Backyard marmalade, and a backyard........

What does a girl do when she has not just lemons, but oranges and grapefruit as well? Add a truck load of sugar, boil for several hours and make marmalade of course. Not mean thin sliced marmalade, but chunky, thick tangy don't mess with my toast Marmalade. Easy peasy and also makes a lovely gift (how pretty does it look in the jar?)

I was watching Barefoot Contessa months ago and jotted down in my notebook an Orange Marmalade recipe which looked incredibly easy. I have a plethora of notebooks, I love stationery and have a memory like a sieve, I don't feel comfortable unless I have the means to note down anything important I know I will forget in minutes. I came across one such notebook the other day, after Mr PK's sister had dropped off some very tart oranges from her tree. The original recipe used four oranges & two lemons, but I only had one lemon and a grapefruit, so that's what I used. It is a great mix, perfect for someone like me who cant make up her mind about anything.......

Backyard Marmalade (adapted from Barefoot Contessa )

4 Oranges (the best come from someone s;es back garden....)

1 large grapefruit

1 large lemon

8 cups water

8 cups of sugar (yes its a lot, but you are not eating cups of marmalade a day....are you?)

Splash of Whisky (optional!)

Wash your fruit, then dry and slice the unpeeled fruit thinly with a knife. Throw everything, including any juice you can into a large saucepan. I take the pips out as too many can make your marmalade very bitter, a little bitterness is essential, but the pith of your fruit will provide that. Add the water, and bring to the boil, then take off the heat & stir in the sugar. Cover & leave overnight just sitting on the bench doing nothing special. Next day, bring back to the boil and simmer for 2 hours.

I used the frozen saucer test to figure out when it was set, but afterwards I discovered a note on the next page telling me the jam is done when it is at 220C. So if you have a jam thermometer use it, or pop a small saucer in your freezer for a few minutes, the drop a teaspoon or so of your boiling jam mixture onto it. The marmalade will cool very quickly, if it is still very runny you are not at setting point, but if you pull your finger through it & get a very definite gap you are getting there. I don't know how set you like your jam, but citrus fruit contains loads of pectin, the stuff that makes jam "jammy" so you are in no danger of a strawberry jam no set tragedy. At this stage add a splash of Whisky if you fancy.......

Pour into sterilised jars (wash in hot water or the dishwasher, then dry off & pop into a 110C oven for 10 minutes, viola, sterilised jars) and bask in your fabulousness, with tea & marmalade toast. If your neighbours coughed up the fruit, its nice to turn up on the doorstep with a jar to say thanks, this recipe makes 7-8 jars, so you will have enough to share........

For a couple more ways to enjoy marmalade see Alli's lovely blog  Pease Pudding (and here) , the muesli bars are great for morning tea!

It is only about six months late, but I thought I would show you the state of or front garden, from hole to patio. Once the pizza oven arrives in October (it appears to have been shipped from Outer Mongolia via Mars and a leisurely detour through Timbuktu...) it will be a great spot to cook/smoke up a storm.......or lay on my sun lounger & read cookbooks?

Mr PK isn't the worlds most enthusiastic lawn mower...but the neither am I....

Yes, it does look a bit bare, and no I haven't stained the furniture....I think I did buy some stain last summer......

Sorry, another gratuitous kitten shot.........Tuppence, Cat of Action (it was probably dinner time...)

I also wanted to show you the fab Karen Walker necklace Mum & my sisters gave me for my birthday. Ok, possibly I am not the worlds most reliable gardener, but do you think they are trying to tell me something?

Before I sign off, do go & check out http://www.detteryan.com/, this is my incredibly talented sister Bernadette's new website. Pretty much anything cool I own she found (the woman is a magpie, a magpie with excellent taste might I add) and if I can cook a bit, she can sew, craft, create & generally make gorgeous a lot....in fact if she wasn't my sister I might be horribly jealous & deeply scarred. But she is also the woman that inflicted her tuna chilli on the world , so I figure we're good................:)

Hot stuff from the garden......

After my last post, and that picture of all my chilli's I was recommended a recipe for Chilli Jam by Paula over at Pod & Three Peas. It sounded intriguing, and here is the result. This stuff is hotter than Hades, but also has great additional flavour from the tamarind and fish sauce. I am trying it in a stir fry first up, and mixed with some yogurt as a dip.....

I am reading a really entertaining book at the moment, called The Fragrant Chilli by Micheal Bailes, an Australian "Chillihead" (his term) He talks about various varieties of chilli, their discovery and uses. They were discovered about the same time as tomatoes, but while tomatoes were initially thought poisonous, chilli's were adopted almost immediately as edible, and spread like wild fire (sorry) through the world. Quite why that first someone thought , lips burning and throat on fire, "oh lovely, that will go nicely with dinner" I cant imagine......but I am glad they did.

