Giardiniera and Messy Cabbage!

Still on a mission to build my stock pile for The Fat Cat's first Sugar and Spice event I purchased some 8oz jars - twice the size of the chutney jars I've been filling. I was going to try and fill them with sauces, Puttanesca for example which is easy to throw together and never fails to impress. However, I am unsure as to how well puttanesca sauce will keep with no natural preservatives in the jar. The pickles and chutneys are obviously preserved using vinegar and copious amounts of sugar in some cases and I can rely on them to be good for 6 months to a year...plenty of time to get them nice and 'brewed' and also sold!!

So, what to put in the jars? Pickled asparagus was an idea - 'natures swizzle stick' perfect for cocktails. Do I know many cocktail drinkers? Well, yes, but none who would make them at home...cocktails are for special occasions or when we happen upon a nice cocktail bar! (Not an easy feat in Hull I can tell you!)



It was then I remembered an old favourite of mine from when I lived at home; pickled red cabbage. Ideal with potato ash or meat pies, great with steak and chunky chips - real comfort food! Plus I had nearly 3 litres of spiced vinegar left from the pickled onions so off I went to the grocers to pick up some red cabbages. I bought two because I had no idea how far they'd go and following a recipe guideline I'd found online I cut them into strips and layered them in a large dish with coarse salt. I guessed that this was to remove any excess moisture and low and behold, once left in the fridge overnight, there was some very purple water at the bottom of the dish! I'm hoping the salt also keeps the strips of cabbage crunchy once immersed in pickle. I prepare pickled onions in pretty much the same way - in a brine - and that is so that they remain crunchy!



The strips of cabbage were then drained and popped in the lovely 8oz hexagonal jars I had heated in the oven to sterilise and then covered in the vinegar! (I made sure I removed the chili seeds and peppers before covering the cabbage). Isn't it a delicious colour?? (you can also see a few of the honey chutney jars in the back ground.)





My next job was the Giardiniera - Italian Mixed Pickled Vegetables. Ideal for anti-pasti. I bought some cauliflower, carrot batons, green beans and mushrooms. These were cut into pieces which would fit into the 8oz jars (except the mushrooms which I left whole). All the vegetables were brought to the boil in the spiced vinegar I had left over from the pickled onions AND the pickled cabbage! I only boiled for 5 minutes, I wanted to keep the veg slightly crunchy. I then drained the veg to make it easier for me to divide it between the jars and for additional flavour I popped a peeled garlic clove in the bottom of each jar. The vegetables were crammed as tightly as I could into jars and covered in vinegar. Voila! Pickled vegetables!!! I shall be testing those out on my Polish friends as they are the experts apparently on pickled vegetables and they have already given me rave reviews of the Fiery Tomato Chutney!!!

Both of these jars will be fiery as well which is an interesting slant I think? The vinegar has been sat for a month already full of chilies and mustard seeds...I'll make sure that they are well labelled otherwise someone may get a very hot shock!!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Honey….

I was very short of time last night however I simply have to get some more chutney and pickles done before the Sugar and Spice event in a months time…My stock pile is looking quite healthy now but when placed on a 6ft table I'm guessing it's still going to look a little lost! I have however, got some larger 8oz jars now for the pickled vegetables and they will make the spread look a bit fuller! I actually prepared some red cabbage before starting on the chutney last night by slicing and layering with salt…it's been left overnight in the fridge. That made a mess of my hands and chopping board! Purple fingers and a lot of scrubbing later I started on the Honey Chutney…

I found a recipe for Uncooked Honey Chutney which sounded a little unusual and fresh. A quick whizz round the grocers later and I'd got all of the necessary ingredients and within an hour was at home chopping and peeling and mixing. Possibly the easiest chutney I've put together and very pretty once in the jars! No boiling (and very probable re-boiling) no overpowering smell of pickle and vinegar in the house (a smell I've become very accustomed to over the past few months!) AND only one pan to clean afterwards!!!! I made sure the jars were piping hot when I potted it all up so that a good vacuum was created. With the contents going in cold I was a little worried that the usual vacuum seal created by putting hot chutney into hot jars and the resulting cooling process would obviously not be created! I don't have any actual burns from the hot jars but I heard my fingers sizzle when I picked the first one up!!!

