Chinese plum sauce

More plums courtesy of my colleague. This time I made a gloriously glossy Chinese plum sauce. Flavoured with ginger, garlic and star anise, this sauce will have add oriental flavour to many dishes over the coming months. It is brilliant as a dipping sauce or to serve with crispy duck pancakes, but there are more imaginative ideas too. No doubt I'll be using it as a base for many a stir-fry, but I'll also try using it as a baste for a pork joint and a glaze for roasted ham.

So far I've used it twice to make a delicious sauce to serve with duck breasts. Just heat in the pan you've seared the duck breasts in (minus the fat), add a little water to thin and bubble for a bit before pouring over the duck. It is so handy to have homemade sauces in the cupboard for nights when time is short - the duck dish makes a great dinner party main course with minimal effort. Roasted baby potatoes and carrots pureed with a little ginger and cumin went really well alongside.

I researched various different recipes, but eventually chose one from my favourite preserving book which is written by Thane Prince. It is called 'Jams and Chutneys - Preserving the Harvest'. As well as jams and chutneys, it also has great recipes for drinks, sauces, pickles and jellies. The recipe makes around 1 litre of sauce and keeps for up to a year. Decanted into pretty bottles and tied with a lovely ribbon, this sauce would make a lovely Christmas present for a foodie friend or a nice alternative to a box of chocolates when visiting friends for dinner.

Chinese Plum Sauce
From 'Jams and Chutneys - Preserving the Harvest by Thane Prince'

Ingredients:

2kg ripe plums (any colour but I used red)
750g white onions
Cloves from 1.5 heads of garlic
20cm piece of ginger
250ml light soy sauce
1 litre rice wine vinegar (not to be confused with rice wine)
1kg light muscovado sugar
6 star anise

1. Firstly, prepare all the ingredients. Roughly chop the onions and garlic. Peel and chop or grate the ginger. Grind the star anise in a pestle and mortar.

2. Halve the plums and remove the stones.

3. Put all ingredients except for star anise and sugar into a preserving pan. Bring to the boil  and simmer for 20 minutes until the ingredients are very soft.

4. Push the mixture through a fine metal sieve - hard work!! If you have a mouli, you'll be grateful as it will make much shorter work of this somewhat tedious and surprisingly strenuous task. Push through as much as you possibly can.

5. Return the sieved mixture back to the cleaned pan, add the sugar and ground star anise and bring to the boil, stirring all the time as the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 30-60 minutes until you have a thick, glossy sauce. Pour into sterilised bottles and label when cool

Plumbrillo

After a chaotic couple of months, we are installed in our new house and settling into our new village. Now that I'm feeling a bit better (thank you for all the good wishes) and have unearthed the kitchen equipment, I'm back to the stove and cooking away.

I was a little sad to leave the fabulous garden at our rental property complete with its many fruit trees. The plums were just ripening as the time came to leave and I hated to leave them on the tree for the next tenants. No need to worry though. As fortune would have it, I share an office with someone currently faced with a serious glut of plums. Last week I came home laden with four bags full of the little beauties and with a head full of ideas for transforming them into delicious treats. Four kilos of plums is quite a few to deal with. Especially considering that I'm not especially fond of stone fruit (odd, I know - it is a textural thing). I do love the flavour of plum though so I was keen to preserve the flavour whilst losing the fleshy texture I'm less fond of.

First up was this superb accompaniment to cheese. Plumbrillo is a fruity take on the superb membrillo which is often served alongside Manchego cheese. It is essentially a fruit 'cheese'. A thick, almost jelly-like confection which slices neatly and goes well with lots of cheeses.

It is easy to make and looks very impressive with its gleaming plum-red colour. The only hard part is pushing the cooked plums through a metal sieve. Next time I think I'll invest in a mouli which would make this job much less time-consuming! Whilst this looks best set into small moulds and turned out onto the cheese board, I actually poured most of mine into sterilised jam jars. This way it will keep for up to 6 months and will make nice presents at Christmas time. If you can find small, ramekin-shaped jars, these would be perfect.

I found the recipe on the BBC Good Food website, a great favourite recipe source.

Plumbrillo

Enough to fill approx. 7 small jam jars

Ingredients:

2kg ripe black or red plums

1kg jam/preserving sugar

1. Wash the plums. Quarter and stone all fruit and place in a large preserving pan along with 500ml water.

2. Bring to boil and simmer for around 45 mins until the plums have completely cooked down and are pulpy and dark.

3. Now for the hard bit! Pour the plums into a large bowl. Rinse out the preserving pan and then push the plum mixture through a nylon sieve (or use a mouli) into the cleaned pan. Try to extract as much of the pulpy flesh as you possibly can.

