Jaboticaba Jam

So, our jaboticaba tree fruited like a maniac on steroids the other week.  It is a Brazilian rainforest tree, happily for us planted by the previous owner of our house.  It fruits twice a year (though a friend said they knew someone who had a tree that fruits four times a year).  The fruit grows all over the trunk and branches directly, so it looks really weird!  (As you may have seen in my most recent post.) 

I invited a friend over to pick some fruit, as he is a keen jam-maker, and a very keen forager.  He came over with a large bucket and picked heaps, but it made little difference to the fruits on the tree.  Soooo many fruits!  And the bats and possums must have been having a feast.  Mr P. and I did some house painting just near the tree and were nearly overwhelmed by the fermenting fumes.  I imagine incredibly alcoholic!  So drunken, crazy bats flying over!

here it is before the fruit ripened in the next couple of days!

The whole thing was done and dusted in about five days; it flowered, it fruited and they fell off!  There might be another harvest at Christmas time.  I have bags of fruit in the freezer for more jam-making in the future, anyway.

Original Recipe by Sherry:

ingredients:

420g./15 oz of apples and/or strawberries – strawberries lightly mashed, and apples grated or blitzed in the processor    see Notes

80g.-100g./3-3.5 oz or so of whole jaboticaba fruits – skin on (‘cos that’s where the pectin lies)

400g./14 oz caster sugar – half raw and half white caster – or use all white or all raw sugar

Juice from one lemon – maybe 2 Tbs?

1-2 big tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp rosewater

Big splash of spiced rum - optional, but delicious!

Method:

Put the fruit and sugar into a large saucepan and under a low heat, and bring to the boil while stirring, till sugar dissolves

Then turn up the heat, add the other ingredients, and boil rapidly for up to 10 minutes (watch out for splashes) – no more than ten, stirring often.  This stuff sets like concrete if you boil it too long!

Check for set from 8 minutes on!   i.e. – put a saucer in your freezer for ten minutes, spoon a small amount of the jam onto it, and if you can run your finger thru it after a few seconds, it is ready to go

Let it cool down a wee bit, so you are able to safely spoon out all the skins and seeds – tedious but necessary

Then spoon/pour the jam into sterilised jars (I put my jars in the dishwasher to get super clean!)

Keeps in the fridge – well, for ages!  Unless you eat it all first :=)

Notes:

I peeled my apples but you don't have to.  I used red apples 'cos they were lurking in my crisper, but you can use your fave apple!

If you have a lot of fruit still on the tree (and you will!), place them into a plastic freezer bag in a single layer (and you can freeze them for a couple of months, maybe more), and then when next making jam, let them thaw out and make the jam as above

tip the fruits and sugar into the saucepan

and let it boil! but only for 10 mins.! And stir it often

ooh it's so shiny and beautiful!

so delicious!

so enchanting! so mysterious! so pretty!

c. Sherry M.

Caramelised Onion And Garlic Jam

We don't eat a lot of sweet jam in this house, but luckily for us, we have a Tassie friend who brings us her homemade cumquat marmalade every winter, which is great on toast, or in bread and butter puddings.  (I made a pudding the other night with leftover Hot Cross buns and Easter eggs and her marmalade!)  We do love a savoury jam though, and this one goes down a treat.  

I hunted up the 'Net for a recipe and found one by CSR (The Colonial Sugar Refinery), which was a big sugar-producing company here in Queensland (now owned by a Singaporean company).  Oddly to my mind, they are also a construction company!  Something to do with them making their own sugar mills, it seems.

And speaking of sugar mills ... there are sugarcane farms and a sugar mill just over the Queensland border in Northern Rivers.  I love watching the pure white smoke come out of the stack when they are processing the sugar.  And when they are burning the cane before harvest, the fires are huge and bright and burn into the night.  Very magical! though not very environmentally sound.  In fact, most Queensland sugarcane is harvested "green" (i.e. without burning), while New South Wales still burns the crops first.  I do like the fires I have to admit :=)

   

image Wikimedia Commons (author: Rob & Stephanie Levy)

They burn at dusk, when the winds have dropped.  The fires get rid of vermin, and the debris from the canes.  It is always a magnificent sight with flaming fields burning into the night.

