Mixed berries quick jam
Posted: March 17, 2014 Filed under: Fruit, Jams and confits, Vegetarian | Tags: Berries, Brunch, Fruit, jam, Sugar Leave a commentI always associated jam making with huge undertakings, which would take days, if not weeks, to complete. Nothing a single girl could make – and eat – on her own. But, slowly by slowly, I start noticing quick jam recipes, with relatively small size. Like this one, which can be done in less than 1 hour, with almost no fuss what so ever. I have to add I am not a great fan of super sugary food, but this is the kind of thing you can add to your yoghurt for a sweet treat… (Not that may) calories definitely worthwhile taking.
Berry Quick Jam (adapted from theKitchn)
Ingredients
- 350g fresh raspberries
- 250g fresh blackberries
- 250g fresh strawberries, hulled and thickly sliced
- 200g raw cane sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
In a large bowl, combine the berries and sugar, and let them macerate for about 10 minutes, or until the sugar has begun to dissolve into the fruit.
Transfer the berries to a heavy pot and bring to boil over a medium heat. Add the salt, lemon zest and lemon juice and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Allow the berries to gently simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the fruit breaks down and the mixture starts to cook down, thickening slightly. When almost done, the jam will still be loose, but should coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the jam from the heat and pour into a clean glass jars, cap them and allow it to cool completely.
Cranberry sauce
Posted: May 1, 2011 Filed under: Jams and confits | Tags: Berries, Sugar Leave a commentCranberries are almost nowhere to be found in the Mediterranean cuisine. Specially not during Christmas next to your roasted turkey. But, this Felicity Cloake’s perfect recipe looked so luscious I decided to give it a go – if pork is so good with apple jam, why not having a cranberry sauce to go with the chicken? It is indeed very-very-very easy to make and full of flavors, which complement well the tender roasted meat.
(Note – This time, I am shamelessly using a stock photography. During the cooking frenzy, I forgot to take a picture, and after Christmas, cranberries could not be sourced).
Cranberry sauce
Ingredients
- Juice of 1 orange, plus zest of ½ orange
- 210g caster sugar
- 450g fresh cranberries
- 2 tablespoons port
Method
Put the orange juice and sugar into a small pan, and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cranberries, and bring to a simmer, then cook until most of the cranberries have burst, and you have a loose cranberry sauce. It will continue to set as it cools, so stop cooking when it still seems a little too liquid.
Stir in the port and orange zest, and serve, or put into sterilised jars.
Red onion confit
Posted: March 30, 2011 Filed under: Jams and confits | Tags: Red onions, Sugar Leave a commentWhen I decided to try a dish who called for onion confit, I was far to imagine that I would end up to go on a quest for the perfect recipe.
First, I tried the recipe that Joana Roque, a Portuguese food blogger and writer, had posted on her blog (here, in Portuguese). It looked all very serious, with loads of chefs and other food bloggers being quoted, with lots of flavors and texture, but… either I had a bad culinary day and executed poorly the method, or this recipe is really not good at all. I ended up with something with the consistency of brick and tasting as sugary as sugary can be. The confit is now languishing in the fridge, with the vague hope that it might be used for something else.
A few googles after, I found C’est moi qui l’ai fait [I did it myself], a French blog that offered a recipe that looked much more reasonable. And indeed, it was delicious, its caloric content was a fraction of the first attempt and it posed no diabetes risk.
Red onion confit
Ingredients
- 1Kg red onions sliced
- 30g butter
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- 1 dl balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Method
Met the butter in big saucepan. Add the sugar and the onions. Give a good toss and let simmer for about 30 min, stirring every now and again.
Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer for another 20min, until the vinegar is totally reduced and the onions look well preserved. Salt and pepper to taste.
Put in a glass container and reserve in the fridge
Roasted pork loin with orange and apple jam
Posted: February 21, 2011 Filed under: Jams and confits, Pork | Tags: Apples, Chefe Silva, Oranges, Pork, Portugal, Roast Leave a commentThe roasted pork loin with orange was taken from Recipes for My Friends, a recently edited book. On the forefront, Chef Silva explains that these are the things he cooks whenever he entertains as “life tastes sweeter when friends and family join you at the table”. By the look of it, you can almost feel Chef Silva dictating from memory or looking for scribbled papers tucked away into the kitchen drawer.
Chef Silva recommends to serve the roasted pork with orange quarters. But, I thought that would be too many citruses in the same plate, and decided to go for apple jam instead. This is my Mother’s recipe, passed along in a moment of despair during a trip to the supermarket. “Why spend all that money in a sugary artificial paste, when it takes less than 20 minutes to to it home…. go and fetch some apples! You kids cannot value money and properly made food”. She was, as most of times, right.
Roasted pork loin with orange
Ingredients
- 800g of pork loin (I used shoulder, following the butcher’s recommendation)
- white wine
- salt and pepper as needed
- 50g lard (impossible to find here, I used olive oil instead)
- 100g sugar
- 2 oranges
- cloves
Method
Poor the wine over the meat and season it with salt and pepper. Place on the tray greased with the lard and roast it on a oven set for 160oC for about 35min. Turn the meat occasionally.
In the meanwhile, prepare the sauce: heat up the sugar in a small pan and stir it with a wooden spoon until it browns (brown, not burnt, I may add. It is really important to stir it at all times). Add 2dl of orange juice, 2 cloves and thin orange peels cut into diamond like shapes (slowly, otherwise the sugar will crystallize; if it does, just keep stirring until it dissolves). When serving, stick the diamonds to the meat using cloves.
Serve the orange sauce apart.
Apple jam
Ingredients
- 1 Kg apples (bitter apples give best results)
- Sugar to taste
- Cinnamon sticks
Method
Peel and cut the apples in quarters. Put in a sauce pan with about 100ml of water, sugar and cinnamon sticks. Let it simmer for 10 min or until the apples start to feel apart. Remove the Cinnamon and blend it with a mixer. Put back into the fire and let it simmer for a few minutes more, until it gets the desired consistency. ith a mixer. Put back into the fire and let it simmer for a few minutes more, until it gets the desired consistency.
Cream tea
Posted: August 17, 2010 Filed under: Jams and confits | Tags: Berries, Clotted cream Leave a commentWhole bran scones (courtesy of H.), Devon clotted cream (courtesy of Mike’s British Cheese Center), blackcurrant jam and tea.