Green Tomato Chutney

So 2015 was a dismal year for my tomatoes unless you like tiny green ones. However, after making the following recipe, I have discovered that I like tiny green tomatoes very much. I will no longer fear a crop that refuses to ripen now that I have found a way to use them. I got this recipe from one of my favourite cook books - Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen. It tastes along the lines of a spiced apple chutney, and is quite Christmassy making it a perfect food gift. It is simple, once the tedious peeling and chopping is taken care of.

Ingredients

Makes around 1.4 litres

• 1kg cooking apples, peeled and diced
• 1kg green tomatoes, chopped (no need to peel)
• 450g onions, peeling and diced
• 450g sultanas
• 350g white granulated sugar
• 350g Demerara sugar
• 2tsp ground ginger
• 2tsp all spice
• 2tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 900ml white wine vinegar

Method

 

Put everything in a large pot, leaving the vinegar until last to help dissolve the spices and sugar and mix well.

Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 45mins - 1 hour uncovered, or until the mixture has thickened and reduced by half. Stir regularly throughout the cooking to prevent sticking, keeping a close eye on it towards the end of the cooking.


How it looked at the end of cooking:

Drool.

Pour the hot mixture into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately to help the jars form a tight seal.

Use jars with non-reactive lids (plastic coating on the inside) so the metal won't react with the vinegar. If you are reusing jars, those from relishes, chutneys and pickles should be ideal.

Ideally leave to mature in the jar for at least two weeks but I recommend saving some of the hot fresh chutney for your dinner today. I had mine with a pork chop and mash - divine.

Spiced Apple Chutney

This is yet another seasonal preserves recipe to use up those cooking apples you might have gotten your hands on. I have made this chutney as part of Christmas hampers and out of all the goodies, it commanded the biggest applause with everyone loving it. Like all of the recipes I post, it is simple with chopping being the biggest effort required. See the original recipe here. I get no more excited by Christmas than the next person but if you are going to make homemade gifts, bear in mind that some benefit from a few months of maturing. The following recipe calls for two to three months of sitting around before it is at its best for eating.


Spiced Apple Chutney

Fills 4 standard jam jars

Ingredients

225g onions chopped
900g cooking apples chopped (no need to peel)
110g sultanas (the original recipe calls for a mix of sultanas, currants and chopped dates - I figure readers are more likely to have sultanas at home but the dates would be wonderful if you have some)
15g ground coriander
15g paprika
15g mixed spice
15g salt
340g granulated sugar
425ml malt vinegar

Method

Put all the ingredients into a pot.

Slowly bring to the boil until all the sugar has dissolved.

Simmer for 2 hours, until the mixture is thick (keep an eye on it and stir regularly once thickening, to prevent sticking).

Fill your hot sterilised jars with the hot mixture and seal.

Leave in a dark cupboard for a few months before eating.

Three Fruit Marmalade

As a child I always thought marmalade to be the grown up version of jam, and I still feel the same way! It is only in recent years that I have begun to appreciate this preserve. Here is a beautiful recipe using three fruits - grapefruit, orange and lemon. It is slightly messy and time consuming to prepare the fruit but it is an easy recipe and a great way to pass some time should you wish to stay indoors. It is a soft set but not runny.

Ingredients

1 grapefruit
1 orange
2 lemons
3lbs granulated sugar
3 pints water

Method

Place a saucer in the fridge - this will be used later to test if the marmalade has set

Half all fruits and squeeze into a large saucepan, adding some of the soft flesh.

Scoop out everything (membrane, pith and seeds) from the skins of the fruit and place in a piece of muslin and tie into a bag. I used a piece of clean net curtain in the absence of muslin and it worked perfectly. If removing the flesh is difficult, try cutting it from the skin.

Blitz the skins in a food processor (or chop finely by hand) and add to the saucepan of juice.

Place the muslin bag into the saucepan and add the three pints of water.




Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer for 1.5 hours and until the peel is soft.


Squeeze as much juice as possible from the muslin bag.





Add the sugar gradually until dissolved and then boil rapidly for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.

To test if the marmalade will set, put a blob of the mix on the chilled saucer and push with your finger. If the top wrinkles, the marmalade is ready to pot. If not, boil for a further five minutes and check again.

Fill your sterilised jars and seal.

The photo below is a double batch, middle jars being your standard sized jam jars:

Beetroot Chutney

I have these to use up:

Beetroot, cooking apples and onions make up a holy trinity of ingredients that taste wonderful together. This week I've already made up a batch of soup and today I am trying out a Darina Allen recipe for chutney.

