Howling...

A day of mixed emotions. Crying my eyes out in the kitchen, not a good look, mascara streaming from bloodshot eyes in rivulets of black down my face like something half dead in a goulish film with wobbly scenery from the 60's. I tried on a pair of the kids swimming goggles which made my eyes pop out of their sockets (very frog like) and ran down the shedio for a pair of too big diddies but still the 2 kilos of onions I was chopping up were determined to make me howl.

So what is the answer to peeling onions then. Has anyone actually found the cure. I've heard that peeling them under water works but you can hardly chop them under water can you. Some say wear a peg on your nose, nope tried it. I'm thinking perspect shield between the chopper and the onions might work, bit of a fag though setting it all up each time. Anyway 2 kg of onions peeled and shredded and in the pan, worried comments turning to amusement and mirth from the kinder and two hours later I have a pan of glorious smelling, tarty tasting onion marmalade. Of course you want the recipe, here it is.


Onion Marmalade

• 2kg Red or white onions
• 140g Butter
• 4 tbsp Olive oil
• 140g Demerara sugar
• 1 tbsp Fresh thyme leaves
• 75cl Bottle red wine
• 350ml Red wine vinegar
• 200ml Port

1. Peel and shred the onions thinnly.
2. Place in a heavy bottomed pan (I actually put mine in a wok) with the butter, olive oil, sugar and thyme and cook them until there's no juice left and the onions are very soft. This takes around an hour of very slow cooking.
   
3. Add all the liquid and bring to the boil and then simmer.
4. Cook until the marmalade has thickened and you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir with a wooden spoon.
   
5. Allow to cool slightly and then spoon into clean sterilized warm jars.
   

This gorgeous onion marmalade should be eaten within app. 4 months and should be kept in the fridge once opened. It's gorgeous with cheeses, hams and sausages. Tonight I stir fried some curly kale and added a big dollop whilst cooking and it was fabulous.

Not Takeaway...

Takeaway comes the shout from the living room, Not takeaway comes my shout from the kitchen in reply to what shall we have for dinner. What is it with kids and takeaway. Anyway a search through the freezer revealed a bag of cod pieces, frozen parsnips, a bag of chips and a frozen block of mince. My offer of fish pie fell on deaf ears and shepherds pie got a yeah ok. Hmmm whats a girl to do. So I'll make my own takeaway. Burger and chips. I sent Joe down to Sainsburys with a list of supplies and popped the mince in the michael wave to defrost and the chips in the oven to cook and 20 mins later we had cheeseburgers and chips with a healthy mixed leaf salad and tomato's on the side. Perfect. Did they like them, a resounding yes, and they're now a firm Francis family favourite. Oh all right then, here's the recipe.

1lb of Minced beef
1 Beef stock cube
Sage and Onion stuffing.
1 Egg

1. Place the minced beef in a large mixing bowl.
2. Put the stock cube (I use Knorr but you could use any cube) into a cup and pour on just enough boiling water to melt it.
3. Add the stock, egg and half a pack of stuffing to the mince and give it a good mix with your hands until it is thoroughly combined. The mixture should be firm enough to stay in a burger shape but not to dry that it crumbles. If you've added to much stuffing add a little water to loosen it up a bit or leave the mixture for 10 mins if its too wet for the stuffing to absorb some of the liquid.
4. Shape the burgers in your hands and place them under the grill. I cooked ours on the George Forum type grill we have.

These are so easy to do and if you stick all the ingredients in a bowl theres usually a willing child available to stick their hands in and mix it up. You can use lamb or turkey mince, the latter making a good very low fat version. If you want to put them on the bbq I would leave the shaped burgers in the fridge for a few hours to firm up a bit.

Frosty On The Toes.

Fool that I am, I was out there this morning gleaning beads from the kiln in my Pyjama's wading through frost up to my ankles. Yes its up to my ankles because the grass still needs cutting before winter sets in but the PS has been so busy ripping out the old bathroom, re-tiling, plumbing and electrocuting ready for the new one that he's not had time so up to my ankles it is. Anyway the beads were fab. I've been making a few buttons lately, think I'm going to have to knit myself a new winter woolly soon to sew them onto.

I'm digressing, while I was plodding down to the shedio in the frost I collected a handful of mushrooms growing next to the pond, had a couple for breakfast on toast and threw the others into a pan of vegetable soup later on. Very nice they were too, a much woodier flavour fresh from the garden than when they've been sitting around in a plastic container in a warehouse, lorry and finally the supermarket, they smell gorgeous too. Anyway this soup I made, its a wonderfully thick wintery soup full of hot goodness It's fab for keeping in the fridge and coming home to on a cold evening with a hunk of crusty bread and some cheese. Perfect as a winter warmer and wonderful after a bonfire. Makes a great base for a chicken pie too.

Leek and Potato Soup

4 Leeks washed and sliced.
6 Medium sized potatoes
Water
2 Chicken or veg stock cubes
I large onion
1 tbsp olive oil

These ingredients are not written in stone and can be taken away or added to as desired.

