Forget onion jam - here comes Rhubarb & Apple Relish!

This is one of those recipes that has jumped the queue of recipes waiting to come to you, just because it is SO good.

With rhubarb leaping out of the ground in abundance (well, it is in our garden), you might be looking for something new to do with it - and this relish is a thing of rare beauty that deserves to be made.

My hubby is going through a bit of a purple patch with regard to cooking at the moment.  He's bored rigid with cooking dinners, but interesting little challenges like making a relish out of our gorgeous rhubarb still have the capacity to fire him up.  We were discussing what to eat for the week (also known as "making the menu plan") and had decided to go for a Ploughman's Lunch (or Ploughman's Dinner, as it shall be).  Now of course, a Ploughman's requires some tasty pickle or another.  "Perhaps piccalilli?", said hubby.  "Or, or - rhubarb chutney!" he amended, with obvious keenness.

Well that was it.  He was out in the garden, laying waste to the nearest rhubarb, before I could say "great idea!".

The end result is truly one of those pickles/preserves that you taste at a Farmer's Market and think "I'll never be able to afford some of that", before finding out that a small jar costs about a million quid.  Here, you wind up with about four times the amount, for a fraction of the price.  I think that probably, the most expensive item was either the sugar, vinegar or ginger (presuming you've got the rhubarb in the garden already), but if you've a well stocked larder you may well find that you can come up with the ingredients without a trip to the shops.

The relish is jammy, dark and sticky with a most delicious crunch from the mustard seeds and a delightful warmth from the chilli.  The rhubarb flavour is very definitely right up there and is supported by the tart apple.  As I said to hubby, I'll have mine on my ice cream please!

In fact, we've tried it on chicken sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, cheese with biscuits, tinned mackerel, off a teaspoon and of course as part of the aforesaid Ploughman's.  In every context it has been flipping gorgeous.

I have no Cook's Notes for you, as there are so few instructions - just put it all in a pot and cook - there is very little that can go wrong!  Just don't overheat it and allow it to burn.

Oh and incidentally, if you're wondering what makes it a relish instead of a chutney, a relish is a chutney that isn't made to be able to store for long periods.  For this little lovely to be a relish is absolutely 100% appropriate, as I doubt it is going to stay in our fridge for very long at all. 

RHUBARB & APPLE RELISH  (Makes a large (12oz) jar or around 2 cups)

Ingredients: 

250g rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch chunks
250g soft dark brown sugar
125ml good quality cider vinegar (Aspall's is great)
200g Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into half inch chunks
100g onion, chopped
20g stem or crystallised ginger, finely chopped
50g sultanas
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
half a tsp of sea salt
a pinch of dried red chilli flakes - to taste
pinch of ground cloves
half a tsp of allspice
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg.

Method:

1.  Put everything in a non-reactive saucepan.  Bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 1 hour - stirring regularly - until the relish is good and thick.

2.  Pour into a sterilised jar (or jars), seal and leave to cool.

Refrigerate, the relish will keep for approximately 1 month.

Printable version

Lamb rice with golden onions

This recipe was my first foray into cooking from my new copy of Rose Prince's "Kitchenella".

Well, I say my first foray - but to be correct, let's call it the first foray since owning the book, as initially I borrowed it from the library and loved it so much, I had to include it on my Christmas list.

Meals during that no-man's land of time between Christmas and New Year tend towards being simple and - in our house, certainly - easy to prepare.  After all, having done the long haul of Christmas Dinner and with another long haul - New Year's dinner - ahead of you, you're not in the mood for ostentatious display.

As such, as soon as I clapped eyes upon the "Lamb rice with golden onions", it clicked.  Although I didn't have any leftover roast lamb to use, I figured that a pack of minced lamb would do the trick, plus it had the added benefit of being a one-pot wonder - which always go down well.

However, it also intrigued me (intrigue features so often with my choice of recipe!) with its use of allspice, sultanas, pine nuts and cherry tomatoes.  I loved all the ingredients, I felt hubby would be happy with the spiced element, but I had reservations as to how the cherry tomatoes would go down with son & heir.


As it turned out, the inclusion of cherry tomatoes was completely forgotten over the enticement of minced lamb.  As he put it himself "it's got minced lamb in it - everything else is forgiven".  Right, I'll have to remember that!


Hubby and I both found that the spicing was a bit too subtle and the quantities could do with increasing a little - which I have reflected in the recipe below.


