Jam & Jerusalem

A New Way of Preserving

For the past week I seem to have a new daily ritual. Picking soft fruit. Everyday there is another crop to pick. As we have not yet completed the fruit cage, it’s a race between me and the birds. 

A more predictable spring and summer with periods of sun and rain has been the perfect conditions for soft fruit this year. The raspberries and strawberries in particular. The strawberries have almost gone, but weather permitting the raspberry season should last until October.

In the past I have made small batches of jams and preserves like my mum used to. Take some sterilised jam jars, fill with the cooked jam, cover the surface of the jam with a waxed paper disk and seal the jar with a clear plastic jam cover.  This process is apparently called “Putting up”. A phrase I had not heard before this year. I believe it’s an American phrase from the 1800’s, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m curious to know more about its origins.

I’ve also tried using Kilner style jars with rubber seals and cooking the jars in water in the oven. Invariably a jar would always crack and I’d never know for sure if the seal was good. The pressure cooker method didn’t appeal to me either for the same reasons.

As I plan on preserving more this year, and concerned with the the safety of long term storage, we decided to invest in a Home Canning System from Germany. 

I wonder what the Women’s Institute (WI) would make of my jam recipes!

There’s no need to mess with a classic strawberry jam recipe so I kept that one simple and then also made a raspberry and mint jam.

Classic Strawberry

453g Strawberries washed, hulled, roughly chopped. Small fruit can be left whole
453g Granulated Sugar
3 Tbsp Organic Sicilian Lemon Juice (or Juice of 1 Lemon)
Place all ingredients into a large pan and bring to a rapid boil for about 10 mins.
Use the plate test * to determine when the jam is set.
Remove from heat
Fill sterilised jars and follow your Home Canner’s instructions for preserving jam

Raspberry & Mint Jam

453g Raspberries
3/4 Cup Mint Leaves
2 1/4 Cup Sugar
3 Tbsp Organic Sicilian Lemon Juice ( or Juice of 1 Lemon)
Infuse the sugar overnight with the mint leaves
Follow the same steps as for the Strawberry Jam.

* Plate Test – to determine the setting point for the jam. Place a teaspoon of the jam mixture on a chilled plate. If when cooled the jam wrinkles when pushed with your finger, the jam has reached its setting point.

 

 

A Quintessential British Summer

Tennis, Strawberries & Cream and Lemon Barley Water

Wimbledon started this week. 

Founded in 1877 it is the oldest tennis tournament around and inevitably some traditions have grown up around the event, such as the spectators eating British strawberries and cream. A perhaps lesser known one is that of lemon barley water.  After all ‘anything else just isn’t tennis’ *

Eric Smedley Hodgson apparently invented the drink in 1934 and it was served to the tennis players in the changing rooms to refresh them. This was the start of an 81 year old relationship between Robinson’s Barley Water and Wimbledon, and since 1935 bottles of the soft drink have been placed under the umpire’s chair.

Wimbledon reminds me of the warm, heady, pollen scented days of summer. It’s late afternoon.  Outside the stillness echoes the hush of the crowd on centre court, followed by the rich “thwak”of the opening serve.

Summer also means ice cream.

The strawberry patch was full of ripe fruit. The aromatic scent of Basil Genovese filled the hydro-tunnel and I had a bottle of organic Sicilian lemon juice in the fridge. So I made a batch of Strawberry & Basil Ice Cream. I first came across this recipe last year when I had a glut of basil leaves. The original recipe used ricotta cheese, but I couldn’t remember using that last time. I just wanted to keep it simple. So I searched for a few other recipes and merged a couple of them together. I also reduced the amount of sugar used by half.

Strawberry & Basil Ice Cream

455 grams Strawberries (washed and roughly cut up)
6 cups of Basil Leaves
1/2 cup Sugar
450ml Double Cream
250ml Gold Top Jersey Milk (full cream milk)
1/2 teaspoon Sicilian Lemon Juice.

Soak the cut strawberries in the sugar and lemon juice for about an hour
Blend the cream, milk, basil and strawberries together until mixed to your liking
Chill overnight
Churn the ingredients in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer’s instructions.

*Source 1988 Robinson’s Barley Water Advertising Campaign

Festive Family Feast

Menu Planning, Mistakes Made and Lessons Learnt

I like to experiment at Christmas. Create a twist to accompany the traditional Turkey and Christmas Pudding with rum sauce. 

This year I wanted to cook dinner for my family over the 3 main holiday days, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (26th December, a UK holiday), but the challenge was to:

1. Use some the things still growing in either the hydroponic or conventional polytunnel / small holding
2. Control the amount of sugar used
3. Plan ahead and prepare some dishes in advance so I could enjoy the festivities
4. Have an old fashioned Boxing Day buffet with left overs and Baked Ham.

With a very long list of potential dishes, I didn’t know where to start, until I realised I needed to plan the menu for each day and work back from there.

