Find top brands in Best of British

We're feeling patriotic this week with our Best of British event.

We're celebrating our best British brands every evening from Monday 16th November to Friday 20th November. To get you in the mood, you can even vote in our Best of British poll about all things British.

Here are the top brands we've got in store this week…

Clogau Gold
6pm on Monday 16th November

Add a touch of Celtic-charm to your jewellery collection with this ornate range. Every piece contains rare Welsh gold from the Clogau St. David's mine - the very mine that's provided gold for Royal wedding rings!

View our Clogau Gold collection

Try Simon Brown's Christmas pudding recipe

Hi everyone, I'm Simon Brown the guest expert for cook's essentials.

A delicious, homemade Christmas pudding is the best way to round off Christmas dinner, but only if you’ve remembered to leave enough room!

Nothing beats the magic of making your own and gathering the whole family around for a stir and a wish before gently steaming the pudding and then tucking it away for a few weeks to mature, ready for its flaming entrance on Christmas Day. 

Here’s my favourite recipe which makes a rich, scrumptious pudding...


Rich Christmas pudding 

Serves 8-10 (depending on how much turkey you’ve eaten beforehand!)

Try these recipes with Today's Special Value

If Today's Special Value silicone bakeware set has taken your fancy, then take a peek at these tasty recipes from Mal Harradine. The guest expert from cook's essentials has collected the recipes over the years from his loyal fan base, and thought he'd share them with you…

"Hi everyone, Mal here,

I simply love Today's Special Value and thought I'd share a few recipes with you that will cook beautifully with the silicone bakeware set.

Here's a recipe from Margaret Johnson who I met at the Royal Cornwall Show in Wadebridge, Cornwall.

An emmet Cornish pasty - the Cornish call anyone who isn't Cornish an emmet!
 
Ingredients
1.5lb ready made short crust pastry
2.25lb partially boiled potatoes cubed
4oz diced raw smoked bacon
3tbsp chopped chives
2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 medium free range egg
25fl oz milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ask Simon Brown your Christmas cooking questions…

Whether you have trouble making the perfect bread sauce or you want the crispiest roast potatoes this year, chances are Simon has the answer. Simply post your comment below and Simon will choose ten to answer.

Simon Brown is the one of the guest experts for cook's essentials. He's a keen gadget expert with a real passion for food.

Keep checking back over the next couple of weeks for his expert answers. Plus, to kick start your Christmas preparations, check out Simon's Christmas cake recipe.

Try our festive recipes from Exmoor Style

Do you always buy the turkey last minute or never have enough food for unexpected guests? Well, Exmoor Style is on hand to help with Today's Special Value meat hamper. It includes everything from the all important turkey and additional roasting joints, to the tasty meat accompaniments.

To help get your festive preparations underway, QGossip caught up with Exmoor Style's guest presenter, Gail Samways. Here she's prepared two delectable recipes that will go perfectly with today's special-priced meat selection.

Gail Samways: "This festive meat hamper brings top restaurant-quality meat to your home so you can impress with ease at half the price, with versatile cuts for you to create some magic the Christmas."

Festive Sausage Meatballs

Ingredients

500g sausage meat
1 red onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove
4 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Handful of chopped herbs

What's in Season with Simon Biagi

What's in Season champions the use of seasonal produce and each month one of our presenters will create a recipe from a selection of seasonal ingredients.

This month Simon Biagi shares his scrumptious blackberry pie - a real hearty dessert. Here's the list of ingredients he chose from:

October's seasonal selection:

• Blackberries

• Figs

• Oysters

• Watercress

• Celeriac

• Duck