   

delicious onion and garlic jam   (bronze kingfisher by Dion Parker)

Makes 2 smallish jars:

ingredients:

1.5 Tbs EV olive oil

3 large red onions, finely sliced

3-4 garlic cloves, crushed or finely sliced

65g./2.3 oz dark brown sugar

250 mL/1 cup red wine vinegar  (I used my homemade blood orange vinegar)

1 Tbs yellow mustard seeds

2 bay leaves

1.5 tsp sea salt flakes

1/2 dozen grinds black pepper

1 tsp smoked paprika

a wee bit of cold water if needed

Method:

Grab a large and deep frying pan, and throw in the oil and onions over a low heat

Cook for about 15 minutes till tender and just turning colour, stirring now and then

Add the garlic, stirring for 3 minutes

Stir 1 Tbs of the sugar over the mixture for 1 minute, till it starts to bubble 

Now turn the heat up to medium, and add the vinegar, mustard seeds, bay leaves, salt, pepper, paprika and the rest of the sugar; let it cook for a couple of minutes then - 

Reduce the heat to medium-low to low, and let it simmer away for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, till you have a thick and luscious jammy mixture  (add a splash of water if it's starting to go too thick)

Take out the bay leaves, and spoon into hot, sterilised jars

Makes 2 smallish jars

Notes:

I halved their recipe, except for the garlic and bay leaves, so double this recipe if you want to make a full amount

ingredients gathered

stir that onion and garlic

and stir some more till jammy and fragrant

et voilà!   (figurine by Denise Murray)

(Joining up with Min from Write of the Middle blog - for the #WWWhimsy post.)

c. Sherry M.

Roast Capsicum Dip - And A Tasty Snack

Sadly, the Cookbook Club I've been attending at our local bookshop has ceased, so this was my final recipe from the monthly choice in November - Garlic, Olive Oil and everything else by Daen Lia.  She has millions of followers on social media apparently (but I have to admit that I've never heard of her!).  She is an Aussie cook with Spanish and Italian heritage, known for her modern Mediterranean dishes (but not by me - hehehe).

Her recipe includes instructions on how to roast the capsicums yourself, but I happily went out and bought a couple of jars.  You can check out how to roast them on the Net, if you're keen.  Daen basically says to roast them on a lined tray at 220C/430F for an hour.  You can also buy them from your local deli. 

We live in what was an Italian migrant enclave for many years after the Second World War.  So happily for us when we moved here, there were Italian delis and bakeries and cafés.  One of the local shops still had their Italian mamas and nonnas roasting the vegetables and chickens, and making all sorts of goodies.  Sadly, that generation has passed on, so there are few such shops around these days.  So make your own, my friends, or grab a jar or two from the supermarket.

off to Cookbook Club

Serves half a dozen (maybe more):

ingredients:

2 jars of roasted capsicum (c. 300g./10 oz each) = c. 600g./20 oz

200g./7 oz fetta, cut into large chunks

1-2 garlic cloves, sliced in half

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

20-25 mL/1 biiig Tbs of lemon juice

herbs of your choice - I used dried chives, parsley and oregano

1 Tbs EV olive oil 

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

handful of walnuts - maybe 30g./1 big ounce

1 tsp sumac (optional)

For serving:

a long ciabatta stick or French baguette, cut into slices

100g./3.5 oz prosciutto, cut or torn into chunks or strips

100g./3.5 oz green, pitted olives - sliced 

Method:

First drain the capsicums and pat them dry

Into the oven they go, on a baking-paper lined tray for 10-12 minutes at 160C/320F

Let them cool for a few minutes, then throw them into your food processor, along with the fetta, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice

Give them a blitz till nicely combined, then add the herbs, olive oil, sugar and walnuts and blitz again till you have a vibrant, mostly smooth, not-quite-blitzed to death dip

Spoon out into a serving bowl, and throw on the sumac if using

You can eat this as is, with crackers or bread, or turn it into tasty bites by smearing over the slices of ciabatta or baguette, then topping with the prosciutto and sliced olives  

Notes:

You can serve the dip with crudités if you like

grab yourself some roasted capsicums in a jar

and blitz 'em!

into this

taste 10/looks 3

slice up the bread

slather on the dip, and add prosciutto and olives

boxed up for Cookbook Club

(Joining up with Min from Write of the Middle for #WWWhimsy - Wednesday Words and Whimsy)

c. Sherry M.

