Another apple chutney

Boring apple chutney photo

A couple of Saturdays ago I spent a delightful afternoon having lunch in the garden with friends.

Although a small child fell in the pond an unexpected bonus was that one of the guests brought me a box of apples from her garden.

Kathy, I doubt you'll ever make your own chutney, but if you do, here's your recipe.

Kathy's apples chutney ingredients

• 1kg apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 2 medium to large onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 500g sultanas
• 350g light muscovado sugar
• 500ml cider vinegar
• 1 star anise
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

How to make apple chutney

1. Put everything in a preserving pan, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. 
2. Continue to cook until thick, stirring occasionally with a long wooden spoon.
3. Turn off the heat and leave to cool down a little.
4. Pot into warm sterilized jars.
5. Label and date the jars.

Plum and chocolate brownies

plum brownie

This recipe is based on Nigel Slater's chocolate damson cake, but mine was more of a brownie than an actual cake. This is probably because I mixed it in a food processor instead of a food mixer, so it didn't really go 'light and fluffy'. It still tasted great though.

I used the preserved plums I'd made from some of this year's plum harvest instead of damsons. This meant I missed out the step of cooking them in sugar, since I'd already done this to preserve them. I had a slightly smaller quantity than the recipe stated.

I also used different types of sugar than Nigel, as I didn't have any light muscovado.

Plum and chocolate brownie ingredients

• 250g dark chocolate
• 250g butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 25g dark muscovado sugar
• 100g light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 60g self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 320g preserved plums, drained

How to make plum and chocolate brownies

1. Line a 22cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
3. Break up the chocolate and place in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water.
4. Turn off the heat as soon as the chocolate starts to melt, but leave the bowl over the water.
5. Cut the butter into small dice and add to the chocolate.
6.  Stir gently till the butter melts.
7. Separate the eggs. 
8. Put the yolks in a food processor (or mixer if you have one) with the sugars and beat till combined (or 'light and fluffy' if you're using a food mixer).
9. Add the sugar and egg mixture to the chocolate and butter, and stir to combine.
10. Add the flour and cocoa; stir to combine.
11. Whisk the eggs in a clean bowl till they form soft peaks.
12. Fold this into the cake mix with a large metal spoon. 
13. Put the cake mix into the baking tin.
14. Pour the plums over the cake mix and gently swirl through with a spoon.
15. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Plum chutneys

Plums, before

Plums, after

Our plum tree is getting too big for us to be able to harvest all the fruit. We picked what we could reach, and there's still about 3/4 left. This year tried a couple of different things as well as the usual chutney.

Spicy plum chutney ingredients

• 1.5kg stoned weight plums
• 150 ml rice vinegar
• 350ml red wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons nam pla
• 800g granulated sugar
• 200g muscovado sugar 
• 5 teaspoons crushed dried chilli flakes
• 1 large cinnamon stick
• 6 crushed garlic cloves
• 100g ginger, grated
• 2 teaspoons salt

How to make spicy plum chutney

1. Put everything in a very large pan - preferably a preserving pan
2. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 3 hours, till the chutney is thick
3. Turn off the heat and allow the chutney to cool slightly
4. Pot into sterilized jars while still warm

Not so spicy plum chutney ingredients

1kg plums, stoned weight
500g onions, roughly chopped
350g light brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons salt
pinch cayenne pepper
500ml cider vinegar

Cook as for spicy plum chutney above.

I also made 3x70cl plum gin, which will be ready for Christmas, a tangy plum sauce which I had in crispy duck pancakes, and some preserved plums, which I used in plum and chocolate brownies.

Smoked mackerel sandwich

If you're lucky enough to get free bread at work, you can always make yourself a sandwich for lunch - just bring in the filling ingredients.

While I was on a secondment we got free bread, so one day I made this filling:

1 smoked mackerel fillet, broken up a little
A few cornichon, finely chopped
A parsley sprig, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon capers, finely chopped
A squeeze lemon juice
A squeeze salad cream

Mix all the ingredients together. I know people (ie Ollie) think salad cream is tacky, but I think it's lovely. It contains less fat than mayonnaise, and has more flavour.

When you're ready for lunch, toast 2 slices wholemeal or granary bread and spread one side with the filling. Top with a handful of rocket or watercress then with the other slice of toast.

You don't need a photo of a sandwich. 

This year's apple chutney #1

Everything is happening a month early. The plums were harvested 3 weeks ago, and the apples are falling on the ground. It's not even half way through August.

Happily for me this means I can make lots of chutney, which will be perfect for Christmas presents.

This is a variation on apple #2 from last year, which I think was the tastiest of last year's chutneys - I suspect because of the cider vinegar. I used malt vinegar in this recipe because I didn't have cider vinegar and was too lazy to go to Sains for some. The other changes were also based on what was to hand. The apples came from Lisa's apple tree and are eaters, so the chutney will be on the sweet side. I ran out of apples but found one that had fallen from a tree lying on the ground round the corner.

Apple chutney ingredients

• 1.5 kg eating apples
• 250g cooking apples
• 400g raisins
• 150g dates
• 1kg soft dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon crushed died chillies
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 double thumb-sized piece root ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon allspice berries
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Juice 1/2 lemon

 How to make apple chutney

1. Put everything in a preserving pan, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. 
2. Continue to cook until thick - count on this taking between 2 and 4 hours
3. Turn off the heat and leave to cool down a little.
4. Pot into warm sterilized jars.
5. Label and date.

Since every jar of chutney looks pretty much the same as the next, I haven't bothered with a photo.

For my own reference, this was made on 16 August 2014.

Green beans with feta and walnuts

Green bean salad with feta and walnuts

A lovely little salad that I had the other day with pumpkin and sausage salad. 

Green bean and feta salad ingredients

• 200g green beans, trimmed
• Small handful mint, finely chopped
• Juice half a lemon
• Handful walnut pieces, lightly toasted
• Small handful feta, crumbled
• Extra virgin olive oil

How to make green bean and feta salad

1. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. The beans should still be very crunchy.
2. Drain the beans and toss with the oil and lemon juice immediately. You could use walnut oil instead of olive oil, to give even more of a nutty taste.
3. Lie the beans in a shallow serving dish.
4. Scatter over the mint, crumbled feta and walnut pieces.  

 

Ruskin Garden salad

I made this salad using the produce from the Ruskin Park Community Garden. It goes brilliantly with smoked ham. The recipe was inspired by one by Nigel Slater in his book Tender.

Ruskin Garden salad

Ruskin Garden salad ingredients

• A handful freshly podded broad beans
• A handful freshly podded peas
• 2 handfuls lettuce
• A few radishes
• A sprig of mint, finely chopped
• 4 small pieces ciabatta
• A few shavings Swaledale or other chalky cheese

Dressing

• 4 tablespoons light olive oil
• Juice 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper

 How to make Ruskin Garden salad

1. Start by making the dressing. Combine all the ingredients in a screw-top jar and give it a good shake. 
2. Toast the ciabatta lightly on both sides.
3. Boil the broad beans for a few minutes in a pan of boiling water for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the peas to the pan for the last 30 seconds.
5. Drain the peas and beans, then tip into a bowl with the salad leaves and chopped mint.
6. Pour over some of the dressing and toss to coat.
7. Slice the radishes and sprinkle over the salad.
8. Add some shavings of the cheese and serve while still warm.