Using up the odds and ends

When I make a batch of jam or chutney, it is unusual that it fits perfectly into the a complete number of full jars. As a result, I always have a selection of little tubs of odds and ends of jam and chutney for my family to use up.

A consequence of this is that I usually encourage my children to have something for breakfast that involves jam. Sometimes this is as simple as toast but often I try to make it a bit more interesting

Having made Pear & Chocolate Jam the other day I decided that vanilla waffles would be the best way to make the most of this new invention. Pears have very little pectin and even with added apple pectin the jam sets very lightly. This, however, makes it perfect for dolloping onto waffles.

Vanilla Waffles

250g plain flour
7g baking powder
20g caster sugar
5g salt
475ml milk
2 eggs
30ml vegetable oil
A few drops of vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together and leave to stand for a while or overnight. Cook in a waffle maker. Serve hot with jam.

Another breakfast favourite is brioche. Often I just buy a loaf of brioche but occasionally I feel inspired to make some. Sometime back I had the brainwave of putting a teaspoon of jam into the centre of brioche rolls before baking them. My girls liked this but I felt that, although the jammy centre was lovely, there was quite a lot of brioche that didn't have jam with it.

Then the other day I made some Cheddar, beetroot and bacon rolls to have with our dinner. These worked out beautifully and I liked the way the tasty filling was in every bite.

Cheddar, Beetroot & Bacon Rolls (makes 12)

200ml water
50ml milk
300g strong white flour
150g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast
25g butter
150g cooked beetroot, grated
100g grated Cheddar cheese
40-50g crispy smoked streaky bacon, in small pieces

Place the water and milk into the bottom of a bread machine then cover with the flours. Place the salt, sugar, yeast and butter in separate areas on top of flour. Set the machine to "dough" and start. In the meantime, boil the beetroot if raw and cook the bacon until crispy. When the dough is ready, knock back on a floured surface and roll out into a rough rectangle. Sprinkle over half the cheese then add the beetroot and bacon and then the remaining cheese. Roll the dough up tightly along the longest edge then cut into 12 rolls. Place each roll, cut side up, into a greased muffin tin. Cover with oiled Clingfilm and leave to double in size. In the meantime, preheat oven to 200°C, gas make 6. Cook the rolls for 30 minutes until risen and cooked through. Serve warm.


This made me wonder if the same technique would work for the brioche rolls. That's to say, could the jam be rolled all the way through each bun? Well, the answer was yes. Another jammy breakfast success.

Brioche Jam Swirls (makes 12)

30ml (2 tbsp) milk
2 eggs
225g (8 oz) bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
55g (2 oz) butter
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2-3 tbsp jam

Pour the milk and eggs into the bread machine pan then put the flour on top. Add the salt, sugar, butter and yeast in separate areas on top of the flour then set your machine to the dough setting. When the dough is ready, knock back on a floured surface then roll out into a rough rectangle. Smear the jam over the dough then roll up the dough along the longest length. Cut into roll into 12 pieces and place each piece, cut side up, into greased holes of a muffin tin. Cover with oiled Clingfilm and leave to double in size. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C, gas 6. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and well risen. Serve hot or cold.

My Love Hate Relationship with Brambles

Brambles have got to be the worst weed in the world. They grow ridiculously quickly, they take root wherever a stem comes into contact with the ground and they are viciously thorny. I sometimes wonder, if humans suddenly died out, how quickly the world would be overgrown with the stuff.

I constantly battle with brambles that sneak in amongst my soft fruit bushes. The lovely redcurrant doesn't have thorns and should be a delight to harvest. But no... I reach in to grab a handful of ripe currants only to snag my hand onto some hideous unseen bramble branch winding its way through the bush.  And try as I might, I can't obliterate the stuff from my plot. Even with thick leather gloves on, the thorns can get through, or the stems can swing round and whip me across the face as I try to pull them out. Year after year it grows back despite my efforts.

They are ugly plants too when they invade other shrubbery. Garden hedges interwoven with bramble branches quickly start to look like something more suited to surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle. The bramble that grows through my neighbour's hedge that overhangs the road scratches my car every time I drive past and threaten to take my eye out when I cycle past. The brambles that grow along the redways grow so quickly and so menacingly that I have been know to carry secateurs especially to chop them off and make the redways safe again.

But just at the point when I'm ready to declare out and out war on this weed, September arrives and the bramble breaks out into fruit and all is forgiven. Suddenly it seems to remind us all that it does deserve a place on the planet after all and out we go with our plastic bags and pick. Blackberrying must be the only form of foraging that every kid in the country as been introduced to at some point. They are the only wild berry that everyone can safely identify. And no autumn would be complete without an apple and blackberry crumble.