And so the menu was born. Here are some highlights…

Challenge 1 

Beetroot – A Meatless Borsch – for Christmas Eve and I could even make the stock base on the 23rd.
Kale – A side dish of Mashed potato and kale to go with the Turkey
Leeks – Roast leeks with thyme & vermouth – also for Christmas Day
Fresh Eggs – Caesar Salad for Christmas Eve

Challenge 2 

Mince pies – Traditional mincemeat is usually made months in advance. I found a quick and easy recipe for Cranberry & Orange Mincemeat to make when needed or stored in the fridge
Black Forest Gateau for Boxing Day – I used organic Cacao Powder instead of processed chocolate powder for the sponge.

Challenge 3 

The  Gateau – sponge and pastry base made in advance and frozen.
Cure the Salmon with tequila & grapefruit for Christmas eve.
Hot Ham with Port & Lime Sauce – Pre-Cook the Ham and freeze until needed.
Cook carrots for Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve

Challenge 4 

This was a success.
It was time to rest and watch a Bond Film on TV. Another quirky UK Boxing Day tradition.

Mistakes Made…
The cured salmon wasn’t ready in time, so it became Hot Smoked Salmon
The pomegranate sauce for the Turkey… well, let’s just say it resembled a pink bread sauce!!

 

Festive Crib Notes

Fried Green Tomatoes & Chutney

Stocking The Shelves for Winter

My mother’s pantry, was a narrow room with a sloping roof built under the stairs, just off the kitchen. The shelves on the lowest wall were reserved for the growing number of preserves she would make over the year. There would be all sorts of jams and jellies. Many flavours and colours. Strawberry Jam. Blackberry Jam. Quince Jam. Raspberry Jelly which was prepared just like jam but she’d strain the liquid through a jelly bag to make a crystal clear preserve. But there would be only one type of chutney on the shelf. Green Tomato Chutney. She made the same recipe year after year. I never did get a copy of it, but remember the main ingredients were unripe green tomatoes, apples, sultanas, vinegar and sugar. As for any herbs and spices – those remain a mystery.

With the end of season tomatoes just hanging on the vines, refusing to ripen, it was time to dig out the copper preserving pan and make my own green tomato chutney.

There are so many recipes out there, all with their own little variations. I wanted my chutney to be as typically Old English as possible. As chutney originated in India and was brought over and adapted by the Victorians as a way of preserving fruit and vegetables from the garden I wanted to use some traditional spices. As my mother’s chutney didn’t taste too spicy I used just Cyan and Turmeric.

The building blocks for a chutney recipe

2.5kg Green Tomatoes
500g White Onion
500g British Russet Apples
215g Sultanas
1 litre Distilled Malt Vinegar
475g Dark Muscavado Sugar
5g White Pepper
3g Cyan
3g Turmeric.
Once cooked don’t forget to let the chutney mature for about 3 months.

Next year I think I will experiment with a few more spices, perhaps some mustard seed, coriander, ginger and mace.

I saved a few green tomatoes to try something I’ve always wanted to taste…Fried Green Tomatoes –  a side dish from the Southern United States. Having never eaten them I had no idea how to make my own. I used a great recipe from the online magazine thekitchn.com

And the verdict? I love them! 

Hooked on the idea of using green tomatoes, other than as a substitute for tomatillos, I searched out other recipes and found Green Tomato Mayonnaise which made use of my hydroponically grown basil leaves.

Here are the links:

Fried Green Tomatoes:- http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-recommendation-fried-gr-57523
Green Tomato Mayonnaise: – http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/green-tomato-mayonnaise

Would love to know what you do with green tomatoes and looking forward to the long winter nights since we’ve left DST when I can sit back and think about my own recipes.

Tricky Ingredients

KITCHEN GADGETS TO THE RESCUE

There are just some ingredients I can’t master cooking using traditional methods.

Rice… Was a problem, until we discovered a Japanese programable electric rice cooker that plays a cute little tune when you press the ‘Cook’ button.

Whole globe artichoke & okra (aka ladies fingers) are another two things that spring immediately to mind.

November in Wales means long, dark, wet and windy nights that cry out for some comfort food. What better than a Cajun meal? This week seemed to have a Cajun theme to dinnertime. First we had Etouffee then last night was Gumbo. I wanted to see if I could cook the perfect Okra to go in the gumbo.

The last time I tried cooking with Okra I was left with a slimy mess. So I turned to another piece of kitchen technology – the Sous Vide – and was rather pleased with the outcome. 

Sous Vide Okra
Preheat the water bath to 82 degrees centigrade
Trim the tops off the Okra
Place the okra in a cooking bag
Seasoning can be added at this stage, but I decided not to season as I was adding them to the gumbo
Seal the bag using a Vacuum Seal
Cook for 15 minutes in the Sous Vide
After 15 minutes place in an ice bath for 10 minutes
Remove Okra from the bag, pat dry and cut into bite size pieces
Add to cooked gumbo and stir until the okra has warmed through
Serve immediately.

