It’s all about the sauce; BBQ-fillets / BBQ-saus

Yum! I promise this sauce will make –almost- everything better. I first tried it on fillet of pork, admittedly I went a bit overboard with the sauce on this one but once it had it’s turn in the oven it was all gooey and good.

(just prior to the oven it looked like this)

At the time I made a double batch and froze the remainder of the sauce. Used it to baste fresh made chicken vegetable wraps… oooh sooo good!

A splash of this sauce mixed in your home made spaghetti sauce will give just that little extra and used as a base on pizza it really does the trick! So what’s keeping you?

Recipe BBQ-sauce
(Can’t remember where i got this from, probably combined a couple of things but if you recognize your recipe give me a shout and I’ll give credit)

1 large onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
50 ml orange juice
350 gr ketchup (yes really)
150 gr “stroop”  you would use molasses I guess
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1 tsp colemans mustard powder
1 tsp tabasco
10 ml worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
oil

Sautee onion and garlic in a little oil, add juice, ketchup and stroop/molasses.
Add all spices and bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir every now and then to prevent sticking.
Take out the star anise and cinnamon stick and reserve in containers to freeze, use right away or can.

Note: I’d like to add some minced carrots to the sautee. Adding some red and green bell peppers to the mix is a nice idea as well.

Nationale Anti Pakjes Avond / Half gekonfijte tomaten

De wát? Toen ik de oproep in het mailtje van Karin las gingen mijn haren al recht overeind staan. Dat is ons nationale erfgoed! Waarom moet Sinterklaas avond, pakjes avond nu ook al in de ban?
Adem in, adem uit…. doorlezen Baking en dan tot de ontdekking komen dat dit helemáál niet gaat om het uitbannen van pakjesavond maar om het uitbannen van pakjes. Pakjes en zakjes die ons door slimme fabrikanten door de strot geduwd worden om toch maar authentiek te kunnen koken zonder enige moeite.

Nou moet ik eerlijk zeggen dat het me eigenlijk niet zoveel uitmaakt wat jij doet, ga gerust je gang maar verklaar mij dan niet voor gek als ik het anders doe. Ik geloof dat dat mijn grootste griebel is wat betreft dit onderwerp. Heb je dat helemaal zélf gemaakt? Jij bent gek! Hoezo dan… Ik ga jou toch ook niet uitlachen als je traint voor een marathon terwijl ik denk joh, 40 kilometer doe je veel sneller met de auto?

Leuk artikel over dit onderwerp trouwens vandaag in de zaterdag editie van het NRC, zowel in de receptenrubriek van Marjoleine de Vos als in Opinie en Debat (“Er gaat niets boven een kant- en klaar-maaltijd met additieven”)

Wat koop je dan eigenlijk? Gemak? Zekerheid? Vertrouwen? Of smaakversterkers en verdikkingsmiddelen? Wie een pakje open kan maken kan koken? Weet je, wie kan lezen kan ook koken, echt waar.
Oh en mag ik even? Even mijn allergrootste ergernis?  PANNEKOEK MIX! Echt de stomste uitvinding aller tijden. Je koopt een pak pannenkoekmix en daar moet je dan nog eieren, melk en boter aan toevoegen.
Pardon?
Dus je koopt eigenlijk bloem. Toch? Heb je al eens op de ingrediëntenlijst gekeken? Daar staat dat zo’n pak bestaat uit: tarwebloem, rijsmiddel (lees bakpoeder. hoeft niet eens maar mag wel), suiker en boekweitmeel (wordt in zo’n zelfde pak verkocht vlakbij in het schap).
Vraag me af of er ook niet naturelle pannekoekmixen zijn… vanille misschien? Drupje vanille-extract erdoor. Kaneel? Vleugje gemalen kaneel erdoor. Enz. enz.

Maar goed, deze tomaatjes kun je ook kopen in de supermarkt, die zitten per 6 (per zes!!) verpakt als amuse of tapas…. Kun je een ruig feestje mee geven lijkt me. Maak ze zelf eens. Heus erg makkelijk.

Recept:
(naar Michel Roux: Pastry; geweldig boek!)

1. 1 liter lichte olijfolie
   1 kg rijpe –kers- tomaatjes
   2 takjes tijm
   1 laurierblad
   2 tenen knoflook (ongeschild, gehakt en gehalveerd)
   15 gr witte peperkorrels, grofgestampt

Verhit de olie in een grote pan en doe er de hele ongepelde tomaten, de tijm, laurier, knoflook en peper in.

Verhit alles 5-10 min op ca 70 grC. Hoe rijper en kleiner  de tomaten des te korter de verhitting. Die 70 graden klinkt erg eng en zou je kunnen doen met een thermometer. Is niet echt nodig, zet die pan op een middelhoog vuur, de olie mag absoluut niet koken of bubbelen en je zou je vinger er heel kort in kunnen houden. (Vinger erin, au toch wel heet. Dan is het goed)
Laat in de pan afkoelen, doe ze over in een afsluitbare pot of schaal en giet de olie erover. Zet afgedekt tot gebruik in de koelkast. (Minstens 2 weken houdbaar, mits luchtdicht verpakt onder de olie en in de koelkast).
En dan? Wat doe je er dan mee? Nou, echt van alles! Je zou er bijv. een perfecte tomatentaart mee kunnen maken, of mini-varianten zoals hieronder voor een feestje. (Hier had ik de velletjes toch even verwijderd voor het bakken). Heerlijk door een salade, erg lekker om als het vlees nog even door moet garen een paar van deze tomaatjes in de jus te leggen… Als extraatje op het laatst door je pastagerecht? Kortom eindeloos in variatie. Gewoon met een prikkertje bij de borrel is ook prima. Dit kun je dus ook doen met bijv. paprika.
PS: zoonlief meldt dat ze ook erg lekker zijn op de boterham, met kaas.