4. Stir in the sugar and heat, stirring all the time until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Bubble for approx 25 minutes until you have a thick puree. The mixture is ready when a wooden spoon leaves a trail along the bottom of the pan for a second before the puree floods the gap.

5. Pot into sterilised pots or jars and seal. Leave to set and cool before labelling. Keep in a cool dark place for up to 6 months. 

Wine jellies

I have become a jam-jar obsessive. The pile of empty (as yet unwashed) jars that sits on the windowsill beside the kitchen sink threatens to take over the kitchen. My obsession with keeping empty jars 'just in case' started last year when preparing for our wedding in May. Wanting to put a foodie stamp on the day I decided that it would be quite brilliant to make jars of chutneys and jams to put in each place for guests to take home as a reminder of our special day.

Sounds good in theory, doesn't it? I had visions of dozens of jars topped with dear little brightly coloured fabric covers. My vision didn't actually extend to just how long it would take to make 200-odd jars of chutney. Especially as I had never before made a chutney.

My first challenge was collecting enough jars. Much as I am obsessed with condiments (ask my husband - half our fridge is dedicated to jars and it drives him quite mad), collecting 200 in a short space of time was always going to be a chore. So I asked friends and colleagues to help. Before long, our small London flat was overflowing with used jam-jars. In bags. In boxes. Loose on kitchen surfaces. I began to hate them. But then I made my first batch of chutney and I enjoyed myself. The chopping was a chore but I felt super satisfied with the results of my labours. Eight gleaming jars full of 'autumn fruit chutney'. Result.

The next batch was an apple and onion chutney and then I moved on to a more exciting-sounding 'rhubarb and date'. Before long I'd made around 50 jars and was feeling quite the domestic goddess. Whilst my husband liked the idea and even helped with some of the concoctions, he began to get somewhat irked by the way every cupboard in our kitchen was filling up with chutneys, leaving no space for 'real' food. I'd also had enough of all that chopping and begun to feel that I'd never hit my target. Urgent action was required...

Rhubarb and date chutney in the making!

The finished product

I consulted my trusty recipe book, 'Jams and Chutneys' by Thane Prince in the hope of finding something less time-consuming. This is where I discovered the joy of wine jellies. Simplicity itself to make, shiraz jelly was where I started. This gleaming jewel-coloured jelly looked stunning and proved to be delicious with cold meats and cheeses. Thane also suggests serving with scones - this would be great I'm sure as the jelly is very sweet.

From here I moved onto a Monbazillac jelly having adapted her recipe for Sage and sauternes jelly (which I'll try another time when I'm making smaller quantities!). This was an absolute triumph and quite stunning with blue cheese and, in a decadent moment, foie gras served on toasted brioche. It would also make a great partner to rich meats such as goose or duck but we didn't have enough left for that.

The final jelly we made was a Port jelly for which I followed the same 'template' as the Shiraz jelly. In fact, you could use the same method for any full-bodied wine. The Port jelly was a natural partner for Stilton and other blue cheese but also works well in place of redcurrant jelly when stirred into sauces and gravies.

The best thing about these recipes is that they take no more than half an hour from start to finish. They make super gifts too if you can bear to part with them!

Incidentally, this recipe book is quite brilliant. Packed with seasonal ideas for jams, chutneys, jellies, relishes and cordials, it is beautifully photographed and the instructions are very clear.

Remember to place some plates in the fridge or freezer in good time before you attempt these jellies so that you can test for a set.

Shiraz Wine Jelly (or Port Jelly or Chardonnay Jelly....)

Recipe from Jams and Chutneys by Thane Prince

Makes 1kg (approx 4 medium jars), recipe easily doubled

Shiraz Jelly in the making

Ingredients

750ml (1 bottle) full-bodied wine of choice

juice of 2 lemons

250g liquid pectin (available from most good supermarkets)

900g white granulated sugar

1.Place a couple of plates in the fridge to chill in plenty of time before you want to make the jelly. Also gather some jars and sterlize either by running them on the hottest setting in the dishwasher or washing in hot, soapy water and drying in a warm oven.

2. Take a preserving pan or very large saucepan. Add wine, lemon juice and pectin and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, whisking occasionally to combine ingredients.