There's a good bit of a peelin' and a choppin' to be done. I waited until my small man was napping and sat on the floor by the open back door listening to music and peacefully getting to work. It was quite therapeutic.

Ingredients

900g raw beetroot peeled and diced
450g cooking apples peeled and chopped
450g onions peeled and chopped
25g ginger grated
1tsp salt
600ml cider vinegar
350g granulated sugar

Sterilised jars and lids

Method

Put all the chopped fruit and vegetables in a big pot, add the ginger and salt and pour over the vinegar.

Stir to mix, cover and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1-1.5 hours until the beetroot is soft.

Add the sugar, mix and cook for a further 15 minutes until the chutney is thick. I removed the lid, turned up the heat and gave it a good bubbling for the last 5 minutes.

Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

The mix filled these jars almost exactly (about 1200g jar space - nutmeg for scale):

It looks great and tastes gorgeous, rich and sweet but not overly:

I'll definitely make this again.

How to Store Berries

Being healthy is so much fun in the summer months and popping sweet berries in your mouth one after the other is one of the more joyous ways of eating. This summer we have been gorging ourselves on blueberries, red currants and Wexford strawberries. Unfortunately once picked, they can deteriorate rapidly and more than once I have cursed myself as I dump a punnet of fruit that looked perfect yesterday. Next time instead of letting them sit on the kitchen counter, a few minutes simple preparation will keep your berries fresh for longer

1. Remove any mouldy fruit - it only takes one bad berry to infect the rest.

2. Chop off bruised spots. For larger berries, you can save many damaged ones by removing the softened bits

3. Place in a colander and rinse under cold water. They should not be soaked.

4. Place in a sealed lunch box in the fridge

I have been doing this with great success all summer.

Rescue your rotting vegetables!

The flawless displays of fruit and veg in the supermarket are evidence (or the cause) of our desire for picture perfect produce. Bruised or even just misshapen food are left to shrivel and die. Don't be so quick to discard fruit and veg that appear unsightly, a quick investigation with a knife and you'll often find that there is plenty perfect flesh inside.

Recently I was gifted with two cabbages (in exchange for my hand in marriage - a good deal I thought) that I had great plans for. A week later I noticed a slight smell in the kitchen which turned out to be my cabbages.. on the turn. Oh no I gasped, cursing my neglectful ways, and was about to dump them into the compost when I decided to examine them further. A few minutes later this:

Had become this:

Shredded and ready for the freezer to be added to soup or stew or something else starting with S at a later stage.

Shredded cabbage can also be used to make good old coleslaw or brined to make sauerkraut.

So quick, take a look at your fruit and veg and rescue any casualties.

Autumn Breakfast: Homemade Brown Bread and Strawberry Jam

I can't think of a better breakfast for a lazy wet Autumn morning. I have frozen multiple unbaked batches of this bread. Take a portion out of the freezer the night before and next morning you are less than a hour away from fresh brown bread. It's a great way to get out of the habit of buying white sliced pan for that addictive but destructive toast!

Brown Bread

Ingredients

125g plain flour

1 heaped tsp bread soda

1 level tsp salt

350g whole wheat flour

30g bran

1 level tsp caster sugar

25g butter

150g natural yogurt

1 egg

Buttermilk

Method

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 7/220C/425F

Use a 2lb loaf tin lightly greased

Sieve the plain flour, bread soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.

Add the whole wheat flour, bran and sugar and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Rub in the butter.

Beat the yogurt and egg together and add enough buttermilk to make up to 425ml.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Mix quickly with a fork.

Turn out onto a board or surface dusted with flour and knead lightly.

Shape and place into the tin and make three shallow cuts with a knife.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, until risen and golden brown.

A cooked loaf will sound hollow when the bottom is tapped.

**If freezing, just prepare the bread up to stage of kneading. After this, I usually shape into a ball and put into a plastic sandwich/freezer bag and into the freezer. It can be re-shaped for the tin once defrosted**

Now that's the bread sorted, lets move onto the jam. The recipe I have chosen is from Pam Corbin's The River Cottage Preserves Handbook. It makes 4-5 340g jars.