The chutney is a gorgeous golden colour! The chunkiness of it is really appealing to me too…plus because the fruit is raw I'll bet it'll be really fruity and fresh when ready!

Sugar 'n' Spice...

Chutney world domination is one step closer!

We have scheduled our first pamper party / ladies shopping day at a local village hall! Three of us have got together to organise these events under the name 'Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice' with lots of lovely stalls and niceties for the locals so that we can sell our wares. We'll also be donating some of the proceeds to a local recipient - in this instance it will be the village school who will be our beneficiary. We have 13 stalls already confirmed ranging from homemade chocolates to personalised pottery to handbags and scarves all the way to THE FAT CAT Chutneys! There's going to be a raffle and teas and cakes...I'm really excited about the whole prospect and hope that the local community gets behind us! We'll obviously be doing the marketing and organisational side of things - so far we've got flyers to produce, leaflets, a facebook group (look out for that one!) and I'm going to try and contact a few local businesses. My background is not in marketing however - if anyone has any other promotional ideas I'd really be happy to hear them!

I had best get on, my stock pile is growing but if I'm to be ready for the event mid May then I am going to need to get the remainder of the stock done this week and next. I've found a few more exciting recipes - one for a Honey Chutney which requires no cooking! Perfect if I haven't got much time for all of the boiling and re-boiling! I think I'll be preparing that one this evening, it looks lovely! It will also give me a nice balance between the sweet and savoury chutneys that I have now in stock...although I think I'm going to need another tomato based one without as much (or any) chili in it as the Fiery Tomato Chutney has...it's mind blowing now it's had some time to settle in! I've also got some pickled vegetable ideas which I think will go down a storm with the local foodies...now all I need to do is source some freshly laid eggs for the pickled eggs.

It's all systems go!!

Portuguese Liver the Finale…

I had an interruption in service last week in so much that my busy social schedule got in the way of me cooking up and gobbling up the Portuguese Liver dish that I prepared last week (see earlier post). It ended up in a plastic box in the freezer patiently waiting for another day…that day was yesterday!!!

Once defrosted I drained the marinade from the liver and kept it to one side; I have to tell you the smell was just so rich and zingy and I was really looking forward to testing the dish out! The liver was then fried for a couple of minutes in a dash of hot oil, turning occasionally. Usually when I fry liver it spits all over my kitchen and the clean up operation is extensive – because the liver had been in sauce and was not as dry as unprepared liver the spitting was minimal and didn’t make as much of a mess as normal…which I was quite pleased about because I had to go out almost immediately after wolfing down my dinner! Then I threw the marinade / sauce in and turned the heat up so that the liquid could boil and reduce for 10 minutes. I served with ordinary boiled long grain rice!

All in all the liver was a success, there was perhaps too much for me and as it’s such a rich meat I found myself spooning mouthfuls of rice and sauce and avoiding lots of the actual meat at once. The sauce itself is more citrusy than I expected and I’m more of a fan of it because of that fact! It dawned on me after eating the dish that there was no vegetable content whatsoever upon serving and this disturbed me somewhat! I was sat trying to think of what vegetable(s) I could serve with liver and rice and I’m still at a bit of a loss. Mushrooms perhaps? How nutritional can mushrooms be though? I’m pretty confident they are mostly water! Maybe some peas? However I’m not sure they would compliment the dish perfectly. Answers on a postcard please…..!!!!

Not so Offal...

I embarked upon my offal experimentations last night (whilst peeling 3 heads of garlic and adding them to the carrot mix for the carrot and garlic chutney, but that’s another story which will be told when it’s all safely in jars!)