Eh volgens mij heb ik hier al vaker over gemopperd… echt waar? Ik geloof het wel…
Nog meer lekkers en simpel?
- gecaramelliseerde uitjes (die van “op een bedje van”)
- (saaie) groente oppepper
- feta smeersel voor op een toastje

Voor alle duidelijkheid; ja, er zijn wel wat pakjes in mijn huis te vinden, ik heb altijd custard poeder in huis (joepie! troosteten!) ben niet vies van bouillon blokjes, maizena zit in een pakje en gelatine poeder ook, en eh oeps er staat ook een wanhoops-pakje allesbinder (ha! over verdikkingsmiddelen gesproken grijns) , en ik gebruik bonen in blik voor mijn chili. Oh en natuurlijk tomaten in blik en tomatenpuree dûh!

De anti-pakjes discussie is eventueel ook te volgen op Twitter: #NAPA
al met al heeft Karin er een leuke tamtam van gemaakt, plus extra reclame voor haar boek, de rubriek in Trouw en haar site. Slim!

Slow cooker Citrus Curd for Mother's Day

Lemon Curd.

(Sara Lewis slow cooker, over 70 of the best recipes)

125 gr (4 oz) unsalted butter

400 gr (13 oz) caster sugar

grated rind and juice of 2 lemons

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

grated rind and juice of 1 lime

4 eggs beaten

Put butter and sugar in a saucepan, add fruit rinds and juice. Heat gently for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved.

Pour mixture in a basin (for lack of another vehicle I found that one of my small cooking pans balanced quite nicely in the basin, resting on the handles against the sides of the slow cooker bowl without touching bottom) that will fit comfortably in your slow cooker pot, leave to cool for 10 minutes, add the eggs and mix well. Cover the basin with foil, put foil straps or a string pudding bowl lifter in the slow cooker pot and place the basin on top. Pour hot water into the cooker pot to come halfway up the sides of the basin. Add the cooker lid and cook on "low" for 3-4 hours until the mixture is very thick.

Stir once or twice during cooking if possible.

Warm 2 clean jars in the bottom of a low oven and spoon in the citrus curd, place a waxed disc on and leave to cool. Seal each jar with a screw-top lid, label and store in the fridge. Use within 3-4 weeks.

Verdict: it's very good, nice and tangy, velvety smooth and it worked surprisingly well. I had my doubts about the cooking time, (I mean, honestly, how long does it take to cook lemon curd by yourself?) but I can see it's nice to make this while you can do all kinds of other chores around the house, no stirring, no fear of curdling. The idea of throw everything together and wait till it's finished is very tempting.

Comes in the Mother's day present... This year I made a "breakfast tray", a jar of home-made lemon curd, a jar home made strawberry jam, freshly ground coffee, some tea samples, home made cinnamon rolls, candles, a bottle home made mint infused lemon cordial, and a cornbread that is not on the pic yet because it's still cooling... (re: the empty spot on the front), I think I might add a small bottle of prosecco!

Lemon Bacardi Cordial

Simple delicious pick me up.

Lemon cordial Bacardi

1 quantity of lemon cordial, chilled

1 quantitiy of white rum

top up with carbonated water to taste

ice

I just dumped in an ice cube but if you're going to serve this at a summer party, crushed ice and a sprig of lemon balm or mint would be so festive!

Yesterday night when I tried it on a whim I had some strawberry juice left in the bowl.... added it... yum!

Slow Cooker Lemon cordial

Finally! I'm the proud owner of a slow cooker. It has taken me some time to find, or rather, to make up my mind to know if I really really needed another appliance in my kitchen. I wanted one, thought I could use one (ha!), Tante Pink told me I needed one, Ulrike was so very kind to mail me all kinds of recipes already... And since I got back to having a paid -parttime- job I decided I had an excuse. Of course I won't tell anyone that I could do just as well using the programming/timer function on my oven, prepare a casserole, put it in the oven in the morning, set the program and it automatically switches on, cooks and switches off at the set time. 

I asked around, searched the internet, looked at prices, brands and was even more undecided. Which brand? Which size? Ordering via Germany is way cheaper but the postage... Went looking for one when in Germany in February, no luck. Put the whole idea to rest.

Then all of a sudden we had a child-less day and decided to go to Amsterdam, visit the special exhibition in the van Gogh museum, strolled around the city, had a leisurely lunch and of course browsed bookshops. I bought a slow cooker book. Strolled around some more, visited another bookshop, bought some more cookbooks. Slowly an idea formed...surely there was a cookshop here that opened on Sunday?

The familiar ones didn't but on our way back to the car I remembered another shop, close to where I used to work back in the old days and yes it was open, yes they had a slow cooker. Just one brand, just one size.

All my carefully researched ideas overboard, bought the one they had. The shopkeeper asked us to watch the store while he ran to the other side of the street to get it. We walked 2 miles with an ungainly package. Impulsive buyer? Me?

