Brown Gloop

Any type of chutney or relish with whatever ingredients, seems to always end up brown when I make it. I once made tomato ketchup with yellow tomatoes and yup, it was brown. 

Never mind. It still looks good on the shelves in the pantry and the flavour will probably be okay.

The other day I tried my hand at making kimchi.

Let's just hope that it doesn't turn brown too, eh.

Patricia xxx...x

In a Pickle - Asian Flavoured Cucumber Pickle

Ingredients - yield +/- 2.8 ltr

• 1.5 kg cucumbers, weight after washing, seeds removed and cut into batons (+/- 6 cm)
• 2 large onions, peeled and sliced - red or white
• 3 red chillies, sliced lengthways, leave the seeds in for extra kick
• many, many garlic cloves, from one bulb. unpeeled
• 4 tbsp sea salt
• 2 stalks of lemongrass, squashed (to release the essential oils) and cut into 6 cm pieces
• a substantial piece of ginger, sliced

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp black pepper corns
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 5 kaffir lime leaves (dried or fresh)
• 1 ltr white distilled vinegar
• 1 kg soft brown sugar

Method

• Put the cucumber, onions, garlic and chillies in a non corrosive bowl with salt. Mix well and set aside overnight, covered with a clean tea towel.

• Next day, drain the liquid that gathered at the bottom and rinse the vegetables under cold running water.

• Taste a piece of cucumber. If it is too salty, cover with cold water and soak for 10 minutes. Drain.

• In the meantime, bring the vinegar, sugar and spices to the boil. Cook for 10 minutes

• Add the drained vegetables and bring back to boiling point. Take off the heat.
• Scoop into sterilized jars while hot and seal.

• This can be eaten immediately, but has a shelf life of 1 year.

That's it. I'm all pickled out.

Patricia xxx...x

In a Pickle - Bread and Butter or Cucumber and Dill Pickle

My go to cookery book when I want to make an exciting preserve is Preserving by Oded Schwartz . To me it is the most beautiful book to look at and as I said, the recipes are exciting.

Our friend, Sophie - who grows an awful lot of veg and fruit - gave me 6 kg of pickling cucumbers. It might be a bit late in the growing season, but if you have neighbours, friends, relatives who have been pickling themselves to death and can't tackle another cuke, here is your chance to store some of this year's harvest for winter use.

This first recipe is for a Bread and Butter Pickle and it is my take on it.

Ingredients - yield +/-  3.5 ltr

• 2.5 kg cucumbers - washed, weight after : cut in half, seeds removed and sliced into half moons (0.5 cm)
• 1 kg onions, red or white, whichever you find first, weight after peeled and sliced 
• 8 tbsp sea salt
• 2.5 l white wine, cider or malt vinegar. I only had white distilled, so that is what I used.  Mind you it is sharper than any of the others, so you should taste and tweak if you use the latter.
• 1.25 kg soft brown sugar
• 1 heaped tbsp ground turmeric
• 3 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp dill seeds (or if you don't have any,like me, go into your herb patch and pick dill flowers and green). Whatever you do, don't leave out dill, because that is a main ingredient for this cucumber pickle.

Method

• Put cucumbers and sliced onions in a non corrosive bowl with all of the salt. Mix well, cover with a clean towel and leave overnight. So far so good.

• Next day you'll find a lot of liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Drain  

• Rinse under cold running water. Taste a slice of cucumber. If it is too salty, cover with cold water and leave for about 10 minutes. Drain again
• Pour the vinegar in a large cooking pot or preserving pan, add the sugar, turmeric, mustard seeds and dill seeds (if you have them). If you only have flowers and/or green only add them when potting up.
• A rapid boil for 10 minutes is required.
• Time to add the drained veg and bring the whole shebang back to the boil.
• Remove from the stove and start packing the pickle in sterilized jarred while still blistering hot. Seal.

This pickle is ready to eat immediately. Shelf life (according to the above mentioned book) is 1 year.

Come back for the Asian Flavoured Pickle.

Thanks for stopping by.

Patricia xxx...x

The I-don't-want-to-make-soup Courgette Chutney

It has been quite a while since I last made chutney. But now, that I have a few veg growing again it seems like a good time to try out my new recipe. It is going to pack a punch. The courgettes have given us a very good crop and while I always try to pick them on the smaller side, sometimes you just turn your back for 5 minutes and a courgette has turned into a marrow. Now, I won't let the marrow go into overdrive, either. The skin should still feel soft and the flesh firm, if you know what I mean.
While the smaller courgettes have a delicate nutty flavour, the marrow lends itself as a good carrier for other flavours, like spices and herbs. It also bulks the chutney out, of course.
Most of my friends here in Ireland make fantastic chutneys and I think it is time for me to get back into the race.





Ingredients Yields +/- 3.5 ltr

• 2 kg courgettes or marrows, seeds removed and chopped. If you use the largest marrow you can find, check out if the skin is still soft. Press into it with your fingernail and if it is easy to make a mark there is no need to peel. If the skin feels like a steel armour, peel.

• 3 medium to large onions, peeled and chopped

• 3 apples, peeled and diced - unripe are best or sour cooking apples
• 3 pears, peeled and diced - mine were in the fruit bowl, still hard as concrete.
• 250 gr softened dried apricots, chopped
• 150 gr raisins or sultanas
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 30 black peppercorns 
• 3 star anise
• 20 cloves
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, dry toasted
• 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds, dry toasted
• 1 jar 300 ml crabapple jelly - use more sour apples if not available
• 1 kg cane sugar
• 1.5 ltr cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 500 ml water
• salt to taste

Preparation

• Yes, there is a whole lot of chopping and dicing to be done, but once you get through that stage, the rest is a doddle.
• Put all the ingredients, except the salt, in a large enough cooking pot and bring slowly to the boil, uncovered.
• Stir to dissolve the sugar while you're at it.
• Leave to simmer for 3 hours, while stirring the mélange every so often to prevent it from burning at the bottom.
• It is ready when the liquid has reduced, is thick and coats the back of your spoon. The colour has a deep amber glow.
• Taste test at this time and while this will not be the final flavour, you may or may not want to add salt at this stage.
• Fill up your very clean jars while the chutney is still hot. Fill them high. Put on the lids and let them cool in an upside down position. Nah ! Don't ask me why ! Something to do with air and creating a vacuum.
• Chutneys are best left to mature for 2 to 3 weeks. Optimum is 2 months, but it can be stored in a cool dark place for a couple of years at least.