Firstly I prepared the Portuguese Liver as it needs marinating overnight…some interesting ingredients in this one and not ones I would usually associate with liver, but as I mentioned I’ve really only had it with mash and gravy or on sandwiches covered in tomato ketchup (seriously try it!) anyway, the recipe calls for:

· 1 Garlic Clove, crushed
· Salt and Black Pepper
· 2 Bay Leaves, crumbled
· 150ml/5 fl.oz. Dry Red Wine
· Juice of 1 Lemon
· Juice of 1 Lime
· 450g/1lb Calves Liver
· 3 tbsp Oil

This amount serves 4 so I scaled it back for just little old me…incidentally the packet of liver is still probably too much for me and cost a grand total of 47p so I’m well on my way to a credit crunch defying meal.

To begin, put the garlic, seasoning, bay leaf, red wine and lemon & lime juice into a shallow dish. Cut the liver into slices and immerse in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate to marinate overnight. Simples!!! I’ve got to say it looks very nice and smells delightful, I’m still a little unsure about the mix of ingredients but it shall be cooked up tonight and the verdict will be recorded. I think I’ll serve it with some white rice.

I still had to make dinner for myself though and moved on to the next recipe: Kidneys with Noodles. I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to serve this dish with noodles, as I had none in, and instead substitute them with some linguine, which I did have in. No point buying in lots of ingredients at extra cost when I could get away with using something I had already in the cupboard eh? The packet of kidneys cost me £1.12p!!! I used 4 last night (halved and cored) and have put the remaining 5 fromthe packet into the freezer for another day. This is the very first time I’ve prepared kidneys for myself and I was concerned about the core…every recipe I’d seen has strongly urged the reader to ensure the cores are removed a process that I didn’t find particularly easy! I eventually had to leave a tiny bit of the core in one or two of the halves and I was worried that it would effect the end result, however it didn’t so I won’t be as finicky next time!

Again this recipe is for 4 so I scaled it back for just little old me again!

75g/3oz Dried Noodles (I used Linguine)

Salt and Black Pepper

450g/1lb Lambs Kidneys, halved and cored

Plain Flour for coating75g/

3oz Butter

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Garlic Clove, crushed

50g/2oz Mushrooms, sliced

150ml/5fl.oz. Lamb Stock

1 teasp Dried Mixed Herbs (I didn’t have in my plethora of spices so substituted with a little Thyme)

While boiling up the dried pasta I sauteed the onion and garlic in the melted butter for about three minutes, then added the mushrooms which I tossed around for a few seconds before adding the kidney halves, which had been coated in the flour. I kept the mixture moving for the next 2-3 minutes so it didn’t stick to the pan and slowly added the lamb stock and thyme…the smell by this point was a really rich meaty smell and I’m not ashamed to admit it really began to make me hungry! The sauce came to the boil so I turned the heat down and left to simmer for a further 3-4 minutes and then served over the drained pasta.

IT WAS SCRUMMY! The kidney flavour wasn’t overpowering which I was slightly worried about because they are a very strong flavour…they were perhaps a little undercooked for anyone else but me – I like my meat to be squidgy, my mum (for example) doesn’t – so I would cook them for perhaps another 3-4 minutes for her. Overall though, I’m pretty sure I’ll be making this dish again…maybe even for guests (although I think I’d have to check their stance on offal, it’s not the most popular cut of meat amongst my other 20 something friends!)

Feeling a little Grated...

Last night was British Carrot and Garlic Chutney night! I bought all of my ingredients:

• British Carrots


• Garlic


• Organic Cyder Vinegar


• Salt


• Star Anise


• Cinnamon


• Coriander Seeds


• Ginger


• Chilies


• Sugar

...and set about getting all of the ingredients prepared and into the vinegar and spices to marinate for 24 hours before I cook it and jar it all up tonight. I picked this recipe because it's a little different I think from the other chutney recipes I have seen out there (I'd also welcome you all to suggest some other combinations which are unusual!) and I think it should be a very vibrant orange when in the jars. All of the other chutneys are sharing the same colour scheme, purple, brown, red so I'm hoping an orange one will add some sparkle to the mix!

Have you ever grated 2kg of carrots? I have and I'm not looking forward to doing it again. I actually managed to grate my thumb (twice) and a finger. Each injury meant that I had to throw that particular carrot away and clean everything down before resuming. It was probably my own fault for having a glass of red vino on the go at the same time but by the 10th or 11th carrot the wine was more of a necessity than a luxury. I was stood grating for nearly 2 hours!!! My arms are a little sore today, although I'm glad of the mini workout as I haven't managed to get to the gym for the past few weeks!