3. Add the sugar and continue to stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

4. Once sugar has completely dissolved, bring to a full rolling boil and, using a slotted spoon, skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

4. Boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and then test for a set by dropping a little mixture onto a cold plate, allowing it to cool and pushing with finger to see if it wrinkles. When it does, it is ready. If not, Return to the heat for another minute or so and test again. You may need to do this several times until it is set. For more information on testing for setting point do see here for the various methods.

5. When jelly has reached setting point, pot into hot sterilized jars.

Monbazillac Jelly - very similar recipe to above

Ingredients:

 750ml Monbazillac

800g white granulated sugar

250g liquid pectin

1. Combine wine and sugar in preserving pan and stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat and bring to rolling boil for 2 mins.

2. Turn off heat and stir in pectin then bring back to boil for a minute and start testing for a set as above.

British Food Fortnight Challenge: the round-up

When I announced that I was to host my first ever food blogging event, it was with some trepidation. To be honest, I wasn't sure that anyone would enter. Even when fellow bloggers left encouraging comments and vowed they'd enter, I wasn't convinced. People get busy, life gets in the way.

So I was absolutely over-the-moon when the first entry arrived just days after I'd posted the announcement. And then, one-by-one, plenty of others appeared in my inbox. And what great entries they were. The round-up includes some of my very favourite British dishes and I've been drooling over all the lovely photos of your dishes. Thank you so much!

Without further ado, here are the dishes that put the 'Great' into Great Britain!

I thought I'd start with breakfast and this Victoria plum jam, made by Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking. She made this sticky sweet jam with fruit from her own tree - I'm so envious! This would be delicious on toast for breakfast but I reckon it might go well in some of those lovely scones you'll find further down the page...


Another great breakfast dish next - tattie scones. Made by Val from More than Burnt Toast who takes a trip down memory lane as she reminisces about her British roots. As Val points out, these are not only good as part of a traditional Scottish breakfast, but also great to snack on at any time of day. I love them and Val, your version looks far better than the M&S ones!


Next up, we have two soups.

Firstly we have a spectacular Purple Festival Soup made by Charlotte from The Great Big Vegetable Challenge. This stunning soup was made from purple cauliflower that she picked up at the Abergavenny Food Festival. Charlotte accounts for all the thoroughly British ingredients in the soup and I'll certainly let her off for the one intruder - long live the entente cordiale!

(IMAGE TO FOLLOW DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS! GO STRAIGHT TO CHARLOTTE'S BLOG TO SEE HER GORGEOUS SOUP)

Next up, the first of two entries from Ulrike at Kuchenlatein. This cock-a-leekie soup looks fantastically hearty and wholesome. I didn't know that prunes were a traditional ingredient in this dish - that is what I love about food blogging; you are always learning something new!

Over now to the lovely Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake for a gorgeous beef and vegetable pie. Rosie, this is just the sort of dish I am craving now that the nights are cooler. And you even decorated it with stars - my favourite! How did you guess?!


And another wonderful pie, this time an ale and oxtail pie made by Lizzie over at Hollow Legs. I'll admit that I've never cooked with oxtail, but this pie may just persuade me to do so. It looks wonderful and I'd love to dive straight in through that pastry, wouldn't you?


I made the mistake of opening this next entry when I was hungry. Once I saw Sam's wonderful bangers and mash, I couldn't think of anything else. I've been craving these ever since and was relieved to finally make it to the butcher yesterday to pick up some really good bangers for supper tonight! The apple cider gravy sounds like a great accompaniment too. Bangers and mash is probably my all-time favourite comfort food. Especially at this time of year. Luckily Sam likes to cycle so he can really earn those sausages - I have no such excuse!

Sticking with the sausage theme, Holler from Tinned Tomatoes sent me her vegetarian take on sausage rolls. I'm always so impressed with how inventive some vegetarians can be with dishes that are usually meat-based. I'm ashamed to say how frequently I am stumped when I find my fridge to be meat or fish-less! These rolls are filled with all sort of delicious things - mushrooms, peanuts and sun-dried tomatoes. I think they may well be better than the 'real thing'. Thanks, Holler!


And we have another vegetarian take on a British classic next. This Shepherdess Pie is made by Sweatha from Tasty Curry Leaf. Sweatha has added TVP in place of the lamb and made a very-delicious-sounding topping of potatoes and cauliflower. It is always interesting to see how classic dishes evolve over time and to discover new twists on old favourites.


We now have the only fish-based entry of the challenge - a surprise when we are surrounded by water. It is true though that most the classic British dishes I can think of are either meat-based or dessert/tea-time treats. Anyway, this tasty kedgeree comes from... me, actually! I'd not made it before and it is now sure to become a regular fixture. It looks alarmingly yellow in the picture - I blame the failing light. My pictures always look terrible at this time of year!


