Bring a little honey into your dishes

Did you know that each busy little bee makes about 1/12 teaspoon of honey during its life?

This is a magical ingredient about which we are still learning the health benefits; honey also adds a unique flavour buzz and delicate floral sweetness to everything from appetizers and baked goods to sauces and salad dressings.

From mild and creamy to aged and tangy, honey does add a whole new dimension when balancing out strong flavours.

Our culinary team uses honey to give a delicious glaze to meat, drizzles it onto yoghurt or adds it to cheese.

If you love honey as much as we do at Granny Mouse Country House and Spa, then check out some tips for cooking with honey:

• Use honey to make a glaze for grilled pineapple skewers or even for a succulent ham, creating a mouthwatering sweet sheen.

• Honey is also a fabulous ingredient for marinades. Meat absorbs all those wonderful sticky and sweet flavours. When making a marinade, you need three important things – an acid or enzyme, fat and seasoning. Honey is actually an enzyme which will give you wonderful tender results and, when combined with fat and seasoning, will bring out the very best of natural flavours.

• Honey is also quite at home in salad dressings and will balance the acidity of mustard or vinegar so be generous when making a dressing to drench crispy salad leaves.

• Culinary Artist, Theo Mannie also suggests using honey to sweeten homemade jam.

• During a gastronomical breakfast at Granny Mouse when we serve a selection of cheeses, including goat’s cheese, ricotta, blue cheese as well as hard cheeses such as reggiano, we suggest that you pair them with a drizzle of honey.

• Honey not only pairs well with food but also provides a soothing and healthy element to warm drinks such as teas and even hot water and lemon.

• If you are partial to cocktails, there’s also room to get creative with honey, especially when you want to balance bitter drinks.

To get your taste buds going, Chef Mannie has a perfect summer dish for you to try out at home.

Honey Butterfish Salad

2 x 200g butterfish fillets

1tsp grated fresh ginger

50ml light soy sauce

150ml honey

I pinch chilli flakes

Juice of 1 lemon

1tsp veg oil

1tbsp butter

 

1/2 green, red and yellow pepper sliced into thin strips

100g bean sprouts

100g baby corn cut into quarters lengthways

Salt

Pepper

In a small saucepan, place the ginger, honey, soy sauce and chilli flakes. Place this on low heat and cook for about 10 min.

In a thick based frying pan and on medium heat, pour in the oil before adding the fish. Fry till golden brown before turning over. Add the butter then the lemon juice. Continue to fry for about 3 minutes.

Transfer the fish onto a baking sheet. Pour the honey sauce over the fish and bake in a 180°C pre heated oven for 5 min.

Mix the bean sprouts, peppers and baby corn and season with the salt and pepper. Toss together. Place the fish over this and glaze with the honey sauce.