This year has been a particularly abundant year for blackberries so there are plenty for everyone. No excuse, get out there and pick yourself some and take advantage of this free food. You may as well because it won't be long before all we are left with are the horrible, invasive, spiky weeds that we all hate.

Just remember to take care because the blackberry may produce lovely fruit but it doesn't give them up without a fight.

Apple & Blackberry Crumble

2 lb (900 g) apples – peeled and sliced
1 oz (25g) soft light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 oz (85g) blackberries
2 tablespoons water
4 oz (110g) wholemeal flour
4 oz (110g) oats
4 oz (110g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 oz (85g) butter

Place the apples, sugar, cinnamon, blackberries and water in a large pan and cook with the lid on for twenty minutes until fluffy – stir occasionally. In the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C (gas 4). In a bowl, add the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and butter and use finger tips to rub into crumbs. Spoon the apple mix into a suitable ovenproof dish and layer the crumble mix on top. Level it off then bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve with custard.

Putting the currant into Eccles cakes

When you grow a glut of something, you find yourself coming up with more and more inventive ways of using that particular fruit or vegetable to make the most of it and avoid becoming sick of it. I remember once, when faced with a glut of plums, racking my brains for new ideas for using them up. Having already made Plum Jam, Plum & Cinnamon Jam, Plum & Mulled Wine Jam, Plum & Orange Mincemeat, plum flapjacks, plum crumble and plum upside down cake I was beginning to struggle. Hmmm... what about plum pudding? Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his pudding and pie. He stuck in this thumb and pulled out a plum and said, "What a good boy am I?". Plum pudding, a dish as old as the hills... but sadly, not made with plums it turned out on further research - just dried mixed fruit.

On another matter, I happen to be a huge fan of Eccles cakes. Always have been, even the ones you can buy in supermarkets (which are actually rather good). The other day when delivering some jam to Woodstocks Artisan Bakery, Matt asked, "Do you want to get anything whilst you're here." Silly question! And as they had Eccles cakes for sale the choice wasn't that difficult.

Then later, having polished those off I found myself fancying some more - well, you would, wouldn't you? But it was August and I usually only make Eccles cakes in the autumn when I can grate some apples or pears into the filling and neither of these fruits were ready. However, I was up to my eyes in a blackcurrant glut at the time so, hey, why not put some actual currants into them - not just those shriveled up grape things that call themselves currants.

And you know what? It really worked. Just 2 oz of blackcurrants was all that was needed to add to the dried fruit mixture and, my god, what a flavour revolution! Distinctly blackcurranty but not too much so, adding a depth of flavour not possible with dried fruit alone. I'm pleased to say that it made a large batch and I was able to freeze some so I have been enjoying them all over again this week and will certainly be making some more with the glut of frozen blackcurrants in my freezer.

So, that's the currants into Eccles cakes sorted... just need to crack the plum in plum pudding now the plums are ready...

Blackcurrant Eccles Cakes (makes 18)
1 oz (25g) butter
9 oz (250g) mixed dried fruit
4 oz (110g) light muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground all spice
Juice of one small lemon
2 oz (55g) blackcurrants
1 block of ready-made puff pastry
Egg
Demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 220°C, gas 8 and grease a baking tray. Melt the butter in a pan then stir in the blackcurrants and cook for 10 minutes until the juices are running. Add the dried fruit, sugar, spices and lemon juice and cook for a another 10 minutes then leave to cool completely. On a floured surface roll out the pastry. Use a large biscuit cutter (about 10cm in diameter) to cut out circles in the pastry. Place a teaspoon of filling into the centre of each pastry circle then bundle the pastry up over the filling. Turn the pastry bundle over and flatten with a rolling pin to make a thick oval biscuit of pastry with the fruity filling just showing beneath the surface. Slash the biscuit 3 times with a sharp knife then brush with beaten egg and scatter with Demerara sugar. Gather up the pastry trimmings and repeat until all the pastry is used up. Place the Eccles cakes on the baking tray and cook for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Alternatively, place the Eccles cakes on a tray and freeze raw. Can be cooked from frozen for about 25 minutes.

To make pear or apple Eccles cakes, substitute the blackcurrants with 2 whole fruit, peeled and grated into the dried fruit mixture.

So what on earth are mirabelles?!

This week I made my first every batch of Mirabelle Jam and what a delight it is too. The fruit cooked beautifully into jam-consistency mush in just a few minutes, it came to a delightful set with ease, it had a beautiful colour and the flavour is just gorgeous. But when I proudly tell people I have made Mirabelle Jam I'm mainly met with blank expressions and queries of, "What's that?".

