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................:)

Quince & apple sauce for the whole year....

What's in a name? If the knobbly, unyielding Quince was called something warm & fuzzy would it be more popular? Honey berry perhaps, for it's amazing fragrance, or Rose Fruit, after the pretty colour the flesh turns on cooking? Quince is hardly a head turner, but then in the raw, neither is the fruit. Cook it up however, and you have a wonderfully perfumed flesh, which also combines well with other fruit. Boring old apple sauce becomes something else altogether.
And the best bit? I will show you how to bottle it, so after the all too brief  quince season is over, you can have a delicious reminder with your pork or duck. Or how about dolloped onto rice pud , stirred through apple crumble, or with your morning muesli and yoghurt. Bottling is easy, even I can do it, and it makes you feel just so darn competent, you will want to preserve everything you can lay your hands on

Before we crack on a quick word on jars. I find the easiest for a beginner (ie me!) is the Bormioli Rocco Quattro brand, available in NZ at Mitre 10 or for about half the price at Arthur Holmes, but you will have to buy a box of 12. They have a rubber seal inside the lid, and a pop up closure, which once treated in water sucks in and lets you know your seal is good. They also look pretty....

Quince and Apple Sauce (from Preserves, the River Cottage Handbook 2, by Pam Corbin)

Enough for 3-4 250ml jars

500 gr Quince (2 large ones)
Juice 1/2 lemon
500 gr Cooking apples -I used Granny Smith
125 gr sugar

First peel and core your quince. I used a small sharp knife, cutting off the skin and chopping the fruit into four and cutting out the core, the same as you would an apple. Chop the flesh into chunks and put in a large saucepan with the lemon juice & 500 mls water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes.
Peel and core your apples, cut into chunks and add to the saucepan with the sugar. Boil for another 10-15 minutes until the fruit is completely soft and can be pushed through a sieve.
While this is happening, wash your jars in hot soapy water, then put into an oven at 140C for about 10 minutes, this will sterilise them.

When you have pushed your fruit through a sieve (or if you cant be bothered, just give it a good beat with a wooden spoon) put it back on the heat & bring up to the boil. At this stage it is ready to use, and can be stored in a jar in the fridge for a week or so. If you want to store it for longer (and lets face it, how much sauce can you eat in a week?) then you can preserve it by following these simple instructions.

Take your jars out of the oven and fill with your sauce. Put on the lids  ( I sit mine in a sauce pan of simmering water to keep them germ free) and tighten. Then pop them into a saucepan with a folded tea towel on the bottom, large enough to hold the jars without touching, and cover with warm water. I use the same pan I cooked the sauce in, giving it a quick wash.

Bring the water up to simmering point. This is 88C, but if you don't have a thermometer don't worry, just look for gentle bubbling, it wont hurt if the temp is a little over 88C, but you don't need a full rolling boil. Simmer for 5 mins, fish the jars out of the water (I use Mr PK's BBQ tongs, but you can get special ones in cookware shops) and pop onto a wooden board or another tea towel.

Leave to get cold. As the jars are cooling you will hear a popping sound , this is the top sucking in, your sign the jar has sealed and is airtight. If you don't get this, and to be honest I didn't with one jar the first time simply repeat the 5 minute simmer step. I realised after the first fail it was because I had not twisted the cap on tightly, simmering to get an airtight seal on a jar you have not closed properly is an exercise in futility....

If this sounds horribly long winded trust me it isn't, the whole thing took about 45 minutes, and required nothing more complex than the right jars, a saucepan, a few tea towels and a wooden spoon. Preserving this way means you don't need to use loads of sugar or salt, the whole four jars took just over 1/2 cup of sugar, so the sauce isn't sickly sweet. And if you are like me, it is lovely to have a step in the roast "process" already done, I have forgotten the sauce on more than one occasion..........and I come from a family where there will ALWAYS be someone who asks, "but where is the apple/mint/horseradish/plum sauce"........

For further tips and tricks on bottling, preserves and general domestic fabulousness, I can totally reccomend this book, I love River Cottage anyway, but this book especially has me ready to bottle and preserve anything and everything.

Forgive the rambling nomenclature lecture at the start of this post, but I was reminded of a funny story the other day, a lesson in the whims of fashion I suppose.
My sister was walking my nephew home from school, when he turned to her and said "oh Mum, this boy started in my class today & he's got a really funny name"
Now to give you some context my nephews name is Otis, and he attended a rather trendy city primary school, chock full of Oliver's, Mika's, India's, and I believe at least one Tarquin. As you can imagine my sister was intrigued to know what an Otis would possibly think of as a "funny" name.....
The response?
"His name's Ken"

This ones for you Ken.

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?

Tomato sauce, yes please.........

Before I start my ramble, I just want to say how touched I was by your kind comments after the loss of my Dad, what a lovely bunch you are, I was very moved, thanks so much:)

Now on with the show.....

