Raspberry jam

Even the best shop-bought or cottage industry jam can't compete with a good homemade batch. There are just three keys to making it well at home:

• use good quality fruit (and don't bother to wash it)
• don't try to make too much at once (less is more)
• if you're not sure whether your jam has set yet, then it hasn't.

Ingredients

(makes two small jars)

• 650g raspberries
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 150ml water
• 500g granulated sugar

1. Put a clean saucer in the freezer for the wrinkle test.
2. Put the fruit, lemon juice and water in a large saucepan, and simmer gently for a few minutes, then add the sugar, and simmer until dissolved.
3. Bring the jam to a rolling boil, and boil for about 10 minutes, until you think it has reached setting point. (105oC, if using a thermometer; by eye/ear, when the bubbles on the jam become large and start to plop).
4. Remove from the heat and test for a set by placing a blob of jam on your cold saucer, leaving it to cool in the fridge, then push the blob with your finger. If the surface wrinkles and your finger leaves a trace, the jam has set. If the jam hasn't set, bring it back to the boil and cook for another minute or so before testing.
5. Transfer the hot jam into sterilized jars, seal with sterilized lids and allow to cool.

Mango, coconut and lime cake

I've been a late comer to Great British Bake Off but now I'm hooked. I have to admit that I'm in awe at how talented (most of) the participants are, but it's also clear that keeping it simple and getting the basics right is often the surest route to success.

One thing that I hadn't expected was to be inspired by the use of unusual ingredients, but after watching a recent episode I decided it was time to reboot my banana bread.

The 'recipe' here is just the proportion of dry to wet ingredients, the basic methods and cooking times. You can use it as a template and swap ingredients in and out - tinned peaches instead of mango, oat milk instead of coconut milk, replace the chilli with some ginger and so on.

Ingredients
120g caster sugar
60g soft butter
150g tinned mango, drained and pureed
50g coconut milk
1 egg, beaten
140g self-raising flour

juice of 1/2 lime
2 or 3 drops of chilli sauce

Method

1. Set the oven to 180oC and line and grease a small loaf tin.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter.
3. Add the mango, coconut milk and egg to the butter and sugar, and mix well.
4. Mix the flour into the resulting batter, then add the lime juice and chilli sauce.
5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until golden.
6. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Marmalade

A glut of oranges appeared in our fruit bowl the other day. They had been acquired to make Christmas decorations out of (stuck with cloves and suspended around the house from festive ribbons) but there were plenty left over, so I made some marmalade. The recipe comes from Lynda Brown's Preserving Book.


Ingredients
(makes 4 small jars)
1 kg oranges
2 lemons
1.2 litres water
1 kg granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of whisky

Method

1. Halve and juice the oranges and lemons, set aside the juice, and tie the pith and pips from the juicer in a muslin square.
2. Put the orange and lemon shells into a large pan, add the water and the muslin bundle, bring to the boil, and simmer with the lid ajar for 1 hour.
3. Discard the muslin bundle, and strain the shells through a colander over a bowl to collect the liquor.
4. Allow to cool, remove any mushy pith from inside the shells with a spoon and discard, then cut each shell into three segments, and slice each crosswise very thinly.
5. Meanwhile, sterilise at least four 450g jars, together with their lids and any other equipment, and place a few saucers in the freezer to use for testing the set.
6. Return the sliced peel to the pan, together with the reserved liquor. Add the fruit juice and the sugar, and heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved.
7. Bring to a fast boil and cook for between 5 and 20 minutes until you have achieved a set. (To do this, drip a few drops of the marmalade 'juice' onto the cold plate. Leave to cool for a few seconds. If it is ready, then the surface will wrinkle when you push the drop with your fingernail. Or you can just stick your finger in it and see if it has a slightly sticky, jammy consistency rather than a syrupy one. It may take a good 20 minutes of boiling to reach the setting point; keep testing at regular intervals and make sure you don't overcook it.)
8. Once you have a set, turn off the heat, skim any scum from the surface, and allow the marmalade to sit for about 15 minutes. Add the whisky, stir well to make sure the peel (and the whisky) are evenly distributed, and transfer to your sterilised jars.

Banana and apple cake

Autumn is definitely here, and yesterday we went for a lovely long walk around Roslin Chapel, where we collected lots of sticks for wands, together with a selection of leaves and nuts. It's seven years since I have been in Scotland at this time of year, and I had forgotten how beautiful it can be. (We've been lucky, with reasonably mild temperatures and a lot of dry days.)

I usually make this with bananas only, but today is Wednesday, which means it's time to finish off any leftover fruit and veg before our new veggie box arrives. In addition to two very ripe bananas, there were also some delicious little russet apples, so I added them to the mix.

Ingredients
275 g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
110 g margarine
225 g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and diced
75 ml milk
1.5 tsps lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
50 g raisins

Method

1. Set the oven to 180oC and grease a loaf tin. (Mine is stuck in the cellar at the moment, hence the round cake tin in the photo above.)
   