Red Pesto And Eggplant Sandwich

This open-faced sandwich calls for regular (green) pesto, but I prefer a red version so I used red capsicum (peppers) instead.  Funny how only Australians call them capsicum (as far as I know).  I was watching UK food YouTuber Barry Lewis the other day and he was warning viewers not to touch their eyes after chopping them up.  Huh? thought I.  There's no capsaicin in them so no burny-burny.  Funny fella.

This recipe is from a book called The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook.  It's a collection of 76 stories with recipes, from (famous?) American kitchens.  Pardon my Aussie ignorance, but I'd only heard of ten of these people :-)  Perhaps that's why this book didn't really gel with me, but anyway, there are some 'interesting' recipes here.  Including this one by author Daniel Wallace (sorry, never heard of him).  

cheesy, crunchy and garlicky

He gives no quantities and very little instruction so I have done my best with it.  He made it for his wife-to-be, who told him months later that she had hated it!  Thankfully, Mr P. and myself chowed down on it very happily.  I assume he used a bought pesto but I decided to make my own, but you do you :)

Serves 2-4:

ingredients:

For the red pesto:

240g./8.5 oz roasted capsicum (from a jar)

20g./¾ oz/2 Tbs pine nuts

45g./1.5 oz cashews

1 tsp sea salt

a dozen grinds of black pepper

20g./6-7 Tbs fresh parsley

50g./1.8 oz parmesan, grated

1 Tbs vinegar

1 Tbs lemon juice

45 mL/3 (US) Tbs EV olive oil

Method:

Blitz all the pesto ingredients till you have a rough paste (mine was fairly liquidy), and set aside in a bowl or jug

Ingredients for the sandwich:

1 baguette or long bread roll (about 40 cm./16 inch length)

you will need: several Tablespoons of the pesto (Hi Mrs. Crocombe)

150g./5.5 oz grilled eggplant (I got mine from the deli)

1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated

80g./3 oz cheddar cheese, grated and parmesan (2-3 Tbs), grated, to form a cheesy blanket over the eggplant

A few Tbs of chopped fresh parsley, to garnish (optional)

Method:

Slice your baguette in half lengthwise (horizontally)

Slather the two halves in as much pesto as you fancy - maybe 3-4 Tbs per slice?  Mr P. wanted lots on his half :-)

Cut the eggplant into large bite-sized pieces and place them across each baguette half

Scatter the garlic over the eggplant then Cover both slices with the vintage and parmesan cheeses

Place them on an alfoil-lined baking tray, wrap them loosely in the foil and bake at 180C/350F for about 15 minutes

Then open up the foil and bake for another 5 minutes or so till the cheeses are melted and golden

Sprinkle on the extra parsley, if using and serve with a salad

Notes:

If you're feeling energetic, grill or bake the eggplant slices yourself

Use vegan cheese if you wish, and to make it gluten-free, use a GF bread

I used Strong and Bitey Vintage Cheese 

There will be leftover pesto, so use it on anything you fancy

As a total aside to this, I recently discovered that our Aussie tablespoons which are technically 20 mL, are in fact quite often 15 mL as per US and UK recipes, since the actual spoons are not made here!

pesto ingredients gathered

pesto ready to blitz

slice that baguette!

and slather on the red pesto

eggplant goes on top of the pesto, awaiting garlic and cheese

on go the garlic and cheeses

golden and cheesy

ready to eat

Mr. Wallace's sparse ingredients list :-)

The method was equally sparse!  He says to halve the baguette, spread with pesto, place the eggplant on top, sprinkle on cheese (only cheddar) and garlic, and bake at 350F.  No times given, and no amounts.  And he doesn't even mention the eggplant in his ingredients!  His attention to detail ... :-)

© Sherry M.

