Fig Jam

We are lucky to have five green fig trees in our garden; they seem to get better and better as they mature. This year, our first harvest was 4 kilos of ripe fruit for jam and a few kilos of insect infested or over ripe fruit for the compost. After searching in our conserves recipe books we drew a blank for fig jam so I consulted my primary source for all cooking dilemmas: my mum. This helped a bit but my secondary source was Delia on line for what to do with sterilizing jars and other such hints and tips. Here is her 10 steps to jam making: 

http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/preserves/ten-steps-to-jam-making.html

Of course I did not follow this exactly, but what I did below worked for our figs.

No pectin, no jam sugar.. just granulated sugar and lemon and lime juice boiled rapidly for hours!

Foodstuff you will need: 

1 kg of figs (I made this with 3.3kg and just multiplied it up)

350g sugar

125ml lemon and/or lime juice

125ml water

Equipment:

Multiple sterilised jam (glass) jars and lids (plastic containers with lids works too)

Very large pot

Large wooden spoon

Saucers (placed in a fridge) and teaspoon

Measuring jug and scales

How to throw it together

Chop the stems off the figs and cut into quarters. (the figs should not contain any bad bits)

Toss the fig pieces with the sugar in the large pot and leave to stand for 15 minutes. No heat is required.

At the end of this time, all or most of the sugar should be dissolved. The figs should look juicy!

Add the lemon juice and water and bring to a boil on a high heat.

Boil rapidly over a moderate heat, stirring from time to time. Be patient; if the jam runs off the wooden spoon you need to boil it some more. It took me 3 hours for 3.3.kg before the jam looked like setting.

Ignore any scummy bits, these should disappear with a good stir and more boiling.

When you think the jam looks like it is setting, (drops thickly from the side of the wooden spoon) Take the saucer from the fridge. Use a teaspoon to skim off some jam and put it on the saucer. Place back into the fridge for 2 minutes. If the jam has a wrinkled appearance when you push it, it is ready. If not tip the sample back into the pot and continue to boil.

When it is ready (see step above) remove pot from heat and stand, (How long is up to you Delia says wait a bit but not too long)

Spoon the jam into the glass jars leaving a few cm of space at the top. Close the jars and let cool at room temperature.

Store the jam in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Delicious on toast for breakfast!

Chicken- slow cooked with potatoes, garlic, bacon, wine and thyme

We stumbled over this recipe as we were very surprised at the cost of a whole roast chicken in our local supermarket (between 8-17 euros) and bought a raw one to cook ourselves. Instead of roasting it, we found another option so we could cycle whilst it cooked. We have adapted this from a Simon Hopkinson pot roast chicken recipe (on the stove with vermouth) to be a mouth watering slow cooked whole chicken in white wine (as well as all of those other things mentioned in the title) Remember – with slow cooking, less is more!

Serves 4.

Foodstuff you will need: 

1 whole chicken – 1.5kg  (with giblets but no stuffing)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

50g butter

250g cubed pancetta

12 cloves of garlic – peeled and left whole

2-3 large splashes of white wine

1kg potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks

5-6 springs of fresh thyme

300ml good chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Equipment:

Large Slow cooker – big enough to take the whole chicken resting on a bed of potatoes

Large pot with lid – big enough to take the whole chicken

Hob

Forks or tongs to turn chicken around in pot without burning your fingers

Measuring jug and kettle to boil and measure stock

Chopping board and knife

Plate to rest chicken

How to throw it together

Melt butter with olive oil in the large pot

Season the chicken inside and all over with salt and pepper

Place chicken inside pot with lid on.

Turn it regularly to brown it on all sides

Remove and place on a plate to rest

Turn on slow cooker to HIGH

Put the pancetta and garlic into the pot to brown. Allow to sizzle and brown slightly before adding the white wine. This mixture will froth and splutter a bit.

Add the potatoes to this fatty residue and stir until well coated.

Remove from heat and transfer contents of pot into slow cooker

Add chicken stock  and thyme sprigs to the slow cooker

Add whole chicken to the slow cooker – it should be able to nestle easily into the potatoes

Put on lid of slow cooker and cook on HIGH for at least 5 hours

Potatoes should be tender and chicken well cooked so it falls off the bones easily.

