Recipes from Rowse Squeeze Collective

The Rowse Squeeze Collective, a team of top British chefs and foodies, have created nine easy-to-make breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes – all of which include some honey.

Each recipe has been written to showcase the diversity of honey in cooking and baking, and inspire home cooks to help the bees by supporting Rowse's Hives for Lives programme of initiatives.

A proportion of sales of from its honey jars goes toward helping protect bees and beekeepers.

Featured dishes include a winter-warming slow-cooked lamb shoulder with organic honey from former River Cottage head chef Gill Meller.

Bridport-born Gill, who lives near Lyme Regis, featured in the Echo recently as he is backing a campaign which aims to put a stop to factory farming.

Gill said: “In this recipe, I’m pairing the lamb up with salty, sour preserved lemons, fudgy dates, a good pinch of saffron and a generous squeeze of Rowse Organic Honey. The honey has got such a natural affinity with all these flavours, rounding them off and bringing them together.”

Another recipe, Caribbean-style smoked honey, shortribs, comes from Melissa Thompson, a journalist and food writer who used to work for the Dorset Echo.

She said: “This recipe has got everything you could want from a smokey, winter dinner. It’s sweet, it’s savoury, it has a little heat and just a whole lot of flavour from the garlic, black pepper in the Rowse Smokey Fusion Honey.”

Rowse Senior Brand Marketing Manager, Samantha MacNamara, said: “The Squeeze Collective brings together some of the best talent in the British food scene showcasing the flavours and versatility of honey, all with the common purpose of raising awareness of declining bee populations and the urgent need to protect them.

She added: “Bees are essential to our ecosystem because they pollinate a huge range of flowers, helping them to grow and reproduce. As many as three out of four crops that produce food for us to eat are dependent on pollinators. The excess food that they produce also provides us with one of our nation’s favourite ingredients: delicious honey.

“Unfortunately, our buzzing buddies need our help as they face a combined threat of rapid urbanisation, climate change and pesticides."

Slow-roast lamb with honey, saffron, dates & preserved lemon from Gill Meller

30 mins to prep

180 mins to cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

1⁄2 cinnamon stick

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

6 cardamom pods

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 – 3kg lamb shoulder boned and rolled

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 onions, finely sliced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced

1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

2 tablespoons tomato purée

200g (7oz) juicy prunes, stoned

pinch of saffron threads

2 tablespoons of Rowse Organic Honey

1 preserved lemon, skin thickly sliced, flesh discarded

4 bay leaves

1 small bunch of thyme, torn

1 small bunch of mint, leaves picked and chopped

Pinch of smoked paprika

To serve extra honey for squeezing over

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Top tip: Tick off the items you've already got, so you can quickly see what's left to buy

Method

Step 1

Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Place the cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and cardamom pods in a small pan over a medium heat. Toast for 1–2 minutes, until fragrant, then tip them into a mortar and use the pestle to coarsely crush. Pick out and discard the cardamom husks, which are tricky to grind well.

Step 2

Combine the crushed spices with the turmeric and plenty of salt and pepper. Rub the lamb shoulder with half the olive oil, then work the dry spice mix into the meat, making sure you get it in all the nooks and crannies. Place the lamb on a suitable roasting tray and place in the hot oven for 25–30 minutes, until browned.

Step 3

Meanwhile, set a large cast-iron pot (with a lid) over a medium heat. Add the remaining olive oil and, when it’s hot, add the onions, garlic, chilli and ginger and cook, stirring regularly, for 10–12 minutes. Add the tomato purée, prunes, honey, saffron, preserved lemon, bay leaves and 1 glass of water and stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer.

Step 4

When the lamb shoulder is nice and brown, lift it out of the oven and carefully place it in the pot. Scatter around the thyme, place on the lid and put the pot in the oven. Lower the heat to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 and cook for 21⁄2 hours, until the meat is tender and giving. (Check the pot from time to time, and if it’s looking dry, top it up with a splash more water.) Remove from the oven and allow the lamb to rest for 15–20 minutes before serving.

Step 5

To serve, sprinkle with chopped mint and a pinch of paprika, and finish with a generous squeeze of honey. Bring the pot to the table and enjoy with flat breads and a salad.

Smoked Honey Shortribs from Melissa Thompson

12 mins to prep

35 mins to cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

6 shortribs (Ask your butcher for cross-cut shortribs - these cook much faster than whole ones and are fun to work with)

3 tbsp Rowse Smokey Fusion Honey

2 large onions

1 red pepper

4 garlic cloves

2tsp cumin

2tsp paprika

1 tsp onion salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp red pepper flakes

Splash of olive oil

200ml beer (such as a pale ale etc. Ginger beer works well too)

Rice (to serve)

Top tip: Tick off the items you've already got, so you can quickly see what's left to buy

Method

Step 1

Season the shortribs with the ground cumin, paprika, onion salt, garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Add a splash of oil and mix together until the shortribs are completely coated.

Step 2

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Sear the seasoned shortribs in a hot pan for 5 minutes.

Step 3

Meanwhile, sweat some onions, garlic and red pepper in a pan for 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Transfer the vegetables to an oven dish, place the browned shortribs on top, add some beer and cover with foil. Cook for 30 minutes.

Step 4

Remove the foil and liberally squeeze the Rowse Smokey Fusion over the short ribs. Grill for 10 minutes until browned and bubbling.