Would you believe that I couldn't fit the last spoon into any of the jars ?  I had to eat it with Brie and savoury Scottish oatcakes. I can only imagine how good this is going to be when matured, it was already damn tasty now. A keeper, this recipe.

Bert was watching me fill the pots and when I finished he asked me if I would like it if he made the labels.  He did a fine job. Lovely !

Come again soon !

Patricia xxx...x

Malaysian Curry Paste - Vegetarian Version

That's what I'll call it for now. But it could be from anywhere in Southeast Asia, I suspect.
We are honored to have a lovely young woman from Malaysia staying here as a volunteer. Her name is Wen and even though she has been traveling a good part of the globe for 5 years or so, I feel it is my duty as a host to make our volunteers at home. So, I 'try' to cook something from their homeland from time to time.
Now, I am not a seasoned cook in Asian cuisine.  Oh, I do make Indian curries and kormas and other Indian inspired dishes. And bami goreng is also in my repertoire. Obviously all given the 'Patricia treatment' depending on the ingredients I have in the pantry and spice drawer.
Trawling the internet for a Malaysian curry I came across many recipes that called for 'a jar of Malaysian curry paste'. Yeah, well, that wasn't on the cards living where we live.  I prefer to cook from scratch anyways.
Off to google Malaysian curry paste recipes, then. I was in luck, if only I had some galangal and lemongrass. I didn't have any shrimp paste either, but that was okay, since Wen is a vegetarian.
Looking a bit further I also found recipes for Laksa paste. this paste contains more ingredients  and would give a slightly intenser, albeit different flavour.

Here is my concoction, made with a gathering of internet info.

Ingredients

• 1 medium size onion, peeled & cut into large pieces
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 1/2 chilli, red or yellow, medium heat - I used red serenade chilli. By all means, use a hotter variety if you so wish. Wen is from Chinese descent and doesn't take to overly spicy food.
• a good chomp of ginger, peeled and sliced
• handful of cashew nuts
• 6 fresh or dried kaffir lime leaves
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 level teaspoon paprika
• 1 level teaspoon turmeric
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons of peanut oil

The ingredients I didn't have were galangal & lemongrass. I just used more ginger to substitute the first. The lemongrass would have given it a whole different dimension and I advice you to add 1 stalk, white only, chopped.

Method
Chuck it all in the food processor and blend till you have smooth paste.
I used half of the paste for a coconut milk based vegetable curry and froze the other half for future use.

Wen asked me for the recipe ! She might be just polite, but I believe her when she says the flavours are authentic. She mainly uses jarred pastes and they are way to spicy for her and certainly for her German boyfriend. It is also difficult to find a vegetarian option without the shrimp paste in it.
I believe her, also because she had the leftovers for lunch. Haha.

There, Wen, this is a recipe for you.

Thanks for reading.
Patricia xxx...x

Patience is a Virtue and this Chilli and Tomato Chutney is a Redhot Babe !

At last, here I am with the recipe for the Chilli and Tomato Chutney.

Ingredients (yield approx 2 liters)

• 10 large chillies (the plants I bought at the time said, Spanish Chillies, they are not extreem hot)
• 10 medium tomatoes
• 2 medium onions
• 2 red peppers (capsicum)
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• 2 apples that are not overly ripe (they contain more pectine)
• 500 ml cider vinegar
• 300 grs sugar
• 2 tbsp - heaped - garam massala
• 2 tbsp mustard seeds
• Drizzle of sunflower oil

Preparation

Have sufficient jars with screw tops at hand, washed and sterilized.

• Chop the onions and sautee in the sunflower oil together with the grated or finely chopped garlic.
• The other veg and apples also chopped into the size that you like. The chillies I did smaller than the rest.  No need to deseed, except maybe the apples.
• Add it all to the pan and pour in the vinegar and sugar.
• Bring to boiling point and add the garam massala with the mustard seeds.
• Lower the heat and leave to simmer, without lid, until the liquid has reduced significantly.  Stir regularly.
• It can take up to an hour and a half.
• When still hot, transfer into jars, seal and leave to cool (upside down)

Chutney improves with age and can be kept in a cool, dark place for a few years. Once opened,  store in the fridge.



Green Olive Tapenade

So simple to make, I'm almost ashamed to admit it.  Full of natural umami, it is a great ingredient to use in a variety of dishes. 
I like to spread some over my homemade pizza base, before I add the passata di pomodoro.  Also lovely on bruschetta, a spoonful in your pasta, as a seasoning for soups, salad dressings ....

ingredients
300 grs pitted green olives
1 tin anchovy fillets
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 small chillies
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

preparation
Put everything, but the olive oil, in a measuring jug.
With your hand blender, blend until you get a smooth-ish paste. 
Lastly stir in the olive oil.

You can store in a glass jar with screw top lid in the fridge for about a week. Pour some olive oil over to seal off.

Eh ?
Of course you can use your food processor! What a question ! ;o)  Pestle and mortar should also do the trick.  Heck, you could even use a chopping board and sharp knife.

Patricia xxx...x