Tattie Holidays

"Tattie Holidays"

The Tattie Holidays, as the October mid-term break is known locally, are so called because in the "olden days" (as all children seem to refer to their parent's youth!) pupils were given leave of absence from school to go to the fields and gather in the potato crop by hand.
Nowadays tatties are generally lifted from the dreels by harvesting machines and children can enjoy a welcome break from school without the back breaking work.
If you are out and about in Inverurie these "Tattie Holidays" do pop in and visit us at The Dairy We look forward to welcoming you.

Tattie Soup

While we are on the subject of tatties we thought we'd share our recipe with you. Of course, all ingredients are available in our shop!

2kg potatoes
4 large carrots (the ones with dubs still on are really tasty, be sure to wash them!)
Half a turnip
1 large onion
8oz boiling beef - rib, skink, plate from our Presly & Co range is ideal
2 stock cubes (beef or vegetable)
1 leek finely chopped
Seasoning

Method: Peel and chop all veg except leek and place in large pan. Add beef and stock. Cover with water and bring to boil. Simmer for 1.5hrs. Remove the beef from pan. Blend the veg/stock mix to consistency of your liking. Chop the beef into pieces then add back into the soup. Add chopped leeks and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes. Season to taste. Delicious served with Mitchells handmade oatcakes.

THRIFTY TIP - Keep some beef back from the soup pot for making a stirfry or stovies next day.

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Christmas is Coming!

It seems far too early to be talking about it but Christmas stock is arriving in the shop and our thoughts are turning to Christmas hampers. So, whether you are looking for ideas for your family, friends, customers or colleagues we'll be more than happy to help you assemble your perfect Christmas gifts . Just give us a call, come in to see us in the shop or browse our website for more inspiration. We'll expand the festive selections as stock arrives so do follow us here as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information and Christmas inspiration!

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Friends of ALi, #OE2015 and more

Aberdeenshire Litter Initiative

We are joining the Aberdeenshire Litter Initiative to help keep our town in tip top shape, and we were told that we were the 555th member!
Here is a "Friend of ALi", George Niblock, presenting Judy with her Hi-Vis ALi waistcoat and her litter picker, and Mooorial who loves getting her photo taken so please share your photos of her with #loveMitchells #loveMooorial

Salmon and Prawn Supper

We're back with another tasty recipe from The Dairy Tearoom, this month's recipe is a Salmon and Prawn Supper. 

Place a salmon fillet per serving with some sliced spring onions, peppers, a few prawns and squeeze of lemon juice into a foil envelope. Put the foil parcel on a tray in a medium heat oven for 20 minutes to poach the salmon. When cooked, stir in some crème fraîche or natural yoghurt, salt and pepper to taste. Delicious served with new potatoes and green beans.
As usual, all of the ingredients are available in our shop including the salmon and prawns from Downies Fish which is available at our deli counter

#OE2015

Over the next few days the Society of Petroleum Engineers' (SPE) Offshore Europe conference is in Aberdeen, which is fantastic because it will bring people from all over Europe to our doorstep.

If you are attending #OE2015, then why not pop into Mitchells for a spot of lunch?

Braw Scotland

An Autumnal display of Braw Scotland goodies. Choose from oven gloves, tea towels, aprons and bags. We especially love the Scottie dog book bags which make a great gift for students, all available in-store.

 

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How far have you taken our products and the Great British Bake Off

Travelling Treats?

How far have you taken our products? We recently received a message with the photo of Todd the Jack Russell from Wiltshire.
So we wanted you to share your photos with us showing us how far you've seen, taken or sent products that you purchased in our store!

Travelling Treats pt.2

Here are our oatcakes on a ferry in Belfast, Ireland, and in the background you can see the Harland and Wolff, "Samson and Goliath", cranes. This is the site on which the unfortunately ill-fated RMS Titanic, amongst other great ocean liners, was built.

Sizzling Sauces for Sale

Angus & Oink have been doing very well recently, and there's no doubt as to why!
Their sauces are a beautiful accompaniment to any dish, especially if you are going for a smoky or barbecue taste. Buyer beware, though, because these sauces can get a little bit spicy.
All of the sauces in the above picture are available in our store, drop by today to release your inner sauce demons.

