Homemade Tomato Puree ?? ......

 Yes !!! This really has been the summer of the tomato, I'll stop banging on about them soon as they're nearly all gone ( one more harvest this week should do it ). In the meantime there is a never ending supply of them and you can realistically only eat so many.

A thought crossed my mind - can I make tomato puree- I use it a lot in recipes and I really hate to waste food, why not ?? 

Ingredients

Tomatoes

I didn't even weigh my tomatoes as it doesn't matter as it's the only ingredient, I gave mine a thorough wash and chopped them up into my slow cooker. 

I didn't de skin or de seed as I knew that I was going to sieve after cooking.

So far so easy - I cooked these in the slow cooker for 6 hours on a low setting, I then put them through the blender and sieved until smooth. Back into a saucepan and cooked to reduce.

Now this I would change next time, it took a while to reduce and towards the end it got pretty spattery,  floopin tomato paste everywhere, while the end product was amazing, next time I'd pop the mixture back into the slow cooker and let that reduce it all down - much cheaper too!!

This tastes absolutely delicious - is it worth the faff - I think so, especially if you have a glut of tomatoes. Honestly you can buy tomato puree in a tube for a quid but homemade is great right ! 

Blackberry Tart

 I'm quite glad that I took photo's of my blackberries this year as honestly I thought I'd go out and pick tons more and make loads of jam and pies - I didn't!! This bowl of blackberries was the first and last of this years haul - there's probably still loads out there right now but I've got so much going on and the weather has been rubbish. Next year my little berries....

Ingredients

For the pastry

250gm Plain Flour

125gm Good Butter

2 Free Range Eggs

Pinch Salt

For the filling

5 Cups Fresh Washed Blackberries

1/2 Cup Plain Flour

1 Cup White Sugar

2 Tablespoons Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

Pre heat oven to 170c/ 170cfan / Gas mark 5

In a large bowl rub cold cubed butter into the salted flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Beat two eggs together and add to the flour mix, mix together until all combined, don't overhandle as it'll make the pastry tough .If it refuses to come together simply add a little cold water.

Bring together into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for half an hour. Don't leave any longer as the pastry becomes unworkable, you just need it rested not comatose.

While the pastry rests, combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl, put to one side.

When the pastry had had a little snooze, roll out to your pie dish and bake blind in the oven for approx 15 - 20 minutes, take out and leave to cool slightly.

Pre Heat oven to 16oc / Gas Mark 4

When ready to cook, pour blackberry mixture into your coolish pie shell and pop into the oven to cook for approx  30 - 40 minutes.

So - The original recipe that I kind of used for this pie calls for butter to be added to the filling but I would say this is entirely unnecessary - I put it in and it added nothing to the recipe and actually just pooled a little on the top of the tart making it look greasy. 

The tart is lovely ( without the need for butter ) and I served it with thick double cream

Monster Apple Pie

 A lovely family member ( Thank you Rosalie ) has a mahoosive cooking apple tree in her garden and after an unexpected visit last week to share fun time with our granddaughter I was given a rather large bag of apples. Now, I knew that I was going to make tomato chutney with said apples but even I was surprised by the sheer quantity. There wasn't really any question as to what I was going to make as rather lovely husband has a proper sweet tooth. 

Question really was , just how many apples could I fit into the pie....

Actually about half the apples I was gifted! 

Ingredients

For the pastry

250gm Plain Flour

125gm Good Butter

2 Free Range Eggs

Pinch Salt

For The Filling

1kilo Cooking Apple Cored and Sliced

150g Soft Brown Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon ground Cinnamon

3 Tablespoons Plain Flour

I beaten Free Range Egg To Glaze

Pre heat oven to 170c/ 170cfan / Gas mark 5

In a large bowl rub cold cubed butter into the salted flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Beat two eggs together and add to the flour mix, mix together until all combined, if it refuses to come together simply add a little cold water.

Bring together into a ball, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for half an hour.

Don't leave it too long, you want it rested but too cold as it's a monkey to roll out. 

While pastry is having a snooze, chop apples and coat thoroughly with the sugar and cinnamon.

Add flour and mix thoroughly.

Divide pastry roughly into two pieces and roll out one piece to cover your  buttered pie dish.

Roughly pile all the apples into the pie dish, brush the edges with egg and place second piece of pastry over the pie, seal the edges. Brush with egg to glaze 

Cut a hole into the top of the pie to let the steam escape. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar.

At this point you can trim the pastry but I know someone who like to eat all the little overhanging bits of pastry so I leave it on to cook. 

Bake in the oven for approx 40 minutes taking care for it not to catch .....

Yup - it caught .....