Visiting friends in Spain a couple of years ago Mr PK mistook a chilli in the garden for a sweet pepper, he grabbed it straight off the plant and took a mighty bite. Once his face actually started to change colour I suspected it was a hot one, but the sweating, coughing and general disagreeable moaning sounds confirmed it. Once I stopped laughing I did go and get him a glass of milk. Capsacin, the compound that makes chilli hot is soluble in dairy or alcohol, but not water, so don't swig a glass thinking it will cool you down, it wont...

To prove I am not a completely awful wife I picked up these delightful goodies at Delish Cupcakes on Saturday. These lovely ladies organised the Get Your Bake On fundraiser for the Christchurch Earthquake appeal, to which I was delivering Brownies. The event raised a whopping $6600, which is wonderful. Mr Sweettooth made a special request as I was leaving (still in bed) to "please bring home a cupcake". Red Velvet & Pinkie bar, who could resist really?

Easy banana bread

It isn't easy to gussy up brown food. Even on the prettiest Grindley plates my banana bread still looks very, well , brown.

If I tell you it is utterly delish, moist and packed with glorious juicy sultanas and crunchy walnut pieces will that sell it to you? This is so easy to make it is almost cheating. Completely divine with a nice cup of tea sitting on the porch watching your husband heave blocks of stone around, so nice to watch a bit of manual labour now and again.......

Easy Banana Bread (recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess")

100 grams sultanas (you could use raisins if you prefer)

75 mls bourbon (or use orange juice if you don't fancy using booze)

175 gr plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Good pinch of nutmeg

125 gr unsalted butter, melted

150 gr sugar

2 eggs

3 medium bananas, ripe and spotty, probably starting to whiff a bit

70 gr chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla paste

Preheat your oven to 170C/340F

Heat the bourbon up in a small saucepan and when it is boiling take off the heat and add the sultanas. Set aside while you sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt into a decent sized bowl.

In another bowl pour the melted butter and sugar and using a wooden spoon stir together. Add the eggs, and stir again to combine.

Add the bananas, (which I mashed with a fork in the dirty butter saucepan, why use another bowl?) walnuts and vanilla, stirring again until everything is mixed in.

Pour the whole lot into your flour mix, and stir with your wooden spoon until you have a thickish batter.

Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for 1-11/4 hours. It will be golden and make you house smell amazing. I like it warm with butter, but it is also great cold. I slice it and freeze the slices to pop into my sandwich bag for work, worth getting to morning tea for.

Some people toast banana bread, its never been my scene, but toast away if you wish, it's your kitchen. Maybe with a slather of ricotta cheese and a drizzle of honey, now that would be a fine breakfast.

You may have noticed a new look at Plum Kitchen, for an atecho type like me this is quite an achievement. I am working on a recipe index, to make it easier to navigate around the site, and am toying with the idea of adding music. Do you find music on websites/blogs annoying or enjoyable?

The hole in the ground has progressed nicely ,and the end is in sight. Hopefully with some planting it will less like a would-be home cinema and more like a garden/deck..........as you can see we have not quite come to an agreement re the colour of the fench, much discussion on this most emotive of topics, no consensus has been reached thus far, a negotiator may yet be called in, watch this space...........

Salad days, crafty ways............and a big hole in the ground

I have not posted for over a week, and now I have so much to share I shall have to do it in episodes, I don't want you feeling overwhelmed............or bored to tears. I had a great cooking class the other night, Salads for Supper, and want to share some of the recipes.

After a gray start the sun is shining today and I cant see a cloud out the window. If I listen carefully I can actually hear my zucchini growing, chuckling quietly to themselves "she loves us now, but wait a few weeks when we have grown like a triffid and worn her down....." to which of course I chuckle to myself and utter the immortal words "stuffed zucchini flowers". But we are not quite there yet.

Back to the salads, first up is a variation on quinoa and rice (remember, "keen-wa", not key-no-ah") I came up with last week and am rather pleased with. It uses two of my fav things, Pomegranate Molasses and eggplant (for another recipe using both of these see here ). It is really delicious, easy to make, and given how cheap eggplant are at the moment, really economical. If you live somewhere where eggplant are juts  dream right now, can I suggest pumpkin or sweet potato (kumara in this neck of the woods) as an alternative?

