days with an abundance of apples part 1

I'm not one to waste food. OK, but let's qualify that. I have got previous (as they say in English cop series) in that I've let some items lurk at the back of the fridge before now and then found they're past their sell by date. And yes, they may have been the odd, old manky courgette or carrot decaying at the bottom of the vegetable basket. But generally speaking, I like to find a use and a tasty recipe for everything that I pick, dig up or buy .

This year, the apples have just kept coming....for the last two months, I've been eating them raw, in Dorset apple cakes, apple crumbles, and there are pounds and pounds of slightly stewed apples in the freezer ready for more warming crumbles to come throughout the rest of autumn and winter.

I find the best way to preserve the apples for the freezer is to slice them and put into an earthenware bowl, dredge with lemon juice and perhaps two tablespoons of sugar, then add four tablespoons of water.

Stir and cover tautly with cling film

Stab the cling film twice, ( a task I always relish, especially when  I'm in  a bad mood) then bung the bowl in the microwave for three minutes.  Remove the cling film , then as soon as the apples have cooled properly put in freezer bags. They will keep for about 9 months.

 But still the apples keep a coming.....so I've made six or seven pounds of apple and mint jelly. Now this is something I've been making for years, and in good years when the apples are in abundance, I make shedloads. It lasts for a good two years. I think I may have to make another batch pretty soon....if the mint in the courtyard keeps going that is.

Now this is a jelly which goes extremely well with lamb and my lot vastly prefer it to mint sauce. It's also good with roast or poached chicken. So would you like the recipe?

You will need

5 pounds of cooking apples
about 5 large sprigs of mint
2 pints of distilled white vinegar
 another 8 -10 tablespoons of mint; chopped finely
sugar
(should make about six pounds of jelly)

method

1.Roughly chop the apples, cut out the bruised bits , but the good news is you don't have to peel them all!
2. Put the apples in a preserving pan with the sprigs of mint and about 2 pints of water. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 40 minutes. Don't let the mixture catch - no sticky bottoms here thank you very much.
3.Add the vinegar and bring to the boil for a further 5 minutes. No longer, because the smell is so intense, I don't want you becoming overcome and falling face first into the preserving pan.
4. Make sure you open the kitchen windows...I hate the smell of boiling vinegar.

5. Spoon the hot apple pulp into a jelly bag which is suspended over a big bowl and leave overnight . When you wake up in the morning , you will have lots of fluid in the bowl..
6. For each pint of extract you have in the bowl, use a pound of sugar, and put everything in a preserving pan.
7.Stir while you heat it gently and make sure all the sugar is dissolved and then boil until setting point is reached...about 15 minutes for me.
8. Don't forget to remove the scum which forms on top .

7.Stir while you heat it gently and make sure all the sugar is dissolved and then boil until setting point is reached...about 15 minutes for me.
8. Don't forget to remove the scum which forms on top .
9.Now throw in the finely chopped mint  and cool.
After 15 minutes put the jelly in to sterilised  jam jars and cover.

I've just got to work out now what I'm going to do with the next batch of apples.....

Days of plums, damsons and brass

September has been such a good month for plums and damsons hasn't it?

The Victoria plum tree on the allotment was heavily laden this year...

And so there was picking to be done...

I was also given a few pounds of damsons....my friend Jo didn't know what to do with all...every day she came to work with carrier bags of them, and I think she fed the whole newsroom. I exaggerate , she fed those of us who can make puddings and jam. The sports boys in the corner wouldn't know what to do with a damson if it hit them in the ear. 

I however do....and made this lovely Nigel Slater's plum cake...captured just as it was going into the oven. The flavour of the damsons and the texture of ground almonds and polenta made a delicious treat for tea.

Back to the Victoria plums, some of which I froze or stewed and served cold with ice cream.....

But I also tried a new recipe this year...plum gumbo. Made with plums, sultanas, sugar, fresh ginger which adds a certain zing, plus other bits and pieces, it's very tasty with bread and cheese.

In fact the only thing that's wrong with this batch is that I didn't make enough! In the meantime, there's still plenty to do in the kitchen with a preserving pan - time to sort the apples out.....

Not tonight though, it's now dark,  and I'm back in the kitchen just about to get the supper ready. While the vegetables are roasting and the pasta is on to boil , I've been listening to a group whose music always seems to fit this time of night.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are from Chicago, but moved to New York. They're a world away from my my cottage in a tiny village . but at twilight, with a glass of red wine in my hand, with my toes tapping our worlds collide and I hope that one day I can see them perform live.