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.

Green Tomato Chutney

Yesterday I taught a preserve making course at The School of Artisan Food at the Welbeck estate near Worksop.  One of the recipes was a green tomato chutney, a great way to use up the otherwise left over unripe tomatoes from your greenhouse.  Admittedly on the day we had a variety of unripe green tomatoes along with some red vine tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, so the students mixed and matched in their creations. At the end of the morning we had a variety of autumn browns, umbers and reds in the jars, from those who used solely green tomatoes to those that mixed the green tomatoes with the ripe red tomatoes.

Green Tomato Chutney

As you can see from my jars,  I used a mixture of green and red tomatoes, (approximately half and half).  This is a great chutney to make if you are new to chutney making, you can alter the spices and ingredients to your own preference, you may want to increase the cayenne pepper or substitute some of the tomatoes for peppers or zucchini.  Have a go, now is the perfect time to fill up your store cupboard for the winter.

Green Tomato Chutney Recipe

Makes 1kg (approx 5 227g/8oz jars)

900g green tomatoes or a mix of green and red tomatoes – sliced

200g onion – diced

200g apple – peeled, cored and chopped

300ml cider vinegar

175g light soft brown sugar

1/2 tbsp sea salt

1tsp ground ginger

1tsp yellow mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

1/2 tsp allspice

1. Put the onion, apples and vinegar in a large pan and simmer gently for 10 minutes until the onions and apples have softened and are translucent.
2. Slice the tomatoes and add to the pan along with the spices and salt.
3. Bring to the boil.
4. Add the sugar and stir well to combine.
5. Simmer for 1 hour or until the mixture is thick and there is no liquid on the surface.  To test that your chutney is ready, draw your wooden spoon across the base of the pan, it should leave a clear line in the mixture.
6. Ladle into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Spiced Pear and Ginger Muffins

One of the reasons behind me deciding to run a business making jams and chutneys was the fact that every week, left at the bottom of my fruit and veg box would be some sorry carrots, apples or pears.  Not wanting to be wasteful I looked through all my recipe books to find inspiration in the form of Autumn chutneys and jams.

A well loved favourite of mine and many of my customers over the past 3 years has been my Spiced Pear and Ginger Chutney.  Sweet pears complimented by crystallised ginger and cinnamon is a lovely combination.  Personally, I love to serve it with a traditional Melton Mowbray pork pie but it is also a great accompaniment to any cheese board.

Today some slighlty over ripe pears could no longer be ignored.  Fancying something sweet I took inspiration from the flavours in that chutney and quickly made a batch of spiced pear and ginger muffins.   I found a recipe in an old bread making cook book and then, as usual,  swapped wholemeal for plain flour, demerara sugar for soft brown, apples for pears.  The results, as I write this, are a lovely mid morning treat with a cup of jasmine tea.

Yes, I know one is missing, I ate it!

Spiced Pear and Ginger Muffins – makes 9 muffins

200g organic plain flour or wholemeal flour

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 1/2 mixed spice

55g demerara sugar

1 large organic egg – beaten

200ml organic milk

55g melted usalted butter

1 pear – peeled cored and chopped

10g crystallised ginger – finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.  Line 9 cups of a 12 cup muffin tin.

Place the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, salt and sugar in  bowl and mix together.

In another bowl mix the egg, milk and melted butter. Fold the wet mixture gently into the flour mixture to combine.  It shouldn’t be smooth, the mixture should be lumpy.  Gently fold in the pear and crystallised ginger.

Divide the mixture in the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and risen.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool (although they are delicious served warm as well).