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.
Sunday 9 September 2012
Sunday 2 September 2012
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!
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!
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