Zoe’s Easy Hot Pot Recipe inspired by the famous Lancashire Hot Pot

Roughly chop some onion and carrot and fry in a bit of oil.
Add stewing steak (or lamb) to brown it.
Add beef stock and cook until meat is tender. Thicken gravy to taste.
Place the stew in an oven proof dish with sliced potatoes on top.
Brown in oven for approx. 40 minutes.

Serve with pickled onion or sliced red onion in wine vinegar or with a chutney of your choice.
Ingredients are available from our shop and bigger butchery orders (min 24 hours notice) from Presly’s of Oldmeldrum can be placed at the deli counter.

Cooking For a Good Cause

You may recall that Paul Hollywood of Great British Bake Off fame featured Mitchells handmade oatcakes in an episode of his Pies and Puds series.
Following on from that moment of fame, we are now helping local charity Flycup catering with their very own Great Bake Off fundraiser (in September) which will feature local contestants and none other than former GBBO contestant Norman Calder!
We are delighted to be involved in this exciting local fundraiser and throughout today background filming will take place in our shop by local production company Right Here Productions.
Why not pop in and you never know, you may bump into the local "celebrity" contestants! Here's a link to the main event for purchasing tickets: http://on.fb.me/1hp1Tng

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July Mailer - Summer Stock Up

It may not look like it, but it is actually summer! When the sun comes out, what better treat is there than some delicious ice-cream. We have great deals on ice cream that you can sit in and eat, or you can pick up one of the three flavours we have in the grocery store. All of which are made for us by Rizzas of Huntly using local ingredients including Scottish berries which are in season just now.

Diane, one of our cooks, is known as being the Queen of Soups and she makes the most amazing soups using fresh ingredients. Below is a recipe for Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash soup with all of the ingredients available in our shop.

Sweat 2 diced butternut squash & 1 kg sweet potato with 3 cloves garlic & 1 chopped red chilli (optional) in a drop of veg oil. Add a teaspoon of smoked paprika (optional) and cook for a minute, stirring to blend the flavours.

Add water to cover and simmer till the vegetables are soft. Add a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard, 2oz of grated parmesan cheese and a tablespoon of vegetable bullion. Blend till smooth. Stir in a “glug” of cream and serve hot.

Soup is perfectly accompanied by some Mitchells oatcakes!!!

The UK bee population is in decline and it is getting harder to get locally sourced honey these days, but we have our hands on a few jars so grab them before they have disappeared. Local honey has lots of health benefits including prevention of hayfever. Although it isn't scientifically proven, it seems to work for lots of people. And, it goes really well with our handmade oatcakes! Which are made from Aberdeenshire grown oats which also have fantastic health benefits!

Summer salads are in season, and salads are never complete without a bit of dressing expecially when it is made by Little Doone which we have a wide range of in store. They make fabulous dressings for salads - just mix with a little oil. Balsamic vinegar is also great drizzled over strawberries. We also stock Ola and Mackintosh of Glendaveny rapeseed oils and local salad leaves which are all available in our shop.

Get in touch on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #LoveMitchells, we’d love to hear how the gift was received! For more news from Mitchells, Mooorial and Inverurie, subscribe to our mailing list.

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Father's Day Gift Ideas

Father’s Day is coming up in a couple of weeks and it is probably time you start thinking about a wee gift for him, if you haven’t already. We have a great selection of presents that would be perfect for Father’s Day, including a great selection of hampers that can be customised to your needs and liking, and we can courier to mainland UK addresses.

Also, for all you cheese lovers out there, we have a great selection of these cheese kits from The Big Cheese Making Kit. The Queen awarded the owner of this company an MBE, so you know that they must be pretty good! A popular cheese we have in and is a great combination with our home-made Oatcakes is the Black Bomber or Red Devil from Snowdonia Cheeses. As always, if you have a favourite you’d like us to stock please just ask at the deli counter and we can order it in especially for you. We also have a bunch of great local cheeses to choose from so stop in and see which takes your fancy.

Another popular Father’s Day gift is one of our great selection of beers and whiskies. You can see more of our selection here.

We have just stocked up on a range from Glencairn in time for Father’s Day. Choose from whisky glasses (including an engraved “Grandpaw Broon” design), mixer glasses, water jugs and gift sets. These perfectly accompany any of the whiskies available in our shop, or you can order as a bespoke hamper made to order.

And don’t forget, we will be at The Taste Of Grampian food festival and we will be sharing our stall with the fantastic folks over at Cambus O’May Cheese.