I also found that serving the rice with a chutney alongside the yoghurt provided a nice counterpoint to the flatter, more subtle flavours of the dish.  The chutney we used was a Roasted Garlic & Apple one which went really extremely well.


I enjoyed this dish very much and together with son & heir, we took care of what little there was left, so very definitely child-friendly!

LAMB RICE WITH GOLDEN ONIONS    (serves 3)

Ingredients :

500g minced lamb

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp sultanas

half a tsp of ground allspice

half a tsp of ground coriander

one and a half tsp of ground cumin

around 20 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 garlic clove, chopped

enough cooked basmati rice for 3 persons

sea salt & black pepper

To serve : chopped mint and/or parsley leaves, 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts, 6 tbsp greek yoghurt.

Method :

1.  Begin by toasting the pine nuts in a dry frying pan, then once cool, chop them (if you prefer them that way).

2.  Next, dry fry the lamb mince, until just beginning to caramelise and all the water content has evaporated.  Drain off the fat.  Reserve the meat to keep warm.

3.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion.  Cook for around 5 minutes over a medium heat until it turns pale gold and smells fragrant.

4.  Add the sultanas and spices and cook for 1 minute more, then add the tomatoes.

5.  Cook gently for another 5-7 minutes, until they begin to take on a little colour.

6.  Add the lamb and garlic and stir-fry for a minute or so, then stir in the rice.

7.  Cook, stirring from time to time until well heated through – which is very important with leftover rice.

8.  Season to taste and scatter the chopped leaves & pine nuts over.

9.  Serve with the yoghurt by the side & with a fruity chutney.

.

A magnificent Chilli con Carne

Slow cooked, oven baked, Chilli con Carne

You'll recall from my last post, my dilemma in the butcher's when they didn't have any ham hocks, so I rapidly changed tack to Beef Shin.

At that stage, I didn't really have any idea what I was going to do with it - I just knew that the ingredients for the Ham Hock dish were fairly compatible with Beef Shin in one way or another, so I didn't need to buy anything else.  Which is good on two counts - one because I could do without spending more money and anyway, my back had run out of it's ability to support me when standing up.  So, having limped back to the car, I began to work on what I could use the shin for.

Shin of beef : before trimming

We'd had various stews of one sort of another just lately and I didn't really want to conjur up another stew-type thing (although the idea of dumplings did occur to me and, tempting as they are, were rejected on the "too much fat" front).

It was when the beans came to mind, that I considered doing a Chilli con Carne.  I knew that I had a tin of red kidney beans in the cupboard, chilli powder in the spice rack together with crushed red chillis and in the fridge, fresh red chillis.  I also remembered that I'd bought two tins of cherry tomatoes on the offchance that I'd need them.  It's always good to grab a couple of tins when you see them, as they are quite the best tinned tomatoes, I've discovered.  Yes, chilli con carne was the way to go.

We'd been wanting to try the more authentic way of making Chilli con carne - that is, with pieces of meat, rather than with mince, for a very long time - so this was my chance.  I even had a block of dark chocolate in the fridge, specifically for this sort of recipe.

Shin of beef - after trimming

Being shin, the meat would require long slow cooking in order to render out the fat and have it tender enough to be cut with a spoon.  The only sensible way to do this was to oven cook it in a casserole dish.  Now, I've done oven cooked chillis and bologneses this way in the past and find that the sauce tends to amalgamate better with less likelihood of it splitting, so that all made sense.

So having sat and thought about the recipe for a while, I set to with making it.

Dustbin 1

The shin really is glorious stuff, but it is essential that you have a sharp knife (and two eager hounds to act as dustbins) when trimming it up.  Without a sharp knife, I dare say I'd have lost patience with it and a good percentage of it would have gone into the dog, rather than into the casserole dish.


It's not difficult to trim of its fat and gristle, it's just a wee bit fiddly.  Still, you can see that once trimmed, you still have a good quantity of meat left from your 700g - and two happy dogs.

Dustbin 2

I began by sweating down one large chopped onion, the garlic and the chilli, then setting aside to keep warm, whilst I sear the meat.  That's the opposite way around to most people, but I think that the flavours of the onion, garlic & chilli get into the meat before they've all been introduced, that way.

It didn't take long to assemble, then it was into the oven, back out to be stirred and the moisture levels checked - I had to add a little water later on in the cooking - and add the beans at the last minute.