I have to admit that until about two years ago I didn't know what mirabelles were either. As many of you know, I'm always keen to take surplus fruit and veg off people's hands in exchange for a jar of something yummy from the Jammy Cow stores. And it was in a conversation with someone offering me plums from their tree that I was introduced to mirabelles. They lived in Loughton and said there were lots of mirabelles growing in the hedgerow and that I really should come and pick some for jam making. Unfortunately, I was away on holiday just at the critical harvesting moment and I never managed to get to Loughton to pick them. Still, I had by this point Googled mirabelles and discovered they are a member of the prunus family so related to plums, cherries, gages, peaches and apricots.

Having had mirabelles brought to my attention back in 2011, the following year I once again found myself wondering about visiting Loughton for some mirabelle picking. But with the picking season falling within the school holidays I somehow never made it out there but I did begin to wonder if the yellow fruits along gridroads could in fact be mirabelles and not some sort of weird yellow cherries after all.

This year I was determined to crack the whole mirabelle mystery and became progressively convinced that the yellow fruits I was seeing absolutely everywhere were mirabelles. Not only to be found in Loughton, I realised! So, at the weekend I took my girls out for a short cycle ride, with telescopic picking tool strapped to my crossbar, with the intention of picking mirabelles. I knew where I was going because I had seen the bright fruit from the car all week. And sure enough, there they were, glowing yellow and so ripe they jumped eagerly off the tree with the slightest touch. Soon we had a bagful and could head home, to chop and remove the stones ready for jamming.

The fruit looked beautiful before I started but I had no idea they would create such a lovely jam. I gave my girls a taste the day I made the jam and they liked it so much they requested it on their toast for breakfast the next day. I gave a friend a spoonful to try and she took a jar home with her. It looks like it should taste like marmalade but instead it is sweet and fruity and nearly plum-like but altogether different. It is fantastic on toast but I can see it would work well between sponge cakes or instead of apricot jam under marzipan or icing on a cake.

I quickly realised I needed to go out and pick some more but sadly the mirabelle season is short and is now over but be sure I shall be raiding the hedgerow again next year.

Lemon Layer Drizzle Cake

Back in June I received my weekly delivery of "family essentials" from Farmison. Along with the selection of fruit and vegetables and meat, there were a couple of "pantry" items. The slab of butter was most welcome, the jar of lemon curd was not. In a household overwhelmed with homemade preserves, a jar of preserve was not required.

Still, I'm not one for food waste and it occurred to me that my brother's birthday would be the ideal opportunity to use up some of the lemon curd. He had, I remembered, always been a fan of lemon curd, enjoying it in tarts even back in the day when it was bright yellow and had probably never even been near a lemon (what happened to food during the 80s?!). So I saw this an opportunity to make a Lemon Layer Cake using the recipe from my daughter's set of Usborne Book recipe cards.

Usually with recipes I can't help but fiddle and tweak as I go along, often reducing the sugar content to match the lack of sweet teeth in our household. However, this was destined for a large 40th birthday party where there would be an audience of sweet teeth, so I left well alone.

Lemon Layer Cake

225g (8 oz) margarine
225g (8 oz) caster sugar
4 medium eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice
225g (8 oz) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Lemon curd

1 lemon, zest and juice
125g (5 oz) icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C, gas mark 4 and grease and line 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins. Cream together the margarine and caster sugar then mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the lemon zest and juice. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until well combined and smooth. Divide equally between the two tins then bake for 20 minutes. Cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, smear a generous heaping of lemon curd onto one cake and place the other one on top. Next mix the juice of the other lemon with icing sugar and pour the icing over the top of the cake. Finally, scatter the lemon zest on top.

This proved to be a triumph of a cake. It both looked and tasted gorgeous. However, when I asked my husband what he thought of the cake he admitted that he found it too sweet and particularly didn't like the layer of white icing on top. Still, I had lemon curd left to use up so a few weeks later I made the cake again. This time, I took an ounce of icing sugar out of the icing layer and this turned it into a drizzle instead of an icing. To my mind it kept much of it fabulous character (although arguably it didn't look so appealing) and Steve was much happier with it too.

Then this week, Nicola from PicNics asked me if I could make something lemony for them to use as a filling in their cakes. "Maybe one of your lemon marmalades," she suggested. I pondered this and decided that my Honey & Lemon Marmalade would work well if it wasn't so lumpy. So on Thursday I set about making a fine shred version of this popular marmalade, which I'm pleased to say looked very promising.