I wonder…sous vide a globe artichoke next? If I can find one in the local supermarket. Or maybe we should consider growing our own next year. After all it meets all the criteria for deciding what to grow on our small holding.
We like to eat it
It’s relatively expensive to buy
It’s difficult to buy

Perhaps next year we’ll also experiment growing okra in the hydroponic polytunnel it being an ideal plant to grow in pots.

The Three Musketeers

Basque ChilLi, Tomato & Tomatillo  – Hydroponic Salsa Ingredients

Finally the Basque Chillis are turning red. I bought these seeds from http://www.realseeds.co.uk a family run company based here in Wales. What I like about this company is that they sell seeds for plants that you can save from one years harvest to plant the following year. Traditionally this used to be common practice by farmers and gardeners alike, but I think it is not so prevalent today. When the other job (TOJ) slows down a little I plan on starting to save my own seed. It’s something I feel quite strongly about with regards to ensuring my own food security.

One of the main reasons for the hydroponic polytunnel was to try and grow chillis. I’m growing 2 types,  a green Jalapeño, that’s not doing too well and the red Basque Chilli. The Basque Chilli is a fantastic heirloom chilli pepper from the South of France that does really well in the UK. They are a deep red chilli that will give you a warm glow!

Red Tomato & Tomatillo Salsa Recipe
Red Cherry Tomatoes *
Final Crop of Tomatillos *
Basque Chili *
Parsley *
Sweet Onion
Lime Juice
Spot of Sugar

* Ingredients were all grown in an unheated, natural daylight hydroponic polytunnel here in Wales. 

I made this to serve over a piece of poached sea bass, but any leftovers make a great bruschetta the next day.

A Little Halloween Magic

Home Grown Squash and a Little Studio Time

Picked some home grown squash today and put some beetroot slices in the dehydrator to make some beetroot powder to use as a colouring for some macaroons that I’m planning to make soon.

So whilst waiting for the beetroot I took the opportunity to spend some time in the studio.

Happy Halloween!

A Bitter & Sweet Symphony in Orange

The Nagami Kumquat 

We don’t grow everything hydroponically. The small holding is a mixture of conventional soil based gardening and hydroponics. I don’t think it’s possible to grow everything hydroponically although I might be wrong. I still have a lot to learn. At the moment the main goal is to keep our hydroponic experiment as simple as possible.

As well as the kitchen garden, the hydroponic and the conventional polytunnel we have two greenhouses. One is dedicated to fruit growing. It’s currently home to a few dwarf trees – nectarine, apricot & cherry, and two grape vines whose root stock have been planted outside the greenhouse whilst the vine grows inside.

My pet project in this greenhouse is growing citrus trees. And it all started a few Christmases ago before we moved into our small holding.

Although I don’t have a very sweet tooth I do own one desert cookbook –  Ready for Desert (My Best Recipes) by David Lebovitz. That particular Christmas I was looking for something I could serve on Christmas Eve and I came across his Champagne Gelee with Kumquats, Grapefruits & Blood Oranges recipe. Convinced I had seen kumquats in one of my local supermarkets I was determined to make this desert. But could I find them? Not a chance. I ended up substituting mandarin orange segments instead. 

Moving to our small holding we made a list of criteria for deciding what to grow.
We like to eat it
It’s relatively expensive to buy
It’s difficult to buy

Hence the citrus tree project.

The Nagami kumquat is an unusual little citrus plant. It produces an abundance of small oval, orange fruits late in the season, that are eaten whole. The rind is sweet whilst the flesh bitter. A native to South Asia, the small evergreen bush needs hot summers, but is hardy enough to withstand temperatures as low as -10 degree centigrade. Although the people I buy my citrus trees from recommend keeping the temperature no lower than 3 degrees.

With one of my bushes full of fruit, I searched online for ideas as to what to do with them and came across a kumquat marmalade recipe, by who other than David Lebovitz!

Here’s his recipe.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2014/02/kumquat-marmalade-recipe/

A Still Life Study

Tomatillos & Tomatoes Are Ready for Harvest

The hydroponic flood and drain system in the polytunnel has produced some tall plants with loads of fruit. Despite the lack of sunny days, a handful of tomatoes and tomatillos are are now finally ripe enough to pick. With the tomatillos you know they are ready when the papery husk shrinks back to reveal the green fruit underneath.

At the beginning of the season I labeled each of the tomato plants with the name of the variety I was growing, because I wanted to save some of the seeds to plant next year. However due to our lack of proper supports and allowing the tomato vines to grow unabated, apparently the commercial tomato growers remove the lower leaves from the vines to make the crop easier to harvest, I now no longer know which tomato was which. So seed saving will have to wait until next year when we’ve worked out a proper and more substantial support structure for the vines to grow on.

With the fruit picked it was time to down tools and head into my photographic studio.

Followed by a nice fresh, piquant salsa verde made from the star of the shoot. My first hydroponically grown tomatillos.

Building blocks for Salsa Verde

235g Tomatillos Diced
62g White Onion Diced
1 Green Chili
Cilantro, lime juice and salt.

All photographs are taken by me, unless stated otherwise and are copyright Hydro2Plate.com

My Studio is Ready…