Sloe Gin

Never made it before, but the sloes are also cropping well in the hedgerows this year!

Combination of recipe here and input from a friend who makes sloe gin annually:

Fill a container a third-half full of washed and pricked sloes - I am using a 4l plastic bottle (used to contain water) - add some sugar (about 500g) then fill with gin. Agitate bottle once a day for a week then once a month for 2-3 months. Decant! Making it end of Sept/start October means it should be ready to drink this Christmas.

Nuts

Carrying on the foraging theme - good crop of cob nuts from the hazels lining the various fields and bridle paths around here. A number of recipes out on the 'net that I was going to try with them, but they are being eaten as a snack by themselves even though they are 'green' (Mr B reckons they taste like chestnuts).

The walnut tree that overhangs the garden also has a good crop this year.

Maybe I'll have some left of each type in the bowl at Christmas!

Rosehip and Apple Jelly

The autumn foraging has been good this year. Have been picking rosehips from the wild rose bushes over the last few days when out with the dog.

Basics for any fruit jelly are:
- cover fruit with water and simmer until soft
- mash lightly if needed (as is the case for rosehips)
- pour into a jelly/muslin bag hung over a clean bowl and leave to drip overnight. You must NOT prod the mixture or bag otherwise you will not have a clear jelly at the end.
- measure the resulting liquid and put into preserving pan/large saucepan
- for each pint of liquid add 1lb of warmed sugar
- bring to boil, stirring until sugar is totally dissolved
- boil vigorously until set (number of websites that tell you how to test for this. If one of my children don't remember how to do this - shame on you!)
- pot into hot sterilised jam jars and seal (everything you use should be sterilised -again look up tips on this on websites)

For this jelly the quantities of fruit are twice the weight of apples (cooking, crab or dessert) to the weight of rosehips. No need to peel the apples, just chop. I am told, that you can also use fallers - would remove any bruises etc if you do. Rosehips take longer to cook than apples so give them a good 30 minutes of simmering prior to adding the chopped apples. Otherwise follow as above!

This jelly goes well with meat.

Menu for w/c 12th Sept

Finally managed to turn off the large freezer in the garage (it has been on max freezer to keep the three top shelves forzen. I know that cold air sinks, but didn't seem to work in this ancient beast). So this week was a final items that wouldn't fit into the smaller freezer in the kitchen.

Lamb roast on Sunday.
M Chicken and mushroom pie and chips
T Lamb Meatloaf with tomato sauce
W Toad in the hole (used James Martin recipe - need to do half quantities next time!)
Th Barbeque - chicken with piri piri sauce and burgers
Fr 'Slugs'

Millionaire's shortbread

The best recipe for this is from the queen Mary Berry


A variation is:

Put

• 225g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 225g butter
  
• 100g semolina

into a food processor and 'pulse' until dough is formed.
Press mixture into a shallow tin and prick all over with a fork
Cook in pre-heated oven (160C) for about 30 minutes (until lightly golden)
Leave to cool

When cool, spread over a tin of 'Dulche de leche' or the toffee sauce in Mary Berry's recipe in the link above. (The latter is to gently heat together 175g butter, 175g sugar, 4tbsp golden syrup and 1 can of condensed milk.)

Melt 200g of good quality milk chocolate in a bowl in the microwave (see your microwave instruction booklet) or over a pan of hot water and spread over the caramel

Menu for w/c 31 August and Cannellini Bean Bake

M Beef and Chorizo
T Duck and Chips
W Lamb and Feta
Th Fajitas
Fr Cannellini Bean Bake

Cannellini Bean Bake

Slice an onion and poach in water until tender
Drain, reserving the liquid
Put the liquid into a measuring jug and top up with milk to half a pint

Make a white sauce:
Melt 1oz butter and stir in 1oz plain flour and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes
Gradually add the half pint of onion cooking liquid/milk mix stirring constantly until smooth and thick

In the bottom of an oven proof dish put 2 (or 3 if feeding a hungry four) drained tins of cannellini beans. Top with the cooked onion followed by a tin of chopped tomatoes. Pour over the white sauce and cover with grated cheddar cheese. Cook in preheated oven 180C for about 20 minutes, until bubbling and cheese is golden.

Serve with salad and, optionally, crusty bread