Next we have one of my favourites from the challenge. Sorry - did I say favourite? I didn't mean that, of course. All the entries are favourites. But this one bought a smile to my face. I'd not heard of a Bedfordshire Clanger before. Luckily Joshua from Cooking the Books was on hand to enlighten me. This traditional suet pastry is an entire meal in one easy package. One end is packed with a meaty bacon filling and the other with cooked fruit, for pudding. Not sure about the middle, where you might get a bit of each by accident, but full marks to Joshua for re-creating this fascinating dish.


Onto some of Britain's most treasured puddings now...

Firstly, a real favourite for this time of year when cooking apples are at their very best. Elizabeth from Real Food Lover gives us these scrumptious baked apples. Hers are stuffed with dates, prunes and sunflower seeds and look fantastic. Elizabeth is also hosting her first ever blogging event, so do visit her blog to take a look.

I think that crumbles are probably my favourite British pudding full stop. Is there anything more comforting than a big bowl of steaming apple crumble with lots of custard? Maria from The Goddess's Kitchen has baked this super apple and oat crumble and it looks absolutely perfect. If only she could have send me a large helping by post!

I don't know why I started talking about favourites - I just have too many when it comes to traditional British puds. This bread and butter pudding has been baked by Marie from A Year from Oak Cottage. With lashings of British butter, organic eggs, sultanas and bread, this is heavenly. As Marie points out, it is also a very thrifty dish. A resurgence of these traditional puds could be the one upside to the credit crunch!


Oh my word. Just take a look at that. Trifle. Oh yum. And not just any trifle but one made with the best of the season's blackberries, handpicked by the highly entertaining Indigo of Happy Love Strawberry. She even made the sponge to line the bottom of this scrumptious blackberry trifle. Great entry, Indigo, thank you!

Apples are currently right in season and Lynn from Lynn's Cooking Blog has been eyeing up her neighbour's apple tree for a while now. Imagine her delight when she returned home to find a bag full of them on her doorstep. She set to work baking this wonderful-looking apple pie. I almost think I can smell its deliciousness through the computer screen (...I know, the men in white coats are coming for me....).

Margaret from Kitchen Delights shares my love of proper British puds and cooked up these heavenly individual Sussex pond puddings, made from a host of carefully sourced British ingredients. That pool of buttery lemony sauce looks just divine - I'd like to dive straight in right away...

Jules from

Domestic Goddess in Training won me over instantly with this fabulous Bakewell tart. I'm a sucker for the combination of almonds and raspberry and the pastry looks spot on. The frangipane looks so wonderfully moist. I think I may be borrowing this recipe, Jules.

It is tea-time. Hooray!

No celebration of British food would be complete without a traditional cream tea and Nicisme over at Cherrapeno

had me drooling at the sight of these scones smothered in clotted cream and with strawberry cream slowly oozing over the sides. I'm with you, Nic, the jam should definitely go on top!

We have more scones, too. This time, enhanced with figs and nuts - doesn't that sound wonderful? These are bought to you by Isa from Isa's Cooking. Isa lives in Chile and once had to do a presentation in school about Britain. Isa wisely chose 'Afternoon Tea' as the basis for her presentation and baked scones for her whole class to share. Great idea! Take a look at her fig and nut scones (and her amusing shot of her family in London) on her blog.

I love this picture that Sylvie from A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit took of her Yorkshire Parkin. See those fireworks in the background? That is because this lovely gingery cake is traditionally eaten on bonfire night. Like Sylvie, I think it would be a shame to limit it to the 5th November. I've never made parkin but think that this is another recipe I may need to try out.

This is Ulrike of Kuchenleiten's second entry. Her shortbread fingers look delicious and would make a tasty addition to the cup of tea I have sitting here by my desk. I love shortbread - at first it seems so plain but once you take a bite and discover the great texture and gorgeous buttery flavour, you're hooked.

Next up we have this divine Battenburg cake. Elra from Elra's Baking has a gorgeous baking blog that really was a joy to discover. This pink-and-yellow cake wrapped in lovely marzipan is (yet another) favourite of mine and Elra's version looks so perfect in her photograph that I am in awe. You certainly get the prize for the prettiest entry!

Last, but most certainly not least, we have another delicious-looking parkin. This one is made by Caroline from Cake, Crumbs and Cooking. I just love this treacley cake and so am more than happy to have it two times. Caroline's recipe is different to Sylvie's, so perhaps I'll have to give both versions a try!