When life throws you lemons apparently you should make lemonade. Life is throwing me tomatoes, so the obvious solution? Good old fashioned tomato sauce. By sauce I mean ketchup style, as opposed to something you might put onto spaghetti or pizza. I don't know why I suddenly have a craving to make this, I never have before, and Mum certainly raised a wry smile when I asked for some of her massive tomato crop.

Mum made her own tomato sauce when we were growing up. Dad always seem to think we were on the cusp of a world shortage, and grew Beefsteak like it was the last vege on earth. Waste was just not acceptable, so like most woman of her generation she preserved, bottled and stored the excess. Except for beans, they were just force feed to five children until we begged for clemency.........I think she finds it funny that what was done then out of necessity is suddenly so cool.
Old malt vinegar bottles (they were glass back then) filled to the brim with red lined the kitchen shelves, next to bottled golden queen peaches and christmas plums. I would come home whining from my friends house's complaining about having to have homemade, I wanted bought sauce, Watties if you please....or even Heinz at a push.
It was yet another indignity to be borne, along with getting dropped off at school in the huge old blue Falcon (my younger sister has cerebral palsy so could not walk, we would both beg Mum to park around the corner pleeeeeese!) and having to check Dad's Western books out of the library when I picked up my Moosewood cookbook and Sweet Valley Highs......oh the shame) It's amazing I'm fairly normal.......

This recipe comes courtesy of Sally Cameron, from NZ Gardener Homegrown series, the Tomato edition. It uses plenty of tomatoes, and isnt to difficult to make.....

Sally's Tomato Sauce

3 kg firm ripe tomatoes (I used a mix of cherry, Black Krim, Roma and Beefsteak)
2 onions, peeled
5 medium apples
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
2 tbsp salt
750 gr brown sugar
Pinch cayenne
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole allspice
2.5 cm fresh ginger root, peeled
1 tsp black peppercorns

Roughly chop the tomatoes, apples and onions and place in a large pot. I didn't bother peeling the apples. Bring to the boil and simmer for approx 30 minutes until the fruit is soft and pulpy. The original recipe say to push the mix through a sieve, but I used Mum's mouli, which was really easy and produced a great result. It is also what she used, and I thought you might like to admire that fab orange, yeoww!

Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the vinegar, salt, sugar, cayenne and lemon juice. Tie the peppercorns, cloves and allspice in a piece of muslin (or a clean hankie if you don't have muslin) and throw into the pot also. Stir gently while everything comes to the boil, then leave to simmer gently for about 1 1/4 hours.

I suspect I could have left mine a bit longer to make a slightly thicker sauce but it will depend on how much liquid was in your fruit. It will still taste amazing so don't stress. Take your bag/hankie out and pour into sterilised bottles or jars. I run mine through the dishwasher, but you can also let them sit for 10 minutes in a 110C oven. Either way make sure they are warm before you add the hot sauce or there will be tears and shards of glass from A to B........

This makes enough to fill ten 350 ml bottles, which is quite a lot of fish and chips. Give a bottle to someone who has never had the real thing, it is quite a difference. If they are a child don't be surprised if they give it back, kids can be ingrates........

Green tomato's and red sauce.....

Back online (yes, it was a much extended holiday.........) and busy making fresh tomato sauce. Well it would be 'fresh' tomato sauce except once again we have had a mildew explosion in the garden and my tomato plants have shriveled to sad wizened shadows. I will let the picture speak for itself.........

Anyway, as so often it's tinned tomatoes to the rescue. With the addition of onion, garlic, plenty of fresh basil and a good pinch of sugar I have a very respectable sauce for my wee pizzas. My basil crop has been fantastic, which has soothed my squashed gardening ego somewhat, and produced a delicious jar of fresh pesto. I deviated from my usual mortar & pestle method of preparation and went all high tech with my food processor. I actually started using my blender, but it is so utterly useless I would have had more success rubbing the leaves between my fingers, so food processor it was. I loathe washing kitchen 'gadgets' at the best of times, but washing something that didn’t even do the job was especially irksome. The processor results in more 'chopped' leaves, which I don’t think is quite as nice as mortar crushed, but I was working with industrial quantities and I didn’t want my arm to fall off........



Pesto: Into your functioning blender, or food processor, put a good clove of garlic, copious handfuls of sweet basil, seasoning, and a palmful of pine nuts (or a mix of peanuts and pinenut, more economical and very yum) and blitz together. Then drizzle in olive oil, I use Spanish olive oil brought in two liter tins, it lasts for ages as it is protected from the light (the enemy of oil) and is more economical than smaller bottles. I have long since stopped worrying what this says about my oil consumption. I figure if I am eating oil I am not eating butter, which despite its utter deliciousness even I acknowledge I should try and consumer less than my body weight of annually.....

To prove I am not a complete failure in the garden please gaze in pleasure at my lovely fresh chilies, I have Habaneras, and cayenne peppers busy resisting mildew (bless them!) and fattening up daily  I feel a Mexican momento coming on.......

P.S All was not completely lost on the tomato front, I did make nine jars of Green Tomato pickle, nothing beats it on hotdogs or burgers, mmmmmmmm!