Caramel Slice
Well I thought this was a bit too sweet but the kids gave it the thumbs up. So we'll keep the recipe.
Base:
3/4 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
125g butter, melted
Filling
can sweetened condensed milk
2tbs golden syrup
50g butter
Put the base together and bake in slice pan until just set. Heat the filling ingredients and cook on stovetop until 'light golden' for 6-7 minutes. Only I think I cooked it too much because it wasn't getting golden and next time I'll just put it in the oven after a short while - got pretty biscuity.
Let the whole thing cool and then cover in melted chocolate. Cut up and give to kids. Stand well back.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
'Greg' the Apple Pie
This is a SERIOUS apple pie, suitable for consumption by Henry 8th on a picnic. Made in LARGE individual ramekins.
For two Gregs, use about four medium sized apples. Peel, core and cut up reasonably small, sugar and spice to taste, microwave until they're considerably reduced in size and soft.
Make up some sweetcrust pastry with 150g of flour.
Strain the juices out of the cooked apples and use them to microwave half a handful (or however much you feel like) of mixed fruit in them until plumped up and delicious. Return the mixed fruit with any remaining juice to the apple.
Make up a small 'custard' with one egg, touch of sugar and a splash of milk. Add to the apples, reserving a smidge to glaze the top.
Add half a handful of ground almonds. Combine.
Grease two large individual ramekins and line them with pastry. Fill with the apple mix, lattice the top. Glaze with the reserved egg mix.
Put in a baking tray to catch the drips and bake on 180-200 until golden and bubbling. Take to your picnic spot still in the ramekin to avoid squashing. They should come out nicely, like a pork pie.
For two Gregs, use about four medium sized apples. Peel, core and cut up reasonably small, sugar and spice to taste, microwave until they're considerably reduced in size and soft.
Make up some sweetcrust pastry with 150g of flour.
Strain the juices out of the cooked apples and use them to microwave half a handful (or however much you feel like) of mixed fruit in them until plumped up and delicious. Return the mixed fruit with any remaining juice to the apple.
Make up a small 'custard' with one egg, touch of sugar and a splash of milk. Add to the apples, reserving a smidge to glaze the top.
Add half a handful of ground almonds. Combine.
Grease two large individual ramekins and line them with pastry. Fill with the apple mix, lattice the top. Glaze with the reserved egg mix.
Put in a baking tray to catch the drips and bake on 180-200 until golden and bubbling. Take to your picnic spot still in the ramekin to avoid squashing. They should come out nicely, like a pork pie.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Square Pies
These are actually Pithiviers but we like to think inside the box, not in the round. Actually we just couldn't be bothered to cut the pastry out.
Get a nice hunk of meat suitable for pressure cooking (or braising, if you're being traditional) and cook the hell out of it. I did it with a leg of lamb in the pressure cooker - beautiful. Initial cook with a bunch of celery, an onions, salt and plenty of peppercorns. Oh and a garlic head cut in half.
When it's soft, take the meat out and shred. Strain the liquid, push through veggie goodness, return to pan and reduce the liquid until it goes syrupy. Because it was lamb and very fatty, I put a step in there where I cooled it down initially and skimmed some fat off. Well worth doing.
Return shredded meat to the liquid and if necessary give it another pressuring. Fry up (separately) whatever veggie flavourings you're putting in. I used slivered onions and red peppers, caramelized.
Mix the whole lot together, and if you can let it cool that's great.
Lay out your puff pastry sheets, cut each square into fours. If you can't be bothered to cut one smaller and one larger, you'll have to trim the edges at the end but that's not too onerous.
Get a ring mould (or if you've got a square one go for it) that leaves at least a 1 inch rim in the pastry and mound the filling into it on to of one of the pastry squares. Remove ring. Put another pastry square on top and tuck down the sides. At this point you'll have to trim the sides because the top will be shorter than the bottom (unless you've been clever beforehand and cut out a larger one for the top). Do so. Make indents with a fork around the edges to seal / make pretty. Egg wash the top of the pastry. Bake on hot until beautifully golden.
