Addendum to 'Sunset on Summer'....

 

The crabapples and quinces were not to be outdone by the green tomatoes and I have been preserving the very last of the fruits this week.

I decided to make the batches slightly more adventurous and added herbs and spices to subtly enhance the standard jellies I normally make.

The crabapples (Malus sp) we grow are 'Gorgeous' (both in name and flavour), grown on MM106 rootstock. The tree has done fabulously well again - thank you tree.









I made crabapple jelly with cinnamon and cloves - mmmmmm, smelled divine and the spice flavour will really draw out the taste of chicken and turkey as well as ham.

Ratio of ingredients is:

2lbs crabapples
1 pint water

Throw all the apples, unpeeled and uncored in to the preserving pan with the water and simmer until it turns to a pulp.

In go a few cloves and some sticks of cinnamon....

Put the pulp through a muslin/jelly bag overnight. Measure your juice collected and then put into the preserving pan with 1lb of sugar for every pint of juice collected, boil rapidly until set then seal in sterilised jars.

I also livened up the quince jelly by adding a few sprigs of Thyme and some Sage leaves and the shredded peel of 1 lemon. Our quinces are 'Taihape', a tree that survives droughts, flooding and possum attacks.....well so far anyway!

And of course - it always helps to rustle up some muffins whilst the jellies are boiling - Peanut Butter and chocolate chip, yummy.......

 

 

But true to form, you are going to need something wet to wash it down with - a lovely cup of Yorkshire tea did the job for me this afternoon !

Mix these dry ingredients in a large bowl
2C self raising flour
1/3C wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 C caster sugar

In a small bowl mix together -
100g melted butter
3/4C peanut butter (smooth organic)
1 egg
1C full fat milk

have extra peanut butter to hand

Mix the wet ingredients to the dry ones, folding together until damp but not smooth.

Divide half into a 12 hole standard muffin tray, then plop a dollop of peanut butter onto the batter before adding the other half of the mixture to all 12 muffins, so enclosing the dollop between the layers.

Bake at 200 degrees celsius for around 15 minutes - until they spring back when pressed gently.

Sunset on Summer......

The clocks went back this morning and I almost got a lie-in...but the cherubs had other plans.

The whole family made the most of the beautiful weather and spent the morning at the beach with the dogs, it was glorious. Blue sky with voluptuous white clouds scattered far and wide. The sun now warming but not scorching, the cool southerly breeze bringing a sense of the changes to come.

We love this time of year. Tell the truth we love Spring and Autumn the most in New Zealand, the months of moderation in temperature, UV intensity and rainfall (on the whole) - grass is green, the ground is semi-firm and plants grow. The summer can be, and has been, scorching, riddling the ground with cracks and making being outside in the daytime a chore. The winter can be excessively boggy and very, very grey. Don't get me wrong we actually love aspects of all the seasons, for the changes they bring....but there is something lovely about Spring and Autumn.

And so, as our garden winds up it's summer harvest and the preserving is almost at a halt, I was looking around to see what I should really be making the most of and our second crop of tomatoes were on my hit list. They are not ripening now and the bugs are beginning to settle in and take over, so rather than lose them all I decided it was time to pull the plants out, give the ground a rest and some tlc with worm tea and the like and deal to the green tomatoes in the kitchen.

They are such petite bunches of scrumptiousness.

 

 

I decided to make my 'Sunset on Summer' green tomato chutney. A fitting curtain fall to the end of our summer harvest. Using the last of our fresh apples, the last of our tomatoes and almost the last of our peppers.

 

As with all good chutney recipes.....it is super easy.

 

3lbs chopped green tomatoes

1 lb chopped, cored red apples

1 lb chopped onions

3 mild green peppers, sliced thinly

Juice and shredded rind of half a large lemon

2 cm piece of ginger grated (fresh, root) - about 1 oz

1 Dsp ground cardomom

1 Dsp ground cinnamon

12 oz raw sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

 

 

 

Throw it all together in a large preserving pan

Add 300mls of cider vinegar

Doesn't it look just lovely - even before cooking!! I love my preserving spoon - one of the culinary aids I brought back from my travels to South America.

 

Now gently heat until the sugar dissolves and then boil until the mixtures softens up and thickens up. Pack into sterilised jars and seal.

 

Let it mature a couple of weeks then....Enjoy!



Make your own Hairclip/Bobble Saver..............

We are forever trying to find hairclips for our girls' hair (that is why hairbands are often easier) - we seem to lose them like we lose single socks from a pair.

Down the back of the sofa, in the car seats, behind bathroom towels....they end up everywhere and anywhere.

One solution (well somewhat!) is to have somewhere fairly secure/foolproof to put them when we do find them, enter the hairclip saver..............

It's easy as................ simply sew a rectangle - or any shape you like (go on let your creative juices flow!), as you sew the shape sew in a ribbon for hanging and I put in Hand Made labels, then before you completely close up sew in a length of ribbon for the clips and stuff with fibre. I added a button on the end to weight the ribbon down.

If you are completely stuck, let me know (comment) and I can email you some instructions.


But, really, easy peasy and super quick to run up. Hubby loves having somewhere to stick the little blighters when he comes across them and we really have lost fewer since having them up.

I also wrap hair bands/bobble around the cushioned top piece to stop them straying too far too!

No April Fool.......

Don't let the heat scare you in this one, I am being perfectly sincere, no practical joke here :)


We are lucky enough to be able to grow both Kaffir Lime trees and Thai Chilli Pepper bushes.

The lime tree survives our mild frosts in winter, the soggy, soggy winter rains and the parching dry summers we often get with, I have to admit, very little care or attention from us.

 

 

The Thai Chilli bush lives in the greenhouse just to get it through the nasty weather. Even if I didn't use the chillies in any cooking I think I would still grow this plant. It is sooooooooo pretty, especially when there are a mass of chillies all at different degrees of ripeness - it's a great rival to many flowering displays.

 

 

 

 

My Thai Chilli Sauce recipe makes use of both my plants and the garlic that we also grow. It's got a tang, a sweetness and then a heat that kicks in as it slides down. Great as a dipping sauce for fish, prawns and even marinating beef strips.

 



In a bowl mix together:


2 Tbsp fish sauce
squeezed contents from 1/2 a kaffir lime
1 large garlic clove crushed
a few very thin strips of kaffir lime leaf
a few shavings of kaffir rind
2 minced fresh Thai chillies
1 small spring onnion finely sliced
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar


Enjoy!