As Friday was Steve's birthday I decided this was the perfect opportunity to try out my new lemon cake filling and once again tackled the lemon layer cake recipe. This time, with Steve in mind, I removed 2 oz of the caster sugar from the sponge layer, glued the layers together with a good dollop of fine shred Honey & Lemon Marmalade, and created a drizzle using 3 oz of icing sugar. And wow! what a revelation... the flavour of the lemon really taking centre-stage and no overdone sweetness. Yep, this is the one to add to the family recipe notebook. Steve, by the way, went back for seconds... but, hey, it was his birthday!

Lemon Drizzle Layer Cake

225g (8 oz) margarine
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
4 medium eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice
225g (8 oz) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Honey & Lemon Marmalade (fine shred)

1 lemon, zest and juice
75g (3 oz) icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C, gas mark 4 and grease and line 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins. Cream together the margarine and caster sugar then mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the lemon zest and juice. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until well combined and smooth. Divide equally between the two tins then bake for 20 minutes. Cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, smear a generous heaping of lemon marmalade onto one cake and place the other one on top. Finally,mix the juice and zest of the other lemon with icing sugar and pour the drizzle over the top of the cake.

Late spring bring elderflowers in June

One of the things I find frustrating when I flick through preserving recipe books is when a recipe requires ingredients that are not available at the same time when growing your own. Blackcurrant and apple may be a classic combination but I do not have apples ready when the blackcurrants are out. I saw a recipe the other day for a jam using rhubarb and apple. Fail! There are about 4 months between these two ingredients (at least in my world!).  Fortunately, with the use of the freezer it is possible for me to freeze some blackcurrants to use when the apples are ready and so I do make Blackcurrant & Apple Jam.

Another classic and delicious combination that requires the intervention of the freezer is gooseberry and elderflower. These two seem to miss each other by a matter of days, with the elderflowers finishing by the end of May or early June and the gooseberries ripening sometime from mid June to July. So rather than risking missing that special moment when both are available (although arguably not at their best), I pick the elderflowers in May and freeze them until the gooseberries are good and plump. Having said that, with the late spring this year the elderflowers have only appeared since the arrival of the warmer weather in June. And the gooseberries are already forming so maybe, just maybe, this will be the year when the two occur at the same time!

I don't grow elderflowers myself but they feature frequently in the hedgerows and municipal planting of Milton Keynes. We pass many bushes on the school run each morning in fact. Once you have your eye in you'll spot them all over the place. Although it may not be your eyes that notice them first, as the heavy scent is often so strong that your nose lets you know too.

There are other whitish cream blossom flowers out at the same time so if you do decide to collect elderflowers please make sure you know what you are doing. The result really won't be the same if you collect the wrong flowers and I guess there is a possibility you may poison yourself! Below is a photo of a blossom that isn't elderflower.

Elderflowers grow on shrub or tree sized plants and have an umbrella shaped blossom made up of numerous tiny cream flowers. The leaves are typical leaf shaped, fairly large and grow in collections of 5 or 7 leaves on one stem. If you think you have found the elderflower then smell it. It should have a lovely strong sweet perfume. If it has no perfume or stinks like sweaty donkeys then forget it! Below is a photo of what you are looking for.

Most recipes call for 20 large flower heads so aim to collect at least that many. They can be snapped off with sharp fingernails or snipped off with scissors. Back home, give them a good shake to remove any bugs. You may also wish to wash them. I always use my elderflowers in recipes as a flavouring so they usually get strained out of the finished product. This means there is no need to fiddle around with snipping each flower from the head. They can be used fresh or frozen. If freezing them, pack them into freezer bags, squash out as much air as possible and seal then pop them into the freezer until needed. They will probably go brown on thawing but they will retain their flavour and this is the key thing. They can be used from frozen to flavour jams and desserts as well as to make things such as elderflower cordial.

Elderflower cordial makes a lovely summer drink and is a nice non-alcoholic drink to serve at garden parties and barbeques. At this time of year, I make up a 2 litre bottle with elderflower cordial and a mixture of chilled still and sparkling water to make a slightly sparkling non-alcoholic drink to take to an event instead of a bottle of wine. It goes down well and is suitable for all. A couple of weeks ago a boy about 12 years old decided to give my sparkling elderflower drink ago and liked it so he came up to me and asked what elderflower were. Not only was it a flavour he'd not tried before but he didn't even realise that the flowers themselves were growing in the street in which he lived.