The mixture is sat marinating nicely and is indeed a great and very bright orange colour which I hope remains once heated and spooned into the jars, I can't think of an ingredient in the mix which will change the colour?...It's sitting very nicely currently on my work top surface just waiting for me to come home tonight (I will of course be attempting to finish off the bottle of red whilst preparing!) I cannot wait to see what it looks like in the jars and more so, to taste it in a few weeks once the vinegar has settled down.

I shall of course be posting an update!!!!

Changing Shopping Habits...

After a spur of the moment defrosting of the freezer last week my stocks have run extremely low and I'm going to have to do a big shop at the supermarket in order to fill up again. The credit crunch is still raging so I've decided to try and gather some recipes for cheaper cuts of meat and offal in order to cut back on big bills! I enjoy offal but have previously only fried off a bit of liver to have in sandwiches (don't balk before you've tried it!!! I usually lather it in ketchup too which I'm only slightly ashamed of!) I've had the occasional kidney in a steak and kidney mix and my dad used to cook them up for a snack, but I've never put them into an actual recipe before so this should be interesting!

Searching around on the Internet has provided the usual liver and onions or liver and bacon recipes and I've also found a few other recipes which I was previously unfamiliar with - but they all seem a bit predictable! I know offal has been off the menu for a long time and was considered 'old fashioned' but surely someone has been writing recipes for liver / kidneys / heart etc?

The recipes I've collated are:

• Liver Portuguese
• Kidneys with Noodles
• Curried Kidneys
• Heart Ragout
• Lambs Liver Stroganoff
• Sauteed Lambs Kidneys with Mushrooms and Tarragon
• Oxtail with Herb Dumplings
• Lambs Kidney with two Mustard's
• Kidneys in Fresh Tomato Sauce
• Lambs Kidneys in Red Wine

I plan to try them two at a time...this week will be Liver Portuguese and Kidneys with Noodles, so I shall update on how they turn out. Does anyone have anything more exciting they can offer me? Perhaps with an oriental influence? I'm keen to keep the number and cost of ingredients down for the aforementioned reasons!!!

A Nice Pear!

My next chutney adventure was inspired by a seasonal fruit and vegetable list I found on Jamie Oliver's website. apparently pears are in season currently and just coming out of season in the UK so now would be an opportune time to test a pear chutney. I l.ove pears and thought a sweet chutney would be good to add into the mix of the fiery tomato chutney and the pickled onions that i have already made. (Incidentally the onions were taste tested for the first time this week and blimey they are HOT!!! Good, but hot!!)

Again I picked a recipe with simple ingredients as I'm making a batch at a time and am trying to keep things just on the nice side of difficult for me! Nothing too easy, there would be no point. The recipe was made up of:

Pears

cooking apples

onions

seedless raisins

cayenne pepper

all spice

garlic

salt

nutmeg

soft brown sugar

and white distilled vinegar.

Not too difficult to source!!! Everything pretty much just gets chopped up and thrown in a pan to boil. This time I re-boiled the mixture to condense it even further, the consistency is lovely now and I'm hoping it also concentrates the flavour. I'm sure it will! I've found there's not anything too complex to the chutney production itself! I'm just trying to ensure the recipes are right.

I was really hoping the chutney would go a lovely golden colour but instead it's a deep brown which I'm guessing is the raisins at work. If anyone out there has a recipe for a lovely golden chutney (it doesn't have to be pear) I'd really appreciate a hint at it!!

On that note I'd also like to add that if anyone wants one of my recipes with quantities, please just drop me a line or leave a comment. I'll more than happily provide!!!

In conclusion though I've got 16 jars from this batch so I'm happy with the quantity...I'll just have to wait a few weeks to taste it properly by which time it should have 'matured.'

Tried and Tested - Just a quicky...

Just a quick note on last nights evening meal...