Sardine Butter

Confession time again: as much as I love Ruby and Nigella for their recipes and writing, I also adore Nigel - Slater, that is.  There is just something about his English earnestness (or is that earnest Englishness?) that so appeals to me.  I love his fabulous writing, and some darn good recipes.  Mmm, interesting how the food writers I love are all English!

I saw this recipe (if you can call it that) some years ago in his book Real Fast Food, and it lingered in the back of my mind.  So since my pantry had two tins of sardines lurking, I thought - yep, it's time!  Nigel's 'recipe' consists of mashing together a tin of sardines and an equal amount of butter, plus some lemon juice.  I thought I'd add a bit of extra oomph for the modern age.  So here it is, my version of Nigel's fishy spread.

ingredients gathered

Recipe inspired by Nigel Slater, and improved (tee hee) by me

Makes one (very) scant cup, about 200g.


ingredients:


90g.  (3 oz + 1 tsp) of salted butter, softened

110g. (4 oz) tin of sardines in springwater or olive oil, drained

12-15 chives - more if you like

a big!! handful of curly-leaf parsley - use flat-leaf if you must:-) 

one wedge of preserved lemon, flesh discarded, skin cut into strips

4-5 tsp lemon juice

½ -1 tsp sea salt flakes

lots of freshly-ground black pepper

extra herbs for serving if you wish

add baby capers and preserved lemon strips on top too, if you fancy


Method:


Let the butter soften on your kitchen bench

Tip it into your food processor, and give it a quick whizz

Now add the snipped or ripped chives, parsley and preserved lemon strips, and give it a whirl

Then add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and blitz away

Taste it - and add more lemon juice, seasoning and herbs if you wish - I did!

Scrape it out into a jar (or plastic container), cover tightly and keep in the fridge for up to a week

Serve on hot toast with more pepper etc, if you wish


Notes:


I used wild Scottish sardines in springwater, but you can use the ones in extra-virgin olive oil if you prefer - I ended up with about 70g. of drained sardines

I simply broke up the chives and parsley in my hands before adding to the processor

Can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months

everything goes in the processor

now add the little fishies :-)

and whizz till smooth

scoop into a pretty pot

ready for the fridge (for up to a week)

spread on hot toast

I know it looks like I've put on a major amount here, but it wasn't thaaaat much ... I love the beautiful speckled green colour, too!

artwork © Sherry's Pickings

Cumquat Marmalade - or is that Jam or Kumquat?

Odd just how many spellings of this fruit - also known as calamondin - are buzzing around the blogosphere.  And do we call it jam or marmalade?  I give up folks!  Let's just make it and eat it 'cos it's delicious.  I was very lucky to receive a bagful of home grown fruit from our English mates, who have a garden full of herbs and veg., and fruit of course.

These were the most exquisite, glowing orange globes; all soft and pretty.  Just crying out to be used in a conserve.  I had made cumquat jam years ago that took forever to make as you had to finely slice the fruit into teeny tiny pieces before boiling up with sugar.  Nup, I wasn't doing that again so I found an easy peasy recipe on the Net from the website EssentialKids.  So here is my version of that; clearly not for kids with the gin:=)

glorious glowing globes

ingredients:


1 kg. cumquats

5 cups water

2 (40 mLs) tbs lemon juice

5 cups of sugar - I used raw and white

1/4-1/2 cup of gin or vodka




Method:


Cut the fruit into quarters and place in a large (non-metallic) bowl

Cover the fruit with the cold water; cover the bowl with a cloth or cling film and leave to soak overnight