Quinoa and brown rice salad with eggplant, cucumber and walnuts

Ok I know it sounds a bit worthy, but it does taste yummy, honest. And it is super good for you. The hint of chilli on the eggplant, and the pomegranate molasses spark everything up nicely, and it looks pretty on the plate. This is lovely with the feta cheese, and also works really well with lamb fillet, dusted with cumin and salt then blasted on the grill or BBQ until crusty outside and pink within...

This makes enough for 4-6

1 cup quinoa (either red or white is fine)
1 cup brown rice
1 onion, sliced into crescents
1 large eggplant
½ tsp each of ground cumin, salt and chilli powder
Splash of olive oil
1 Lebanese cucumber sliced
Handful of cherry tomatoes
½ cup walnuts, toasted
Handful of chopped mint
Handful of chopped parsley
100 grams crumbled feta cheese

Dressing

½ cup EV olive oil
2 tsp pomegranate molasses (or use honey and a squeeze of lemon)
1 tsp white vinegar (cider vinegar is nice here)
Salt and fresh black pepper

Bring two saucepans of salted water to the boil, and add the rice to one and the quinoa to the other. Boil until cooked but not mushy, the rice will take about 20 mins, the quinoa about 15 mins.

Drain both (no need to rinse) and spread out on a tray to cool. While they are cooking fry your onion in a little bit of oil until golden but not burnt. Set aside.
Add the oil to the cumin, salt and chilli and stir to combine. Chop the eggplant into bite size chunks, then mix with the spice and oil. Fry or grill the aubergine over a medium heat until cooked and golden, this will take about 10 mins.
Make your dressing by whisking all your ingredients together. Taste for seasoning. It should be sharp but with a hint of sweetness.

Tip your cooled rice and quinoa into a large bowl and add the cooked onion. Stir though the eggplant, cucumber, tomatoes, walnuts and herbs. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Check again for seasoning.
Tip onto a platter and sprinkle with the crumbled feta and more mint leaves.

This is just a base recipe, feel free to add or subtract ingredients as you wish. Some dried fruits such as apricots or figs could be added, maybe substituting the walnuts for pistachios.

This is a great salad to take to make in advance and take to a BBQ as it is robust and actually improves with sitting. If you do refrigerate make sure you take it out and bring to room temp before serving. Nothing tastes of much ice cold...........ok, except maybe champagne

The next salad I would like you to run immediately to the kitchen and make is courtesy of Nigella, and it is a fav in our house. Watermelon, feta, olives, lime..............what is not to love, and it can be thrown together in about 5 minutes. This is my go to salad when it gets really warm. With apologies to those of you ready somewhere chilly. If it is any consolation I already have a red nose (how festive!) and the bits of me that are not opaque white are turning pink or freckled .Thanks Dad, that red hair white freckled skin combo you shared with us is such a winner in the NZ sunshine.........

Watermelon and feta salad


1 red onion, peeled and cut into crescents (half moons)
2-4 limes, depending on juiciness
1 watermelon
100 grams Feta cheese
Handful of flat-leaf parsley
Handful of mint
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Handful of pitted black olives
Black pepper

Put the onion into a small bowl, and squeeze over the juice of the limes.
Remove the rind from the watermelon, and cut into bite sized chunks. Don’t be too precious about this, it is fine a bit rough. Tear the feta into smaller sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow platter.
Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf, rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the mint.

Pour onions, along with their juices over the salad in a bowl, add the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad so that the feta and melon don’t fall apart. Add a grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime.

I have also made this sprinkled with fresh red chilli, also very yummy if you like a little heat

In between cooking adventures I have also got my crafty hat on. I got up this morning to watch the All Blacks, I don't normally surface on a Sunday at 6am ( with apologies again, I am guessing those of you with kids reading this are used to getting up at 6am EVERY morning.......?) Anyway it is amazing how much more a girl can get done with extra hours in her weekend. I made an advent calender for two of my nephews while the footie was on, I think it is kind of cute

I got the idea from the December issue of Your Home and Garden, it is a goodie.

The little sandwich bags are filled with treats for the family . It started off with just the two boys, then I felt so bad about the sweets and chocolates (more accurately the EFFECT of the sweets and chocolate) that I included little bits & bobs for the whole whaneau.........the little pegs and ribbon are from Kikki-K , also a great spot for diaries and pens. Its like the first day of the new school year every time I walk in, stationery heaven....

If any of you were wondering how the garden/pizza oven/deck/massive hole in the ground is getting on (don't worry, I don't actually expect you have been pondering this...) here is an update. Pru is wondering what on earth we are doing to her outdoor WC, the neighbours are wondering if we are secretly putting in a pool, the kids down the back are desperately HOPING we are putting in a pool............and I am wondering how much of our hard earned dosh is disappearing into that hole. Will keep you posted.

