Chilli Jam (Donal Skehan recipe)

Some chilli jam that I am experimenting with as an edible gift to bring to houses when I visit. My marmalade is well recieved so I thought I might branch out and try my hand at a few other recipes. I like this red chilli jam a lot so I said I'd reproduce it here for you. It's by an Irish cook and blogger, Donal Skehan and I really recommend his blog and cookery book to you all!

The original quantities are doubled here, as I prefer to make a larger batch. In this case you really need to sterilise the jars you use in order for the jam to last longer.
To sterilise the jars and lids really the simplest way is to put them through a dishwasher cycle and make sure not to touch the inside of the jar and lid.
This recipe makes approximately 1 litre of jam; I distributed this amongst a variety of jars. You can check what fits by filling them before hand with 1 litre of water from a measuring jug

Makes 1 litre of jam
3 medium red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
1kg of tomatoes (I used approximately 16 tomatoes)
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 thumb sized pieces of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce (Nam Pla)
450g of Demerara sugar
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
100ml of red wine vinegar

The Method


Place half the tomatoes into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Transfer to a medium pot.
Place the rest of the tomatoes, red chillies, garlic, ginger and Thai fish sauce into the food processor and blitz until it becomes a smooth paste.
Transfer to the pot and place over a medium heat. Stir through the sugar, balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar.
Bring to the boil stirring regularly, then reduce the heat and keep at a steady simmer for 35 minutes or until the jam has reduced by half its volume.
Stir every 5 minutes. When the jam has cooked allow to cool and then transfer to sterilised jars.
Cover and place in the fridge.

Autumn soup...

I know Autumn has really arrived when I start to make soup! Nothing beats a warm steamy bowl of soup when the leaves are turning and a nip arrives in the air. Of course, Murphy's Law states that since I made a HUGE pot of it and have frozen it in those plastic takeaway boxes for work lunches, next week will be scorchio! Over the new few weeks I swear I will be a good girl and post here more often but for today, here is my recipe for Autumn Root Soup. It ends up being a lovely orange-y Autumn colour and it's the easiest soup in the world to make!

It's also really economical to make (did a massive shop at my local supermarket yesterday and these are the prices for the veg in the soup)

Squash: €1.50 (2 for €3 deal)
Carrots: €1.70 per kg so I'd say €0.70
Parsnip: €1.30 for 3
Red pepper: 65c
Red onion: 15c
Garlic: 7c


Total: 2.25 litres of soup for about €6.00 when you add in herbs and spices and electricity! There's 8 takeaway tubs full to the brim of soup gone into the freezer and I'll get a couple of bowls out of it too.

Autumn Root Soup

1 butternut squash, halved and deseesed
1 red pepper quartered and deseeded
3 carrots (I don't bother peeling carrots when I'm putting them into soup) cut into chunks
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
1 red onion, peeled and cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic in their skins

Put everything into a large roasting tin and place in oven at 190-200 degrees celcius for about 40 minutes or until the squash is soft. Leave the red onion out until 20 minutes into cooking time ss it can burn otherwise.

When squash in soft take out vegetables except the squash and garlic and place in large pot with some olive or other oil.

Peel squash (skin should come away really easily), cut into chunks and add to pot.

Squeeze garlic flesh out of it's skin into pot.

Add teaspoon of English mustard powder, smoked paprika and a pinch of chilli powder. Add a spring of rosemary, a desssert spoon of thyme and 4-5 sage leaves. All these herbs and spices are optional and you can season it any way you prefer.

Add about 1.5 litres boiling water and bring vegetables to the boil for about 20 minutes. Blend vegetables with hand held blender and thin with milk or water. Season to taste.

This soup freezes really well and has a velvety sweet texture that everyone will love. For a special occasion, serve with a swirl of cream and some chopped chives!

The picture above is my bowl of soup waiting to be eaten... yum!

New earrings...

Some new earrings for Spring Summer...all are available to buy on my Etsy shop - just click the tab! All of these cost between €14 and €22 so you can upgrade your wardrobe for Spring/Summer for minimum cost! Note to self...stop buying shades of blue and green :)

Julia and Julia is on the TV tonight prompting me to root out my Julia Child recipe for Beef Bourguignon. This has been rounded up or down slightly by me as the metric conversions ended up with less than whole numbers. It's time consuming to prepare but once it's done, stick it in the oven and it will simmer away happily until you are ready to serve making it the perfect dinner party dish! It will serve about 6 and goes really well with a velvety mash to soak up all the sauce.