I found these particular ones were beautiful served with pureed pumpkin, with lots of butter and cinnamon sugar in it. Serves as a kind of sauce. Big hit with the kids.
Get a nice hunk of meat suitable for pressure cooking (or braising, if you're being traditional) and cook the hell out of it. I did it with a leg of lamb in the pressure cooker - beautiful. Initial cook with a bunch of celery, an onions, salt and plenty of peppercorns. Oh and a garlic head cut in half.
When it's soft, take the meat out and shred. Strain the liquid, push through veggie goodness, return to pan and reduce the liquid until it goes syrupy. Because it was lamb and very fatty, I put a step in there where I cooled it down initially and skimmed some fat off. Well worth doing.
Return shredded meat to the liquid and if necessary give it another pressuring. Fry up (separately) whatever veggie flavourings you're putting in. I used slivered onions and red peppers, caramelized.
Mix the whole lot together, and if you can let it cool that's great.
Lay out your puff pastry sheets, cut each square into fours. If you can't be bothered to cut one smaller and one larger, you'll have to trim the edges at the end but that's not too onerous.
Get a ring mould (or if you've got a square one go for it) that leaves at least a 1 inch rim in the pastry and mound the filling into it on to of one of the pastry squares. Remove ring. Put another pastry square on top and tuck down the sides. At this point you'll have to trim the sides because the top will be shorter than the bottom (unless you've been clever beforehand and cut out a larger one for the top). Do so. Make indents with a fork around the edges to seal / make pretty. Egg wash the top of the pastry. Bake on hot until beautifully golden.
I found these particular ones were beautiful served with pureed pumpkin, with lots of butter and cinnamon sugar in it. Serves as a kind of sauce. Big hit with the kids.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Pumpkin Pie
Make standard sweet crust pastry but DON'T blind bake.
For the filling, 500g pumpkin puree, 3 eggs, 1.5 cups thickened cream, heaps of gingery cinnamonny spices, and 185g brown sugar.
It'll need to bake at about 160 for a fair while, up to about 50 minutes. Will pouf up and then fall a bit - that's normal.
Serve hot or cold, with or without cream. (Never say I never gave you choices.)
For the filling, 500g pumpkin puree, 3 eggs, 1.5 cups thickened cream, heaps of gingery cinnamonny spices, and 185g brown sugar.
It'll need to bake at about 160 for a fair while, up to about 50 minutes. Will pouf up and then fall a bit - that's normal.
Serve hot or cold, with or without cream. (Never say I never gave you choices.)
Rather vague gnocci recipe
OK, so instead of measuring up the quantities of flour and potato, this one just 'tops up' the potatoes with flour, to feel.
For a couple of large leftover roasted potatoes (whole ones), once you've mashed them, add plenty and plenty of seasoning, mustard, chopped fresh thyme, and one egg. Then comes the vague flour. Just enough for the mass to cohere - as little as possible, in other words. Note: seems a good point to mash the potatoes pretty fine, even doing the whole sieve thing.
Roll out into gnocci with as little flour as possible. Boil until they float and have nearly doubled in size. Drain, etc. Then fry the little buggers in some butter until they've got nice crispy sides. (Crispy sides rarely hurts any foodstuff).
THe serving suggestion I saw with this (but haven't tried myself due to everyone here hating peas, oh and parmesan) is mixing them up in the pan with some beautiful fresh peas, some chopped fresh mint, and then topping the dish off with plenty of grated parmesan. Yum.
Oh well, they were good with other more mundane accompaniments, too. I liked the addition of thyme.
For a couple of large leftover roasted potatoes (whole ones), once you've mashed them, add plenty and plenty of seasoning, mustard, chopped fresh thyme, and one egg. Then comes the vague flour. Just enough for the mass to cohere - as little as possible, in other words. Note: seems a good point to mash the potatoes pretty fine, even doing the whole sieve thing.