Heat the oil in large pan and fry of the chopped onion and leeks until softened.

Cut up the potatos into inch sized pieces and add to the leeks. I leave the skin on but take it off if you prefer.

Add the stock cubes and the water and bring to the boil. Simmer until the potatos have cooked and the water as reduced to give a good flavour. Depending on the quantity of water you add the soup will be thicker or thinner, reduce it more for a thicker soup.

When the potatos start to mush up a bit use a stick blender (the type you can put in the pan) and blend the soup slightly to break up the potato and thicken the soup. If you prefer a smooth soup just blend it until its the consistency you want.

If you don't have a stick blender or like me you have a battery one that you've forgotten to charge, you can put a potato masher into the soup and give it a good mash around.

This is delicious with crusty wholemeal bread and I like to drop some cubes of cheddar into the soup when its in the bowl.

Plum Chutney

A mixed day, far to busy for a Sunday in my opinion. Don't know what happened to 'Day of Rest'
Church and a very long sermon followed by lunch followed by a few hours in the shedio. Made some nice beads, well I hope they are, they're in the kiln right now cooking, came in and sorted dinner and remember those plums I had left over from the jam the other day, well I made chutney with them today. Oh my goodness, it smells lovely here. A mish mash of plums and cinnamon, cloves and apple cider vinegar, apples and raisins all the gorgeousness of spicy smells hopping around the kitchen. It's all bottled up in kilner jars now (my Ikea special buy) and sitting in the cupboard maturing. Anyone know how long it needs to sit in a cupboard maturing. Will give it a week but don't think I can hold off much longer. It was dead easy to make, want the recipe?

Plum Chutney

2lb Plums
1 Large onion
6oz Dark brown muscavado sugar
10oz Demerara sugar
1/2 pt Malt vinegar
1/2 pt Apple cider vinegar
Handfull of raisins
1 Bramley Apple grated.
3cm Piece of ginger grated
1 tbsp Cinnamon
8 Cloves
2 tsp Salt

Quarter the plums and remove the stones. Put all the ingredients in the pan and boil until the chutney has thickened. You can tell its ready if you can see the bottom of th pan briefly when you stir the chutney with a wooden spoon.

As it comes to the end you really need to keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Keep stiring but mind the splashes.

Allow to cool very slightly and pour into jars. Seal and label and leave to mature for as long as you can bare.

Very easy and its the sort of chutney that you can put in or take out of. The load I made today I slung in a handful of flaked almonds and I only had a very few raisins that went in. You could use all malt vinegar or red wine vinegar or any vinegar you like really. Have a go and let me know what you think.

Autumn Plum Jam

Wandering around Asda the other day I found some cheap plums, well I thought they were cheap, £1.57 for a kilo not sure what they usually are but I picked up 3 punnets along with sugar and the intention of making jam anyway. Back to the kitchen and I used half of them to make the most gorgeous jam, enough to share and some for the church Christmas fair too. Heres the recipe. I think it's a pretty basic one and you could use the same proportions for any fruit.

3lb Plums (any type)
Water
Juice of one lemon
3lb Granulated sugar

1. Halve the plums and remove the stones.
2. Add the water to just cover the plums and bring to the boil. Simmer until the plums are soft.
3. Add the sugar and lemon juice and bring back to the boil stiring all the time until the sugar has completely dissolved.
4. Simmer until the jam thickens and and sets when a few drops are put on a cold plate.
5. Skim any scum off the top and use a jug or ladle to pour into clean sterilized warm jars. Cover with lids and label and there you go.
   

Couldn't be easier could it. A very simple jam that tastes fab. I like to keep it in the fridge once its opened but that goes for any jam not just homemade. The hardest part was collecting enough jars to put it all in. I never think to save jars until I need some. When I popped into Ikea today I brought some Kilna jars for 89p each, will have to remember to save jars, I've got chutney to make yet.

Halve the plums and remove the stones.
Add the water to just cover the plums and bring to the boil and simmer until the plums are soft.
Add the sugar and lemon juice and bring back to the boil stiring all the time until the sugar has completely disolved

OOh here I am, new blog and all. I wanted somewhere to ramble and put some favourite recipes to share so this seems as good a place as any.

Who am I then. I sometimes ask myself the same question, the vague answer I suppose is, wife to Tim known as The PS since the Poor Sod has plenty to put up with when I think about it. Mum to 2 children Joe 12 and Abbie 11 both with voracious appetites and thankfully fans to veg. Chief cook and bottle washer and general dogs body, taxi driver, social secretary, the usual role of Mother. Lampworker and jewellery designer in the shedio that the PS, Mum and the Dads built for me in the garden. I also work as an Activities Co-ordinator in a residential home for the eldery, a fab job organising day to day activities as well as trips out for meals, theatres and fun and bringing entertainers in and organising 'do's'

Anyway thats me and I hope you'll join me round the kitchen table now and then for a cuppa a recipe and a bit of a ramble.