What’s on our kitchen shelves: Immersive cooking and a recipe for a murder, it’s a culinary special…

Electrical appliance: Immersion blender

As some of you know, we talk about some weird topics on our morning checkins! My “Bullet” food blender came to “end of life” last month so I asked my esteemed colleagues for their advice. “Immersion blender…” someone said. “What is this thing you talk of…?” I replied. As it turned out I think I was the only staff member who didn’t have one. “Are we giving these out to new employees?” I enquired? I was reluctant … I had this picture of soup all over my jumper. My colleagues were so convinced that I took the plunge. You can go premium on these things it turns out. Rasa said to me that she went for the budget option and it was great, so I did too! I’m now part of the Open Fifth Immersion blender appreciation society. I’ve been whisking eggs, making soup, and creating protein drinks. I love it!

Jonathan Field, Managing Director and Founder – Open Fifth

Recipe: Crow army provisioning

Inspired by (you guessed it) a Reddit story in which a poster outlined how he had created an ‘accidental crow army’, I decided there would be nothing accidental about my crow army. Unfortunately, crows in London do not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, so I like to make sure they have very special treats when they come calling for me. Which they do every couple of weeks, standing outside the front door cawing loudly. What’s on my kitchen shelf is a box of hard-boiled eggs and a tub of semi-shelled nuts (with additional raw meat treats in the freezer). What’s also on the kitchen shelf is a box of protective gloves, because I am allergic to nuts. This type of personal sacrifice is what makes me a great leader of corvids.

Val Skelton, Administrator – Open Fifth

Utensil: Waiter’s Friend

I hate cooking. I avoid cooking like the plague. I love eating but I hate cooking. I also like a wee glass of wine every now and then so I’m submitting my waiter’s friend. Opens all my wine bottles, fits in my pocket, has a tiny, silly knife. Perfection.

Helen Symington, Sales Executive – Open Fifth

Recipe: 2 ingredient yoghurt bread 

Now as far as kitchen gadgets go I am a massive fan of my boiler tap – but there is very little to say there, us lucky owners will understand what a time saver it is!

However I thought I would share one of my most frequently used recipes for a quick bread. Because this house runs on bread. It gives a lovely sourdough-like flavour.

• 2 cup (250 g) whole-wheat flour, or self raising flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder – if using plain/wholewheat
• Not quite a cup (125 g ish) Greek yogurt (more fat the better) you might need more or less depending on consistency

Step 1 – Prepare. Heat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a 6 inches (15 cm) pan/cake tin with parchment paper or grease with oil of choice (I love a silicone liner myself).

Mix. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add the Greek yogurt and mix until the dough starts to come together. The dough should be soft but manageable. If it feels sticky, sprinkle in a little more flour; if it’s too dry, add a spoonful of Greek yogurt and mix again.

Knead. Transfer the dough to a clean, floured surface and knead quickly until it’s smooth. Honestly it doesn’t take long at all, just make sure there are no pockets of flour. Place the dough in the prepared pan, and optionally brush with little milk or egg wash (for golden brown top). 

I mostly do rolls instead and separate the above into at least 6. I have also been known to form a chunky round and use these as a pizza base! If wanting some flatbreads (for non pizza use) you can roll out thin and cook these in a non stick pan for about 3 mins either side.

Keep these in fridge till ready to cook, or you can freeze the dough. They really don’t freeze well when baked sadly.

Bake. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth

Utensil: Right handed dicer, slicer, peeler and chopper 

Some of you may know I took a nasty break to my left wrist in November, it is turning out to be a long road to recovery and all thanks to Scunthorpe hospitals physio dept as I can now almost make a fist! But this did mean that over Christmas my food handling skills were likely to be somewhat limited – except a dear friend sent me this marvellous right handed device so I could contribute to the Christmas roast preparations. 

Basically a chopping board with nails punched in to hold a potato, parsnip, carrot, root vegetable of your choice, allowing safe chopping with the right hand. Also an inbuilt peeler to peel said vegetables one handed, and a holder to fit a grater. This meant I spent a happy 2 hours peeling and dicing feeling I’d made my contribution. Probably would have taken 20 minutes with both, but it felt good!
Sadly this is now going to the charity shop as I’m pretty capable of wielding random vegetables again now!!

Janet McGowan, Director of Operations – Open Fifth

Electrical appliance: Toasted sandwich / waffle maker by Moulinex

My British friends always seem quite amazed by this particular appliance… Like: it’s not only a waffle maker, but it turns into a toasted sandwich maker really easily just by swapping out the plates!? To me, though, it’s a staple; I’m pretty sure every French household has one! Mine was bought for me by my grandma when I moved away for uni. Which also makes it rather sturdy: it moved houses (and countries), is about 20 years old and is still going strong.

My “Snack time electric grill” came by default with waffle and croque-monsieur plates (pictured). I rarely have the classic croque-monsieur filling (ham and emmental) these days, but I do regularly make croque-monsieur in other flavours: smoked salmon and Boursin; feta and peppers; apple slices and camembert… Funnily enough, the version of this appliance as sold in the UK by another French brand does not come with croque-monsieur plates by default – but panini ones instead! Definitely some cultural difference here 😉

Aude Charillon, Senior Customer Service and Training Consultant – Open Fifth

Utensils: Stainless steel bread knife by Allday Goods and matcha set

My favourite things in the kitchen are the gifted utensils that lend a little extra luxury or ease than I would ordinarily buy for myself. For my recent birthday, a Kilner butter churner, bread sling and crumpet rings gifted by my mum joined my cupboards, but I haven’t tried them out yet so this is not a review for them…

Allday Goods bread knife – Making sourdough bread takes a long time and a lot of effort, and in this home disappears all too quickly when it’s finally baked and nearly an acceptable amount of cooled! Accordingly, anything to extend the anticipation and enjoyment is appreciated. This summer I received this beautiful bread knife from my wife. Made by Allday Goods, the pink, yellow and orange handle is inspired by Fruit Salad sweets and made from waste plastic. They even have collabs with Maldon Salt and Kerrygold butter! The blade is very, very sharp, and knowingly arrives packaged with a blue food plaster amongst the stickers. 

Matcha set – This Christmas, our dear friend Michael gifted us a matcha set and coffee grinder (probably in the hopes of getting his spare one returned – sorry Michael!) So I have the new weekend ritual of a lovely big mug of oat matcha latte. Perhaps I could use a fork and a normal sieve to achieve similar results, but that wouldn’t feel quite so special!

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth