Plum Chutney, worth more than a song...

Sunday morning, lain in bed, nursing toothache with an array of Cloves, Whisky, Ice-cubes, Painkillers, anything to hand… and quite draped in the fumes of vinegar rising from the kitchen.

I will sing and sing again for a Chutney, that Anglo-Indian concoction, accompaniment to many a meal.  Yet, Amelia’s Plum Chutney deserves more than a song:  

Rich, magenta, thick with Plumchunks, it somehow retains an almost rawfruit texture whilst being quite the most gloopy Chutney one could dream of.  Smother it on cheese, offer to friends at breakfast, spread on toast when alone or slather over rich meats for a medieval feel… 

She produced a remaining jar in Spring and we’d quite finished it in a day… so, this year, nudging over a box of Early Rivers Plums.  I left her too it:

Stone and halve or quarter 1.5 kilos Plums.  Chop three Apples and Two Onions.  Place the lot in a Jam Pan with a couple of Star Anise, a stick of Cinnamon, Peppercorns and coarse Salt.  Add 750ml Cider-Vinegar and 500g Raw Cane (or Demerara) Sugar.  Bring, stirring, to the boil, then simmer steadily for several hours, stirring to prevent sticking.  The chutney is ready when dark and sludgy, a wooden spoon will stand-up in it unaided.  Pot in sterilised jars and leave at least a month to mature.

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For other Chutney and Pickle recipes and posts see: Chutneys n Pickles

Last night: A Huddled Banquet.

As yester'eve, the winds began to whirl, the rain to spill, the fires were lit and a simple summer supper became rather a huddled banquet.

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Merguez on Puy Lentils

To commence: 

Sortov Brawn from De-Lish on Spelt and Linseed Sourdough with Sweet Pickled Cucumber

Followed by:

Merguez (De-Lish again) on Puy Lentils with Broad Beans

Grilled Courgettes amd Baby Leeks

Mange-Tout

Caraway and Balsamic roasted Beetroot

Goat's Yogurt with Spring Onion and Land-Cress

that Pickled Beetroot

Courgettes from the garden

Pickled Beetroot (see Recipe)

Then:

Mulled Pears

Welsh and French Goat's Cheeses

Chocolate/Almond Brownie

Panier of gifts from A and N...

in that brown-paper-package-tied-up-with-string: 
an Almond/Chocolate Brownie, baked at break o' dawn...

A Birthday Banquet, and Norfolk Black Turkey Egg n’ Nettle Quiche with a Spelt Pastry.

Menu:

Tea and Wholemeal Honey Cake (as per River Cottage Everyday), an Amelia variation.

HomeMade Hummus and Peter’s Yard Crackerbreads

Sardines and Asparagus bathed only in Balsamic and Olive Oil, placed thus, dripping onto the fire.

Wild-Garlic-Pesto Bread – a simple white Flat Yeast Bread rolled, risen and baked with the last scrapings of the Garlic Pesto.

Rosemary Foccacia (as above, but with Rosemary and Sél de Guérande)

Mandy’s Garden Salad: Sorrel, Ground Elder, Mint, Lettuces, Red-veined Sorrel (oh glorious!), Marjoram, Chive Flowers

Andy and Nick’s beauteous salady concoctions in equally beauteous bowls.

Norfolk Cordial’s Rhubarb and Elderflower Jelly-in-a-Jug

Coffee-Chocolate Mousse

And a Quiche…

I of course failed to take pics, ‘til the following day.  One only, of the remains of the quiche, kindly taken by Sophie Goodenough.

Norfolk Black Turkey Egg n’ Nettle Quiche with a Spelt Pastry.

Amidst the jewels at our multifarious roadside stalls: half a dozen Norfolk Black Turkey Eggs, mottled beige, larger than a duck’s and almost pointed.  So for the birthday cook-up we put our coins in the tin and took them home.

Amelia made a scrumptious wholemeal Spelt Pastry (Letheringsett Mill Wholemeal Spelt Flour, Cold Butter, Cold water)… and blind-baked it.  We then fried up half an onion in butter, added a large bowl of Nettle-Tops, Dandelion Leaves, Radish tops, rinsed… and let them wilt in the butter.  To bulk up the tart we split a few asparagus lengthways and laid them in the base.  Then, we beat four Turkey Eggs with crème fraiche, salt and pepper.  Tossed the filling together and poured in on top of the asparagus, to be then baked at about 180C for forty minutes.  And what a dreamy rich and sustaining quiche ‘twas, even providing a substantial morning-after breakfast.