Strawberry Jam

Ingredients

1kg strawberries with tops removed - larger ones may need to be halved or quartered

500g granulated sugar

450g jam sugar [has added pectin]

150ml lemon juice

Method

*Before you start, put a saucer in the fridge to allow to chill - this will be used to test for jam setting*

Put 200g of the strawberries in a pot with 200g of the granulated sugar

Crush to a pulp with a potato masher/fork

Place the pot on a gentle heat and when warm, add the rest of the strawberries

Gently heat to simmering point, stirring to the bottom of the pan so the fruit doesn't begin to stick

Simmer for five minutes to allow the fruit to soften a little

Add the remaining granulated sugar, and jam sugar and stir gently to prevent the sugar sticking and burning

When the sugar has dissolved, add the lemon juice

Increase the heat and when the mix has reached a full boil, boil rapidly for 8-9 minutes

Test for setting point by putting a little on the chilled saucer and pushing with your finger. If it crinkles, the jam is ready. If not, boil for a little longer, constantly checking for a set.

Remove from the heat and stir to disperse any scum that may have formed on the surface.

Pot into sterilised jars and seal. Use within twelve months.

The perfect couple....

Haw Ketchup

Another seasonal recipe using the bright red berries of the Hawthorn tree that are weighing down the trees at this time of year. The berries are not appetising in their own right (although I often see birds bite them off the tree and adeptly spit out the inner stone) but they can be used to make some worthy sauces and jams. The following ketchup recipe comes from this book:




And reads as follows:




Beautiful Haws:




Not so pretty after I'd finished with them:




The sauce is sweet with a spicy kick that comes as an after taste. Serve it with hot rich meats such as venison or pork belly.

Haw Jelly

Haws are the fruit of the Hawthorn and are abundant in Ireland at this time of year [Autumn]. Once you know how to identify them, you’ll see them everywhere. I made jelly this weekend and after testing it on toast this morning, I’ll be making many more batches.

Ingredients for two small jars:
300g haw berries
500ml cold water
400g granulated sugar heated (haws are high in pectin and should not need jam sugar to set)
Juice of one lemon

Firstly, put a plate in the fridge to cool (used for testing the jelly)

Wash the berries and remove as much leaves and stalks as possible:

Pulverise them (your bare hands will do…get all that stress out..)

Add berries and water to pot and boil for 30 minutes, until reduced to a pulp

Strain all the juice out (the juice will look brownish at this stage but don’t worry, it will improve)

Add the lemon juice and bring to the boil

Add the warm sugar (you can warm it in the microwave - bout 2 minutes should do)

Bring back to the boil and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Skim any scum from top.

To test if the jelly will set, put a little on the cold plate, put back in to the fridge for a minute and then check if it wrinkles when pushed with your finger. If not, boil for longer.

If it’s ready, fill your sterilised jars and cover

Sweet Courgette Relish

Ingredients:

900g finely chopped courgettes

1 large onion finely chopped

500ml cider vinegar

350g granulated sugar

2 tbsp English mustard power

1 tsp tumeric

1-2 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp cornflour

2 tsp coriander seeds

Mix ingredients together:

Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cook for an hour:

Fill sterilised jars and leave to mature for a few weeks before opening:

Homemade Tomato and Chili Relish

This relish was one of the first vaguely labour intensive foodie ventures I have undertaken - and it wasn’t difficult at all.


The original recipe comes from here, although I alter it slightly each time. The recipe describes it as a jam, although I find the result definitely more relish-like.


Equipment needed:

Weighing scales

Knife

Chopping board

Pot

Wooden spoon

Sieve

Sterilised jars (done very easily by giving the jars a good wash and baking them in a low oven (gas 3) for ten minutes.

Ingredients:

2 red onions, finely chopped

400g/14oz ripe cherrytomatoes, halved

400g/14oz ripe plum tomatoes, quartered

3 large mild red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped

I sometimes add some green/red/yellow bell pepper for taste but more so for colour

5cm/2in piece fresh root ginger, grated

1 star anise

250ml/9fl oz white wine vinegar

300g/10½oz soft light brown sugar

2 tsp fish sauce (substitute soy sauce for vegetarians)

Method:

Heat the red onion and chopped tomatoes in a large heavy-based saucepan over a low heat. 

Add the chillies, ginger, star anise, vinegar and sugar. 

Bring the mixture to the boil, then simmer for about an hour. 

The original recipe states that the mix will thicken to allow you to draw a channel through it, but I find quite a bit of liquid is retained. 

You could drain this off and use it for other culinary wonders.

Add the fish sauce and cook for 2-3 more minutes, then spoon into sterilised jars.

For best results, allow to sit for a further two weeks.

I’ve given this relish for many gifts and it has always been a hit. It’s sweet taste is best enriched with strong cheddar cheese or strong dark meat.

*Personalised handmade stickers were bought in this eBay shop, and the labels were from a handy little pack bout in Lidl.