That evening I made lemon curd (recipe to follow shortly), the next morning I tried my hand at lemonade. We all loved the flavour, there's still some left in the fridge and secretly I'm thinking of buying a bottle of wodka... wouldn't that be nice?

Lemon Cordial

(Sarah Lewis Slowcooker)

3 lemons, washed and thinkly sliced

625 gr sugar

900 ml boiling water

25 gr (1oz) tartaric acid

To serve and decorate: mint or lemon balm

All ingredients except tartaric acid together in the slow cooker pot, stir to dissolve almost all of the sugar. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.

Reduce heat to low and cook for another 2-3 hours until lemons are almost translucent. Switch off and stir in the tartaric acid. Leave to cool.

Remove and discard almost all of the sliced lemons, keeping a few and transfer cordial to sterilized bottle or jars. Seal well and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.

To serve; dillute with water to taste, adding ice cubes and optionally add sprigs of fresh mint or lemon balm. Cheers!

Apple Cider jelly

apple stem, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

Recipe:
1 kg tart cooking apples
4 oranges
4 cloves
1 liter sweet cider
cold water
450 gr sugar used on 600 ml juice (measure juice, calculate amount of sugar to use)

Preferrably use organic fruit, otherwise scrub fruit thoroughly to get rid of any unwanted chemicals! Cut up all fruit, peels and cores and all. Using a large pot, add cloves and cider to fruit pieces and fill up with water. Use sufficient water to top the fruit, don't let it swim. Bring to a soft boil and let simmer for 1 hour or until the fruit is really soft. (water needs to be bubbling a bit).

Use either a jelly bag or a clean teatowel (double piece of cheesecloth) and a sieve above a bowl to extract all the juices. This can take well up to a couple of hours or maybe overnight (just cover and keep it on the counter).

Measure the juice and add sugar accordingly. Boil the mixture on low heat to dissolve sugar crystals, then up the heat to high and bring to a rolling boil for about 10 minutes (temperature needs to be 105C/220F. Watch out for splatters and boiling over, use a pot with high sides! You might want to get rid of any foam forming on the surface, use a skimmer.
To make sure the jelly has sufficiently thickened spoon a little on a very cold plate and see if it forms a nice jellied drop.

Proceed to can, I use sterilized jam pots and lids, pour the still boiling hot fluid in and tighten the lid, put them upside down for a couple of minutes and leave to cool.

This jelly is very good with pork, on toast, with breakfast and your Christmas Stollen, or use it in apple pie!

Other posts:
Apfelstrudel
Appel sinasappel gelei zelfde recept in het Nederlands
Apple-citrus syrup
Christmas Stollen!

It all depends on where you stand, near raspberry bushes?

Every now and then I wonder. A foodie? Me? As in most cases it depends on where you stand, or rather where the people around you stand. Those little boxes with neat labels on it are usually made by other people not yourself. Perception. Nice word. I like that. It could be something I live by.

By some standards I am. A foodie, a foodnerd, crazy, gadgetfreak or simply difficult or would-be. On the other hand, I know I'm too frugal to pay an outrageous amount of money for something you stick in your mouth and is gone forever. Story of my life; trying to keep a balance and by that never belonging or fitting in one category or the other. Hmm, as I said.. story of my life.

Why all this? Because we had a very nice and very simple dessert yesterday which I deemed not blogworthy due to the simplicity of it. On the other hand I see blogposts stating the obvious (my obvious that is, you know: perception) and every once in a while I think ha, I make that but never would post it... As of now I will try and be less firm with myself.

So what did we have after dinner? A small bowl of nice thick Turkish yoghurt dressed in vibrant red; our first raspberries. In this heat the darned fruity flies almost got to it first so here's what I did to prevent that.

In a small saucepan heat

4 tbs water

5 tbs sugar

cook until sugar dissolves, add

a hand full raspberries (I do have big hands!)

continue cooking for a couple of minutes while gently stirring/pressing with a wooden spoon.

Mind, it wasn't jam I was after, just preserving the fruit for immediate use, today or tomorrow. Resulting in a nice thick syrup, either put it through a sieve to get rid of the seeds or eat as it is. I used a colander which removed the better part of the seeds.

WTSIM: Tied with a string (strawberry jam / aardbeienjam)

Waiter, there is something berried under my paper hat... and why is that? Because this is another round of Waiter There's Something In My... Berries hosted by Cooksister. Strawberry jam was on my mind when we picked our baskets of strawberries.
The Christine Ferber recipe I used is languishly spread over three days, but the work is minimal and I think it's perfect for the days when that fruit on the counter is to be used right now, but you can't find the time to actually do anything with it. The moment the fruit is mixed with sugar and lemon juice it's safe from spoiling and macerating the fruit does extract a lot of yummy juices. Loved this method.

Recipe:
(Source: Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber)

1kg strawberry (net)
800g granulated sugar (I used less, around 600 grams)
Juice of 1 small lemon (I used more, 1.1/2 large lemon)
5 fresh mint leaves
5 black peppercorns, freshly ground

Day 1. Rinse the strawberries under cold water. Quickly towel them dry and hull them. Hulling strawberries after you wash them saves them from absorbing water but you knew that right?). I halved the small ones, quartered the really big ones and left the really small ones whole.