In the meantime this is the evil eye I got this morning. How inscrutable are cats?

Baja fish taco, gringo style..........

Lets lighten things up shall we? Summer is coming, and this recipe is a great option for those days when you want something full of flavour, but still light, and quick to prepare. I can whip these up in about 15 mins. This is also a top option for the BBQ, as the fish can be cooked and the tortillas warmed really easily on  a grill. If you are like me and cant eat anything handheld without wearing a portion of it, this taco, made from a soft tortilla rather than a crunchy corn shell, is also a lot easier to manage (or wear a bib?)

I have adapted the recipe from an episode of a great Australian show I saw a while ago called Food Safari. It was actually talking about Californian food, even though confusingly Baja California is the northern most state of Mexico. I tried to take notes as I watched, shorthand not being my forte I'm not sure how close this is to the original but we like it. The cabbage salad may seem odd, but it provides a great crunch to contrast with the soft fish, creamy sauce and zingy chilli. Try it and see.

Baja Fish Taco (adapted from Food Safari-American episode)

A small piece of snapper per person (or any white firm fleshed fish you like)

2 Tsp oil
Squeeze of lime juice
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Sprinkle of salt
Sprinkle of chilli (fresh or flakes)

Place your snapper on a plate and sprinkle over all the rest of the ingredients

Grill, BBQ or fry your fish until just cooked, then serve in a soft warm flour tortilla with the cabbage salad, some chopped tomato (or salsa) and the Baja cream, yum!

Cabbage Salad

Simply mix together finely chopped cabbage, sliced red onion, soaked in lime juice for 5-10 minutes to soften, and chopped coriander with a good sprinkle of salt. I also add fennel and radish when I have them for extra crunch.

Baja Cream

Mix together the following to taste (enough for 4 fish taco)

3 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp thick plain yogurt
½-1 chopped fresh chilli to taste (or use chilli flakes)
Good pinch cayenne pepper
Squeeze of lime juice
Salt

Fresh tomato salsa

Simply mix together the following, tasting until you are happy with the zip factor

4-6 tomatoes, cut in half and scoop the seeds out, then chop roughly
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
½ -1 red onion, skinned and finely chopped (I don’t like huge chunks of onion) If you don’t have red onions, use spring onions
Big squeeze of lime juice
Chopped fresh chilli, red or green
Pinch of sugar
Chopped coriander
Salt & pepper

I made these at my Mexican cooking class last week, where they were a hit. Mexican food can have a bit of a reputation for being heavy, meaty and cheese rich, however that is more Tex Mex food, real Mexican is lighter and spicier, very deliscious..........my lovely friend Mairi over at  Toast , who was kind enough to take these pictures, made Watermelon-Raspberry ice for her Mexican fiesta at the weekend, which I was lucky enough to be invited to. Supper yummy, and would make a great finale to a summer meal, Mexican inspired or not.

I thought I would share my radishes with you............real, live, not yet consumed by snail ones, very exciting!

No that isn't my attempt at flower gardening, or quarrying. It is our soon to be constructed (by professionals  so will hopefully be done without mortal injury or divorce) decked entertaining area complete with pizza/smoking oven. I am so excited, it is worth the look I get from the back neighbours everytime they drive up our shared driveway and wonder what I have against rock gardens. Alot actually. For one thing they don't seem to produce anything I can eat, and for another I cant sit in one on a sun lounger sipping a cocktail while cooking a pizza. Nuff said.

Finally in the spirit of blogging honesty I will share with you entry number 7566 on the Plum Kitchen Roll Call of Honour-Making A Tit of Herself Again.

I drove into Ellerslie this afternoon (yes, I should have walked but I can never remember what time the Post Office closes) to return some clothes and visit the butcher. I was walking back to the car I'd unlocked remotely,  mentally ticking off jobs done and wondering if Feline Fusspot would eat the only cat biks I could find at Four Square when I noticed a scratch and small dent on the drivers side door. I was cursing as I jumped in, chucking my shopping onto a packet of cigarettes on the passenger seat and breathing in a massive wiff of fag smoke..........I dont smoke? Confusion for a nano second until I realised I was in someone elses car........

I nearly rammed the door into a passing bus in my hurry to grab my bags and exit the vehicle. From the way he nearly wet himself laughing I'd say the guy at the bus stop opposite realised what I had done, as I threw the shopping and remaining dignity into (my) car, and drove away as quickly as possible, thank goodness for tinted windows.......