At work I spend the odd afternoon trawling through food blogs looking for inspiration and generally making myself hungry. Being on a permanent diet has it's distinct downsides! I stumbled across a foodgawker site for chocolate treats which led me to look up other ingredients I had in the cupboards and freezer. I remembered a bag of scallops that was lurking somewhere and searched for scallops...a few uninspiring recipes later I found this one for Firecracker Scallops which I tried last night.

Divine!!!

They were awesome!!!! Highly recommended.

Steak au Poivre

I had a good friend over for dinner last night and he's a picky eater...nothing exotic and he will not eat vegetables!! Well, nothing that resembles a vegetable anyway! So what to cook him? Will steak and chips do I ask? Perfect was the answer. Can I serve any veg / salad? He replies that he likes processed peas from a tin. That I can do!!!

I bought two nice fillet steaks (which is unusual because I bought them from the local supermarket and I don't rate their butchers at all). But I'm sat thinking that I might want to jazz them up a little, if I'm cooking dinner for someone I like it to be a bit special. Plus I rarely get to cook nice meals because as there's just one of me and my cat there seems little point in doing meals which are a.) fattening and b.) rich!

So, what to do with the steak? Myself and the friend are both trying to maintain a healthy ish diet and both attend the gym on a regular basis so a cream pepper sauce was out of the question.

Delia provided me with a wonderful peppered alternative in her Classic Steak au Poivre and even though I don't like frying anything...I much prefer the good old grill...it went down a storm!!

As my friend saw me putting the red wine in the pan he flinched - even that was considered too exotic for him. However he went back for more sauce to coat his chips (much preferrable to HP sauce!) and the meal was a success!! thank you Delia!!!!!

Fat Cats Fiery Tomato Chutney

So, to put off having to do any ironing I decided that Tuesday night was the ideal night to throw together a test batch of the hot tomato chutney recipe I have. It's a really simple recipe actually calling for very simple ingredients so not too expensive or difficult to put together.

Onions

Garlic

Chili

Olive Oil

Tomato Puree

Tinned Tomatoes

White Wine Vinegar

Demerara Sugar

Salt and Ground Black Pepper

Easy!!!

Now I don't know about you but I like food with chili in to noticeably have chili in it so I doubled up on the quantities for chili and used green finger chili's instead of the recommended red chili.

All of the ingredients get thrown in to the pan and the chutney is boiled furiously then simmered until it sets to a good consistency. The pan I had was slightly too small and the result was a hob and tiles smothered in red gloop which was spitting out of the pan like a volcano!!!

Luckily for me (!) I had a friend visiting (thank you Rachel) to help me taste test half way through the boiling...we came to the conclusion that the chili was maybe a bit too subtle for the chutney to be labelled 'hot' so I added two more chilli's at this stage...so now there was triple the amount of chili in the chutney than the recipe actually called for!! As you can imagine, once boiled down further and when it was done and ready to be spooned into jars the chutney is now fiercely hot!! I LOVE IT! However, the jars are going to have to be labelled Fiery Tomato Chutney rather than Hot Tomato Chutney as a warning to those who prefer their heat to be a little more subtle!

Still, it tastes great, looks good and I'm very happy with the way the first batch turned out!!!

Let me begin with a confession – this is my third attempt at a food blog! I have recently been inspired though by a number of other food blogs which have put mine to shame so I’m hoping that third time is a charm and I may actually be able to produce something that looks half decent!

I’ve launched a business…”The Fat Cat” making chutneys, pickles and luxury sauces! I’ll be selling my wares at village fetes and hopefully at some evening parties run and hosted by friends! (In conjunction with two other friends who also have various items to sell). We haven’t got the ball rolling just yet – in fact I’m just testing out a number of chutney recipes and pickled onions. I’ve bought all of the jars so there’s no going back now! They are currently littering my house so I feel now that I have to fill them!

So far I’ve managed to successfully make Delia’s Chili Jam and a Spiced Apple Chutney…both were received well by the guinea pigs in my office. In fact I’ve had requests for more of the chili jam, although this won’t be coming for a while yet until I get the rest of the chutneys tried and tested. So world domination one chutney at a time!!!