"That tart was delicious! 
I wanted to dive into the picture and eat some..."
Photo by Norfolk photographer and designer Sophie Goodenough (@sophiegoodas)

Sourdough Skill-Share

Camilla Storm's lovely pictures of Sourdough Skill-Sharing on Patrick Whitefield's Sustainable Land Use Course at Ragman's Lane Farm in Gloucestershire.

And some comments once back home:

I would like to report a thoroughly successful sour dough experience in my kitchen! I was worried the starter may explode on the hot train journey, but it endured and Doug is fully won over on the lovely loaves :) thanks so much ladies - the mother dough lineage continues! (Cari)

I have also had a great time with the bread, and passed the skill on to my daughters (and blogged about it here should anybody be interested)  and they love the bread and have been extolling its virtues at school! (Jackie)

I have used your sour dough with my conventional process (not wet) and it has worked very well producing a delicious bread. (M)
 
Made up some bread last weekend but managed to badly burn it in the electric oven. Trying again this weekend, in the AGA, after I've cleaned the burner. (R)

Photographs courtesy of Camilla Storm

Sourdough-a-dough-dough

 

Sourdough Muffins chez Ed 'n' Ali

 

Banqueting yester’ eve with permacultural friends, Ali and Ed, so-sadly-so-soon fleeing the county, ‘midst the household gifts offered in flight, (hosepipe, tentpoles, belt, all of utter usefulness) a screw-top jar of: Rye Sourdough Starter.

This starter is reputed to be over twenty years old, gleaned from deepest Russia by Andrew Whitley (of chef-d’oeuvre Bread Matters), gifted through many hands, to now reach my own. 

I have stirred it up (Starter, Organic Rye Flour, Water, Salt) into a very wet mix, and it sits rising downstairs.  Rye is low in gluten so doesn’t have to be kneaded and stretched like high-gluten doughs, and as Mr Whitley says, it turns out like concrete unless it is very wet…

Only a fortnight before had I first tasted this Rye Sourdough, and fallen to my knees in a plea for a fistful of the stuff, on that occasion Ed had solved the issue of wet-sourdough rolls by stuffing the wed-kneaded dough into muffin trays…(see pic)

Slow-risen the flavour develops fully, the Rye has sharp nutty taste and the sourness gives it a real depth, like a blackbread of Eastern Europe.

Last night’s loaves had hollow backs, they had slightly sunk in cooking.  After some amateur troubleshooting we decided the dough had over-risen. 

 

Recognise over-risen sourdough by a very bubbly surface that is starting to drape and looks as though were you to stick your finger in, or shake the loaf-tin, the whole thing would collapse.

An 'elpful 'int from 'Arry

oho, I have tales to tell... a week away in the West of Ireland and I am brimming... tales of such ebullient gastronomy I can bare withhold... but first, a note from Harry's pantry: 

 

POMEGRANATE and ORANGE BLOSSOM VINEGAR

 

i thought you might be interested in the attached and wonder if you've come across it before? i bought it at a lebanese stall the other day, and it's truly delicious. the ingredients look pretty straightforward, so no doubt you could make your own - white wine vinegar, pomegranate molasses, sugar and orange blossom water - and i'm having fun experimenting with it in salads, with oils, dressing grilled meats and sometimes just a nip from the bottle. complex and sprightly, it's magic stuff. and of course a little goes a long way.

p.s. and have you ever had a spoonful of madeira in your porridge for breakfast? if not, do!

Wild Green Pesto

The ancient woodland to the South of Ragman’s Lane Farm, sloping down to the River Wye is a haven – gnarling trees, a floor of Beech leaves, Hart’s Tongue Ferns, Dog’s Mercury, Lords and Ladies, and a variety of Mosses, a stone pathway the route of the old tram, meandering, the promise of Bluebells, and suddenly, in the last week, the Ramsons… in abundance the leaves piercing out of the ground to colour the floor a vibrant pale green.

Tonight a dusk forage – the last few days we have been feasting on Pestos of young Nettle tops and today we decided to add the Wild Garlic to the concoction.

 Cari blending...

(this can be done by hand, and has a lovely texture but for large numbers it is easier in a blender)

Nettle and Wild Garlic Pesto

Blend a bowlful of Nettles with the same of Ransoms (Wild Garlic) in Olive Oil and add Seasalt and toasted Sunflower Seeds (whole) for a Wild Green Vegan Pesto to serve on Pasta, bake into Breads, shake into Vinaigrette, spread on Toast… even eat by the spoonful!