For the Stew
170 g bacon unsmoked in a solid piece
15 ml olive oil
1.4kg lean stewing beef , cut into 2-inch cubes
1 carrot , peeled and sliced
1 onion , peeled and sliced
5 gr salt
2 gr pepper , freshly ground
30 gr flour
750 ml red wine (a full bodied wine like Bordeaux,Burgundy or Chianti is my preference. Don't use a wine with lots of berry undertones)
500ml - 750ml beef stock (use an unsalted stock cube which chould be widely available)
14.79 ml tomato paste
3 garlic cloves , mashed (you may choose to add less)
1 sprig thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
1 bay leaf , preferably fresh

For the braised onions
18-24 white pearl onions , peeled
25 gr unsalted butter (I use Irish butter, prefereably from Avonmore which is salted but it's up to you)
25 ml olive oil
125 ml beef stock
salt & fresh ground pepper
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
2 sprig parsley

For the Sauteed Mushrooms
500 gr mushroom,quartered (chestnut give a far better flavour than ordinary button mushrooms but button mushrooms will be fine)
15 ml olive oil

Directions:
1 First prepare the bacon: cut off the rind and reserve.
2 Cut the bacon into lardons about 1/4" thick and 1 1/2" long.
3 Simmer the rind and the lardons for ten minutes in 1 litre of water.
4 Drain and dry the lardons and rind and reserve.
5 Pre-heat the oven to 235 C.
6 Put the tablespoon of olive oil in a large (9" - 10" wide, 3" deep) fireproof casserole and warm over moderate heat.
7 Saute the lardons for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly.
8 Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.
9 Dry off the pieces of beef and saute them, a few at a time in the hot oil/bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides.
10 Once browned, remove to the side plate with the bacon.
11 In the same oil/fat, saute the onion and the carrot until softened.
12 Pour off the fat and return the lardons and the beef to the casserole with the carrots and onion.
13 Toss the contents of the casserole with the salt and pepper and sprinkle with the flour.
14 Set the uncovered casserole in the oven for four minutes.
15 Toss the contents of the casserole again and return to the hot oven for 5 more minutes.
16 Now, lower the heat to 160 C and remove the casserole from the oven.
17 Add the wine and enough stock so that the meat is barely covered.
18 Add the tomato paste, garlic and herbs and the bacon rind.
19 Bring to a simmer on the top of the cooker.
20 Cover and place in the oven, adjusting the heat so that the liquid simmers very slowly for three to four hours.
21 The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
22 While the meat is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms and set them aside till needed.
23 Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and add the onions to the frying pan.
24 Saute over medium heat for about ten minutes, rolling the onions about so they brown as evenly as possible, without breaking apart.
25 Pour in the stock, season to taste, add the herbs, and cover.
26 Simmer over low heat for about 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but retain their shape and the liquid has mostly evaporated.
27 Remove the herbs and set the onions aside.
28 For the mushrooms, heat the butter and oil over high heat in a large frying pan until it foams.
29 As soon as the foam begins to subside add the mushrooms and toss and shake the pan for about five minutes.
30 As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat.

To Finish the Stew:

31 When the meat is tender, remover the casserole from the oven and empty its contents into a sieve set over a saucepan.
32 Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it (discarding the bits of carrot and onion and herbs which remain in the sieve).
33 Distribute the mushrooms and onions over the meat.
34 Skim the fat off the sauce and simmer it for a minute or two, skimming off any additional fat which rises to the surface.
35 You should be left with about 650ml-700ml of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.
36 If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of stock.
37 If the sauce is too thin, boil it down to reduce to the right consistency.
38 Taste for seasoning.
39 Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.
40 If you are serving immediately, place the covered casserole over medium low heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
41 Serve in the casserole garnished with fresh parsley.
42 If serving later or the next day, allow the casserole to cool and place cold, covered casserole in the frige.
43 20 minutes prior to serving, place over medium low heat and simmer very slowly for ten minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

What? A recipe with 43 steps? Can't I just open a Schwartz packet and do the same thing? Yes. Absolutely. You can. But I think everyone should have one really great dish in them and this is amazing. You will never look at beef stew in the same way again!

When you have nothing to do, there is something to see...

I find that art can really be an inspiration to me when I am sitting in front of a sea of fabrics and trying to create a new headpiece or fascinator. Sometimes, it's after I make something and then am reviewing the item that a 'light bulb' goes off and I realise that this fascinator really reminds me of.... so here's a few that I thought you might like to see. Sometimes it's the structures, sometimes the colours... Red simple fascinator influenced by Piet Mondrian

Teal and green butterfly fascinator influenced by Gustav Klimt

I'm sure there are more but for now, just think about how art enhances your life. On a day when there is nothing to do, there is usually something to see!

I am just sooo tired to day as I stayed up to watch the Superbowl last night - note to Madonna: Kylie did it first! Anyway, got a couple of fascinators made today and hoping to get some more made tomorrow.

This one is a colour I wouldn't be into myself but I have to get away from having exclusively blue, purple and green headpieces! Even though it is a hot pink, I do really like it.

I think if you put your hair to the side like this it would sit really well on the side of your head! !

But of course, the next fascinator is purple and historical - two of my favourite themes in my designs There's a nod to Dior's 'New Look' style here and I really like it a lot - might do a white/ivory one tomorrow...

From mess comes???

This is the kitchen table at the moment...really working hard through the grey misty days to create some new fascinators and accessories. I've been concentrating on metallics at the moment but I think it's time to segeway into these eyepopping reds, pinks and blues you see in the photo. I love bib necklaces and have been sewing a few but I think it might be time to get a sewing machine. I'd do them in half the time then! Waiting for pay day Thursday to get some ribbon supplies in Limerick and hit the Cloth Shop to see if some more lace has come in. The shop is really lovely and I would highly recommend you go there if you are ever in Limerick. You can order online too! So, back to the table or it will be another day of procrastination.... Sone new items in my Etsy shop