The Shopshire Prune - A Damson

Just got back from the Ludlow Food Festival where I went to a taste workshop on Damsons - specifically the Shropshire Prune. I have planted one of these trees in the kitchen garden and was very keen to find out how to make the most of it. We sat down to a plate of lemon scones with damson jam, pork pie with Damson Chutney, Damson Cheese, Damson Icecream (dipped in chocolate) all washed down with Damson Gin. Well food for thought as they say. This variety is not the largest of the Damsons and more egg shaped than some but supposed to be superior in flavour.

I got home to find my Damson tree laden with beautifully ripe fruit - Damsons can be lip puckeringly sharp but this year they are lovely and sweet. Here is my first picking. The fruit has a lovely blueish bloom on the skins. I'm going to make some jam and puree the rest for the freeze. The next bowl full are destined for a bottle of gin.

The Shropshire Prune has been adopted into the Slow Food Ark visit the blog here for more information and recipes. I'm definitely going to try the ice cream. 

Word of warning, it is best to make sure you remove all the stones when using them in cooking. You can otherwise spend happy hours playing Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor with all the stones and new teeth are expensive!

Rhubarb, Rhubarb

Picked the first of the Rhubarb this week. The Timperley Early is living up to its name and is coming on despite a couple of heavy frosts. I zapped some in the microwave on medium with a tablespoon of soft brown sugar for five minutes and it came out perfect. I also made some St Clements ice cream to go with it. Very easy in a machine and surprisingly used half tin ambrosia custard, pot of good orange curd and a splash of double cream. I added juice of a lemon and some grated zest. Served with lemon shortbread and made a very yummy pud.

I also have some later varieties such as Victoria to follow on and am hoping to make some rhubarb and ginger jam - which is delicious. I also like to make a rhubarb and orange custart tart which can be very posh with a caramelised sugar topping. Crumble, traybake - ginger or orange sponge with some ground almonds and chopped rhubarb, if ginger ad some chopped preserved ginger too.

Fab Bread & Butter Pudding

Made this at the weekend as had a surplus of eggs from the chooks (good girls are still laying well). Also had a loaf of fruit soda bread. So I made sandwiches with the fruit soda with softened butter and good marmalade and sliced them to fit an ovenproof dish. You can sprinkle with some booze if you like - cointreau works with this one. Make a custard with five eggs (three whole plus 2 yolks) which you need to whisk with 5oz caster sugar until light coloured. Heat half pint full milk with half pint cream flavoured with the grated rind of two clementines.

When scalded (v.v. hot when the skin starts to form) pour onto the eggs whilst whisking (I used a billy blender). Then pour over the bread slices and leave to soak. For best results bake in a bain marie in a oven at 180 c for approx 40 minutes until cooked through and golden brown. Serve warm.  I don't usually bother with making the custard properly first, but it really makes a difference with the texture being more creme brulee than quiche.

Quick & Easy Jam (promise)

I never seem to have much luck with jam made the traditional way on the stove with a preserving pan, it always seems to end in tears and a blackened pot. I went on a foraging course at Ballymaloe with Darina Allen and she explained that making just one or two jars was much easier than trying to fill your pantry with rows of preserves for a long winter ahead. You can also take advantage of reduced fruit at the supermarket and just use a couple of punnets.

So for foolproof strawberry jam I use 800 g (two punnets) or strawberries which had been sitting in the fridge for too long and looked a bit manky and 800 g of jam sugar (with pectin). I use a large stoneware pudding basin which is microwave safe, you need plenty of room as the jam rises when it boils more than you would think.  So slice up the strawberries and cook on high for 7 minutes then mash up with a potato masher. Stir in the sugar until it disolves and then cook on high for 15 minutes. You can add a very small amount of butter with the sugar if you like to prevent the scum forming.  Then remove and pot.  The mixture needs to boil for at least 4 minutes to activate the pectin but these timings seem to work well - don't be tempted to peak or you will interrupt the boiling.  Also boiling sugar is VERY HOT. Make sure your bowl is big enough to avoid your microwave turning into a sticky mess as you don't want this boiling over.