In a ceramic bowl, mix strawberries with lemon juice and sugar, stir to combine, cover with parchment paper and let macerate overnight in a cool place or in the fridge.

On Day 2 Tip strawberry mixture in a large pan, and bring to a simmer. Once simmering pour the mixture right back into the dish, again cover with parchment paper, and let rest in the refrigerator overnight.

Day 3 Prepare your jars by washing them and their lids thoroughly, fill and soak them in boiling hot water for around 10 minutes and leave to dry upside down on a clean towel. Pour the mixture through a sieve, and bring the syrup to a boil. Let boil for 10 minutes or until your thermometer reaches 105C (221F). If you wish you could skim the foam on the surface, I don't.

Add strawberries, mint and pepper.

Boil again for another 5 minutes, stirring every once in a while. Test to see if the jam is firm enough by putting a drop of jam on a saucer that has been in the freezer. If it wrinkles when you push with a careful finger it's done. Or, you could tilt the saucer to see if the jam sets. Proceed boiling until the jam reaches the desired consistency.

Pour the jam into the jars until almost full, wiping off any spilled jam with a clean cloth. Close the lids. Set upside down for 10 minutes and let cool completely before storing in a cool and dark place.Strawberry recipes:
- strawberry meringue cake
- strawberry mirror cake
- strawberry mango jam
- peanutbutter-jelly cookies

Blood Orange Curd / Bloedsinasappel-boter

(scroll down for English!)

Bij gebrek aan een andere naam noem ik het boter, een rins-zoet smeersel, uitstekend op een simpele geroosterde boterham of een beschuitje maar ook erg lekker door de yoghurt. Het perfecte tussenlaagje -of toplaagje- voor cakes, kortom, gewoon een keer maken.

Ondanks dat er dingen in voorkomen zoals au bain marie, evt een thermometer en rauwe eieren is het echt niet zo eng als het klinkt. Geloof me nu maar.

Bloed sinasappel Curd

190 gr suiker

4 eieren (m)

200 ml sap totaal (sap van 1 citroen, aangevuld met sap van ca 4 bloedsinasappels)

rasp van 2 citroenen

190 gr boter op kamertemperatuur

optioneel: 1 tl oranjebloesemwater en een paar druppels sinasappel extract

Vul een grote pan met water en breng dat aan de kook. In een metalen kom die precies in de pan past (en dus net met zijn onderkantje boven dat kokende water hangt) meng je de suiker met de citroenrasp. Daar voeg je de eieren aan toe, terwijl je met de garde gaat roeren. Voeg nu het sap toe. Blijven kloppen, flinke bewegingen, dit mengsel moet echt in actie blijven.

Als je een thermometer hebt, blijf je kloppen totdat het mengsel een temperatuur van 82C bereikt. (Pasteurisatie) Heb je geen thermometer, dan blijf je kloppen en kijken naar je garde, het mengsel wordt dikker en op een bepaald moment zie je dat je garde sporen achterlaat in de crème. (De draden van de garde laten streepjes zien).

Als dat punt bereikt is mag de kom van de pan en ga je van het vuur af de crème zeven door een fijnmazige zeef om alle citrus sliertjes kwijt te raken. Nu kan de crème in een blender en al draaiend voeg je in blokjes de boter toe. Flinke poos laten draaien -zo'n 3-5 minuten-, en in schone droge potten overdoen. Goed afsluiten en in de koelkast bewaren. Waarschijnlijk kun je hetzelfde effect bereiken met een keukenmachine of een staafmixer maar dat heb ik niet uitgeprobeerd.

Variaties op een thema: uiteraard met citroen, limoen of bijv. cranberries is ook erg lekker.

Blood Orange Curd

190 gr sugar
4 eggs (m)
3/4 cup (200 ml) juice combined (fresh juice from 1 lemon, plus fresh blood orange juice)
zest 2 lemons (or zest from 4 blood oranges, I liked the tarter lemon for this)
190 gr butter, roomtemperature
optional: 1 ts orange blossom water, a few drops orange extract

This is adapted from an adaption etc., you know how things go, we are all but a few recipes away from someone famous; Tanna pointed me in this direction (granted, I needed multiple pointers to finally do it, she has made some with cranberries, lemon and lime) but eventually I summoned enough courage to finally do it. And you know what? It's easy! This recipe comes via Pierre Hermé through Dorie Greenspan to Tanna and now me. How's that for namedropping and eh, connections?

Basically I did what she told me to do, using a little less sugar and a little less butter. Use your biggest pan, fill halfway with water and bring it to a boil. Find a bowl that fits in that pan just right, bottom almost touching the boiling water, and combine sugar and zest, pushing this around with a spoon to infuse the sugar with the lemon fragrance. Add the whole eggs and start whisking. Add the juices and keep that whisk going. Move it!

Keep the mixture above that boiling water until the temperature reaches 180F/82C -which is on my thermometer "pasteurize" so don't worry about the eggs). Remove from the heat at that point. A tell tale sign is when your whisk leaves traces/marks in the thickened cream. Sieve trough a metal fine-meshed sieve, with a little help from the whisk it's easy to get rid of the zest.

Now, pour in a blender and add the butter in chunks while running it on medium speed. Continue for 3-5 minutes. The cream is sufficiently thickened but still warm so it will firm up nicely in the fridge. Use clean dry glass jars with a lid and keep in the fridge. This creamy curd is a huge success in our family! I will make this more often from now on. Love it!

