Recipe - Apricot and Ginger Chutney

I've been wanting to make a chutney for ages but thought I needed to go out and buy a jam pan and so I kept putting it off. My lovely mother told me that she just used her deep bottomed pressure cooker pan so I set about to do the same!

I love ginger in recipes so this is perfect for me, especially as we are starting to go into autumn/winter so it feels appropriate to be bottling fruits and it smelled delicious whilst cooking.

Ingredients

350g dried apricots
100g sultanas
110g blanched almonds
350g granulated sugar
375ml white vinegar
3 onions
6" stem ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp ground ginger

Method to the Madness

Heat a large stainless steel pan over a medium heat until the pan is hot. Once hot combine the sugar and vinegar in the saucepan, stirring until a syrup mixture forms.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and simmer the mixture, uncovered for 45mins/1hour, until a thickened chutney forms.

NB. I burnt the first batch I made as it didn't seem to be cooking and it was in the same state after 45 minutes of simmering so I turned up the heat and went back to The X Factor resulting in a very blackened sludge at the bottom of my pan. YOU MUST SIMMER. 

Preheat the oven to 170c and place your intended jars in the oven with it's lid to sterilise for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before spooning your chutney in and shutting the lid tight until you want to spread this very tasty chutney on some cheese and crackers!

C x

Happy Christmas!

As you may have guessed I love Christmas. 

Every year Leigh and I alternate spending time with my family and Leigh's and this year it was my turn for Christmas Day and Leigh's for Boxing Day. I am pleased about this because my brother is moving to Australia in January and we don't know how long he will stay so it was nice to have all the family together.

It's so special spending time with family and although it's hectic it's so much fun. I'm so sad its over for another year  because I really do wish it could be Christmas everyday!

I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas :)

xxx

Market at Christmas

With only 3 days to Christmas what better way of celebrating the Christmas spirit than with a trip down to the wonderfully festive London Borough Market. 

At this time of year there are so many festive stalls and things to try. When you first walk through the gates the smells of cheese, meat, flowers and mulled wine float aromatically around you and it feels safe and warm inside although the warmth is probably from the hundreds of people that were crammed in which I suppose is only to be expected so close to Christmas!

There were so many lovely things to see:

Pretty flowers, including some lovely Christmas berries

Tons of vegetables are to be found in numerous vegetable stalls

The smell of oranges always makes me feel Christmassy

And then there's the glorious spice stalls with the different exotic smells

And all the mushrooms which are a favourite vegetable of mine although Leigh is not a fan.

There are lots of tasty saucisson's to be tried, that range from the standard to Duck and Pistachio.

And of course the most exciting bit about the whole trip was the amount of cheese that I got to eat. You just need to ask and they will let you try little bits of cheese. We tried all sorts including a 36 month matured cheese which was full of flavour.

We bought several cheeses and once home arranged them on our lovely slate cheeseboard

But back to the market...


There are lots of places to get something warm to drink

And you can finish off the day with a piece of cake or chocolate on the side...

It was lovely to spend a few hours soaking up the atmosphere and if you want to feel festive and eat a lot of cheese I would definitely recommend it.

xxx

Camembert Cranberry Puffs - Recipe

Time to get your santa hats on because it's going to get a bit festive in the kitchen. 

I made these little bites of scrumminess for the Christmas meal I went to recently and they went far too quickly. I was very glad I doubled up!

So you will need (this is the double up version and makes about 50):

Ingredients

For the chutney

1tsp olive oil

1 small red onion

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

3tbsp red wine

5tbsp sugar 
100g (3½oz) cranberries

For the puffs

1 egg

250g (8oz) puff pastry

125g (4oz) Camembert, sliced and cut into 16 squares

Method to the madness

Preheat oven to 200°C, fan180ºC, Gas 6  and line a baking tray with baking parchment and grease. Heat the olive oil and gently cook the red onion until softened. Add balsamic vinegar, red wine, sugar, cranberries and cook till jammy - about 10 mins.

 It looked so twinkly when it was heated!

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and either use a little star cookie cutter like I did or just cut into squares about 2.5cm. Brush with egg and then bake these for about 10 minutes until golden and risen.

Whilst those are in the oven cut Camembert into 50 little pieces and then taking the puffs out of the oven top each square with a small slice of Camembert and a spoonful of chutney. 

Return these to the oven for about 2 mins or until the cheese melts.

Try not to burn your mouth as you pop them in your mouth. Oh and try and save some for others. Or not.

Happy Eating :)

xxx

It's Christmas!

Christmas. Christmas. Christmas!

It's probably my favourite word because it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy and happy. I just love Christmas.
 
And what isn't there to love. You can eat lots of cheese boards and pigs in blankets. It's acceptable to shop. There's a twinkly tree in the corner. You can tinsel EVERYTHING.

It's only 22 days to go and I couldn't be more excited!

xxx