Tomato Chutney

As previously mentioned, I was given a rather large bag of cooking apples and knew that I wanted to make a nice tomato chutney as I already had a floopin huge supply of allotment tomatoes.  I found this recipe online but have failed to find it again so thank you to whoever this came from originally - great recipe. I have doubled up the quantities as I had lots of veg to use including onions and garlic from the allotment.

Ingredients

2 Large Red Onions Chopped

1 1/2 kilos Tomatoes Chopped

4 Medium Apples Cored and Chopped ( skins left on ) 

8 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped/Minced

250g  Light Muscovado Sugar ( I used dark )

2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger

1 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

500mls Cider Vinegar

Place all ingredients into a nice big pan and gently bring up to a boil stirring to dissolve all the sugar.

Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the temperature up to the boil, lower the temperature to a simmer and cook uncovered for approx 1 1/2 hours. 

I cooked mine for 2 hours as I wanted it a bit more syrupy .

Once cooked spoon into sterilized jars and immediately put a lid on.

Leave to cool and then label and place in a cool dark cupboard for at least a few weeks to mature.

Safe to say that as I had a little left over , I've already tried this. It would definitely benefit from maturing but its lovely and fresh and I think it'll be even nice in a few months time.

So Many Tomatoes.....

Pretty much half of the haul from the allotment on one day!

 Just when you think that all the work going into growing tomatoes may just be a bit of a faff - up they all come. Year after year I'm shocked as to how many we end up with on the allotment, so many questions, did I plant enough seeds ? will they ever ripen ? how did I end up with so many again ? 

We planted a number of different varieties this year but without a doubt these three are the very best:

Sunstripe Tomato - these are so good I could barely stop eating them as I was picking them.

Pomodoro Tomato - These plants produce so many tomatoes and they are great for everything, not too wet they are great served with Burrata  or made into tomato sauce.

Tomato Costoluto Fiorentino  -  These took they're time to ripen but they are magnificent tomatoes. Good for absolutely everything, eaten straight from the allotment on a hot day seems best 

Much bigger freezer needed for next year for sure.

Deb's Spaghetti Bolognese

 There were two choices for dinner this Saturday ..Spaghetti Bolognaise or Shepherds Pie?? Which one would he choose... after thinking about it for almost 2 seconds we had our answer :) 

Now, I always used to make my spaghetti bolognaise with added chopped chicken livers as it used to give a lovely rich flavour to the sauce, I absolutely cannot get these for love nor money anymore - so sad, I tried everywhere. I'm sure that these are available if you live in a city but here in the valleys it's a big fat NOPE!

Ingredients

500g Lean minced Steak/Beef

2 Large Onions Finely Chopped

3 Sticks Celery Finely Chopped

4 Fat Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped

6 Slices Smoked Bacon ( streaky or back ) Finely Diced

1 Tube Tomato Paste

2 Bay Leaves

500g Mushrooms ( I used button and chestnut ) 

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

Splash Mushroom Ketchup

Splash Lea and Perrins Sauce

1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Fresh Basil to Finish

Chop half the mushrooms and leave half ( the smaller ones ) whole.

Heat oil in a large flameproof pot ( with lid ) and gently cook onions, garlic and celery until softened but not brown. About 10 - 15 minutes.

Add bacon and minced steak and cook through until browned.

Add everything else and stir well.

Bring up to the boil, add lid and turn down the heat to very low - just bubbling.

Stir occasionally but leave to cook for about 3 hours - add a little bit of water if it becomes too dry.

Check consistency and add salt an pepper as needed, stir in chopped basil right at the end, and serve with lots of lovely fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Soutzoukakia ( Greek Meatballs )

 There are a couple of sites that I like to visit for both Spanish and Greek recipes, I've found all of these sites really reliable and the recipes pretty much always stack up. 

Shout out to :

Akis Petretzikis

Nick Argirou ( Nikolopaa )

Spain on a Fork

This recipe was from Nikolopaa as I just love his tutorials - so much fun, I want to have a go at making everything from his blog...

This recipe was outstanding and really quite easy to make, it made a lot of food so I froze half of it down and it de-frosted really well too.

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

1kg Lean Minced Beef / Steak

200gm White Bread

150ml Red Wine ( can replace with stock or milk or even just water )

2 Eggs

2 Red Onions Finely Chopped

6 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped

12 ish gms Chopped Mint

12 ish gms Chopped Parsley

50mls Nice Olive Oil ( Greek if possible )

2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin

20gms Salt

4 gms Black Pepper

For The Sauce

1 Large Onion Finely chopped

4 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped or minced

1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste

700mls Tomato Passata

1/2 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Red Wine ( or Beef Stock ) 

2 Bay Leaves

1 Cinnamon Stick

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Pepper

In a large mixing bowl break bread into red wine and soak for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes add all the other meatball ingredients and mix thoroughly - best done with clean hands as it mixes up nicely.