Roll out into gnocci with as little flour as possible. Boil until they float and have nearly doubled in size. Drain, etc. Then fry the little buggers in some butter until they've got nice crispy sides. (Crispy sides rarely hurts any foodstuff).
THe serving suggestion I saw with this (but haven't tried myself due to everyone here hating peas, oh and parmesan) is mixing them up in the pan with some beautiful fresh peas, some chopped fresh mint, and then topping the dish off with plenty of grated parmesan. Yum.
Oh well, they were good with other more mundane accompaniments, too. I liked the addition of thyme.
Chocolate mousse terrine (in various stages)
The one constant I like in this one is the sponge on the base. You can make a chocolate one or a vanilla one depending on how you feel - but just a plain one will do. If it's adults, and you have a chocolate sponge, it's nice to pour a bit of Kahlua over it. Or brandy. Or whatever comes to hand. Anyway, prep your sponge in the same size as the terrine.
Strawberries and chocolate are nice. Slice some strawberries in half, arrange flat along the base of your terrine, after lining the whole thing nicely with ling film. Then pour in the first layer of mousse, which will be some combo of
200ml thickened cream, about 120g melted chocolate (white, milk, dark, whatever you want), a couple of tsp of gelatin dissolved in about 50ml of warm milk. Mix, pour over the strawberries, allow to set (about an hour).
You can follow this up with another layer of chocolate, of another sort. I'm thinking of trying a chili dark chocolate layer and a white chocolate layer. When it's all set and ready (1 hour per layer) put the prepped sponge on top and refrigerate for another couple of hours.
When you're ready, turn out onto a serving platter. Slice.
Strawberries and chocolate are nice. Slice some strawberries in half, arrange flat along the base of your terrine, after lining the whole thing nicely with ling film. Then pour in the first layer of mousse, which will be some combo of
200ml thickened cream, about 120g melted chocolate (white, milk, dark, whatever you want), a couple of tsp of gelatin dissolved in about 50ml of warm milk. Mix, pour over the strawberries, allow to set (about an hour).
You can follow this up with another layer of chocolate, of another sort. I'm thinking of trying a chili dark chocolate layer and a white chocolate layer. When it's all set and ready (1 hour per layer) put the prepped sponge on top and refrigerate for another couple of hours.
When you're ready, turn out onto a serving platter. Slice.
Sticky Date Pudding
Chop 250g pitted dates, add 1/2 cup of boiling water and 1 tsp bicorbonate of soda and leave for 30 minutes. Alternately, it also works if you microwave them for a minute or so.
mix 125g butter, 1 cup brown sugar, vanilla extract, 2 eggs, 1.75 cups of self-raising flour (or plain, with baking powder, which is what I normally do.)
Mixy mixy, add the dates, pour into tin, bake at 180 for 30 to 40 minutes.
Caramel sauce
heat 1 cup brown sugar, 300ml thickened cream, vanilla extract, and 60g butter until they're thick an delicious. Honestly, you don't need the butter. But it's in the recipe so there we are. And you might as well double the quantities because the sauce is divine.
mix 125g butter, 1 cup brown sugar, vanilla extract, 2 eggs, 1.75 cups of self-raising flour (or plain, with baking powder, which is what I normally do.)
Mixy mixy, add the dates, pour into tin, bake at 180 for 30 to 40 minutes.
Caramel sauce
heat 1 cup brown sugar, 300ml thickened cream, vanilla extract, and 60g butter until they're thick an delicious. Honestly, you don't need the butter. But it's in the recipe so there we are. And you might as well double the quantities because the sauce is divine.
White Chocolate Cake
180g butter, room temp
230g caster sugar
vanilla extract
2 eggs
250g flour
200ml milk
140g melted white chocolate
Do the honours with the cake mix. Bake at 160 - either in one tin or in sandwich tins - personally I prefer a single tin. Usually like to serve this with cram cheese icing though you can slather it in more types of chocolate or chocolate icing. Pretty sweet but that seems to be a plus as far as the kids are concerned.