I served up with white rice and a dollop of greek yoghurt because it really was blisteringly hot flavour-wise.  The yoghurt isn't traditional but it was there as a survival technique for both son and myself.  We also like to sprinkle on a little grated cheese and some sultanas - but then I think we may be bit weird that way.

Searing the beef

Hubby's verdict, after the second mouthful, was that it was a magnificent chilli.  In my opinion, I'd consider it to be the best chilli I have ever produced - which considering the amount of chilli's (in their various forms) I have produced over the years, is definitely saying something!

Ready to go in the oven

SLOW, OVEN-COOK, CHILLI CON CARNE  (serves 4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp olive oil

700g beef shin, trimmed and cubed

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 red chilli, chopped, seeds left in

2 tsp hot chilli powder

tin cherry tomatoes

2 beef oxo cubes

200ml water

half a tsp of dried sage

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

salt & pepper

can of beans of your choice, red kidney or haricot are good

1-2 squares of very dark chocolate

Method :

1.  Pre-heat oven to 140deg C.

2.  In a deep sided frying pan, fry the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until softened.  Add the chilli and continue to fry gently until the onion is beginning to brown.  Add the garlic and fry for another minute.  Keep aside in a warm place.

3.  Heat the remaining olive oil until very hot and gradually introduce the meat, until it is all seared and brown.  Remove to a casserole dish and replace the onions in the frying pan.

4.   Add the chilli powder and fry for a minute or two, stirring, to ensure it is all mixed in and moistened.

5.  Add the tomatoes (and turn the heat up), oxo cubes, water, sage, tomato puree, tomato ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and stir until all is combined.

6.  Taste for seasoning – you may need to add a little salt.  Restrain yourself from adding any sugar at this stage, for the chocolate (which is added later) may well do that job for you.

7.  Add to the casserole dish and cook at 140deg for 2 hours.

8.  After the hour, add the beans and chocolate – stir gently until the chocolate is dissolved – then replace and cook until the meat is butter-like and tender which should be around a half hour to an hour later.

Serve with white rice, grated cheese and sultanas over.  If particularly chilli-hot, serve with an additional tablespoonful of greek yoghurt.

.

Walnut, ginger & banana tea cake

From even as far back as last Wednesday, I knew I'd be making a cake - or muffins - this weekend.  I just had this yen to bake.

It's been ages since I made a cake.  Hubby rather took over the cake making mantle with his gorgeous Boiled Fruit Cake, but he's been a bit too busy lately for baking and we've got out of the habit of having a cake around.  Now this state of affairs is undoubtedly good for our waistlines, but is it good for us spiritually?  ~takes tongue firmly out of cheek~

Speaking of waistlines - I decided to go out for a "walk" this afternoon.  It was blowy and coolly damp out there and, having been sat beside a partially open window for three hours and not frozen to death, I thought it might be a good moment to begin my "Mummy Walks Around the Block" project.  You see, I've been (pretty much) incapable of walking for these last six months or more, due to Polymyalgia Rheumatica.  In fact, I'm fairly incapable of standing for longer than two or three minutes at any one time.  I thought it would be good to see whether a) I could make it around the smaller of the two "blocks" we've got available to us here and b) how many garden walls I would have to sit on, if I didn't.

Well, it turned out to be three garden walls - and I did make it all the way around our little block.  Which is remarkable, on its own!  Okay, it's only 0.21 of a mile, but it's a start.

So anyway, I digress.  Back to the cake.

The ingredients list turned into something of an epic, which is largely due to the fact that I have a number of ingredients left over from christmas (walnuts and stem ginger), but I may have got a tad carried away.  No matter, however, as the whole turned into very much a sum of its parts and it is definitely a cake I would make again.  The texture is very moist, although not heavy, and it doesn't require a slick of butter in order to make it palatable, as many tea cakes tend to.

Such was its siren's call, that upon returning from my amble around the block, we immediately indulged in a cup of tea and a slice of cake, thereby negating any good the amble might have done me.  Very British.

WALNUT, GINGER & BANANA TEA CAKE

Ingredients :

225g self-raising flour

½ tsp ground cinnamon

175g softened butter

50g light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp clear honey

2 eggs, beaten

1 medium sized ripe banana, mashed

50g walnut pieces (crushed small, if necessary)

100g sultanas

2 pieces of stem ginger, chopped

warm water, if necessary.