Next day, tip it all into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan

Stir in the lemon juice and bring it to a boil

Turn down the heat till it is just simmering and let it go for 30 minutes

Now that the fruit is soft, tip in the sugar and stir till dissolved

Bring it all to a boil and let it rip on high heat without stirring for 20-30 minutes

To test if ready, spoon a wee amount onto a cold saucer (i.e. one you have placed in the freezer for a few minutes) and whack it back into the freezer for a couple of minutes

Take it out, run your finger thru it, and if it stays apart, and appears a bit thick, it is ready

If not, keep boiling for a few more minutes till the freezer test tells you it is done

Stir in the gin or vodka

Let it rest for 10 minutes; take out any obvious pips (and the muslin bag of pips if doing that step) and bottle it in clean, hot, sterilised jars - if your jars are cold, the jam will probably crack them

I keep the jars of jam in our second fridge, but they will last in the pantry for many months too



Notes:


5 cups of sugar equals c. 1050 grams; I used about 650g. raw sugar and 400g. white sugar

I didn't worry about the pips.  Any that came out when I quartered the fruit were scooped up into a little muslin bag which I threw into the pan when making the jam.  I spooned out any obvious ones when the jam was all finished boiling up, and just left the rest to be put in the jars with the jam.  Spit them out when you eat it folks! Warn your guests of course

Jars can be left to soak in hot, soapy water then shoved into a 150C oven for 20 minutes while you cook the jam

quartering the fruit

in the pan ready for jamming, after soaking for at least 12 hours 

I love my 9 litre Mad Millie preserving pan.  Perfect for making jams and chutneys.  You can use any large pot of course, but this one stays cool to the touch for ages.  If you are going to make a lot of preserves, I recommend getting a large pan like this.  (Not being paid to say this folks.  I just love it a lot.)

beautiful purple gin made with butterfly pea flowers  

This gin is so pretty.  And it turns a lovely pink when you add tonic, BTW.  Add 1/4 cup to the jam, or if you want it a bit more boozy, add half a cup.   

so what if there are some pips? :=)

Well, this was a hit with Mr P. and me!  And I'm not usually a huge jam fan.  This is an incredibly easy recipe compared to other jams I have made, so give it a go.  So nice to use organic, home grown fruit if you can get it.

thick golden chunky jam/marmalade 

my cumquat doodle

Berry Compote - aka Relish aka Sauce

Perhaps your freezer is like mine?  Full of interesting 'stuff' that takes me by surprise every time I scrabble around in its icy depths. Well, I sort of knew there were various types of frozen berries hidden in the backblocks, and I kept meaning to do something with them all. This morning I got up horribly early (why brain, why?), so once Mr P. was out of bed, I grabbed them and began to make this saucy little mixture for our breakfasts.

I prefer this to be not very sweet, and I like it a little spicy, so I added a couple of spices and a wee bit of caramelised balsamic vinegar to give it tang.  Mr P. put it on his morning cereal and yoghurt straightaway, telling me that the taste was "mediaeval".  I asked what that meant?  Perhaps he meant the spices? :=)  He wasn't sure! 

love those sunny stripes across the cloth

Recipe by Sherry's Pickings:


ingredients:


300g. frozen berries of your choice - I used cherries, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries

a (big) splash of whiskey (optional)

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 tbs caster sugar

1 tsp caramelised strawberry balsamic vinegar

1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

a couple of grinds of black pepper

1/4 tsp ground ginger 


Method:


Put everything into a medium saucepan

Stir and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes till slightly thickened - keep an eye it and give it a stir every so often

Cool then store in the fridge

Will last for a week or more in a sealed jar in the fridge


Notes:


I really love cherries so I used more of those than the other fruits

Use a good Italian red wine vinegar or perhaps a Sherry vinegar if you don't have a fruity one

Leave out the whiskey if you are worried about the gluten. Apparently, there are arguments both ways saying that distilled liquor is either gluten-free or not!  Take your pick!

a real mix of berries here

cooking down the compote 

sunny stripes across the pot 

spooning into the jar

gloopy and luscious

looks like jewels

delish on your breakfast yoghurt

my fruity compote doodle