230g caster sugar
vanilla extract
2 eggs
250g flour
200ml milk
140g melted white chocolate
Do the honours with the cake mix. Bake at 160 - either in one tin or in sandwich tins - personally I prefer a single tin. Usually like to serve this with cram cheese icing though you can slather it in more types of chocolate or chocolate icing. Pretty sweet but that seems to be a plus as far as the kids are concerned.
Chinese Pouffies (Steamed Dumplings)
Actually you can stuff these with anything - leftovers? Anything that can be made into a stuffing-ish consistency will do, including chicken and ricotta, ham and cheese, even roast pork and cabbage. It's all good. Haven't tried any sweet versions yet but I bet they'd work.
1. Make a starter with
1/2 cup each of water and flour, 2 tsp dried yeast, 1 tsb sugar. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for at least 30 minutes or until it's looking like something from a sci-fi movie.
2. Make the dough, by adding 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp salt and 2 tblsp veg oil to the sci-fi starter. Have to admit I always end up fiddling around with the quantities so this might not be perfect first time.
3. Leave it to rise. It should be nice and soft and slightly sticky by the end.
4. Take off little chunks and pat them out, fill with whatever you're stuffing them with. pinch closed at the top. NOTE: I tried rolling them out first time but it didn't work out so well. You need realtively thicker dough in the centre, where you put the filling on, or it turns soggy and liable to break apart. So I pinch them thinner towards the edges, crimp the little dough-purse shut, and steam them upside down so the smooth side is upwards. Other people steam them smooth-side down.
5. Steam. Probably about 10-13 minutes - they'll be firm when they're done. They'll pouf out so leave space.
6. Serve hot and fresh, with some appropriate dipping sauce. Great after-school snack as well as a nice lunch.
1. Make a starter with
1/2 cup each of water and flour, 2 tsp dried yeast, 1 tsb sugar. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for at least 30 minutes or until it's looking like something from a sci-fi movie.
2. Make the dough, by adding 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp salt and 2 tblsp veg oil to the sci-fi starter. Have to admit I always end up fiddling around with the quantities so this might not be perfect first time.
3. Leave it to rise. It should be nice and soft and slightly sticky by the end.
4. Take off little chunks and pat them out, fill with whatever you're stuffing them with. pinch closed at the top. NOTE: I tried rolling them out first time but it didn't work out so well. You need realtively thicker dough in the centre, where you put the filling on, or it turns soggy and liable to break apart. So I pinch them thinner towards the edges, crimp the little dough-purse shut, and steam them upside down so the smooth side is upwards. Other people steam them smooth-side down.
5. Steam. Probably about 10-13 minutes - they'll be firm when they're done. They'll pouf out so leave space.
6. Serve hot and fresh, with some appropriate dipping sauce. Great after-school snack as well as a nice lunch.
Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup each of plain flour and rolled oats,
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened,
cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup each of granulated and brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
vanilla essence
6 oz chocolate chips
Mix up (combine dry ingredients, whisk wets, then amalgamate), dollop into baking trays well spaced and bake at 180. Make sure NOT to overcook or they'll turn into Ninja throwing weapons.
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened,
cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup each of granulated and brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
vanilla essence
6 oz chocolate chips
Mix up (combine dry ingredients, whisk wets, then amalgamate), dollop into baking trays well spaced and bake at 180. Make sure NOT to overcook or they'll turn into Ninja throwing weapons.
Deep-fried brie and truffle
No need to say much more about this. Slice brie, sandwich thin slices of truffle inbetween two slices of brie, dip in flour, then egg, then panko (breadcrumbs) and deep fry until golden. Really sets off the truffle nicely, Make sure you eat it hot. Fantastic aperitif.
Easy Apple Cake
I didn't cook this one myself so I hope the details are right - kids loved it and it was pretty quick to make.
Apply part: peel and chop 'some' apples and stew them with some cinnamon, ginger and similar spices and sugar to your taste. Cool a little and blitz into a puree. End up with about 200-300g's worth, probably.
