A Saucy Tale

Yesterday I picked 2 kg of cherry tomatoes from the bushes that grow wild in various parts of our garden.

Firstly, I removed the stalks and rinsed them and then added the1.5 kg that were already prepared and frozen from a couple of weeks ago.  It was time to make some tomato sauce (ketchup).  The recipe is super simple and is written near the end of this post.

Home-grown cherry tomatoes have a very short shelf life so unless you are feeding an army, it makes sense to freeze the excess immediately or otherwise they go to waste rather quickly.

You will need a large saucepan or stockpot depending on the quantity of tomatoes that you are processing.  Mine is a stainless steel one with a heavy base which helps to stop the food burning.  This is important because by their very nature, most jams, pickles and preserves have a high proportion of sugar.  Many of the old-style preserving pans are aluminium, however, I do not use aluminium for perceived health reasons.

Apart from the tomatoes, you will need a few other ingredients.

Here is the recipe.

TOMATO SAUCE

Ingredients

3kg ripe tomatoes
15g whole cloves
15g whole allspice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
250ml vinegar
375g sugar
60g salt
500g onions

Method

Place the cloves and allspice in a muslin bag.  Roughly chop the onions and tomatoes.  Place all ingredients in the stockpot and simmer for approximately 2 hours, stirring regularly.  Remove spice bag and discard.  Strain or process mixture in a blender to required consistency.

Return mixture to a clean saucepan and bring to the boil for 5 minutes before pouring into warm, sterilised jars.  Seal jars and store appropriately.

Notes

When using cherry tomatoes for this recipe there is no need to chop them.

I used chilli powder instead of cayenne, powdered instead of whole allspice and I always use raw sugar. The powdered spices and raw sugar tend to make the finished product slightly darker.

I use a hand-held stick blender to process the mixture.  Whatever method you use, be very careful when handling the hot liquid as it can be unpredictable.

The original recipe can be found here.  It is also in Sally Wise’s book, ‘A Year in A Bottle’.

This is a tasty tomato sauce which bears no resemblance to the commercial varieties.  Enjoy!

Friday Favourites – Lemon Tart

I mentioned yesterday that ‘Friday Favourites’ will only appear when there is something really special that I want to share.  This is one such recipe.

LEMON TART

1 quantity of sweet pastry.  See this previous post about making pastry, the sweet pastry recipe is towards the bottom of the page.

FILLING

2 eggs
2 lemons
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 dessertspoon butter

Separate the eggs.  Beat the egg yolks, water, juice and ring of the lemons.  Place mixture in a saucepan with the sugar and flours.  Blend carefully over a low heat until the mixture boils and thickens.  Remove from the heat.  Beat in the butter and allow to cool.  Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.  Spoon the mixture into the tart shell and sprinkle with coconut.  Chill.

Serve with ice-cream or cream.

NOTES:  You will have an egg white left from the pastry if you use my recipe so I usually add it to the other egg whites so I get a bit more to mix into the tart.

Friday Favourites – Savoury Quiche

At the risk of sounding monotonous, here is another quiche recipe.  I use different fillings depending on what is available but the principle remains the same.

SAVOURY QUICHE

PASTRY SHELL

1 quantity of shortcrust pastry.  The recipe is here.  I use a 25cm (10 inch) quiche dish and this is more pastry than I need.  You can freeze the excess or use it and make something else while the oven is turned on for the quiche.

FILLING

4 eggs
Cream/milk/milk powder/evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 rashers shortcut bacon, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
Free choice – could be asparagus, mushrooms, corn kernels, spinach, tomato slices

Lightly fry the bacon and onion.  Spread mixture over the base of the quiche.  Add whatever other filling ingredients you choose and top with the grated cheese.  Beat the eggs with milk and or cream.  I usually use milk powder and water mixed in equal proportions to make a slightly richer mixture.  Add the cayenne pepper.  Pour over the filling until it is within about 1cm of the top of the pastry shell.  Bake in 180 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

I did not get an opportunity to photograph the finished product before dinner last night so here is what is left.  I have cut it into portions to freeze.  We will then have it in our lunches next week.

I love recipes like this that allow for a degree of flexibility depending on the available ingredients.  It is a great way to use up a few sad vegies from the crisper.

Creative Cookery

Many of my recipes are adaptations of ones I have been given, or based on meals that have been served to me over the years.

Tonight I made Chilli Chicken with Corn Chips for dinner.  This recipe was given to me many years ago.  It was one of those recipes that did not rely on specific quantities and mine has evolved over the years.

My quantities are for 2 of us with leftovers for lunches.  It could easily serve 4 adults.

Chill Chicken with Corn Chips

Make a fairly stiff white sauce using plain flour, butter and skim milk.  Season with black pepper.

Add shredded cooked chicken (I use 1 chicken breast fillet, steamed)

Add sliced mushrooms – I use about 250g because we have an abundance of mushrooms.

Place mixture in a shallow casserole dish.

Dice 1/2 onion and lightly fry.  Make tomato sauce by adding 400g tin of diced tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, fresh chilli or chilli paste (as much as you like to taste) and a splash of white wine (optional).  Simmer until reduced a little.

Pour tomato mixture over the chicken.  Top with a layer of corn chips and grated cheese.  Cook in the oven or under the grill until heated through and crisp on top.

Serve with rice and vegetables.  I usually have broccoli and carrots.

I usually have nachos the following night to use the rest of the corn chips.  If you want to be organised you can make a double quantity of the tomato mixture and use the extra instead of salsa on the nachos.

NACHOS

Corn chips

Crockpot refried beans

Tomato salsa

Grated cheese

Layer the corn chips on a baking tray, spoon refried beans, salsa and grated cheese over the chips.  Repeat in layers until all of the chips are used.  Cook in the oven until hot and crisp.

I plan to make an Anzac cake tomorrow night to maximise the use of the oven.

Anzac Cake

Here is a recipe for a cake which is loosely based on the ingredients used in the iconic Anzac biscuits.  I found it here thanks to Tania.  It came from this blog which I have added to my regular reads.  Anyway, back to the cake……

ANZAC CAKE

1/2 cup Golden Syrup

125 grams butter

2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup castor sugar

1/2 cup coconut (shredded or dessicated your choice)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

 Method

Combine Butter and Golden Syrup in a saucepan, stir over heat until smooth.

Combine sifted flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl.

Add syrup mixture and mix well.

Using an electric beater gradually beat in the combined eggs and milk.

Pour mixture into a prepared 20x30cm cake tin and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for approximately 30 minutes.

When done the cake will look a lovely golden colour.

Icing

60 grams butter (softened)

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tablespoon hot water

Beat all ingredients together.  Spread over cake and sprinkle with more coconut.

Here is the finished product.

This definitely a winner in my opinion.