It smells like... marmalade en het is.....siroop!

In het Nederlands? Even scrollen!This big pot of fruit and herbs cooking on the stove is about the only thing that tickles my nose at the moment.

Apart from the smell one of the cute little kitties left in my son's basket ball shoe last night that is...I did smell that..briefly... Happens that one them escaped up the stairs and was accidently locked up in the room by basketball shoes owning son and it happened that she well .. er.. had to go. In her distress she left a ..er.. scent mark in said shoes...

Having cats in the house works miracles for dotting the i's and crossing the t's in terms of training your kids. Close the doors behind your back, tidy your stuff, don't leave any food out, drink your milk.... As in any training there are these little setbacks.

Where was I... the wonderful smell of apples and clementines cooking...

I used about
1 kg of clementines
a pound of cooking apples
both just washed (don't peel, don't core) chopped in large pieces
toss in two or three large sprigs of lemon balm, top with water (slightly under a liter) and cook until soft. This will take an hour or so.

Line a colander with cloth, or use a jelly bag and strain for at least a couple of hours or overnight. Add sugar (ratio 400 grams of sugar to 600 ml of juice) and cook again until set stage. Or... as I did, stop just before you reach that point and be rewarded with a wonderful orange marmalade syrup. Lovely on pancakes and french toast or drizzled on cake or pumpkin pie. Had some in my tea the other day...mmmm

Clementines are a nice diversion from oranges in this marmalade, they are very juicy and their thin skins provide the right amount of tang without being too in your face that a real orange marmalade can have.

In het Nederlands:
Een siroop gemaakt van mandarijntjes, die hele kleintjes (clementines) die op dit moment volop in de winkels liggen en een deel zure moesappels. Clementines hebben die mooie dunne schil die ervoor zorgt dat het fris genoeg is zonder de "volwassen" smaak van de echte marmelade met de reepjes sinasappelschil.

Simpel genoeg:
1 kilo clementines (gewassen en grof gehakt)
1 pond moesappels (gewassen en grof gehakt)
2 of 3 grote takjes citroenmelisse
ong. 1 liter water, misschien iets minder

Voor het opkoken: gebruik 400 gram suiker op 6 dl sap.

De vruchten worden met schil en klokhuis/pitten en al gebruikt dus het is een kwestie van wassen en hakken, in de pan, het water erop en zachtjes laten koken tot alle vruchten zacht zijn. Even porren en pletten met een houten lepel, je voelt het vanzelf. Duurt ongeveer een uurtje.

Dan laten uitlekken. Gebruik hiervoor een geleizak op pootjes (stoer!) of gewoon een vergiet boven een kom. Het vergiet bekleed je met een uitgespoelde theedoek of, als je dat hebt, een dubbele laag kaasdoek. Rustig laten uitlekken, duurt een paar uur, je kunt het gewoon ook een nachtje laten staan. Vooral de zak niet uitknijpen want dan wordt je sap troebel. (Heb ik natuurlijk wel gedaan....ik had weer haast en ik kon het niet laten...maakt niets uit voor de smaak, is puur voor het mooi).

Dan meet je het sap af en gebruikt per 6 dl sap ong. 400 gram suiker. Zachtjes laten opkoken en borrelend laten koken tot het stollingspunt bereikt is. In dit geval voor de siroop heb ik het iets eerder van het vuur gehaald. Laat je het langer doorkoken dan wordt het echt gelei: smeerbaar. In dit geval heb ik siroop: gietbaar en erg lekker op flensjes, wentelteefjes of over cake. Of, als je strontverkouden bent (wie? ik?) erg lekker in de thee!

A taste of Yellow

A little side step from the green I have been feeding you with, but stay tuned there is more green to come.

Yellow is omnipresent at the moment, everywhere you look in blogs yellow is the colour that jumps out. Barbara at winos and foodies started "a taste of yellow" in which she asks all bloggers to participate by making a dish containing some type of yellow food, to commemorate Livestrong Day 2007 on May 16th.

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's (LAF) grassroots advocacy initiative to unify people affected by cancer and to raise awareness about cancer survivor ship issues on a national level and in local communities across the country. LIVESTRONG Day 2007 will occur on Wednesday, May 16.

As Barbara states in her post: there isn't a person in the world who hasn't been touched by cancer in some way. I wish it weren't so true.

The quinces above were bought at the Farmer's market last year when they were in season, but proved to be very difficult to work with. Their fragrance when they were still in their bowl so lovely, but once I made quince butter....it all but disappeared, leaving a bland pinkish yellow product. I expected to get a more prominent flavour, resembling the sweet fragrance and was a little disappointed. I definitely will try this again, maybe seek out another variety of quinces. This was the recipe I used then.

Quince jelly-butter with coriander
(for conversions please refer to chart on the right hand side)

1 kg quinces, (scrubbed, in pieces; incl. core and peel)
1 tbs coriander seeds
juice and pips of 2 big lemons
equal amounts of water and sugar approx. 900 grams

Combine all ingredients but the sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and let cook for some 1,5 hours. Once the fruit is thoroughly cooked, sieve it through a fine-meshed sieve covered with cheese cloth (or use a jelly bag). This could take a couple of hours to a whole night.
Measure the recovered juice and add sugar. As a rule I use 400-450 grams of sugar to 600 grams of juice. Warm juice and sugar over low heat until sugar has dissolved, on medium to high heat let the mixture cook another 10-15 minutes until a drop forms of your spoon or the internal temperature reaches 105C. Proceed to ladle the jelly into sterilized jars and close the lids. For directions on how to sterilize jars I'll gladly refer you to all information accessible through the internet.

