Showing posts with label pickle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pickle. Show all posts

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Free From & Festive! - Day 2

I think that leftovers are possibly even better than Christmas dinner itself! Nothing beats the turkey sandwich (made, perhaps, with a Dietary Specials Ciabatta Roll?) and, assuming that you don't have Monica from Friends infamous "moist-maker", it's the chutney that really makes the sandwich sing. If you have a ham this Christmas, you'll want a generous helping of chutney on your plate - or try a nice appley, or pear-based, chutney instead of cranberry sauce with your turkey.

A jar of chutney is the perfect gift, the ideal addition to any hamper or gift basket and it's always extra special to receive a present that has been made with love.

If you haven't already guessed - our Free From & Festive theme of the day is chutney!  

Today, the lovely Hazel at A Flicker of Fully Fun has come up with two brilliant chutney recipes for you to cook up.  I think either one would be delicious with a cheese board, or in that obligatory sandwich on boxing day. Head over there to check them out!

For more festive chutney ideas, check out this collection on Punk Domestics, with thanks to the ever wonderful Sean.


Sunday, 28 August 2011

A Figgy Chutney with Lavender

I have not had the best week.  I 've been told that I will need surgery to refashion my stoma, just as I thought Crohn's related operations were behind me.  I doubt it will be as major a surgery as my resection, or colostomy formation, but I'm not exactly looking forward to it either. This is the kind of thing that reminds me how far from my family I am.  Fortunately, stoicism is as much of a genetic trait as autoimmune disease, and I will cope. My Husband will be his usual, supportive, self, my Parents with come down from Glasgow, my Brother will call more often, my friends will bitch about how rubbish Crohn's Disease really is.  People will ask, "is there anything I can do?"  And mean it.  I will survive.

Gino D'Acampo, in his book, Fantastico!, says that people should cook alone.  "Cooking should be a selfish and relaxing experience; selfish because it is probably the only time that you should think about what YOU like and how to satisfy yourself."

While I think that Gino is a fabulous chef and his recipes are great, I don't subscribe to this concept.  I believe that cooking with others can be an enjoyable and bonding experience.  As for satisfying yourself?  Some of my best dishes have been created with other people in mind, to share with family or friends.  Until dishes pass the Husband-taste-test, they are not complete!  I agree that cooking alone can be incredibly peaceful and therapeutic, however, I enjoy the sociable side of cooking with others.


As a child I'd to watch my Mum and Auntie cook with their mother.  Grandma would say, "get the thingumyjig out of the whatsit, will you?" Then, I would stare open-mouthed as one of her daughters fetched her the exact item she required!! That kind of synchronicity inspired me and I longed to have the same one day.  Now that  I'm grown up, I have that relationship with my Mum.  Cooking with her is one of the most relaxing activities I know, I learned from her so we work well together in the kitchen.  I only wish I lived closer to her so we could do it more often.  Back in April, during a visit to Glasgow, Mum and I cooked risotto and trifle (using my cardamon banana bread in place of the sponge base.)  She had recently been to a class at The Cook School and the risotto was one dish she made. As we chopped and sauteed and stirred, I was completely at ease, this was mother-daughter quality time at it's best.  Then the family - Mum, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Niece, Husband, and Me - sat around the dining table and shared a meal.  Perfect.  Family, food, laughter and sharing.  That is what cooking is for me.

(I'm hoping to go to The Cook School with Mum sometime, along with my Godmother -the one who sends me a gluten free hamper for Christmas, and the inspiration for my auction item for the #fundforjennie- and one of her daughters.  I saw a demonstration at the World Pipe Band Championships at Glasgow Green a fortnight ago and I am looking forward immensely to the experience.)

Just writing about sharing a meal with my family is making me feel quite homesick.  Don't get me wrong, I love Kent, (it is the Garden of England after all) but it's not Glasgow.  I will go wherever my Husband goes, he is home for me, and right now his job is in Kent  The weather is better here, granted, and I do love the great produce you can get in the area.  Last week, I found myself at Brogdale Farm in Faversham and I was delighted by the abundance of fruit and vegetables that grew in this fine county.  I left, arms full, with damsons, new season Bramley apples, pears and plums.


When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or so the saying goes.  I didn't have any lemons, so I made this instead.


Pear and Apple Chutney with Dried Figs and Lavender

600g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
400g pears, peeled cored and chopped
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger root, grated
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp lavender 
500ml cider vinegar
150g light muscovado sugar
250g granulated sugar
250g dried figs, each cut into quarters

  • In a heavy based saucepan, toast the coriander seeds for a couple of minutes, then tip them into a mortar and grind.  Add the lavender and just bruise it with the pestle.
  • Heat the oil in the pan, and gently saute the onion, ginger and garlic, soften it, but don't brown it.
  • Add the chopped apples, pears, and figs and mix together.  Add the vinegar and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Stir in the coriander seeds and lavender.  Bring to a simmer and leave for around 2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.   
  • When the mixture has reduced by half, and the fruit is soft it is ready to be poured into sterilised jars.  (You should have enough to fill around 5 1lb jars.)

Pear and Apple Chutney with Figs on Punk Domestics

This chutney is especially great with pork, try it instead of the usual apple sauce.

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Wednesday, 10 August 2011

A Pickling Party!

Social media is under the microscope for the part it has played in the riots that started in London this week and have traveled throughout the UK.  Although Facebook and Twitter have been used to plan the devastating anarchy that Britain has seen unfold, they have also been the platform for movements like #riotcleanup to mobilise armies of broom-wielding helpers to pull together in the aftermath.  It is thanks to Twitter, for example, that the world witnessed the very British act of making tea, where riot shield became tea-tray, that showed that even in the face of adversity, community spirit still reigns.

Community spirit.  In an increasingly insular world it is heartening to know that it still exists.  The really great thing about social media is that it can bring together people from across the world, united by a common interest.  The gluten-free community, the food-blogging community, the Crohn's community, all the bigger, richer, more supportive through Facebook and Twitter.  In July 1500 people made pie together.  It started out as a discussion between a handful of people on Twitter and grew from there.  This month, we're having a pickling party!

I'm fairly new to the word of pickles.  Making them, that is (at university, my friend and I would buy a jar of pickled onions each and eat them in one sitting.)  I had a glut of chillies from my plant last year so I pickled some and realised how easy it actually is to do.  Then I made piccalilli and fell in love.  Last week, I opened my last jar and that meant it was time to make some more...

Piccalilli
I have given the measurements for 1kg of vegetables so that it's easy to scale up or down as needed.

1kg Vegetables (I used cauliflower, cucumber, radishes, baby onions, and a red chilli - use whatever you have)
1/2 cup Salt
650ml Cider vinegar
30g Arrowroot
10g Ground turmeric
15g English mustard powder
5g Ground cumin
5g Ground coriander
5g Ground white pepper
200g Sugar

  • Wash the vegetables and chop them into bite-sized pieces.  Put them in a colander and sit it over a bowl, sprinkle the salt over the vegetables, cover and leave overnight. 
  • Overnight the excess liquid will have come out of the vegetables, rinse the salt off with cold water and drain.
  • In a large pan, bring the vinegar (less 1tbsp) to the boil, reduce to a simmer.
  • Mix the last tbsp of vinegar with the arrowroot powder and add to the simmering vinegar, along with the spices and sugar.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved and there are no lumps of arrowroot.  

  • When the mixture starts to thicken, add the vegetables and stir in. Simmer for a further minute before spooning into sterilised jars.
  • Allow the piccalilli to develop for around 6 weeks before eating.  Unopened, it will keep for about a year.
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