Method :

1.  Preheat the oven to 160c/140c fan/Gas 3.

2.  Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

3.  Tip the flour, cinnamon, butter, sugar, honey, banana., walnuts and eggs into a large mixing bowl and mix for some 2-3 minutes or until just combined.

4.  Add the stem ginger and sultanas to the bowl and continue mixing until combined.

5.  Decant into the loaf tin and level the top.  Sprinkle with a pinch of sugar and bake for 1 hour.

6.  When done, the top should feel firm and not springy.  Bake for another 10 minutes if necessary.

7.  Cool slightly, then lift out onto a cooling rack using the paper.  Once cold, remove the paper completely.

8.  Cut into thick slices and serve with a cup of tea for the adults and a glass of milk for the juniors.

.

Fruit Scones

As we're a bit limited on culinary options at the moment, my mind - in the shape of a large question mark - wanders into the storecupboard, to see if anything in there strikes me as a possibility.

Couple that with a Tweet from Dan Lepard regarding scones, and there you are.

After exhaustive research, a.k.a. around half an hour or so of looking at various recipes, I chose a recipe which intrigued me for it's use of yoghurt in the scone dough.

Everything went rather well, apart from a moment when I paused to yell at son for climbing all over my head whilst trying to get his lunch instead of just waiting *sigh*, but once I got going it all came together fairly easily.

FRUIT SCONES

Ingredients

350g self-raising flour
quarter of a teaspoon of salt
1 tsp baking powder
90g cold butter, cut into cubes
4 tbsp demerara sugar
100g sultanas
150g natural full-fat yoghurt
4 tbsp full-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
milk to glaze

Method

1.  Cut a piece of baking paper to fit your baking sheet, then place just the sheet in the oven to heat up at 200deg C fan/220deg C/gas7.

2.  Put the flour, salt, butter and baking powder into a food processor and whizz until the butter disappears.  Add the sugar and give it a second's whizz to combine, then tip into a large bowl, stir in the fruit and make a well in the middle.

3.  In the microwave or a saucepan, warm the yoghurt, milk and vanilla together.  It should be hot and may well go slightly lumpy but tip into the bowl anyway and mix well (first with a knife, then with fingers) to combine with the flour/fruit mixture.

4.  Once the dough has all come together, give it a couple of folds to make sure it's smooth, then tip onto a sheet of cling film, flatten to around 1.5cm and begin cutting the scones out.  Repeat by pressing the dough together and cutting again, until you are left with a scrap which can be formed by hand.

5.  Quickly, remove the baking sheet from the oven, place the baking paper on board, then the scones on top of that.

5.  Glaze the tops of each scone with some milk and place in the oven to bake for 12 minutes or so, until risen and golden.

Then, it's just a matter of keeping the children at bay until you want to eat them!

Boiled Fruit Loaf

I came home from work on Thursday, walked in to the house which was full of the smell of fruit cake.  Ooooh, delicious! The Artisan Bagel Baker had broadened his scope and made a cake.

Now I have to say, that this isn't the first cake hubby has made - he's quite an accomplished baker of cakes.  He makes a lovely ginger cake and his lemon drizzle is legendary.

However, there's just something so autumnal about a fruit cake - and this one goes perfectly with some of the Lake District Cheddar cheese.

BOILED FRUIT LOAF

Ingredients

100g sultanas
100g flame raisins (or dried cherries, or dried cranberries or a.n other dried fruit)
1 eating apple, peeled and grated
250ml semi-skimmed milk
200g light muscovado or other light brown sugar
125g baking margarine or butter
1 beaten egg
250g self raising flour
half a tsp ground cinnamon
half a tsp ground mixed spice.

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (fan).

2.  Put the dried fruit, grated apple, milk, sugar, margarine and spices into a large pan and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 2 mins and then remove from the heat to cool for 15 mins.

3.  Once cooled, fold in the flour and mix well.  Add the egg and then mix again.

4.  Pour into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins (a paper hat may be needed over the loaf tin to prevent the top from overcooking).  Test with a skewer, returning to the oven for another 10 mins if the skewer comes out with batter on it.

5. Once the skewer comes out clean, leave to cool.

NOTE :  this recipe produces a very moist cake, if a drier texture is needed, increase the baking time by 20 mins and make sure a paper hat is used.