Although I postponed my post then to have a chance to try again, I choose to post it now anyway. Why? Because in ancient times quinces were believed to be a symbol of love, happiness and fertility.

Live Strong!

Pineapple Chutney

This post is all about shelve items. As it is, chutney is only going to get better when you leave it alone for a while. The recipe was on the shelve for some time. The post was on the shelve. Even the pineapples were laying about for a couple of days, here's why.

On a Saturday market day I found two beautiful pineapples and knowing Floris and I love fresh pineapple took them home. We enjoyed a bowl of fresh slices and then I started to think, what if I made a pineapple upside down tart? Did the tarte tatin once, even made a pear upside down but never used pineapple....

I don't know what it is in this blogging world, but all of a sudden there were upside down cakes all over the place! Not wanting to be accused of copy-catting ;-) the fruit went back on the window sill. Rested my head in my hands and resumed fretting.

Cake? Nah. Bavaroise? Fresh pineapple and gelatin, no good! Candied pineapple? Hmm, not this time. Chutney! Yes! I love to make chutney. My family loves me for making chutney. They don't. They hate the vinegar wafting through the house, they don't even like to eat it. Why do I keep making it? I don't know. Luckily my parents and Dear Husband and myself love chutney, with cheese platters, paté, or grilled anything....

This is what I did:

Pineapple Chutney

350 gr pineapple (in small chunks)
220 gr apple (small cubes)
100 gr dates (in stripes)
½ ts piment (allspice)*
pinch cardamom (or 2 crushed pods)
pinch chili powder
½ ts salt
175 ml white wine vinegar but cider vinegar would be good too
150 gr light brown muscovado sugar
50 gr golden raisins

Makes 3 jars of chutney

In heavy saucepan, mix all ingredients except sugar and raisins. Cook over high heat until boiling, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are softened, add sugar and raisins and continue cooking until pineapple is tender and mixture has thickened, about 20-30 minutes. Try pulling your spoon over the bottom of your pan, the gap it makes shouldn't fill up again. (Or dip your spoon in the mixture, with your finger make a stripe on the back of the spoon, this should not fill either).

Edit 1: As Anapestic reminded me: I store the chutney in the pantry. I ladle the hot chutney into hot sterilized jars and seal. Jars upside down for a couple of minutes to make sure every inch is sterilized.

Here's another chutney project using mangoes, it appears we both like our chutney to have the same qualities, on the sweet side with a hint of sour and still having some crunch to it. Funny thing is that I was rather disappointed at the dark colour of my chutney where Christine would like to have her chutney a touch darker...maybe we should swap?

*Edit 2: And Tanna pinpointed my confusion... proper names! I used a ground spice we in the Netherlands call "piment" which my ever so thoughtful spelling checker corrected as pimento...

So this morning I went back and checked with foodsubs which provides us with pictures and descriptions. Ashleigh helped out here as well, thanks!

Can you can?

That’s the question Nicky and Oliver asked when hosting Sugar High Friday at their beautiful blog Delicious Days. You will find the round-up on or around August 28th. The answer? If I can, you can! Maybe these video podcasts help when you are just starting.
Now to make pictures that image the coral red of a newborn red grapefruit marmelade. Or find the words to describe the anxiety to pick the right moment of jelling. The simple goodness of the whole thing; just fruit and sugar. No sugarthermometer in this house, so I rely on the old saucer-in-the-freezer trick or spoon-makes-a-ridge on the bottom of the pan, or jellied drops forming on the spoon. Whenever I make jam or jelly I think of my Oma who used to make jam from whatever left-over fruit she had, just the odd little jar from two nectarines and a lemon. She is no longer there to enjoy mine, so I bore the rest of my family and friends with the fruit of my labouring. I still find myself reserving the smallest jar for her though.

Anyway, this month's Sugar High Friday is all about preserving. Do you think I can get away by telling them my I can't find my camera? Have you seen their pictures... Still, I'd like to participate so....(Which one, which one? Grapefruit honeyed marmelade, plum with walnuts and cognac, red pepper jelly, apple chutney or tomato relish or the family favourite: blackberry jelly. Decision time!)
And the winner is...

Plum Walnut jam
2 kg plums
300 ml water
2 thin cinnamon sticks
1.5 kg sugar (I used “jelly sugar” sugar with added pectin)
100 gr walnuts, chopped
4 tbs cognac

Quarter the plums, destone, separately bring stones and water to a full boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Sieve, discard the stones, the water is used in the jam.
In a large non-aluminum kettle, combine plums, water, cinnamon sticks and boiled water. Bring to a full boil, stirring every now and then for 10 minutes until plums are softened.
Stir in sugar and let dissolve on low heat. Return to full boil. Boil for 10-20 minutes (stir once in a while). Remove from heat, discard cinnamon and add chopped walnuts and cognac, stir carefully to mix.