Usually at this point in June you would have missed the best of the elderflowers but they are just coming into their prime so make the most of it and make some elderflower cordial.  It is dead easy and tastes delicious. As well as diluting it to make a drink you can use it to flavour other things such as butter icing for fairy cakes, yoghurt or panna cotta. Whatever you decide, if you want to use elderflowers then get out there and pick some now because before you know it they’ll be gone for another year. And, even if you don't want to make anything then go out there and find some elderflowers and have a good smell - it is a beautiful scent. Better still, take children with you and teach them how to identify and use elderflowers so that we don't lose the art of foraging.

Elderflower Cordial (makes about 1.4 litres)

2lb 4 oz (1kg) sugar
1½ pints (900ml) boiling water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
about 15 large elder flower heads
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced

Put the sugar in a non-metallic bowl with the boiling water and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon and lime juices. Wash and flick dry the elder flower heads then snip off the flowers into the bowl. Add the sliced lemon and lime. Stir then cover the bowl with Clingfilm and leave to stand for 24 hours. Scald a jelly bag and drain the mixture through it into a clean bowl. Funnel into sterile bottles then refrigerate. Dilute to taste with still or fizzy water. Will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 months.

Steak & Ale Pie

I don't know if you have ever played a Mr and Mrs type game where you have to see whether you can guess what your spouse gave as the answer to questions about themselves. Despite knowing my husband for 18 years, I'm not sure how many of these questions I would get right but one thing is for certain, if I was ever asked what he would choose off the menu in a restaurant I know the answer would be a fish dish. He, on the other hand, would know that I would always go for the meat pie.

I remember as a child giving the answer of meat pie in response to the question: what is your favourite food. In particular, it was my grandad's homemade steak pie that I adored. And my love of steak pie has continued into adulthood. So when I'm out and there is a steak pie on the menu I shall opt for it. Steak and Ale pie, as is so often offered in pubs, is equally as good an option, particularly when it is a dish of pie filling with a slab of puff pastry on top. Yum.

However, for a long time I have struggled to replicate such wondrous pies at home, much to my disappointment. Then, last week, I received my first order of a box of butcher's meat from a food box scheme. It contained a selection of meat that I was happy to receive but which I had not specifically chosen. Amongst this was a pound of casserole steak. Hmmm... I would rather casserole lamb if I'm honest so I pondered whether it was worth trying again with the elusive Steak & Ale Pie.

Having googled several recipes and blogs on the topic, I pulled together some ideas and set about making up my own recipe, using, of course, ale from the local Concrete Cow Brewery, and shallots from the garden. Several hours later, delicious smells wafted from the kitchen and my optimism grew. Despite the tempting smells, we were having chicken for dinner that night and the pies were destined for the freezer but later that week I retrieved a couple and we gave them a go.

So, this week when my butcher's box of meat arrived I was excited to see another batch of casserole steak inside for it meant a chance to restock my freezer with these yummy pies. Once again my kitchen smells delicious and I'm eagerly anticipating pie night.

Steak & Ale Pie (make 3)

500g casserole steak, diced
20g seasoned flour
65g pancetta or bacon lardons
100g finely chopped shallots
200ml ale
200ml beef stock
1 dessert spoon dark muscovado sugar
A dash of balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder (yes, really!)
Half a block of ready-made puff pastry

Preheat over to 160°C, 150°C fan, gas mark 2. Toss the steak in the flour then brown all over in a hot frying pan. Spoon into a casserole dish then add the pancetta/bacon and shallots to the pan to brown. Add these to the casserole dish then put the remaining ingredients (except the pastry) into the frying pan. Stir, and scrape the bottom of the pan, until hot. Pour the liquid over the steak and place a lid on the casserole dish. Cook, covered for 2 hours then uncover and cook for a further 30 minutes until thick. Spoon about 150g of pie filling into suitable ovenproof contains/dishes and cover each one with a lid of puff pastry. It should make about 3 pies. Glaze the pastry with egg or milk and make a couple of steam holes in them. Freeze until required. Cook from thawed for 20-25 minutes at 190°C, gas 5, until the pastry is puffed and golden. Serve hot with potatoes and vegetables.

Meat & Potato Pie

My husband is from the north and from the sort of poor background where they used to eat corned beef hash for dinner and the corned beef was so heavily diluted by the potato that it only appeared as the occasional pink thread. Coming from such a background, he prefers to eat Meat & Potato Pie - with those made by Hollands being a particular favourite. So he requested I padded his pie out with potatoes. To do this, I took 150g of the pie filling out once cooked and added it to 350g of finely diced, boiled potatoes. This I then made into 3 individual pies with a puff pastry lid.