Cakey part: used a plain vanilla cake mix. Or you could to an equal-weight standard mix with 3 eggs and 180g each of flour, sugar and fat.
Mix. Bake. Yum. Really moist, so leave yourself some time to bake this one, at 180.
Apply part: peel and chop 'some' apples and stew them with some cinnamon, ginger and similar spices and sugar to your taste. Cool a little and blitz into a puree. End up with about 200-300g's worth, probably.
Cakey part: used a plain vanilla cake mix. Or you could to an equal-weight standard mix with 3 eggs and 180g each of flour, sugar and fat.
Mix. Bake. Yum. Really moist, so leave yourself some time to bake this one, at 180.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Pikelets
Pancakes only quicker. What could be more perfect for a school-day breakfast?
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cups milk
1 egg
40g sugar
Mix, fry. Serve with plenty of toppings.
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cups milk
1 egg
40g sugar
Mix, fry. Serve with plenty of toppings.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Kid's mock-Middle Eastern Medly
Ok the kids really liked this. Yes, I know, it's pork, but you could use whatever if you want to be in theme.
Loin of pork, sizzled skin side down first, baked slowly slowly at 150 in the oven until it's juuust cooked. Please don't overcook it.
Apple sauce. Grated apple, microwave with sage and mint. At some point give it a bit of a mashing. If you want to be even less Middle Eastern dollop a bit of brandy in there to finish it off. Not for the kiddies, obviously.
Mint yoghurt. Well you don't need a recipe for that. Add some lemon. You could go the whole hog and add cucumbers as well. Your choice.
Jeweled rice. Sautee onions, corn, the usual suspects. Whatever you've got. Make it colourful.
Falafel. Well we've got these in our freezer but they're made with chickpeas and tahini, I'm not going to bother to give recipe here. I shallow fried them in Panko which made the kids very happy. Serve with salad and lemon.
Happy days, man. Happy days.
Loin of pork, sizzled skin side down first, baked slowly slowly at 150 in the oven until it's juuust cooked. Please don't overcook it.
Apple sauce. Grated apple, microwave with sage and mint. At some point give it a bit of a mashing. If you want to be even less Middle Eastern dollop a bit of brandy in there to finish it off. Not for the kiddies, obviously.
Mint yoghurt. Well you don't need a recipe for that. Add some lemon. You could go the whole hog and add cucumbers as well. Your choice.
Jeweled rice. Sautee onions, corn, the usual suspects. Whatever you've got. Make it colourful.
Falafel. Well we've got these in our freezer but they're made with chickpeas and tahini, I'm not going to bother to give recipe here. I shallow fried them in Panko which made the kids very happy. Serve with salad and lemon.
Happy days, man. Happy days.
Caulifower Dippers
Great after-school snack, vaguely pizza flavor.
Get a whole cauliflower, chop it up, then puree it in a mixer. Yep, blitz the whole damn thing. Until it's like weird cauliflower snow. It gets everywhere.
Then boil up about an inch of water, dump in the cauliflower snow, cook it for 5-10 minutes until it's sort of soft. Then drain in a fine sieve. Let it cool a bit or you'll be injured in the next step.
Get a clean tea-towel and wring out the drained cauliflower like mitigating a disaster at the seaside. It'll be powdery and super-weird. Put it into a bowl.
Add a couple of eggs, LOTS of Italian herbs, or if you want some chili and stuff. Also add a good couple of handfuls of cheese.
Press into a flat tray-bake, bake at 180 for as long as it takes for it to take colour and dry out. Add a couple more handfuls of cheese on top, bake to finish off golden.
Let them cool a bit, chop them up, serve.
This goes really well with a dip of sour cream with paprika and lemon, seasoned.
Couldn't be healthier.
Get a whole cauliflower, chop it up, then puree it in a mixer. Yep, blitz the whole damn thing. Until it's like weird cauliflower snow. It gets everywhere.
Then boil up about an inch of water, dump in the cauliflower snow, cook it for 5-10 minutes until it's sort of soft. Then drain in a fine sieve. Let it cool a bit or you'll be injured in the next step.
