Stunning fashionista, food blogger and creative celeb chef Anna Barnett, recently completed this fabulous Q&A for us with Cherry Good. If you are familiar with Anna, then like me I am sure you would love to know more about her, the inspirations and just how she manages to do it all! Over to Anna...
Anna Barnett - Q&A
1. Are you going to miss the summer months?
Yes, I love the seasonal vegetables and herbs that come with the summer, wild garlic, British strawberries and asparagus, cherries, courgette flowers, figs, new potatoes the lists goes on. The flavours are so much more vibrant and bold when cooking with seasonal produce, you really can tell the difference. I’ll miss the lighter evenings too and having the chance to eat outside, picnic and be sociable.
2. Where do you get your inspiration from when creating and cooking recipes?
I normally start with what produce is available and seasonal, that way you’re going to get maximum flavour from your meal. It also often depends on what I fancy eating or who I’m cooking for. This year has been a great year for cherries, they’ve had their biggest harvest to date so I’ve loved using them as much as possible throughout my cooking, such as adding them to the topping of my cheesecake, making breakfast muffins, and serving them up own their own as a healthy snack.
3. Can you recommend any quick and easy dishes we can try?
Sweet cherry chutney is really easy and super quick to knock up. This dish is the perfect accompaniment to any mature cheddar sarnie, goats’ cheese salad, or addition to your cheese board. What’s even better is that you can add a dollop to a bottle of prosecco too.
Sticky Cherry Chutney
Ingredients:
- 500g Pitted cherries
- 5 Tbsp of light brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar
- Small Sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper
- 1 Tbsp of chopped Thyme leaves
Instructions:
Remove the stones from all cherries and roughly chop, add to a frying pan with the sugar and balsamic over a medium to high heat, allow the cherries to go soft and the sugar to caramelise for around 10-15 minutes. Next add in the seasoning and just before you remove from the heat add in the fresh thyme. You can store for up to 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Tips-
- You can swap out the thyme for basil and add a splash of boiling water then blitz for a cherry puree perfect to mix with your Prosecco.
- You can also swap out the cherries and use Cherry Good juice if you’re short on time.
I try and make sure I have a good breakfast to start the metabolism off early. Porridge with almond milk and some fresh fruit keeps me full for hours so I try and make sure I’m stocked up on supplies. I also try and have plenty of fruit, juices and dried nuts to snack on throughout the day. I like to make smoothies too, combining fresh cherries and Cherry Good juice is the perfect combination, I like to opt for the light version to keep them as healthy as possible.
Thank you to Anna and Cherry Good, I'm off to whip up some cherry chutney - delish!
Thanks for reading,
Wafflemama