2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Add the bananas, milk, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon and raisins to the margarine and sugar mixture, and mix well. Fold the flour into the resulting batter.
4. Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes until golden.

Apple and pear chutney

"Not impedimenta, sweetie. Expulso is the best!" Gemma is sitting on the sofa with her laptop, helping Sammy get to the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the Wii, Carmela is measuring herself against the doorpost to check whether she has grown in the last 3 days, and I am in the kitchen making chutney and listening to Fabrizio Andre singing Bocca di Rosa. (Si sa che la gente da buoni consigli se non piu puo dare cattivo esempio. People only give good advice when they can no longer set a bad example.)


Ingredients (makes slightly over 1 kg, enough to fill three 1 lb jars)
350ml cider vinegar
350g brown sugar
250g sultanas
4 tsps minced ginger
1kg cooking apples
400g pears
1 large onion
good pinch of salt
8 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
20 coriander seeds
20 allspice berries

Method

1. Put the cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds and allspice berries in a muslin bag.
2. Combine the vinegar, sugar, sultanas, ginger and salt into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, and add the spices in their bag.
3. Peel and roughly chop the onion, and add to the saucepan.
   
4. Core and peel the apples and pears, chop roughly, add to the saucepan and mix well.
5. Bring to boil, reduce heat to minimum and simmer for 1 to 2 hours, stirring frequently. When the chutney can be parted with a wooden spoon to reveal the bottom of the saucepan, it is ready.
6. Transfer to sterilised jars, seal and store for at least 2 weeks (longer if possible).

Apple source
The apples for this recipe came from Bernie and Bruce, the parents of Sammy and Carmela's friend, Callum. They were knobbly little things (the apples, not Bernie and Bruce) but taste great.

Damson, greengage and apple chutney

As part of my ongoing battle against the fruit mountain which has been threatening to overwhelm us, I made some chutney yesterday. The main ingredients were just what I reckoned was least likely to be eaten if I didn't cook them.


Ingredients (makes 1 kg)
500g granny smiths
250g greengages
250g damsons
8 spring onions
125g sultanas
175g brown sugar
200ml cider vinegar
good pinch of salt
4 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
10 coriander seeds
10 allspice berries
2 slices of fresh ginger

Method

1. Put the spices in a muslin bag. Core and peel the apples and dice. Cut the damsons in half, removing stones if possible. (If not, remove after cooking). Cut greengages into four, removing stones. Top and tail the spring onions, and cut into 1 cm segments.
2. Put all the prepared fruit, the spice bag, the sugar, vinegar and salt into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat to minimum and simmer for 1 to 2 hours, stirring frequently. When the chutney can be parted with a wooden spoon to reveal the bottom of the saucepan, it is ready. Transfer to sterilised jars, seal and store for at least 2 weeks (longer if possible).

Pineapple salsa

We are caught in the middle of a fruit glut at the moment. Yesterday we went to a pick your own farm and returned with 5 kg of strawberries and another 5 kg of raspberries. When we got back, our veggie box was waiting on our doorstep, brimming with apples, bananas, pears, damson and greengages, together with the usual vegetables. And when I opened the fridge to try to clear some space for them, I was confronted by a pineapple staring aggressively back at me.


I thought about making a batch of pineapple picalilli, but as I was already planning to make some chutney with the damsons and greengages, pickle the pears, and produce industrial quantities of strawberry and raspberry jam, I decided to go for something a little less labour-intensive. A bit of googling and some improvisation on my part produced this pineapple salsa.

Ingredients
1 pineapple
4 tsps of minced red chilli
4 finely chopped spring onions
3 tsps of salt
juice of 2 limes
half a large bunch of coriander (or a couple of miserly supermarket packs)

Method

1. Remove the skin from the pineapple, cut into quarters, remove the fibrous core, and chops the flesh into small chunks.
2. Combine in a large bowl with the rest of the ingredients, stir well to mix, and leave to rest for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

Strawberry jam

I've been wanting to make jam for ages - it seems the natural accompaniment to my bread baking and pickling exploits - so we all headed off to Craigie's "pick your own" farm out by South Queensferry. Before going, I'd checked my recipe books, and trusty Darina Allen of the Ballymaloe Cookery School had assured me that raspberry jam was the best for beginners, as strawberry jam could be a bit tricky. But when we arrived at the farm, there was barely a raspberry in sight. I was doubly disappointed: not only was I not going to be able to make my "beginners' jam", I was also going to have to bend for strawberries (raspberries grow on canes, so you can pick them standing, whereas strawberries are found underneath very low bushes).


We headed off to the strawberry fields, and I was soon cheered up by the realisation that I could actually pick the strawberries while lying down, popping the odd one into my mouth as I went. This is my kind of farming! After about an hour, of hard, supine labour, we had almost 3 kilos of little, ripeish strawberries. (For jam, it's important that your fruit is not overripe or bruised.)

