Preserving months........

I can't believe it has been so long since my last writing - where has the start of the year gone?  Well in my case it has been 'preserved'.  I've spent the last 2 months working on a great project with the lovely Thane Prince, testing recipes for her latest book 'Perfect Preserves', which comes out in July to coincide with her judging of 'The Great Allotment Challenge'.
I've never really been into preserving, it always seemed like such a lot of work for not much of a result - certainly tales from friends who spent hours slicing citrus fruit skins or watching a rolling boil, didn't inspire me to join in.  But then I started making the most wonderful curds, marmalades and fruit butters, and I was hooked - the beautiful colours, creamy textures, jewel-like jellies - and the smell every time I re-entered the house, was bliss.  That is, until I started on the pickles, chutneys and relishes, and then the smell was of vinegar - lots of scented candles were required for those few weeks!
But one of the best things about making preserves is giving them to friends - the delight on their faces of being given something that you have slaved over and they know will taste so much better than anything they can buy - it was worth all the smells!
So after that I was relieved to escape to Bordeaux for a week of rowing training, on a stunning lake on the outskirts of Libourne.  With a perfectly flat lake for the whole week, we managed to get our scheduled 36km done every day.  A lot of mileage, but good for getting fit if only we had been given food that could sustain us for that amount of exercise.  You'd think wouldn't you, that being in France would be a certainty of at least getting great food.  But no, we were being catered for by a training school whose idea of a balance meal was for everything to be the same colour (mostly beige), and not a fresh green vegetable was spotted all week!
The only time we escaped training we headed off to the pretty nearby town of St Emilion, a place known not only for its' great wine, but also it's light but chewy, delicious macaroons!  Clearly this did not improve our diet much either!
So now I've returned home I am in desperate need for some micro-nutrients!  

The juicer is out of the cupboard and I have bought every green vegetable that is on offer!  I can feel my body soaking up the vitamins as I write!  If you need inspiration to get into juicing then you need to watch 'Fat, sick and nearly dead' - hopefully it will kick-start you into a new healthy regime too.

Marmalade Days

Believe it or not, after all the  years I have been cooking, this is the first time I have attempted to make marmalade!  It always seemed a bit pointless when you could buy such great marmalade.  But then, every year my friends would all start to discuss the merits of different ways of making it - do you cut the oranges before you cook them or after, is caster sugar as good as granulated, do you keep it pure, or add limes or even grapefruit?  And even before the Seville oranges were available there was talk on the radio as to when they may arrive - a bit like the Beaujolia run - who can get them here first!
So, as a complete novice I felt I should follow the direction of somebody else, and started searching through my hundreds of cookery books to find who had written what I thought may be the tastiest recipe.  But as always in this instance, I started to go 'off-piste', dreaming up my own ideas (the problem with being a recipe writer is that you never want to follow a recipe written by somebody else!).
And not content with that, I also decided half-way through the process to try two versions!  Both are equally delicious.







Joy's Marmalade!
This makes both types - straight marmalade and ginger marmalade.


2kg Seville oranges
5 litres water
approx 3kg sugar
6 knobs stem ginger, diced


1.  Slice the oranges as thickly as you like them, remove the pips and pithy bit from the middle of the orange then place the slices in very large pan.  cover with water and simmer for 2 hours (until the orange rind is tender).
2.  Ladle the mixture into two non-metallic bowls and leave to cool, covered, overnight.
3.  Ladle the mixture into two separate large pans, adding a ladle of sugar for every ladle of fruit and liquid.  In one of the pans add the diced stem ginger.
4.  Bring to the boil and simmer again for around 1 hour, or until it has reached setting point.  To test for this spoon a little onto a plate and leave it for one minute.  If it wrinkles when you push it gently with your finger it is ready.
5.  Pour into sterilised jars and cover with wax paper until cool.

Edible Christmas Gift Ideas

It's getting to the time now, when I start to realise that I have no idea what to give friends as a small gift for Christmas.  I hate shopping at the best of times, and fighting my way through the rushing crowds of London is definitely not my idea of a fun day out, especially when it's so cold too.
So, what better way to spend the cold days than to be at home making wonderful food stuffs for friends instead.  This was all a bit of a revelation to me as, having been cooking for a living for years, I had never really got into the whole preserves thing, until now!  I've also found that people are so delighted to receive something that you have taken lots of time and care over, and obviously if you know what they love you can tailor the gift totally to their taste.
There are also so many options - jams, pickles, herb vinegars or oils, fruit liqueurs, chocolate truffles (always a favourite!) or even great cakes (one of which I will give a recipe for in the next blog).
The recipe here is for a Panforte di Siena, and for once I have used a recipe developed by somebody else - when it comes to all things Italian I figured Antonio Carluccio would know better than me!







Panforte di Siena
(Taken from 'Italia" by Antonio Carluccio, published by Quadrille Publishing Antonio Carluccio's Italia)


240g figs or pitted dates
50g honey
100g soft brown sugar
1/2 tsp each of ground cinnamon, cardamom, cloves,
       nutmeg and black pepper
250g candied fruit, such as cherries, lemon and orange rind
50g blanched almonds
50g pine nuts
50g shelled hazelnuts, toasted
3-4 tbsp plain flour, sifted
50ml Vin Santo
icing sugar to dust

Heat the oven to 150C/Gas mark 2.  Line a shallow 25cm round cake tin, or 20cm square tin, with rice paper.
Mince the figs or dates and put them in a pan with enough water just to cover.  Add the honey, brown sugar and all the spices.  Cook gently for about 10 minutes, then tip into a bowl.  The mixture should be sticky but not wet.
Add the candied fruit and nuts and mix well, then add the flour and Vin Santo and mix to a sticky mass.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin.  sprinkle generously with icing sugar and serve cut into wedges.

If you like this you will also love his Salame di Noci - Chocolate and Walnut Salami with Candied Fruits (also in 'Italia').