Meanwhile, sterilize your jars or jelly glasses and the necessary lids, according to manufacturer's directions. Divide jam among sterilized jars, leaving 1/8-inch space at top of jar. Wipe rims of jars to remove any jam and seal. Before using store in a dark cool place for 1 month.Keeps 1 year. Yield: 2 ltr

Pomelo

Pomelo with red grapefruit and lemon

I was going to ask you if you were familiar with this giant green fellow, but then I ruined it by posting yesterday and mention the pomelo inners there...
Anyway I enjoyed myself this week by asking any unsuspecting visitor of my house: do you know what this is, look and feel! So, yes, it is a pomelo indeed. I had to ask the greengrocer what it was called and brought it home, set it in front of the computer and googled. (Yes Mr. Google I did use your search engine so I am entitled to use the verb "to google").

The pomelo is the largest member of the citrus fruits and grows throughout Asia, Malaysia, Tahiti, New Guinea, and Fiji. It is also now grown in the Caribbean and in the United States, in California and Florida. Like grapefruits, they can range from almost seedless to very seedy, from juicy to dry, from sweet to sour. It is sweeter than a grapefruit and can be eaten fresh, although membranes around the segments should be peeled.
This is what I found....and tried to do....pooh, did I wrestle the green giant! The skin is very tough and the membranes are even tougher, I really had to work hard. But I liked the taste, not overly sour, mine wasn't especially juicy but had a nice mouthfeel. Will I buy it again? Nah, don't think so. Too much hard work.
It is said that pomelos are especially popular for Chinese New Year. The Chinese believe the Pomelo is a sign of prosperity and good fortune - good things will happen if they eat it. Can't wait!

Surfing the net you will find lots of recipes featuring the pomelo in mostly salads and the odd dessert (although in Asia it is used mainly in desserts), more info and a recipe for candied pomelo peel you will find here but maybe you would like to read this nice site where Su-Mei Yu shares Thai recipes and memories.
Well what did I use it for? Besides the pieces-for-the-cook (and her little helpers) the main part of the pomelo featured in a salad which I will bring to a party.....

Blackberry jelly - Bramengelei

Jewels on rusks (beschuit)

This is not much of a recipe as well as a guideline, since I used the remaining amount of blackberries and made some pectine out of the left-overs of a Pomelo I attacked in the morning. Never let things waste!
Cooking by the seat of my pan(t)s, here is what I did:

First I boiled the plum stones and the inner part of the pomelo (membranes and some clinging flesh) in water, let it boil and reduce for about 10-15 minutes. Put through a sieve, discard and the boiling water added to:

190 gr pectin water
760 gr blackberries
2 red plums, quartered, destoned
2 ts juniperberries, crushed

On high heat, boil till plums are really soft and the blackberries are almost falling apart. Use a jelly bag or a layer of cheesecloth to extract juice.

Measure the juice into a kettle, I had approx. 450 ml and topped it off with a raspberry-berry wine to 500 ml. Add 330 grms of sugar and stir well. Starting on low heat till sugar dissolves, then boil over high heat until jelly mixture forms slow drops from your spoon. Remove from heat and spoon into hot sterilized containers and seal.
This resulted in a beautiful jewel dark purplish jelly with a real powerful flavour.

Mango and Strawberry

Zaterdag marktdag...
Aardbeien, koolrabi, courgettes, paprika's, een kist (!) mango, sla, broccoli, en niet op de foto: 2 kilo asperges voor 3,--!
Echtgenoot staat nu -á ce moment ci- de asperges te schillen voor vanavond en zojuist heb ik geïnspireerd door deze foto aardbeien-mango jam gemaakt.

Aardbeien Mango jam

350 gr aardbeien
700 gr mango
450 gr geleisuiker
3 el citroensap
1/2 sinasappel geperst (of een paar druppels sinasappel aroma)
snufje gemberpoeder

Aardbeien schoonmaken en in kwarten snijden, mango's (manga?) schillen en in stukjes snijden. (Haha, dat is mij dus nog nooit gelukt, als iemand een goede tip heeft om rijpe mango netjes schoon te maken, ik hou me aanbevolen).
Alles samenvoegen in een grote pan en aan de kook brengen. Dit is voor het eerst dat ik geleisuiker gebruikt heb, en ondanks dat de verpakking zegt: 1 kilo suiker op 1 kilo fruit ben ik eigenwijs geweest en heb veel minder gebruikt, ik proef graag fruit in mijn jam en niet alleen suiker. Onder voortdurend roeren laten koken, afhankelijk van welke suiker je gebruikt een minuut of vijf voor de geleisuiker, iets langer voor gewone suiker. In twijfelgevallen: leg een schoteltje in de diepvries, als een druppel jam hier niet op uitloopt maar min of meer vast blijft -je kunt er rimpeltjes in duwen met je vingertop- is het goed.
Nogmaals ik weet nog niet of de jam met deze hoeveelheid suiker goed stijf wordt, maar in alle gevallen: hij is heerlijk! Absoluut geweldige combinatie van smaken. Ik heb alle lepels en de pan uitgelikt....

PS: oh ja, ik heb hiervan 4 potten jam, twee met stukjes erin en twee na het koken nog door de passe-vite (roerzeef) gedraaid en dus meer moes.