Preheat the oven to 170c / 340f / gas mark 3

Shape the meatballs into oval meatball shapes ( mine made approx 12 meatballs ).

Place meatballs into a lightly oiled baking dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking - make the sauce.

Heat the oil in a flameproof pan and gently cook the onion and garlic until soft but not brown.

Add tomato paste and cook for about a minute.

Add everything else and cook gently for about 15 minutes.

After meatballs have cooked for 30 minutes, pour over the hot tomato sauce and cover.

Bake for another 30 minutes.

I served mine with rice and little fried potatoes - absolutely delicious!

Jambalaya

I made this lovely dish and blogged it about 15 years ago and had quite forgotten all about it until Josh made it last week. Apart from telling me that the quantities were just wrong ( soo much food ) he loved it and it was time to make it again. I've noodled with the quantities a little and actually there's still enough here to feed 5/6.

Ingredients

90g Spicy Chorizo Chopped

3 Teaspoons Paprika

4 Fat Garlic Cloves crushed

2 Medium Onions Chopped

2 Large Green Peppers Chopped

2 Sticks Celery Chopped

3 Red Chillies finely chopped

3 Skinless Chicken Breasts chunked

Enough raw prawns for 4 hungry people ( about 300gms )

2 bay leaves

1 Sprig Thyme

2 Teaspoons Kashmiri Chilli Powder

450gm long grain rice

About one to one and a half litres chicken stock

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and fry chorizo gently until crisp - drain and set aside.

Fry all the veg in the lovely chorizo oil for about 7-8 minutes until slightly softened but not crispy.

Add the paprika and chilli and stir for about one minute until all coated.

Add the chicken and chorizo and stir for about 3 minutes so that all the chicken and veg are coated.

Add the herbs and the rice stir through and add the stock, I added most of the one and a half litres at this point, give it all a good stir and bring up to the boil.

Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer, about 5 minutes before serving, add all the prawns. when all the liquid has disappeared check that the rice is cooked, add a little more water if needed, add salt and pepper and serve. 

This is so delicious and full of flavour. I think that the only thing I would change next time ( not another 15 years hopefully ) is that I would add a good squeeze of tomato paste as the finished dish looks a little colourless. The flavour is amazing but it looks a little pale. 

Allotment Tomatoes

That's it - that's the post - soo many tomatoes.

High probability that I'll make spicy tomato base for soup or pasta sauce tomorrow!

Chicken Jalfrezi

 We love a curry ( all inclusive term in this house for anything that may pass as ' Curry ' ), we are so blessed in the UK for having more curry houses than fish and chip shops but nothing really beats homemade .... unless it was the tragic Biryani that I made a few years ago.

I've made a fair few over the years but this one was a belter, I've looked at lots of recipes online and tweaked them to suit our tastes, honestly every time I make a curry it tastes slightly different anyway as I'm not terribly good at measuring the spices that I put in.

Bearing that in mind, I guess so long as the main ingredients are followed reasonably well it'll turn out lovely.

Ingredients

2 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds

2 Large Onions Finely ish chopped

4 Hot Green Chillies Finely chopped

6 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped

2 Large Green Peppers Roughly Chopped

1 Large Red Pepper Roughly Chopped

4 Large Tomatoes Roughly Chopped

2 Inches Fresh Ginger Finely Chopped

4 Large Chicken Breasts Cut into Large Chunks

2 Teaspoons Coriander Powder

2 Teaspoons Kashmiri Chilli Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Powder

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Tomato Ketchup

1 Tablespoon Lime Juice

3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

Light Olive oil to fry

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fresh Coriander to finish

Heat a couple of tablespoons oil in a large flame proof pot ( with a lid preferably ), whn nice and hot put in Cumin seeds until they pop, lower the heat and put in the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies and cook gently for about 10 minutes until cooked but not brown.

Add all the spices and cook gently for about a minute.

Add the chicken and peppers and cook while stirring to coat the meat with the spices.

Add all the other ingredients except for the fresh coriander and stir well, add a little water if needed, this is not a saucy curry but you do want a saucy consistency, stir well and cover to cook for about 30 minutes - maybe more if your chicken is in large pieces.

Check seasoning after 30 minutes, don't let this cook too long or the chicken will dry out.

Serve with fresh chopped coriander, rice and naan bread

Blackcurrant Jam

 It's been a great year so far for fruit and veg ( not the potatoes so much ) and Sam has a little blackcurrant bush in his garden that has consistently refused to fruit.... this was his year ... HURRAH, now, there weren't loads of them, but enough to get me thinking to make some jam.