Get in touch on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #LoveMitchells, we’d love to hear how the gift was received! For more news from Mitchells, Mooorial and Inverurie, subscribe to our mailing list.

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Summer is almost here, and that means that summer fruits are in season!

We will be back at this year’s Taste of Grampian food festival on June 6th and this year we are sharing a stand with Cambus o’ May cheeses to complement our handmade oatcakes which is what we’ll be focussing on sampling and selling on the day.

For those who don't know what the Taste of Grampian festival is, it is a one-day food and drink festival is a great day out for all the family. This popular annual event allows visitors to discover and sample the wide range of high quality food and drink products from Grampian in the North East of Scotland to visitors from throughout Scotland.

It's official, summer is on it's way!

What better fruits are best suited for summer than strawberries? So we have sourced some of the best strawbs in Scotland from Castleton Farm Shop and Barra Berries. As of May 1st, it is strawberry season so now is the best time to grab some whilst they are juicy and delicious!

We now have lovely meringues in stock now ready for the local soft fruit season.

These meringues from Walkers shortbread and Border Meringues are the perfect partners for the bouquet of summer fruits that is now available in our store.

The meringues below from Meringue Magic will be the perfect accompaniment for an ice cream sundae using our crannachan ice cream.

Get in touch on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #LoveMitchells, we’d love to hear how the gift was received! For more news from Mitchells, Mooorial and Inverurie, subscribe to our mailing list.

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Prepare for the Summer months at Mitchells!

The recent heat wave that swept across Scotland gave us a taste for summer. If, like us, you dug the barbecue out of the shed or have plans to clean it up ready for the next warm front you’ll be looking for inspiration to hone your outdoor culinary skills. We have the perfect products in stock to make life easy for you. Presly Butchers Oldmeldrum have been supplying our shop daily for over 40 years with a fantastic range of local meats. Choose from the range on display in our butchery section or place an order for your specific requirements with the staff on our deli counter.

Also at the deli you will find a selection of locally landed fresh fish from Downies of Whitehills which cook so quickly and easily on the barbecue.

A range of new sauce products guaranteed to jazz up your barbecue cooking is now in stock from fledgling Aberdeen company Angus and Oink. With names like Pitboss BBQ, Rampant Angus, Voodoo Mango and Red Dawg Apache your cooking is destined to impress.

Sharing platters are popular for entertaining. Our son Hamish of @handcraftedbyhamish makes wooden serving boards which are available to purchase from in our shop. Each one is unique in shape, wood grain and size and makes a great base on which to serve breads, cheeses and cold meats.

Choose from the wide selection of cut to order cold meats and Scottish cheeses from our deli counter or try some fabulous Scottish venison charcuterie from Great Glen Game shown on the photo above on a Handcrafted By Hamish board.

Here’s to a long and enjoyable barbecue season!

Get in touch on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #LoveMitchells, we’d love to hear about your barbecues! For more news from Mitchells, Mooorial and Inverurie, subscribe to our mailing list.

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Have a Happy Mitchells Mother’s Day

Your mother is the most important woman in your life, no matter what your wife says!

Show your mum what she really means to you this Mother’s Day because she has helped you through a lot, got you out of trouble and given you into trouble - all because she loves you.

We have a wide selection of food and drink related Mother’s Day gift ideas to show your mum that she is DEFINITELY the best mum in the whole world on Sunday, March 15th.

Champagne Hamper

A selection of flowers

Fruit Basket

Gin

We also have a fantastic selection of pre-made hampers, and we can create you a bespoke hamper too if you give us an idea of the contents you'd like in your hamper and whether you'd prefer a wicker basket or cardboard pantry box.

We will take care of the rest including delivery to mainland UK addresses if required. If you'd prefer to collect your hamper from our shop we will include more products in lieu of delivery costs.

Orders for fruit baskets and bespoke gift hampers can be placed now for collection from our shop by 5.30pm on Saturday 14 march or visit our shop in Inverurie.

Gift vouchers are also available in store and if you can’t make it into us, visit our online hamper shop to arrange delivery of a bespoke gift hamper to the special lady in your life.

Get in touch on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #LoveMitchells, we’d love to hear how the gift was received! For more news from Mitchells, Mooorial and Inverurie, subscribe to our mailing list.

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