Spiced Apple and Date Chutney

I'm not an expert in chutney making so when my next-door neighbours gave me 2.5 kilos of apples a couple of weeks ago I had to research some recipes on the internet and found two I liked bits of, in particular an apple and pear chutney that didn't use ordinary sugar but dark moscovado. From the other recipe, I used the cayenne pepper and allspice. I still had quite a lot of elderflower infused cider vinegar from last year so I used that – the first time round. Then another neighbour send an e-mail to everyone in the street as they also have a glut of apples. I loved the first chutney so went and got another 2.5 kg. This time I used balsamic vinegar. Can't wait to find out what it tastes like!

2.2 kg apples, peeled and sliced
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
500 ml balsamic + 100 ml white balsamic or 600 ml cider vinegar
2 lemons or limes, juice and zest
1 tsp mustard seeds
250 g dates
250 g raisins
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp allspice
1 tbspoon sea salt
1 kg dark moscovado sugar

1. Place the apples, 500 ml vinegar, mustard seeds, onions, garlic and ginger into a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is almost cooked.

2. Add all the other ingredients, incl. the remaining vinegar, bring to the boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes stirring occassionally.

3. Rest for 15 minutes and fill into sterilised jars. Leave for 3-4 weeks.

Pineapple Salsa

1/4 fresh pineapple, very finely diced
1 heaped tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lime, or more to taste
1/2 red chili incl. seeds, very finely chopped
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mix all the ingredients and marinate for approx. 30 minutes.

Perada

When I made membrillo (quince cheese) for the first time last autumn I realised that fruit "cheeses" have been around for a long time. Knowing I couldn't get quince for another year and expecting the batch of membrillo to be finished well before then I made a mental note to try and make perada (pear cheese) some time.

Today, my favourite discount supermarket hat 25 % of Abate pears and I seized the opportunity. I came home with 2.5 kg of pears, went on the internet and found two recipes I liked. One is from a blog called LondonEats, the other from whatscookingamerica. I based my perada primarily on the LondonEats recipe but added apples instead of pectin as suggested by whatscookingamerica.

After cooking the fruit pulp for three hours without my spoon leaving a trail I decided I'd settle for a soft spreadable rather than a firm perada that can be sliced. I'm sure it'll be just as tasty.

2.5 kg pears
0.5 kg apples
soft brown (unrefined sugar), 1 part to 2 parts of fruit pulp
300 ml water
juice of 2 lemons
rind of 1 lemon, cut into strips with a speed peeler

1. Rinse the fruit, don't remove the skin but place whole into a couple of saucepans so there's just the one layer and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the fruit is soft. The fruit is soft when a pointed knife slips easily into the pears. As my pears were still firm, this took 30 minutes of simmering. I removed the apples earlier as their skin burst when they were done.

I thought the boiled pears looked reallz funky.

2. Drain and leave to cool. Once the pears are cool enough to handle, remove the skin and discard. The fruit now needs to be passed through a sieve using the back of a (wooden) spoon. You can either chop it up or run it through the food processor with the coarse grater disc inserted. The latter tip I gleaned from the membrillo recipe and it makes pulping the fruit much easier.

3. Measure out the pulp. The above recipe resulted in 1.8-2 l of pulp. As it was quite sweet already I used only 1 part sugar to 2 parts fruit.

4. Place the fruit pulp, sugar, lemon juice, water and lemon rind into a stainless steel saucepan. Stir well and bring to the boil. Simmer until the mixture is thick enough for a spoon to leave trails. Mine took 3 hours but never got that thick, perhaps because I didn't use pectin.

Remember to stir regularly to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Warning: Do be careful. The thicker the mixture gets the more it spatters and those spatters are roasting. My right hand got hit numerous times. Eventually, I got wise to the danger and put on an oven glove to stir.

5. Remove the lemon rind. It seemed a shame to discard it so I set it aside and placed a slice or two on the top of each filled jar. Pour into sterilised jars , screw on the lid and turn upside down until completely cool. Store in a dark cool place.  

Coriander-and-Lime Oil

(makes 300 g)

60 g coriander
200 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
sea salt
freshly grated black pepper
1 lime

Place the coarsely chopped coriander, chopped garlic and seasoning into a food processor, add oil as required and whizz to achieve the desired consitency. Check the seasoning and squeeze in some lime juice to taste. Store in the fridge in sterilised screw-top jars. Keeps for about a month.

Parseley or coriander and lime oil

I love flavouring oils in different ways and though I really like pesto I sometimes prefer something a little less heavy. So I leave out the cheese and nuts and concentrate on the oil and herbs.

1 bunch of coriander or parseley
100-150 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 smal garlic clove, crushed
a wee squeeze of lime juice
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

Blend and transfer into a sterilised jar. Keep in the fridge and use within a week.

Hot Soured Cream Dip

A friend of mine told me yesterday about the tomato butter he makes and when I found today that I'd run out of harissa to mix into some soured cream, I fell back on his recipe.

