Summer in Britain is marked with many tastes: strawberries at Wimbledon, Pimm’s by the pool, champagne at Henley… and of course the glorious taste of elderflower cordial, which always prompts memories of afternoons bathing in the welcomed sun.
With this in mind Belvoir Fruit Farms has launched a competition inviting you to get creative and invent an exciting new sweet or savoury recipe that uses Belvoir Fruit Farms’ Elderflower Cordial as an ingredient.
The winner of the contest will have to impress cookery writer and judge Sophie Conran, and will receive a Kenwood Titanium Major mixer, a selection of Belvoir Fruit Farms cordials and £250 of cookware vouchers.
It is the variety of uses that elderflower lends it to that has caught Sophie’s attention: ‘What a lot of people don’t realise is that as well as being a lovely drink it is also a great ingredient for cooking and is extremely versatile while is why I’ve teamed up with Belvoir Fruit Farms to get the nation experimenting with elderflower cordial’.
Enties are open now until 19th July 2013 and to enter the competition all you need to do is upload your recipe to www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/sophieconran
For inspiration try Sophie Conran’s Elderflower Syllabub with Shortbread Hearts below or read Countrylife.co.uk’s recipe for Elderflower cordial here.
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Sophie Conran’s Elderflower Syllabub with Shortbread Hearts
Elderflower Syllabub
Serves 6
Ingredients
The zest of a lemon
4tbsp sweet sherry
2 tbsp Belvoir Fruit Farms’ Elderflower Cordial
Juice of 1 lemon
A heaped tbsp caster sugar
300ml double cream
Method
Mix the zest, sherry, cordial, lemon juice and sugar together in a bowl. Mix well and pour in the cream. Using a hand-held whisk, whisk into soft peaks. Spoon into a serving dish or individual glasses and chill for an hour. Serve with shortbread.
Shortbread
Makes about 40
Ingredients
225g plain flour
75g corn flour
200g butter, straight from the fridge, cut into cubes
100g caster sugar
1?2 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Extra sugar and flour for dusting
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Cover a large baking sheet with baking parchment, cut to size. I use a little butter rubbed on to the sheet to get the parchment to stay in place.
Sift the flours together and put into a food processor with the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Blitz until it is well mixed and it looks like breadcrumbs or begins to clump. Turn out onto the work surface and work into a ball. Divide into 4 and dust the work surface with a little flour. Roll out each piece of dough to a thickness of a pound coin or a little thinner. Cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter if you have one or an upturned glass and place on the baking sheet. Place on the middle rung of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Leave in the tin to cool and dust with caster sugar.
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