 Store pesto covered well in oil in an airtight jar, stores for at least six months.

For the essence of Summer

...on a gloomy day:
a scavenged salad and a glass of lovely Norfolk Cordial's Red Gooseberry and Elderflower Cordial - true Norfolkian nectar!

An Omelette, An Aside and An Ortolan Bunting.

An Omelette:

This week the chickens in Kabul are laying so vigorously that a communal omelette has taken the place of the fought-over-fried-egg.   This one contains an Afghan version of Feta cheese.  But do note first the dreamy nectar-yellow of the yolks, the chickens fed on kitchen scraps alone…

An Aside:

As an aside, I am reminded of the extraordinary tale by Edgar Allen Poe, The Duc de L’Omelette.  Poor Duke Omelette dies of shock when his precious Ortolan Bunting arrives on the platter not prepared as it should be.

So that the same does not occur for you, I thought it only best to elaborate on the preparation of the Ortolan Bunting – an apparent delicacy once-upon-a-time in France.

An Ortolan Bunting:

The Ortolan Bunting, Emberiza Hortulana, is fattened to four times its own size, then drowned in burning Armagnac for eight minutes.  To eat the tiny bird, one covers one’s head with a linen shroud, to keep in the aroma and to hide the appalling act from God.  The head dangling from between the lips, one gorges on the whole bird, lungs, heart and bones.

Fortunately in this case the Duke beats the Devil at cards, and is given another chance...

Chick-a-Pics

  The aforementioned "at-long-last-laying hens"  in a snowy Kabul garden...

...the three black ones are named after warlords who continue to have a large stake in the current government - Sayyaf, Marshal Fahim and Dostum. The white one, which is bullied by the others and doesnt produce eggs, is called Bashardost, after the most outspoken MP who frequently rails against corruption and warlordism to much ridicule from others.

Notes on the omelette to follow...

A Good Stock

Mrs Beeton writes a recipe for Pocket-Soup.  An elaborate recipe, bringing one step-by-step through a lengthy process in which an animal carcass is slowly transformed into a dehydrated stock cube – an art indeed.

While the sight of a pot of Bisto, a stock cube and even an artisanal organic bouillon horrifies me, I will uphold the merits of a good stock.  Primarily, a Stock is an excellent example of the beneficial use of waste products, it’s a sort of alternative to the compost… and it doesn’t have to contain meat, one of the best summer stocks is the simple combination of Pea-Pods and Onion Skins.  

My Uncle has sent through pics of his post-Christmas Goose Stock.  The Recipe is as follows: add one Onion in its skin + 2 large Carrots + 2 Celery Sticks to 1 Goose Carcass, cover with water and simmer for +/- 8 hours, adding water when needed to cover carcass. 

 

Made by covering the ingredients in water, bringing to the boil and then allowing to simmer very slowly, preferable overnight, it is then strained, and the liquid kept.  The liquid can be used in soups or stews, where it adds a depth of flavour and structure to a dish, as a consommé on its own or as a simple addition to rice.

The joy of a stock is that you can use anything you can find, and each is a unique creation.  An excuse to let your creative juices run, Carrot tops, Bay leaves, Garlic Skins, Giblets and Lemon Rind are just some of the ingredients I like to stuff into the stock pot.  It is not quite alchemy, but certainly has something of the potion about it.  I never add salt to a stock but alter the salt levels when actually using the stock to cook with.  It can be used immediately (if it contains a lot of fat cool first and skim off with a metal spoon) or frozen and saved for another occasion.

p.s. More Stock Recipes avidly awaited!  Send to olivheal@gmail.com.

 

A note from Harry on Cider... Vinegar

We've been making some cider over the last couple of months, and this batch turned to vinegar.  It's tasty stuff - we used Cox, D'Arcy Spice & Worcester apples & Japanese pears, all in equal quantities, but it did throw some massive protein-tannin ectoplasm after the yeasts died. We filtered out the protein-tannins with some muslin and let it settle - and I think we'll have to do another filtering later. I also ran some tests using the soil testing equipment at work, and discovered that it has a fearsome pH 3.5!

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A note on the apples - Cox is the well-known Orange Pippin, a very full flavour, best in early autumn, recognisable by its rattling seeds when shaken.  D'Arcy Spice, an East Anglian apple, belongs to the Russet family, sweet, small apples of grey/green colour, popular in Cider.  Worcester is most likely Worcester Pearmain, a desert apple, very crisp and used cut up in salads very early Autumn.  The Japanese pears... I know not.   

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More to follow on Cider making, but perhaps not till the Autumn.