Talking of prizes, you may be wondering who has won the challenge... Check back tomorrow when I shall be revealing all following the highly scientific prize draw!

Blood Orange Curd

I was very excited on Friday to receive my first organic fruit and vegetable box from Abel and Cole. For £9 a week, I get a good seasonal selection of produce delivered by a very friendly driver on a day that is convenient. Abel and Cole tell you what to expect in your box each week and you can specify if there are particular items that you do not like (fennel, in my case, which last week was changed for alfalfa sprouts). My first box looked like this...

Nothing too unusual, although the Arran Victory potatoes have purple skins, but a good selection. Citrus fruits were to the fore, unsurprisingly, and the box contained both mandarins and blood oranges. Such gorgeous fruits these - so surprising. The orange exterior gives little away - except for a touch of rosy pink on one of them. But cut into them and you are in for a glorious surprise - just look at these beauties...

You'd almost be forgiven for mistaking these for ruby grapefruit. The flavour is an interesting one and, I think, goes to show how eating is a process involving all the senses. You are seeing a deep red colour in the glass and yet... it tastes of orange. It is somehow... unexpected. Rather than eat these as they were, I decided I'd like to use their juice to make something delicious. I toyed with the idea of a jelly to start with, but eventually settled on making this delicious blood orange curd. I just adore lemon curd - all eggy and buttery and tangy - spread liberally on white toast (never brown - all wrong), crumpets, pancakes or sandwiching together a lemony cake. I figured that orange curd would be pretty good too.

Making jams, jellies, chutneys and curds gives me a great sense of domestic bliss and achievement. I urge anyone who has never done so to start with making an orange or lemon curd. It is just so simple and yet so satisfying. And what is more, they make lovely gifts - just think how thrilled someone will be when you go round for dinner and take a homemade gift as well as the requisite bottle of wine.

Sterilising jars may sound like a whole lot of faff, but really it isn't in the slightest. All you do is fill the sink with very hot, soapy water and throw empty jam jars and lids in to soak. The labels will eventually float off with a little help. Give them a bit of a scrub and then rinse under hot water. Place them on a shelf in a low oven to dry out until you are ready to use them. Hardly any trouble in that, is there?

But what about all those funnels and preserving pans and wax disks? Don't you need a lot of equipment? Not really. If you are making jam on a big scale, then yes, some of this equipment will help. But not for a simple curd. I would suggest investing in pack of wax disks - these usually come from any cook shop in a packet along with celophane disks and tiny plastic bands. These just keep everything nice and hygenic and clean.

I based my recipe very loosely on Delia's recipe for lemon curd.Obviously oranges are a lot sweeter than lemons, so I used less sugar and added quite a bit of lemon juice to balance things out a little. The result is much sweeter than lemon curd (next time, I'd use even less sugar, I think) but is absolutely delicious and such a pretty colour. I could eat it straight from the jar... Actually, if the truth be known, I have been doing exactly that as I am out of both crumpets and white bread (...did I mention that curds simply HAVE to be eaten with white, not brown bread, in my book. You can slather them on brown bread if you really must, but do so at your own peril!). If you are short of ideas for using up your curd, may I suggest using it to sandwich together an orange-flavoured Victoria sponge or meringues or even stirring it through some plain yoghurt?

Blood Orange Curd
Fills four regular jam jars

3 blood oranges

1 large, juicy lemon

4 large eggs

10 oz golden caster sugar

8 oz unsalted butter at room temperature

1 dessertspoon cornflour

1. Finely zest two of the oranges and then squeeze the juice from all three oranges and the lemon.

2. Crack the eggs into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisk the eggs a little.

3. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the saucepan with all the other ingredients and place over a medium heat. Whisk with a balloon whisk for around 9 minutes, until thickened. Do not worry if it looks very unattractive during this stage. Mine looked as though the butter would never fully melt (I made the mistake of adding it rather cold) and meld with the rest, but it did. Just look how horrible it looked for a while...

4. Once the mixture has thickened, turn the heat down and simmer for a couple of minutes, continuing to whisk. Remove from heat.

5. Remove jam jars from the oven and place on a tea towel. Pour the curd into the jars whilst they are still hot. Any spills will be caught by the tea towel. Top each jar with a wax disk and seal jars whilst still hot.

6. Once the jars are cool, label and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Notes - don't panic if the curd looks a little too liquidy in the jar. Once it has been in the fridge, it will firm up a little more.