150 ml soured cream or crème fraîche
1 heaped tbs tomato puree
tabasco
1 clove of garlic, crushed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mix and spread on crisp bread, serve with crudités, roast root vegetables, fish, barbecued meat, and and and :)

Elderflower Infused Vinegar

This, too, is a recipe based on Éva's ideas: elderflower vinegar. I used sherry vinegar and white balsamic and placed a disk of greaseproof paper on top of the jar to make sure none of the flowers were poking out and potentially going mouldy. Strain after 3-4 weeks of marinating.

Elderflower Infused Oil

I made this for the first time this year after reading about this oil in Éva's blog and I'm afraid you may have to wait till next year to pick elderflowers but it'll be so worth it!

Cram as many elderflower tufts into a mason jar and fill with a cold pressed oil of you choice. I decided on extra-virgin olive oil, which has quite a strong flavour by itself. Leave for about three weeks, then drain and put into sterilsed bottles. Even the strong olive oil ended up with a delicate flowery flavour. Next year I'm going to try cold pressed sunflower and rape seed oil, too.

Garlic and Herb Butter

For some reason or other, my other half bought two 250 g packets of butter the other day. We needed to stock up on butter but ususally struggle to eat even on packet by its use-by-date. Instead of freezing some I decided to upgrade them first. The recipe for the tomato butter is here.

And because the herbs were from the garden I had lots of stalks left, I decided to make a summer vegetable stock as well.

Flavoured butter is wonderful to make garlic bread, use with barbecued food or simply spread on fresh bread or rolls. My favourite use for herb butter is on a rare steak, straight from the 70's. ;)

250 g unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
a couple of handfuls of fresh herbs, in this case flat leaf parsley, coriander, dill, fennel and thyme from the garden
1 whole-bulb garlic
freshly grated black pepper
sea salt

You can make this in a food processor buy adding the coarsely chopped herbs, garlic, pepper and salt to the utter and blizzing the ingredients into a smooth creamy paste.

If you haven't one of those, simply place the butter on a board and use a fork to spread it out a bit. Season with pepper and salt. Finely chop the herbs, crush the garlic and scatter onto the butter. Using a fork work everything into a paste.

To freeze, tear off a piece of cling film, place the herb butter on top. Bring in the longer sides and roll into a sausage. Twist the ends, cover in tin foil and put into the freezer. You can then cut off the amount you need in slices, which will defrost really quickly.

Tomato Butter

Here's the second recipe I made with the mountain of butter my other half bought this week. The recipe for the herb and garlic butter is here.

125 g unsalted organic butter, at room temperature
3 garlic cloves garlic
freshly grated black pepper
sea salt
2 dried chillis
5 sundried tomatoes

You can make this in a food processor buy adding coarsely chopped the tomatoes and garlic, pepper and salt to the butter and blizzing the ingredients into a smooth creamy paste.

If you haven't one of those, simply place the butter on a board and use a fork to spread it out a bit. Season with pepper and salt. Finely chop the tomatoes, crush the garlic and scatter onto the butter. Using a fork work everything into a paste.

To freeze, tear off a piece of cling film, place the herb butter on top. Bring in the longer sides and roll into a sausage. Twist the ends, cover in tin foil and put into the freezer. You can then cut off the amount you need in slices, which will defrost really quickly.

Basil Oil

2 handfuls of fresh basil leaves
1 small garlic clove, crushed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
100-120 ml extra virgin olive oil

Combine the ingredients using a handheld blender and store in a sterilised jar in the fridge.

Lovely on drizzled on tomatoes and mozzarella, steamed veg, steak, fish, stirred through rice or pasta...

Variation:
Use 100-125 g of wild rocket instead.

Paste of Birds Eye Chillis

200 g Birds Eye chillis, topped, but not deseeded
Pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic bulb, unpeeled, cut in half

1. Select a roasting tray to accommodate all the chillis and garlic in one layer. Season with pepper and drizzle with olive oil.

2. Cook in a preheated oven at gas mark 7 (220 °C) until the chillis have browned. Turn and reduce heat to gas mark 4 (175 °C) and roast until the chillis and garlic have softened.

3. Remove the peel from the garlic. Transfer everything to a beaker (for use with handheld blender) or food processor and blend.

4. Transfer to a sterilised jar or bowl and cover with a thick layer of olive oil to seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use. Stir in the oil before serving.

Any remaining past can be topped with oil and kept in the fridge for a few days.

Chilli-flavoured olive oil

1 bottle extra virgin olive oil
a few dried red chillies

Pour off a little oil to make room for the chillies. Push them in and leave in a cool place for at least a couple of days for the flavour to permeate the oil.

Garlic Flavoured Oil

Why spend a fortune on flavoured oil when it takes 5 minutes to make your own?

1 bottle extra virgin olive oil
1 bulb of garlic, peeled

Pour off a little of the oil to make room for the garlic cloves and push them into the bottle. Leave for a couple of days in a cool, dark place. Done!