olives (I didn’t include these as I am not a fan of olives) passata and 2 tins of cannellini beans. The rest of the ingredients were also included within our spice box, juniper berries, rosemary, ground bay leaves, sun dried tomato powder and  olive oil.

I started by making the chicken, following the recipe. This was very easy, each part is in step order, (step 1, step 2, step 3) which is very simply put so even the most basic cook will follow these steps well.

Seasoning the chicken with black pepper and placing the oil in the frying pan set the chicken on low to cook and wait until browned. I then transferred the chicken into an oven dish. Added the red wine into the pan the chicken was cooked in to keep the flavours and simmered for 5 minutes and transfer to a bowl for use later.

Now I added the olive oil and fried the onions, anchovies, garlic and juniper berries, rosemary and bay leaves.

Each of the cartons inside the the Spice Pioneer kit are all labelled and you simply just peel open the top and use the necessary amount. Here is an example of the juniper berries.

Followed by adding the sundried tomato powder and stir into your mix. Next I  added the passata and red wine reduction and simmered for a few minutes. Your sauce is now made, use this to place in your oven proof dish, cover with tin foil or lid and cook for approx 1 and a half hours in the oven.

It looks amazing! My mouth was watering at the delicious smell! 

After this was placed into the oven, we can then get started onto our Risotto alla Milanese. Measuring out 150ml of dry white wine, I then added the saffron strands within to infuse and set aside. After having a 750ml bottle of wine, it would be a shame to waste the remaining. So this accompanied throughout the night, hic!

Next I melted the butter in a pan and fried the onion, garlic and pancetta until softened. Using the chicken stock, also provided,  I added the 1500ml of boiling water.

I then added the rice to the onions and pancetta stirring to coat the grains then added the saffron infused wine.

Adding a bit of the stock at a time whilst absorbed and a pinch of salt to encourage the creamy starch out of the rice. Stirring through the salt and pepper, butter and parmesan cheese, I then covered and left for 2-3 minutes.

You can serve this as a starter, but I served both of mine on the same dish, served with white baguette heated in the oven to crisp it off, this went perfectly together.

This meal was extremely filling, the chicken sauce was rich and full.  It was simply amazing, bursting with all the flavours too.

The ice cream was simple to do, serve vanilla ice cream, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of smoked sea salt. Never had ice cream like this before, it always been a sweeter treat with syrup. So to have it this was was different, but it suited the meal well and I would never have thought to have ice cream this way!

I made this on a Saturday night, as it the only night I really have time to cook a full meal like this, by the time I have normally sorted the kids, and done our nightly routine, I wouldn’t have time to make this personally on a school night, but on a Saturday I have plenty of time so I made this meal last Saturday.

Dal Lake

This Saturday I made the next recipe which was Dal Lake which is sourced from Kashmir. This spicy meal is great for  four people, the recipes we are going to make this time is:-

Slow cooked Kashmiri chicken,

Glazed flatbreads, with yoghurt and mint dressing,

Ginger spiced aubergine and chickpeas,

The Spice box has all the main spices you need to get the full flavours from across the world. The detailed recipe insert tells you which ingredients you will need and how to make in step by step guide which is easy to follow.

This recipe required slightly more ingredient for me to gather. For the Kashmiri chicken I need full fat natural yoghurt, ginger (I have used Lazy Ginger), garlic, coriander leaves, lemon and chicken.

To make the Kashmiri chicken (or you can use lamb) I started by creating the marinade. I added a the Kashmiri chili powder, half a teaspoon of ground cardamom, 2 teaspoons Kashmiri masala, 300g of yoghurt and mix in a bowl.

Grace came and helped me at this point, she does love cooking and every time I measure ingredients, she likes this to be her job to measure and mix.

After she has mixed this, we then added the ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, and a squeeze of half a lemon juice.

Adding the chicken into the oven proof dish we poured over the marinade, and sealed with foil and left to marinade for an hour.

Next we prepared to make the glazed flatbreads and yoghurt and mint dressing. For this recipe we needed strong white bread flour, the remainder of the yoghurt, butter, fresh mint leaves. The rest of the ingredients are included within our spice box.

In a large bowl we added the flour, sea salt, yoghurt, water, sunflower oil and mixed.

Once mixed well we floured the work surface and tipped the dough out and kneaded it for about 5 minutes. Returned to the mixing bowl and covered for 10 minutes.

Next we made the yoghurt dressing in a small bowl, just by adding 75g of yoghurt, mint leaves and nigella seeds and stirred. I then left this in the fridge until the meal was ready to be served.

Once placed the chicken in the oven I then made the dough balls to make our flat bread. By separating the dough into four balls, I just used the rolling pin to make the shape of our flatbreads making sure that they are approx 2-3mm thick.

In a small pan I just quickly made up the glaze, by adding the butter, sunflower oil and half a teaspoon of fennel seeds with half a teaspoon of Kashmiri masala. This was then set to the side to add our glaze onto our flatbreads just before serving.

About 30-40 minutes before the chicken is ready it is time to make the ginger spiced aubergine and chick peas mix. Adding the sunflower oil to the pan and adding the onions and mustard seeds to fry for a few minutes. Next I added the diced aubergine, ginger and garlic.

Once the aubergine starts to soften which wasn’t long at all, I added 1 teaspoon of Kashmiri chilli powder and stirred.  Poured the tomatoes and chick peas into the mix and simmer for 10-15 minutes and season. Placing the lid on the pan once simmered to keep warm.

At this time our chicken was just about cooked, I removed it from the oven and allowed it to rest. I did find I had to remove some of the marinade throughout the cook time to speed up. The chicken once cooked was full of flavour.

 

Now it was time to make the flatbreads.  Putting one at a time in a frying pan for about 5 minutes.

Half way through cooking time, flip them to further cook the other side.

They turned out brilliant. Whilst the last flatbread was cooking I pulled the chicken pieces to shred them, and used the glaze I had made earlier and brushed the four flat breads.

Now all I needed to do was serve up this dish!

The smell in my kitchen was amazing throughout the whole process, I couldn’t wait to get tucked into this meal. I added the flatbread to the base of my plate, dished up the Kashmiri chicken, ginger spiced aubergine and chick peas with a splash of our yoghurt.

The meal was so lovely, filling and all the flavours complimented each other very well.  This meal was delicious, and even the kids loved the flatbread too.

Our Thoughts

Becoming part of The Spice Pioneer’s exclusive club couldn’t be easier. Buy for yourself, or as a gift for your loved ones and relax. From then on all the spices and flavours needed to create the most exotic and tasty meals from every continent of the world will arrive every month, conveniently boxed to fit through your letterbox.

The Spice Pioneer would make a perfect gift this Christmas for a food lover, and what’s more there is also a free Gin & Tonic garnish box worth £12.95 with every new order! I have yet to use mine yet, but I can’t wait to test them out when I have a tipple or two nearer to the festive season.

You can get even more information on Th Spice Pioneer website. I would love this as a gift myself, hint hint!

Mummy H

Have you seen our giveaways? Just head to our giveaway page to see the list of prizes. There is something for everyone!

WE WAS SENT THIS ITEM TO REVIEW FREE OF CHARGE. OUR OPINIONS ARE IN NO WAY SWAYED BY THIS. ALL OUR REVIEWS ARE OUR HONEST THOUGHTS & FEELINGS