Save an idiot and lock your car doors people!

Snowballs in Spring.....

How cute is a cupcake? I know, every man & his canine are doing them, but they are a lovely alternative to a birthday cake, and provide a higher icing to cake ratio than a normal slice (ok, I am not sure this has actually been scientifically proven, but should NASA ever take on the job I am sure that would be the finding...)

I recently catered a friends parents joint 80th birthday party, and thought snowball cupcakes would be the perfect sweet finale. They look fab, and are easy to make with a hand held beater. A vanilla cupcake laced with lemon zest, containing a teaspoonful of tangy lemon curd, topped with sweet marshmallow frosting and coconut, I want one of these on my 80th birthday please.......with champagne thanks.

Snowballs (recipe adapted from "Cupcakes!" by Elinor Klivans)

Vanilla Lemon Cupcakes (makes 24 normal sized cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

2 cups sugar (yep, these are sweet little cakes!)

1 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)

grated zest of a lemon

1 cup sour cream

Pre heat the oven to 180C

Sift the flour, baking powder, soda & salt together into a bowl.

In a large bowl eggs and sugar together until pale & thick (I use my Kitchen Aid but a hand held beater would be fine) With the beater on low add the oil, vanilla and lemon zest, beating until well mixed. Add the sour cream and mix in. Add the flour mixture and beat gently again until all the flour is combined. Pour into 24 lined cupcake cases, filling about 3/4 full, then bake for about 20 mins, until they are pale golden and a skewer poked into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

Cool, then scoop out a tsp of the cake crumb, and fill with a tsp of lemon curd (passionfruit or lime curd is also perfect here, you need something with a tang to counter all that sweet) and top with the following frosting, and a sprinkle of coconut.

Marshmallow frosting

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup water

2 egg whites

pinch of cream of tarter

1/2 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)

Put the sugar, water, egg white and cream of tarter in a heatproof bowl over  a saucepan of barely simmering water. Don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Using an electric beater, beat the mixture together until it forms a fluffy thick white frosting, this takes about 5-7 minutes. Remove from over the water, add the vanilla and beat for another couple of minutes, where it will further thicken and cool. Swirl all over your cupcakes in generous swirls (cupcake icing is no time for restraint......) and top with the coconut. Hose down yourself and the kitchen, which will somehow have managed to acquire sticky frosting and coconut all over it..........or maybe that's just me?

I also made sticky honey soy chicken wings, zucchini muffins with smoked salmon (recipe here), chicken and walnut mayo sandwiches, ham and brie sandwiches and hummus...........

oh and of course, sausage rolls! I make mine using my butchers best pork bangers, skinned and mixed with onion, seasoning and fresh parsley. So simple, so retro, so good.

All of the pics above were taken by my lovely friend Briar. Not only can she operate a camera with more confusing buttons and knobs than a space shuttle, she fits in photography around being a clever clogs lawyer and mum to a gorgeous little girl, cooking and  having a better garden than mine. Oh and she is great fun too.

I know, overachieving tart.....

Speaking of gardens, I thought I would share with you my latest garden disaster, in case you are having a rough day and would like to feel superior. Please admire my sad little courgette plant, after a dawn raid by the local snail community............I tried in vain to cox it back to health but the little buggers had eaten all the fresh growth.....my revenge was a liberal does of Quash, firmly shutting the gate as the horse gallops down the road..........

I was chatting to one of my sisters this morning, she lives in Kerikeri, far north of Auckland, where they get more sun and hence an earlier start on Spring crops. She had been talking on the phone to our Mother (whose garden at the moment is quite spectacular, Ma's fingers are green to the bone, what happened to me is still a mystery) and commented her radishes had grown really well. Mum paused for a second then responded "well anyone who cant grow radishes cant grow anything". They get sun in Northland, but also the odd shower of rain on parades...........

You might have noticed I have had a wee break from my blog. It has been a funny few weeks, I have changed jobs, had some rather worrying news and attempted a "staycation", a holiday at home. This was not exactly a success, instead of coming back from a beach in Fiji relaxed and slightly pink (my version of a holiday tan....),  I have a very clean house (even the windows!), and a desire to book a beach break imminently...........actually we are off to Sydney to visit another sister in January so I can look forward to that.
In the meantime I will sit in the sun with my book, finished Vanda Symon's Overkill, great book, am now attempting a Lee Child thriller, not usually my scene but he seems very popular so will give it a go........

Ok, its a work in progress!

Don't look to closely, although its amazing what you can fit in to a few raised beds......