I've now got 3 jars of strawberry and 8 of blackcurrant as well as some redcurrant jelly from a few potterings around the kitchen. I used Delia's recipe for redcurrant jelly which just involves the above recipe but you strain it all through a nylon sieve before potting up. If you are very patient and don't rub the fruit through the sieve the jelly is clearer but it does seem a waste not to extract every last drop.

For the blackcurrants I use half jam sugar and half plain granulated. Now roll on the plums and blackberries which are looking wonderful this year despite the wasps and hornets.

Garden Society Supper - Anyone for Fish Pie

Its the village garden society supper tomorrow night and I've been spending the day cooking up a storm. Fish pie for 20 anyone? I have also made chocolate mousse for 15 which I have put marinated strawberries in (used Pimms if you must know). My fish pie receipe is quite famous (modest moi?) so here it is.

Fish Pie
I wont give you amounts. I've just made one for 20 people but add and subtract depending on the size of your dish and hungry mouths to feed.

2.5kgs mixed fish - I used sea trout, cod, smoke haddock (undyed) and prawns. poach in full fat milk seasoned with a bouquet garni and some dill stalks. Strain the milk keeping for the sauce. For the sauce I melted 4oz butter and added flour to make a roux then made a thick sauce with the poaching milk. season to taste, add chopped dill, cream fraiche (I used 1pt) and mix with the fish. Half fill an oven proof dish. I use one of those lovely large IKEA metal roasting tins with handles. Make the topping with mashed potatoes mixed with leeks sweated in yet more butter. finish with a grating of parmesan. Phew, mashing 5kgs of potatoes take quite some doing.

Chocolate Mousse
Whats not to like. I put some diced strawberries in the base of terracotta pots (collected from the yummy raspberry creme brulees in Tescos) and added pimms and a little sugar. The chocolate (Menier 70% cheapest on offer I could find) all 600 grammes was melted in the microwave and 12 egg yolks wisked in (thanks to the girls). I then whisked in 1 pint of double cream and folded in the beaten egg whites before pouring over the strawberries using a jam funnel for neatness. Topped off with a whole strawberry

Rhubarb, Rhubarb Everywhere

I have Timperley Early in the garden (and also in old dolly tubs) which I have started picking for stewing and crumbles. Mind you, "stewed rhubarb" sounds very institutional - how about "rhubarb compote" instead! I blast it in the microwave for a couple of minutes until it has collapsed and add brown sugar to taste. You can also make a very posh rhubarb & custard flan by baking a rich egg & cream mixture flavoured with marmalade in a short pastry case, on top of which you have artfully arranged rhubarb pieces. If you really want to impress, when cooked, you can brulee the top of the tart with brown sugar and a blow torch (beware: I have discovered to my cost that the blowtorch in Himself's toobox is much fiercer than the kitchen variety!).

My neighbour is the jam & chutney company Sugar & Spice, and they use any rhubarb I can't cope with. The recipe below is yummy, one of my favourites, and something to keep the rhubarb mountain at bay when its no longer a novelty. I'm afraid I use this in cheese sandwiches too as a chutney alternative - sweet tooth - moi?

Rhubarb & Ginger Jam

Ingredients
1kg trimmed rhubarb, chopped , 1kg granulated sugar
Juice of 2 lemons, 25g root ginger, roughly chopped
100g crystallised ginger, finely chopped or experiment with preserved ginger

Instructions
Layer the rhubarb and sugar alternately in a large bowl, adding a sprinkling of lemon juice to each layer. Cover and leave overnight for the sugar to draw out the juices of the rhubarb. Put the rhubarb and sugar in a preserving pan. Tie up the root ginger in a piece of muslin and add to the pan. Bring the mix to the boil, skim off any scum, then boil rapidly for 15 minutes. Remove the muslin, add the crystallised ginger and boil for 5 minutes more or until setting point is reached (to test for this, drop a blob of jam on to a cold saucer, push it with your finger and it should wrinkle). Pour into sterilised jars and seal with jam pot covers or screw lids.