Get a clean tea-towel and wring out the drained cauliflower like mitigating a disaster at the seaside. It'll be powdery and super-weird. Put it into a bowl.
Add a couple of eggs, LOTS of Italian herbs, or if you want some chili and stuff. Also add a good couple of handfuls of cheese.
Press into a flat tray-bake, bake at 180 for as long as it takes for it to take colour and dry out. Add a couple more handfuls of cheese on top, bake to finish off golden.
Let them cool a bit, chop them up, serve.
This goes really well with a dip of sour cream with paprika and lemon, seasoned.
Couldn't be healthier.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Grilled chicken with dukkah pasta
Dukkah - mixed nuts, lots of green herbs, in a blender, with olive oil and lemon juice (plenty of it). Make a large dukkah to the pasta ratio - in fact more like a paste than dukkah.
Grill the chicken, slice and serve absolutely plain apart from salt. (Breast.)
Boil pasta, with broccoli at the last moment. Mix dukkah in, season and add olive oil and lemon juice to taste.
Serve side by side.
Kids verdict: 'Fresh'
Super healthy.
Grill the chicken, slice and serve absolutely plain apart from salt. (Breast.)
Boil pasta, with broccoli at the last moment. Mix dukkah in, season and add olive oil and lemon juice to taste.
Serve side by side.
Kids verdict: 'Fresh'
Super healthy.
Oriental Soba Mooning
Ok so this is fish and noodles, oriental flavours. We used moonfish today and it was delicious.
Sauce: Onions finely chopped (thinking of doing without them next time), kaffir lime leaf (sliced), lemongrass stalk (finely chopped), white wine. Simmer and boil down. Add a spoon of ginger marmalade. Then simmer, wiz in a blender, add fish sauce, lemon juice, butter, finish to a good zingy consistency.
Soba: Boil soba, add broccoli florets at the last minute, drain, dress with soy sauce and sesame oil.
Moon fish: Steam with a bit of salt.
Serve. Really good.
Sauce: Onions finely chopped (thinking of doing without them next time), kaffir lime leaf (sliced), lemongrass stalk (finely chopped), white wine. Simmer and boil down. Add a spoon of ginger marmalade. Then simmer, wiz in a blender, add fish sauce, lemon juice, butter, finish to a good zingy consistency.
Soba: Boil soba, add broccoli florets at the last minute, drain, dress with soy sauce and sesame oil.
Moon fish: Steam with a bit of salt.
Serve. Really good.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Lemon Slice
Lemon Slice - The BEST version
Ok, for the base we have:
- 150g butter (melted)
- 3/4 cup desiccated coconut
- 3/4 cup plain flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
Bake for about 15 minutes until it gets slightly golden.
For the topping, we have:
- 1 small tin passionfruit puree, strained
- grated rind and strained juice of 1 lemon
- 1 400g tin condensed milk (of course)
- 2tbps plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
combine, pour over the semi-cooked base. cook again.
Cool, dust with icing sugar, cut into fingers.
Give to children. Possibly adults.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Jams and Chutneys
One needs jam. And marmalade. Here are some recipes for when the time is right (ripe).
Orange Marmalade
Some make this with 2 sugar to 1 of fruit. I make it with 1 of sugar to 2 of fruit. 'Course it means you have to boil it for longer but it works just fine.
As for all citrus, peel the skin off the fruits leaving the pith behind. Slice the zested skin as fine as possible. set aside.
Cut the pith away from the remaining fruit. Discard.
Dice the pulp of the orange. I find there is no need to take the skin away - you're going to cook it for so long it won't matter.
Collect any seeds and sew them into a muslin bag. This helps set the marmalade.
Combine the shredded peel and the diced pulp. Weigh. Put in pot with half that amount of sugar. Add water. How much you add depends on how dark you want the marmalade. The darker, the more water, but then of course you have to boil it for longer. As a general rule it should be enough if you add sufficient for it to come just below the top of the fruit mix before you add the sugar.