When ready, lift the chicken out of the slow cooker onto a plate to carve / debone before serving.

Spoon some of the potatoes together with the juices around each serving.

Great with green beans.

Parmesan Aubergine/Eggplant

This is a fabulous way to eat up several aubergine/eggplant. It can be a meal in itself or if you crave for meat, it is excellent with pork sausage. (sizzled on a  BBQ) Delicious hot or cold.

There are many variations in Italian cookbooks but this one comes from “The Silver Spoon” but the recipe is not credited to any individual. We have adapted it a bit by adding more parmesan

Foodstuff you will need: 

4-5 eggplants cut lengthwise into ¼ inch thick slices

500ml tomato passata

½ bunch fresh basil

6 tablespoons of olive oil

250g finely grated parmesan cheese  (add as much or as little as you like dependent on taste)

200g mozzarella cheese (chopped into slices) – use a firmer mozzarella block for cooking

2 eggs beaten

50ml butter

salt and pepper

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl

Large frying pan & spatula

Tray in which to rest the eggplant once browned

Kitchen towel

Chopping board and sharp knife

Large oven proof dish

Oven

How to throw it together

Put sliced eggplant into a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and let it drain for at least 1 hour. Drain the eggplant and throw away the dark brown juice. You can squeeze the eggplant if necessary. Pat dry with kitchen towel.

Pre heat the oven to 200C

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the eggplant in batches and brown on both sides.  

You will probably have to do this in batches unless you have a super large frying pan.

Once cooked, remove and set aside the browned eggplant in a tray or dish and use kitchen towel to absorb any excess oil.

Spoon the tomato onto the base of the oven proof dish.

Arrange a layer of eggplant on top

Sprinkle with parmesan

Cover with a layer of mozzarella

Sprinkle with a few basil leaves

Add 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg on top.

Repeat this until the ingredients are used but end with a layer of eggplant, sprinkled with tomato passata.

Cut the butter into cubes and sprinkle on top

Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove and eat at your leisure. This is just as good cold!

Auntie Pat’s roasted tomato passata

Auntie Pat is a golden source of great recipes. She donated this one to us last year (originally sourced from Sainsbury’s magazine Sep 2004) as we were complaining about not knowing what to do with a glut of tomatoes when they all ripen at once. We make this recipe in bulk. Our first batch this year started off with over 10 kilos of tomatoes.   After a bit of chopping out stalky bits and bad bits of tomato (lots of rain damage to fruit plants in Italy this year) we managed to get it down to 8 kilos.  The recipe below makes about 1 litre for every 2kg of tomatoes. This is a fantastic base to many other Italian dishes and a great staple for the fridge/freezer. You will not regret the effort to make it; it is delicious. Thank you Auntie Pat.

Foodstuff you will need: 

2kg large ripe tomatoes (I used a mix of plum, beef and ordinary round ones; anything goes!)

2 large onions, peeled and chopped

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme leaves (these grow in our garden too) – alternatives are oregano or majoram

2 teaspoons of brown sugar

Generous splash of good quality thick balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and ground pepper

Equipment:

Sharp knife and chopping board

Large bowl and boiling water

2 large baking trays - oiled to fit tomatoes snugly when halved

Food processor

Oven

How to throw it together

Heat the oven to 190C.

Put all tomatoes into a large bowl and pour over boiling water to cover the tomatoes

Leave for 1-2minutes; the skin should now peel off easily.

Drain and peel.

Scatter onion, garlic and herbs over the base of each baking tray

Halve or quarter the tomatoes (if very large) and place them cut side up over the onions to cover them. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle over the sugar, then drizzle over the balsamic and olive oil (1/2 the quantities above in each tin)

Roast for 60-95 minutes, swapping tins around if required until the tomatoes are shrunk and brown at the edges but not charred.

Allow to cool, before puree in a food processor

Adjust seasoning according to taste.

Optional: add de seeded red peppers – discarding their skins after roasting before you puree the mixture

Store in sterilized jars in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

You can also freeze this in plastic containers for anything up to 12 months.

(Defrost it in a saucepan as you warm it up from frozen before adding to other ingredients)