Back in the kitchen, I checked my recipes again, but Darina Allen was prescribing redcurrant juice and more lemons than I had, so it was time to google. After a bit of searching, I finally hit upon Sophie Grigson on the BBC. I had all the ingredients, the recipe seemed nice and easy to follow, and best of all I had to leave the strawberries soaking in sugar overnight, which got me off the hook of actually making the jam that evening.

Ingredients
1 kg of unblemished, ripe(ish) strawberries [weight after preparation]
1 kg of caster sugar
juice of 1 lemon
small knob of butter

Method

1. Remove the stalks from your strawberries. Cut larger fruit into halves or quarters; leave very smal ones whole. Put the fruit into a large bowl, add 500g of sugar, cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. The next day, put a plate in your freezer (you will need this to test the setting point) and sterilise your jars and any other equipment as follows: wash well, rinse, place upside down on a rack in your oven, heat the oven to 140oC, and once it has reached temperature, keep there for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, put the strawberry and sugar mixture into a very large saucepan (or a jam pan, if you have one), add the remaining 500g of sugar and the lemon juice and stir very well, over a low heat until all the sugar is dissolved.
4. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. If you have a cooking thermomenter, once the temperature reaches 105 oC, you can start testing for the setting point, as follows: drip a couple of drops of the jam 'juice' onto the cold plate. Leave to cool for a few seconds. If it is ready, then the surface will wrinkle when you push the drop with your fingernail. (Or you can just stick your finger in it and see if it has a slightly sticky, jammy consistency rather than a syrupy one.) It may take a good 20 minutes of boiling to reach the setting point; keep testing at regular intervals and make sure you don't overcook it.
5. When your jam has reached setting point, turn off the heat, stir in a small piece of butter, skim off any scum on the top, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
6. Ladle the jam into the sterilised jars (using a jam funnel if you have one), cover with a wax lid, and put a lid on the jar while still hot.

sterilising

soaking strawbs

Banana bread

Nine months ago I started making a batch of focaccia in my kitchen, and today I finished! Okay, it didn't take me nine months to make the bread, but that is how long it took us to get the oven fixed. (It's a long story, and there were mitigating circumstances.) Anyway, I felt the oven needed to be shown who was boss, so I made a point of taking up where it had so rudely interrupted me back in January, and produced a tray of focaccia.

Next up for the great oven celebration was some banana bread. I got a recipe from the BBC Food Website, and tweaked it a little. Apart from being really easy, and quite delicious, it's a great way of using up those guilt-inducing overripe bananas which everyone seems to have in their fruit bowls.


Ingredients
140 g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60 g butter
110 g caster sugar
1 egg
2 ripe bananas, mashed
35 ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. Set the oven to 180oC, and line a loaf tin (20 cm x 10 cm)
2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt and cinnamon.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
4. Add the bananas, milk, eggs and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture, and mix well.
5. Fold the flour into the resulting batter, mix well and add the lemon juice.
6. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until golden.
7. Allow the bread to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Banana fritters

I did have a search on the web for other banana fritter recipes, but all I found were some rather disturbing reports of the practice of some streetfood sellers in Malaysia of adding a plastic bottle to the frying oil for added crispiness. Just goes to show that the innovative spirit of Hester Blumenthal and Ferran Adria is alive and well in south-east Asia.



The recipe below is based on the Cadiz speciality of shrimp pancakes, but made with bananas instead of shrimps.



Ingredients
100 g chickpea flour
100 g plain flour
1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
water (about 300 ml)
2 bananas
oil for frying

Method

1. Mix the flours. Mash the bananas and stir in the ginger and cinnamon. Add the water to the flour, and beat to make a loose batter, then add the banana, ginger and cinnamon.
2. Heat plenty of oil in a non-stick frying pan, add large spoonfuls of batter to it, fry for about 30 seconds, turn over and fry for another 30 seconds or so before removing from the oil.

Oranges with mint and green tea syrup

This recipe is a really easy way of producing a nice fresh-tasting dessert. It's based on one sent to me by my dad Mike, who I got back in touch with recently after a long gap. Anyway, it turned out he had also been writing down recipes and he sent me a short book full of them. His version is with rosemary and black pepper - the method is the same, but you just replace the mint and green tea with ... you guessed it, rosemary and black pepper.

My version is based on Moroccan tea, which has the same combination of green tea, mint and sugar, although in slightly different proportions. If you want to be really pedantic you can insist on using Moroccan oranges too.



Ingredients
4 good-sized oranges
150 g brown sugar
150 ml water
a large bunch of mint
½ a teaspoon of green tea

Method

1. Zest one of the oranges, peel all of them, slice as thinly as possible, and arrange in a shallow bowl.
2. In a pan, combine the sugar, water, mint and orange zest. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil, add the tea, and remove from heat.
3. Pour the liquid from the pan over the oranges, using a tea strainer to ensure you don't get any bits of mint, zest or tea on the oranges.