In my hurry to make said jam I unfortunately forgot to take any photos of the before and after but suffice to say , this is the easiest jam recipe ever, naturally high in pectin they don't really need specialist sugar. 

I used jam sugar as I had loads but it meant that the jam was ready in half the time. 

Ingredients

380g Washed Blackcurrants

380ml Water

480g Sugar ( I used Jam Sugar )

These measurements made me one large and one smaller jar of jam.

In a large sturdy pan, slowly simmer the fruit and water until slightly syrupy - around five minutes should do it. 

Add the sugar and stir until all dissolved, once the sugar is dissolved turn the heat up to a rolling boil ( not too fierce ) stirring occasionally until jam is set.

Now, usually I put a couple of saucers in the freezer to test the setting point but I could see after ten minutes that the jam was setting on the back of my wooden spoon, at this point I ladled it into sterilized jars and popped on the lid.

I don't use waxed papers as I try to fill my pots right up to the very top and place the lids on straight away - watching not to burn my fingers. It's always worked for me and as the jam is so hot it creates the perfect vacuum seal. 

I store any jam in a dark cupboard and it will last for at the very least a couple of years......if Mr Deb didn't snaffle so much on his toast!

Tuna Pasta Salad

 

It's hot here in Wales - and I mean ... hot !! Unusual for us as we get a lot of rain here and pretty inclement weather. I'm not sure what I had planned for dinner this evening but any idea went out of the window when I settled on a nice crunchy salad.

Honestly you can put whatever you like in this salad but here are the bones of a decent tuna pasta salad.

Ingredients

300g Dry Weight Pasta

2 Large Spring Onions Finely Sliced

1 Cup Tinned Sweetcorn

1 Finely Diced Red Pepper

1 Cup Fresh Peas

1 100g Tin No Drain Tuna

1 Cup Greek Yogurt

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

Salt and Pepper

Cook pasta as per instructions and once just cooked stop cooking by draining and plunging into very cold water, drain very thoroughly and add to vegetables in large bowl.Add flaked tuna and stir to mix.

Mix mayonnaise, mustard, yogurt, salt and pepper to make a nice creamy dressing and coat all the pasta and vegetables. 

Chill and serve - simple but delicious.

So many things that you can add to this, chopped red onion, chopped cucumber, gherkins, olives, tomatoes, celery, radishes ... really anything that you have available in the fridge, it makes a great fridge last minute dinner.

Allotment Swede.....

 As promised the lovely swede from the allotment, cleaned and chopped, blanched and frozen - ready for the winter !

Huge swede that honestly thrived on neglect as I popped them into the ground and didn't do much else other than water occasionally .

French Green Lentils With Sausages

 

I remember so well on our first family holiday to France way back in the early 1990's, shopping in the ( always ) fabulous supermarkets, drooling at the lovely fresh produce and buying my first tin of sausages and lentils. I didn't quite know what to expect as this was something that we certainly didn't experience in the UK. What I didn't expect was for it to be so tasty.... as a home cook to a large family, I didn't really use a lot of pre prepared food - way too expensive - but on a camping holiday in parts unknown anything goes right? May be worth mentioning the lovely family from Essex camping behind us that - too late - made 'beefburgers ' from horse mince ... pet mince at that ....

I had a go at making my own version of this classic French recipe many years later - I think it may have been a James Martin recipe but it was time to revisit this lovely dish and give it another go.

Now there are lots of recipes out there but I knew roughly the flavour that I wanted so I settled for this recipe with a couple of little tweaks of course. 

Ingredients

Soak these a good half an hour before cooking the dish

2 Cups Puy Lentils

2 Cups Water

For the Dish 

2 Onions Finely Chopped

4 Fat Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped

2 Carrots Roughly Chopped

1 Leek Sliced Thinly

25g Good Butter

4 Fat Sausages ( I used nice firm Butchers Sausages but whatever you like )

2 Cups Vegetable of Chicken Stock

2 Cups Water

2 Bayleaves

2 Teaspoons Dried Thyme

2 Large sprigs Fresh Rosemary or 1 Teaspoon Dried

1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

Salt and Pepper

Handful Flat Leaf Parsley chopped to finish

Soak lentils in the water for approx 30 minutes and then rinse and drain.

In a large flameproof pot, heat the butter and gently fry the onions and garlic until softened.

Add the carrot and leek and cook for a couple of minutes.

I cooked my sausages for about 20 minutes in the oven until cooked through at this stage and then sliced but you can pop these in whole - I just like them cooked through first.

Add everything else to the pot apart from the parsley, salt and pepper and bring the temperature up to a boil, turn right down cover and cook for approx 40 minutes or until the lentils are soft and buttery.

Add any further stock or water to give you the desired consistency, add salt and pepper to taste and serve with crusty bread