Boozy Suet Free Mincemeat

http://blog.schoolofartisanfood.org/2011/12/19/mincemeat-recipe/

My Back Garden Apple Crop

This year for the first time in two years my little apple tree at the bottom of the garden has managed to produce nearly a kilo of fruit.  Small, but perfectly formed they will soon be transformed into jars of crab apple jelly.

My little crop of crab apples picked this morning

Making homemade preserves is always very satisfying but even more so when you’ve grown the produce yourself. Especially if like me the only thing that tends to fair well in your garden are weeds.

BBC Food blog: Making Homemade Preserves

On Radio 4′s The Food Programme this week, Sheila Dillon looks at how we have preserved food throughout the ages with a litle help from The School of Artisan Food. See how easy it is to make your own fantastic preserves at home with my article on the BBC Food Blog.BBC – BBC Food blog: Making Homemade Preserves.

Quince Jelly

By all accounts this Autumn there is a glut of quinces here in Blighty.  If you fancy strengthening your arm muscles, half an hour chopping quinces does the job (if there’s a harder fruit or vegetable to cut, I’ve yet to find it).

An array of amber jewels in a jar

Spoon a thin layer of this jelly onto the pastry base of an apple tart or simply serve as an accompaniment to roast pork or game, manchego or stilton cheese or serrano ham.

Admittedly the quantities I give here are generous but I love to make loads of the stuff whilst the quinces are briefly available at this time of year.

3kg quinces – chopped roughly

1 kg apples – chopped roughly

750g lemons

4 litres water

Granulated sugar (see method below for details of how to determine how much sugar you need)

Extract the juice from the lemons and place in a large pan with the water, quinces and apples along with any pips, pulp from the lemons.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour or until the fruit is very tender and pulpy.

Strain in a jelly bag overnight.  Don’t force it, leave it to drip, drip, drip all by itself to ensure your finished jelly remains clear and not cloudy.

Measure the juice and add 450g of sugar per 600ml of juice.  Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to the boil until setting point reached (at 105 degrees, saucer/wrinkle test).

Remove any scum from the surface.

Ladle, cover and seal into warm sterilised jars.

Hot Piccalilli

Adding a couple of chillies gives a welcome touch of heat to this classic pickle recipe. As we move into the Autumn now is the time to make a few jars and leave to mature, ready for for the festive season where it is a must have accompaniment to cold meat cuts, cheeses and my favourite, pork pies (and being an East Midlands girl at heart only Melton Mowbray pies will do).

You might think there is alot of salt in this recipe but it’s purpose is to extract the water from the vegetables to ensure they keep crisp in the finished pickle. Once you have left the vegetables layered in the salt for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, you will rinse off the salt before beginning the cooking process. This is the main difference between chutneys and pickles. The cooking process for chutneys is long and slow whereas with pickles the ingredients are cooked for a very short amount of time, if at all.

Large le Parfait jars are ideal for chunky piccalilli

Makes about 6 227g jars

1.3 kg vegetables – a mixture of any of the following: cauliflower, baby onions or shallots, cucumber, tomatoes, runner beans, green peppers, carrots, celery
2 red chillies (optional)
100g sea salt
600ml distilled malt vinegar or white wine vinegar
90g caster sugar
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1tsp turmeric
20g cornflour

1. Wash and prepare the vegetables into equal sized pieces, I like to keep mine quite chunky and so tend to chop everything to around 2cm cubes.
2 Layer the vegetables and chillies (if using) in a large bowl, sprinkling each layer as you go with salt.
3. Put a plate on top of the vegetables and then place a few food tins on top of the plate to press down onto the vegetables. Leave for at least 8 hours or overnight.
4. Drain and rinse the vegetables.
5. Whisk the cornflour with 100ml of vinegar until smooth and set aside.
6. Put the rest of the vinegar, sugar and spices into a large pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
7. Add the vegetables and chillies and bring to the boil.
8. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, the vegetables should be just tender. Don’t overcook as you want the vegetables to remain crisp and crunchy.
9. Add the cornflour/vinegar mixture to the vegetables.
10. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for another 2 minutes. You will see that the sauce coating the vegetables will have thickened and have a silky gloss to it.
11. Remove from the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
12. Ladle into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Leave for 4-6 weeks to mature.