Candied Fruits - Oh Dear!

The Candied Oranges and Lemons looked so promising during the majority of time that they were soaking in sugar syrup, but the end result is quite a disappointment. The rinds are far too hard and the structure of the lemons has partially collapsed. I think that perhaps I didn't poach them for long enough on the first day. I've not given up all hope and have left the bulk of the fruit in the syrup to, hopefully, candy further.

I'm almost sure that it's me at fault and not the recipe, so I've shown 'the courage of my convictions' by risking another attempt. This time using pineapple.

Chilli, Tomato and Red Pepper Sauce

I've mentioned Bob before. Well, along with the plethora of beetroot that he brought recently were all the tomatoes that were left on his tomato plants when he cleared his greenhouse. Some red, but mostly green when they arrived; in between then and now, most have turned red.

End of season green and red tomatoes? A red pepper past its best but still usable? A bag of chillis?

It's got to be a chilli sauce!

Chilli, Tomato and Red Pepper Sauce

750gm end of season tomatoes - some red, some green - peeled and chopped
1 large Red Pepper - chopped
3 or 4 large chillies - chopped
2 onions - chopped
2 inch piece of ginger - grated
3 garlic cloves - crushed
200 ml white wine vinegar
150 gm white sugar
salt - to taste
2 tsp Chilli powder (US - use Cayenne pepper - our chilli powder is just powdered chilli, not a spice mix like yours)
2 tsp paprika
¼ tube tomato puree (50 gm)

Put all the ingredients except the sugar, chili, paprika, salt and tomato puree in to a pan and simmer them until soft. Liquidise, and then sieve them and return them to the pan along with the other ingredients. Simmer them for a further 30 minutes or so before bottling in jars that have been sterilised by putting them into a 120°C oven for about 20 minutes. Cover with lids that have been sterilised in boiling water.

Beetroot Relish

The Christmas preparations march on. Blast, I've gone and said the C-word when I'm meant to be a miserable old Scrooge. This could ruin my reputation!

Anyway, enough of all that; my mate Bob left a bag full of green tomatoes and beetroot in the front porch the other day so, to use some of the beetroot, I decided to make a beetroot relish recipe that I had seen on the Expat Gourmet blog.

Mine only differed in that I omitted the port as Pauline can't have alcohol. It makes a nice change from 'chutney type' accompaniments and the 'orangey' taste that initially dominated has now mellowed and is very pleasant. All-in-all it's a great one to add to my 'make-it-myself' Christmas presents.

I think I must be on the same wavelength as The Expat Gourmet as I notice that he/she has made raspberry vodka; I have also made some and our recipes are very similar. I've made damson vodka, sloe gin, blackcurrant brandy, and blackberry whisky as well!

Oh, I nearly forgot, the cheese in the picture is from Sainsbury's and is their "Blue Cheese, Basics"; at £6.45/kg it's nearly £3 a kilo cheaper than their Blue Stilton. However, other than the inclusion of annatto, the nutritional breakdown's identical. Not similar, identical: I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions!

Candied Oranges and Lemons

Candied, crystallized, cristallised or glacé fruits, those things of Christmases with elderly aunts. A mystery of the sugar worker's art, they are seldom seen nowadays. No wonder when online they're as much as £1 per ounce!

For some reason, I fancied making some. I guess it's down to my penchant to make anything that any sensible person would buy...
..."Not at £1 and ounce they wouldn't", I hear you cry!

I looked online for recipes, but this produced a lot of recipes for quick candying by boiling the fruit in syrup; I knew that this wasn't what I wanted and was just about to resort to Mrs Beeton when I found The Brownie Points Blog. The picture of chocolate coated candied orange slices looked just what I wanted. Not only that, but there was a link to a book by an expert confectioner giving even fuller details.

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Ginger Confit & Candied Ginger

There's some things that really "get my goat". Not least is the ridiculous notion that we can't say 'Christmas' anymore for fear of causing offence. We should call it 'The Festive Season' or something equally as banal. Well sorry folks, until the PC brigade rename Diwali, Eid, Hanukkah and all the other religious festivals, this blog will be calling Christmas just that!

"Phew, help me down of this soap-box someone; I don't know how my wheelchair got up here...!"

This year, I thought I'd try a put together some presents that I'd made myself. Most of my family can afford to buy the things they want. It's time to make their own things that they lack, so I hope they'll appreciate the effort that'll go into my hand-made goods.

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Strawberry Jam

Whilst I've been languishing in bed, Pauline's been busy. She's made the Rhubarb Chutney and has now rubbed my nose in it by making strawberry jam - a job I detest. I'm no jam maker as you'll see if you read of my previous exploits and strawberry is my bête noir, the damnable stuff never sets properly when I make it! Needless to say, Pauline's was fine first time! Granted, for the first batch she used jam sugar which has added pectin, but for the second she just used ordinary granulated sugar and that's set just as well. Pauline used a recipe from Sophie Grigson which macerates the strawberries in the sugar. On seeing the method, Mum remembered that she used to do the same technique and that, when she did, her jam set well - not like recently when it's not been setting very well - it begs the question, "Why did you stop then?" - Nah, best not to ask! It seems that the daft gene isn't confined to my generation of our family!

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Piccalilli

It's that time of year when we're up to our necks in fruit and veg. That said, we had to buy the cauliflower for this piccalilli from the shops.

I have a few recipes for this, including one from an elderly cousin that everyone raves about. However, I'm ashamed to say that I prefer St. Delia's. The only change I make to the recipe is to use 1½ oz of flour instead of the ounce used by her. I find the sauce too thin otherwise.

Delia's original recipe, in her book, omits the salting stage; I've made it both ways and they're both good.

On the subject of pickles and chutneys, I keep getting asked for Rhubarb Chutney. So if you have some late rhubarb spare, try it, it comes highly recommended.

Marrow or Autumn Curd?

My grandma Young used to do a lot of fruit bottling and jam making; I suppose everyone who had fruit trees did in those days as they didn't have freezers, or a fridge in grandma's case. She used to make a jam which she called Marrow Cream which was very much like lemon curd. I've since learned that it's more commonly called marrow curd.

Poor old Marrow curd, it's a superb lemony concoction that's up there with the best of them, but has nothing really going for it in the name stakes, does it? So for everyone's benefit I've renamed it Autumn Curd. Of course, a good PR man would also double or treble the price to make it even more attractive, but as you'll make your own, this doesn't really apply!

I couldn't find Grandma Young's recipe, but this one seemed very similar. I've amended it slightly to make it more like the jam I remember:

The ingredients:
2½ lb marrow flesh
2 lb sugar
Juice and grated rind of 4 large lemons
6 oz butter

Method:
Steam the marrow until soft. Leave it to drain in a sieve or colander squeezing as much of the liquid out as possible. Mash or liquidise it and squeeze again. Place it into a pan with the sugar and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon juice and grated rind, then the butter. When the butter has melted, bring it all to a rolling simmer, stirring to prevent sticking. Simmer it until thick, 5 - 10 minutes, and then bottle into sterilised jars.

I tasted some of this warn, and it was superb. On cooling, I found it to be very sweet. I'll maybe add more marrow and lemon or less sugar next time. That said, it's still bloomin' good.