We dined on mince & slices of quince

The season is past now so it's a bit late I know, but this year I discovered the joy of quinces. I first bought a couple at Moore Wilson and I poached them in muscat & spices something like this. They were very rich but delicious & the colour was amazing. There was lots of poaching liquor left so I put it in the fridge & thought I'd get some more quinces. Then I noticed that the liquor had jellied in the fridge so we ate it on our toast. From there I just had to make quince jelly especially as we were disappointed by our crabapple trees and there was no jelly coming from that direction.
I found a great recipe for Quince Jelly from the blog I used to make the blueberry jam in summer. I had been led to believe that this would be a mission, but don't listen to the naysayers. It is so easy & the resulting jelly is so pretty & delicious that I will be doing this every year & trying some other jellies as well. I bought a proper jelly bag with stand from Moore Wilson. I was doing this after dinner & it got quite late so I let the pulp strain overnight (step 4) and I now think that is the best way to do it. You're not waiting impatiently for the fruit to strain so you're not tempted to rush. I did stage 2 in the morning before work - it was no effort & I was still out of the house by 8.00 a.m.
From there Membrillo (Spanish quince paste) was the obvious next step and by then I was feeling like an expert. I had some helpful hints from some of you & I ended up making 2 batches. I made this in the evening while we were playing board games at the dining table. That way I was present while the paste was thickening & I could keep an eye on it. We were playing Kingmaker and I used the paste checking times to review my strategy. I left it in the oven overnight for the last stage & I found that gave the best results. I have cut it all up into small squares & wrapped in cling film the stored in a flat plastic container in the freezer. Next year I will be trying other fruit as well but I suspect you can't go past the beautiful rich ruby red of the quince.
For my final turn with quinces I went back to Nigella and a preserve she tantalisingly calls Paradise Chutney. For this you also need fresh cranberries and the new season's cranberries arrived in the shops just as the quinces were coming to an end.
You will need:
500g of quinces peeled, cored & roughly chopped (save the peelings & cores)
500g cooking apples peeled, cored & chopped
a diced onion
250g fresh cranberries & 150g dried
500g white sugar
4 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp mustard powder
Juice & zest of both an orange & lemon
350ml cider vinegar

First boil the quince peelings in 750ml water until you have about 350ml liquid remaining. Then put all the ingredients plus the strained peelings liquid into a preserving pan, let the sugar dissolve over a low heat then bring to the boil & simmer slowly about 1 hour. Everything will cook down & become slightly pulpy but the quince pieces will still be recognisable.
Ladle into sterilise jars. You'll have about 2 litres. This chutney is great as an accompaniment to cold meats & with potatoes.
All you need now is a runcible spoon.

Chicken dinners

This month Peter was sick, then I was sick, then Phoebe was sick, then I was sick again, then Phoebe was sick again. When Peter was first sick I thought he needed chicken soup. I trawled the internet and put together this version based on the best bits of all of them. I recommend you whip this up for the invalid in your house.
Into your stock pot, put one whole chicken, onion wedges, 3 cloves garlic, 1 carrot roughly chopped, bay leaves & a sprig of thyme, some lemon wedges, a couple of sticks of celery roughly chopped & some pink peppercorns (you can use black if you like). Your Le Creuset Dutch oven would be ideal if your chicken fitted in it. Mine didn't.
Cover the chicken with water. Cover the pot, & bring to the boil, turn off & leave for an hour without peeking. After an hour remove the chicken & set aside to cool, just until you can handle it. Add saffron strands to the stock pot & bring back to the boil. Remove the chicken meat from the bone & return the carcass to the pot. Simmer 3 hours to reduce & concentrate the flavour. When you're ready to serve boil a small quantity of egg pasta or noodles. Not a full serving - just a small handful per invalid. Steam seasonal vegetables. I used carrots, courgettes & broccoli - something colourful. You could probably poach these in the strained stock but I was concerned to retain the colour so I blanched & steamed. Strain the stock & reheat. In each soup dish put a handful of pasta, a handful of shredded chicken, a selection of the vegetables and pour over a couple of ladlefuls of the broth. This was everything it promised to be.
Use the left over chicken in a salad, risotto, pilaf, on sandwiches. I know a boy who would love a chicken sandwich with cranberry sauce or blueberry chutney. And freeze the left over broth for stock.
This got me thinking about the roast chicken and what a perfect meal that can be. Have a look at Jamie Oliver's perfect roast chicken. Carefully separate the skin from the meat so that you can put your hand under the skin and push in a handful of chopped herbs. Drizzle a little oil in. This will take your roast chicken to new heights. With our roast chicken we had carrots from the garden with beans & a selection of roast veg.
Then you have at least one more meal. This time I made a chicken pie (May 2009). Phoebe learned to make pastry & I think she'll be good at it as she has cool hands. And of course another batch of stock.
I have to tell you about our quince conserve. Remember those poached quinces last month. I kept some of the left over poaching liquor in the fridge and I discovered it has set so I transferred it to a jar and we're eating it on our toast. I have some quinces & am going to have a go at bonafide Quince Jelly this weekend so I'll let you know how I get on.
Last weekend we had people to dinner & Peter made herb bread sticks from a recipe in the latest Dish magazine. In the picture there was a red drink that reminded me of Campari soda in the seventies. So we served our bread sticks with Campari soda with a twist of lime & a sprig of mint.
As well as the carrots, which have been stunning (we have 3 colours - orange, white and a purple outer with orange inner), we've had a good rhubarb crop this summer. Peter has been eating stewed rhubarb every day for his breakfast. The tomatoes are making progress but it has been a disappointing year and I foresee an autumn batch of green tomato chutney coming up.

The last of summer?

I am not going to get into the study to write this blog every week now that school is back. I am going to try a new approach & do a monthly round up of the things I think you will like the best. It hasn't been the best of weather but we have had a reasonable return from the garden considering. And even a few more outdoor meals. We did all Phoebe's favourites one night. Vegetable skewers - red onion, green & yellow courgette, button mushrooms, capsicum yellow, red, green & orange. Phoebe's all time barbecue favourite is watermelon, red onion, olives, feta & parsley. And she doesn't even like onion, olives or parsley. This really works as a refreshing salad on a hot day. Marinade the red onion in lime juice first to reduce some of the sharpness & bring out the pinkness. Dress with the lime & olive oil to taste. Grind on lots of black pepper.
When you have an abundance of tomatoes don't forget Jamie's Mothership Tomato Salad. This is the best tomato salad in the world. Use as many different colours & shapes as you can. I add a little sugar with the salt to bring out the flavour in the tomatoes. I use my rosemary sugar.


For lamb & kumara lovers we discovered the best lamb salad in an old Cuisine: Lamb salad with spinach kumara & capsicum. We did it for visitors from the UK. I used different types of kumara to give it some variety. If you don't have vincotto maybe try some kind of fruity balsamic.
Another salad which is now firmly in the repertoire is a beef salad with yellow split peas. Cook about 1 1/2 cups yellow split peas in chicken stock until just tender, drain & spread out to cool. Don't overcook or they will turn mushy - I did this the first time & I just froze them to use later as a dip or dahl and started again. It was worth it. Make a dressing in the food processor with 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, zest & juice of 1 lemon, small bunch of flat-leaf parsley. Pan grill a piece of sirloin to your liking and after resting cut into cubes. Mix the split peas with diced capsicum, celery & red onion & mix with half the dressing. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the steak & serve side by side on a platter scattered with watercress.
I recently bought some quinces and poached them in an amazing liquor. There are lots of recipes. Give it a go. We used muscat and spices. The colour is incredible. They are very rich and you only need small servings - but delicious.