Boil gently. Remove any scum arising. Seal in sterilized jars once it passes the set test.
Lemon Marmalade
Same as with the Orange, but more sugar is allowed. I would go as far as 1:1. Not more, though.
Apricot Jam
Stone and dice the fruit. Ratio of 1:1. Add pectin as per instructions on packet as it will be runny otherwise. No added water necessary. Zest and juice of one lemon per kilo of diced fruit gives it a nice edge. Blitz some of the jam once cooked and mix back in to give a more spreadable consistency.
Peach Jam
As above.
Strawberry Jam
Had huge trouble with this one, would not set even with twice the recommended pectin and no water. Ratio of 1:1, which might be too much. Also with one lemon per kilo of fruit. In the end had to thicken it up with arrowroot afterwards, and added a touch of red food colouring just to spic it up while I was at it (worth doing this. Real strawberries cook a little dull). Make sure not to boil this too vigorously or you'll destroy the flavor.
Mango Jam
Quite the best of all the jams. Extraordinary. 300g of sugar to every kilo of fruit, peeled stones and pureed. Boil the sugar with half the quantity of water (i.e. 150 ml per 300 grams of sugar) until it starts forming threads - this is about the soft ball stage. Add the puree, cook for 10 minutes or so, gently. That's it. Absolutely divine.
Tomato Chutney
1kg tomatoes
1/2 kg onions
250g brown sugar
150ml vinegar
5 cloves cardamom
4 cloves garlic
1 chili
4cm ginger
Bubble bubble boil and trouble.
Enjoy!
Orange Marmalade
Some make this with 2 sugar to 1 of fruit. I make it with 1 of sugar to 2 of fruit. 'Course it means you have to boil it for longer but it works just fine.
As for all citrus, peel the skin off the fruits leaving the pith behind. Slice the zested skin as fine as possible. set aside.
Cut the pith away from the remaining fruit. Discard.
Dice the pulp of the orange. I find there is no need to take the skin away - you're going to cook it for so long it won't matter.
Collect any seeds and sew them into a muslin bag. This helps set the marmalade.
Combine the shredded peel and the diced pulp. Weigh. Put in pot with half that amount of sugar. Add water. How much you add depends on how dark you want the marmalade. The darker, the more water, but then of course you have to boil it for longer. As a general rule it should be enough if you add sufficient for it to come just below the top of the fruit mix before you add the sugar.
Boil gently. Remove any scum arising. Seal in sterilized jars once it passes the set test.
Lemon Marmalade
Same as with the Orange, but more sugar is allowed. I would go as far as 1:1. Not more, though.
Apricot Jam
Stone and dice the fruit. Ratio of 1:1. Add pectin as per instructions on packet as it will be runny otherwise. No added water necessary. Zest and juice of one lemon per kilo of diced fruit gives it a nice edge. Blitz some of the jam once cooked and mix back in to give a more spreadable consistency.
Peach Jam
As above.
Strawberry Jam
Had huge trouble with this one, would not set even with twice the recommended pectin and no water. Ratio of 1:1, which might be too much. Also with one lemon per kilo of fruit. In the end had to thicken it up with arrowroot afterwards, and added a touch of red food colouring just to spic it up while I was at it (worth doing this. Real strawberries cook a little dull). Make sure not to boil this too vigorously or you'll destroy the flavor.
Mango Jam
Quite the best of all the jams. Extraordinary. 300g of sugar to every kilo of fruit, peeled stones and pureed. Boil the sugar with half the quantity of water (i.e. 150 ml per 300 grams of sugar) until it starts forming threads - this is about the soft ball stage. Add the puree, cook for 10 minutes or so, gently. That's it. Absolutely divine.
Tomato Chutney
1kg tomatoes
1/2 kg onions
250g brown sugar
150ml vinegar
5 cloves cardamom
4 cloves garlic
1 chili
4cm ginger
Bubble bubble boil and trouble.
Enjoy!
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