Food and Cooking Archive

Having had a rather large glut of raspberry’s this year I was looking for ways to store that wonderful flavor so that we could keep on enjoying them long after the end of the season.

I read a lovely recipe in Hugh FW’s Preserving book about Raspberry Vinegar. Needless to say that it is absolutely delicious and I can’t see it lasting as long as I had hoped! The whole family enjoy it as an addition to their meal.

Here is the recipe from The River Cottage Handbook No2- Preserves:

Makes 1.5L

1Kg Raspberries

600 ml Cider Vinegar

Granulated Sugar

Put the raspberry’s in a bowl and crush them lightly with a wooden spoon. Add the vinegar. Cover the bowl and leave for 4-5 days stirring occasionally.

Pour the fruit vinegar in to a scalded jelly bag or muslin and leave to drain over night. You can squeeze a little if you like.

Measure the liquid and pour in to a saucepan. For every 600 ml of fruit vinegar, add 450g sugar. Place over a low heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 8-10 mins removing and scum as it rises.

Remove from the heat and bottle when cool. Use within 12 months.

Use it on salads-either neat or mixed with olive oil. Also nice trickled over goats cheese , pancakes and even ice-cream. You will also find that a spoonful adds a lovely piquancy to savoury sauces.

For a revitalising summer drink, mix a couple of tablespoons of raspberry vinegar with soda or tonic water then add ice.

How green are you? My wife began incorporating green smoothies into her daily life a month before Christmas. The look of them just puts me off but she has convinced me that they have such health boosting properties and regeneration results that I felt I wanted to have a taste finally!

I was absolutely amazed at how good it tasted. She has been researching and experimenting with various fruits and vegetables and superfoods then wizzing them all up in a blender. Today I drank a good half litre and felt energised and ready for action, that is until about 11am when I felt very hungry. But it is a good thing to eat when one feels hungry rather than when one feels like it.

It is exciting to know that I can use up all the glut of lettuce and parsley in our morning smoothies this summer. In the meantime Sainsburys organic will have to do!

Going green tastes better than I thought

It has been that time of year when tomatoes are abundant. I love fresh tomatoes and I do like them at the right time of the year because they are sweeter and meant to be eaten when ripe. I decided to see if I could preserve them somehow so that I would be able to eat our home grown tomatoes for a little longer.

Firstly I washed all the tomatoes and left them to dry naturally. I then cut them in half and placed them on a grill, cut side up, to allow the air to circulate. I covered them with a generous amount of rock salt and herbs de provence and then placed them in the oven at its lowest setting so that the tomatoes dried out rather than cooked. I left them in the oven for 6 hours then took them out and checked that they were all done equally. I removed and allowed to cool naturally. They can then be kept by placing them in an air tight container but I decided to put them in oil. I could not help but tuck into them and they are absolutely mouth watering.