In English:
Strawberry Mango Jam
350 gr strawberries
700 gr mango
450 gr pectinsugar (or regular sugar)
3 el lemonjuice
1/2 orange juice (or a few drops orange extract)
snufje ginger powder

Proceed to cook like any jam or jelly recipe. I used a passe vite to further puree the fruit, you can also use a blender before you start cooking. This quantity makes 4 jars.
I have to admit I scraped the pot and cooking utensils and literally licked my fingers. This combination of fruit is just great!

I was planning on using the other mango for eating solely or may be a few jars of mango-date chutney but...it could be that there will be another pot of jam boiling tomorrow.

And..we scored 2 kilograms of asparagus for only 3,-- euros! Tadaaa, asparagus tonight with eggs and ham and baked potatoes, and strawberries for dessert, some vanilla icecream with strawberry-mango jam topping?
Summer is here!

PS: my dear familymembers insisted that I put this picture up. Please meet my new market help....the old ladies shopping cart...they will walk a few steps behind me from now on.

Kiss a lemon

And be happy!

Three weeks ago I started a lemon scented olive oil. It's ready now and kissable. The idea is from Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice and she posts about it here in a series dedicated to the lemon.

Basically all you need is a lemon and a cup of extra virgin olive oil. The one I used was a bit grassy (yes it should be greasy, grassy as in green) next time a will use a milder type oil. Tonight there will be a aspargus torte and I think the oil will find a place...

I copied the recipe, but please check out Cream Puffs!

Lemon Oil
Recipe from Lemon Zest by Lori Longbotham.
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (try and use unwaxed lemons if you can find them)
Pour the olive into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Add the lemon zest and seal the jar. Shake well.
Refrigerate the oil and lemon for at least three weeks. Once or twice a day give the jar a shake. If the oil hardens in the refrigerator, simply take it out and let it sit for a bit at room temperature and it will return to liquid form.
After three weeks, strain the oil through a sieve. Pour the oil into a jar and store in the refrigerator. It's now ready to use in salad dressings, with vegetables, or however you choose.
Enjoy!

Kiwi fruit Jam

Kiwi fruit was on offer last week, ate two, son nr. 1 ate 2. And that was it. I could have guessed, other family members aren't wild about kiwi.. So I peeled and diced 9 kiwi's (ate another one), cooked it with sugar and some lemon-juice, added some lemon zest. In the process of cooking the kiwi turned pale of shock...
hmmm doesn't look appetizing at all. Dashed into the basement, few drops of food colouring did the trick. And hey presto, kiwi jam! Filled two jars and in a stroke of genius (pfff) added a shot of limoncello, stirred. Son nr. 1 loved it in his yoghurt and on bread. Emptied one jar in 4 days....the other jar was a present for a friend... It sure looked pretty.

Appel-Sinasappelgelei

(same recipe in English please click!)
Recept:
1 kg zure moesappels
4 sinasappels
4 hele kruidnagels
1 liter appelsap (of zoete cider)

koud water
450 gr suiker op 6 dl sap

Appels en sinasappels goed afboenen (of gebruik biologisch fruit, dan ook nog even wassen). Hak het fruit in grove stukken. (Inderdaad, met schil, klokhuis en al). Doe ze met kruidnagels en appelsap of cider in een grote pan met dikke bodem. Voeg zoveel water toe dat het fruit net onder staat. Let op: het fruit gaat enigszins drijven, zodat je geneigd bent teveel water te gebruiken. Niet doen, dat gaat ten koste van de smaak! De bedoeling is dat er vocht genoeg is om niet droog te koken of aan te zetten.

Breng het mengsel aan de kook, doe het deksel op de pan en laat alles onder af en toe roeren 1 uur zachtjes koken. Het ruikt echt heerlijk!

Officieel zou je nu het fruit en vocht in een gesteriliseerde geleizak moeten laten uitlekken. Heb ik ook niet, ik gebruik een schone theedoek, uitgespoeld met heet water en hang deze in een grote zeef boven een nog grotere kom. Goed laten uitlekken, dat kan heel lang duren, minstens een paar uur, je kunt het ook afdekken met een schone theedoek en gewoon een nacht laten staan. Voor de laatste druppels roer je even met een houten lepel door het vergiet, of -niet bang zijn voor vieze handen- je pakt de theedoek bij de punten en knijpt!

Intussen heb je natuurlijk je pan schoongemaakt ;) . Meet de uitgelekte vloeistof af en gebruik ca. 450 g suiker op 6 dl sap. Het mag voor mijn smaak iets minder suiker zijn.

Het sap met de suiker in de pan al roerend verwarmen op laag vuur tot de suiker is opgelost. Laat de gelei dan 10 minuten koken. En dan bedoel ik ook echt koken, niet halfhartig pruttelen want dan gebeurt er niets. Voorzichtig voor spetters en overkoken! Er kan zich schuim vormen op het oppervlak, dat kun je met een schuimspaan weghalen.
Om te zien of de gelei dik genoeg is doe je de truc met het schoteltje of je moet de beschikking hebben over een thermometer (dan 105grC). Dik genoeg? Dan pan van het vuur en overdoen in warme gesteriliseerde potten. Direct afsluiten en 10 min. op de kop zetten. Weer rechtop, af laten koelen.

Bewaren: max. 18 maanden op een koele donkere plek. Geopende potten zijn in de koelkast nog ca. 3 maanden houdbaar. Lekker op -geroosterd- krentenbrood, scones, maar ook bij varkensvlees, een likje op een boterham met kaas, gewoon op brood....