Caramelised onion chutney

I'm too tired to write a proper intro for this recipe. Why? Today I have been on a canal trip with our home educating friends, spent the afternoon in a couple of chilly playgrounds (thank the Lord for long johns!), followed by a lengthy game of football in the park. On arriving home, I had to carry two flatpack beds up two flights of stairs, help to assemble them both, then make supper. And somewhere in the middle of all that I made some onion chutney too.




Ingredients (makes 2 or 3 jars)
1.25kg onions
olive oil
4 tsps minced ginger
2-4 tsps minced red chilli (depending how spicy you want it)
4 tbsps tomato puree
100 ml red wine
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of salt
200 ml balsamic vinegar
200g dark brown sugar

Method

1. Peel and roughly chop the onions. In a large pan, gently fry the onions in plenty of olive oil. When they have softened, add the ginger, chilli and tomato puree, and continue to fry until the onions are well done.
2. Add the wine, cinnamon, salt, vinegar and sugar, bring to a boil, reduce to minimum and cook for an hour or so, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to get a jammy consistency.
3. Transfer to sterilised jars and store for at least 4 weeks (if you can wait).

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.

Orange polenta cake

I first made this cake a few years ago, and have baked it intermittently ever since (whenever my children allow me to make something other than chocolate cake).


I took this cake along to the book group I have just joined (at Blackwell's on South Bridge, in Edinburgh). My cake was finished off almost instantly, which is more than can be said for this month's book - the diaries of Sofia Tolstoy, in which the wife of Lev Tolstoy spends 40 years complaining about her husband.

Ingredients
for the cake batter
2 large oranges
1 cup of strong green tea
6 green cardamom pods
6 eggs
150 g quick-cook polenta
150 g ground almonds
250 g golden caster sugar

for the syrup
1 orange
50 g caster sugar
50 ml water

Method

1. Place two of the oranges in plenty of water, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour. Drain the oranges, cut into quarters and allow to cool.
2. Make a cup of strong green tea, and add the cracked cardamom pods to it.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line and grease a springform cake tin.
4. Peel the orange quarters, remove the pithy centre and any pips, and puree in a food processor.
5. Transfer the orange puree to a mixing bowl, add the polenta and 50g of cardamom-infused green tea, stir well and leave to sit for 5 minutes or so.
6. Add the eggs, almonds and caster sugar and beat well. Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake for about 45 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, zest the remaining orange. Make a syrup by heating the caster sugar, zest and water until the sugar is dissolved. Strain through a tea strainer to remove the zest.
8. Allow the cake to cool before removing from the tin. Prick it all over with a toothpick, and pour the syrup over it.

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.

Taiwanese beef noodle soup

I was in the butcher's today and saw what was described as "runner beef". I'm not quite sure what cut it is (should have asked) but it was cheap and looked as if it would add plenty of flavour to a soup.

When I got home, I did a bit of googling, and came up with a recipe for Taiwanese spicy beef noodle soup or niu rou mian, which I adjusted a little bit both to reflect the contents of my cupboards and in an attempt to please the delicate palates of my children.

Ingredients
vegetable oil
1 kg runner beef (or another cheap cut)
1 large leek, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp red chile bean sauce
4 tbsps rice wine
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp allspice berries
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsps light soy sauce
2 litres of water
plus
500g of broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
250g of thick egg noodles noodles

Method

1. Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot and brown the beef thoroughly.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients (except for the broccoli and noodles), bring to boil, cover and turn to minimum, and simmer gently for 2-3 hours until the meat is completely tender.
3. Set lid ajar and allow to cool, then strain the broth into a large bowl. Take out the beef and set aside. Discard the other contents of the strainer (spices, leeks, garlic, ginger etc.).
4. Return broth to pan, bring to boil, add broccoli and noodles and cook until tender.
5. Meanwhile, remove beef from bone, trimming off the fat and any gristle, and cut into thinnish slices.
6. Ladle the broth with noodles and broccoli into soup bowls, add beef slices and serve.

Three cheers for Taiwan
Apparently this is the national dish of Taiwan. To do it justice, I decided to buy the most expensive noodles in my local Chinese supermarket - a Taiwanese brand which cost somewhere between two and three times as much as the alternatives. I was not disappointed, as they were also at least two to three times as good! If you can get hold of them, these are the ones to go for:

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.