beside the seaside…

Surprisingly nice…

Now, I’m guessing that when most people think of courgettes, jam isn’t the first thing that springs to mind! It certainly wasn’t for me but, as I now have a freezer full of ratatouille and soup plus enough chutney to feed most of Wales, I thought I’d try something a bit different.

I’d heard of using marrows for jam so hoped that overgrown courgettes would work too. As I had no idea how much pectin (if any) courgettes contain, I hedged my bets and used half jam sugar and half granulated. The resulting jam was surprisingly nice with the ginger being the dominant flavour. So, before you think ‘courgette jam…yuk!’, why not give it a try……

Courgette and Ginger Jam

Makes approx. 4 small-medium jarfulls

• 1kg overgrown courgette (or marrow), peeled, deseeded and cut into 1cm dice (quantity refers to prepared weight)
• 500g granulated sugar
• 500g jam sugar (the stuff with added pectin)
• 75g crystallized ginger, finely chopped
• juice of 1 lemon

Place chopped courgette, ginger and sugar in a preserving pan and leave for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight if possible. Gently heat and stir well until all the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon juice and bring to a rolling boil. Test for set after approximately 25 minutes (my batch took a little over 30 minutes to reach setting point but this will vary depending on how watery your courgettes are). When setting point is reached, remove from heat and stir a few times then pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Whinberry Jam

Before I moved to Wales I’d never heard of whinberries but I’ve recently learned that they’re a type of bilberry that grows wild on the mountain sides around here. They’re also very tasty! Depending on where you live, you might know them as Bilberries or Whortleberries instead. If you’ve not encountered them before, they’re related to blueberries and have some similarities – although they’re smaller and I think they have a richer taste which reminds me a little of elderberry wine. A traditional way to use them in Wales is to make Whinberry Tart but, seeing as my pastry making skills leave a lot to be desired, I decided to make jam instead. Here’s my recipe:

Whinberry Jam

makes approx. 3 medium size jars

• 650g whinberries
• 500g granulated sugar
• juice of 1 lemon

First wash the berries, picking out any bits of stalk and discarding any over-ripe berries. Place the fruit in a pan over a low heat and gently crush the berries to release some juice. Add the lemon juice then simmer gently until the fruit is soft and squishy but with some still retaining their shape. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. The sugar will dissolve quicker if you’ve warmed it in a low oven beforehand. Once all the sugar has dissolved, bring to a boil and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Test for set and, when ready,  pour into warm, sterilized jars and seal.

I’m quite taken with these little berries and hope to experiment with some more recipes in the next few weeks. As the season is fairly short, I’m thinking of bottling some or perhaps making whinberry muffins which can be frozen. If anyone has some recipes they’d like to share, please do!

Coping with the glut…

Our courgettes are coming thick and fast at the moment and it’s something of a race to use them up before they reach marrow-like proportions – seriously, I swear all I have to do is blink and they double in size! I try to pick them when they’re still quite small and tasty but, if I do miss one or two and they become big and watery, then it’s no great shakes as they’re fine for chutney – which is what I’l be making later today.

One of my favourite things to make with courgettes is ratatouille – primarily because it’s so yummy but I also take great delight in the muddle of colours whilst I’m cooking it. It’s a real feast for the senses!

I thought I’d share my recipe here, in case anyone else is trying to get through their own body weight in courgettes. My version doesn’t contain any aubergine, purely due to the fact that I’ve never managed to grow any successfully and by omitting them, I can increase the quantities of courgettes. If you do want to include aubergine though, simply dice it, place in a colander, sprinkle with salt, weight it down with a plate and can (or something similar) then leave for an hour. Rinse and squeeze out any excess moisture then add to the casserole along with the courgettes.

Ratatouille

serves 4 generously

• olive oil
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 peppers – 1 red and 1 yellow, roughly chopped
• 5 – 6 small courgettes, roughly chopped
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes or 10 medium sized fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• a generous sprinkling of herbs – dry or fresh – I like oregano, parsley and thyme
• black pepper
• pinch of sugar

Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole. Cook onions until soft. Add courgettes, followed by the peppers then the garlic, giving everything a good stir between each addition. Saute for 5 mintues. Stir in the tomatoes, herbs and seasoning. Add a pinch of sugar. Cover and simmer for approximately 1 hour. Check occasionally to make sure the ratatouille isn’t sticking – if you need to, add a splash of water or red wine vinegar. When cooked, leave to cool a little before serving – this tastes best when warm, rather than piping hot. It tastes even better the next day and I often make it the day before I plan to serve it. I like to serve it with homemade focaccia bread and brown rice.

Another easy way to use up an abundance of courgettes is to make a courgette frittata. Here’s a basic recipe but you can add other vegetables too – such as onions, tomatoes, garden peas, potato etc – and you can also swap the parmesan for whatever cheese you have to hand. Feta is a particular favourite!

Courgette Frittata

serves 2 – 3

• 2 – 3 medium courgettes, sliced
• 6 large eggs
• 50g parmesan, grated
• olive oil

Gently fry the courgettes in a little olive oil until soft and golden. Beat the eggs and stir in the parmesan. Add the cooked courgettes and stir gently. Turn the heat right down then pour the frittata mixture back into the frying pan. Cook gently, running a spatular or similar around the edge every now and again to prevent sticking and give a nice rounded edge. The cooking time depends a lot on the size of pan your using but the friattata is ready when all the egg is set. If necessary, you can speed things up a little by finishing off under a medium grill. I usually serve this with salad and lots of crusty bread. It’s also tasty served cold.

One final and very simple idea is to roast the courgettes along with some other summer vegetables. This is my basic recipe but again, it can easily be adapted to whatever herbs and veg you have handy.

Oven Roasted Vegetables

serves 4 as an accompaniment

• 1 red onion, cut into wedges
• 2 red peppers, cut into chunks
• 2 – 3 small courgettes
• 4 tomatoes, quartered
• a few fresh rosemary sprigs
• olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C / Gas Mark 6. Place chopped vegetables in a large shallow tray and pour over olive oil. Mix well then tuck in a few sprigs of rosemary amongst the vegeatbles. Season with salt and pepper and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until vegetable are starting to char a little around the edges. This goes really well with lamb and, if you’re using chops or cutlets, you can nestle them in amongst the veg and cook the whole lot together.

Strawberry Jam

Ah, nothing like a spot of jam-making to perk you up…. or is that just me?! Now, I must confess, I’m not usually a fan of strawberry jam – I find it over sweet and prefer my jams on the sharper side. However, when I spotted Pam Corbin’s recipe in the River Cottage Preserves Book and saw that the proportion of sugar to fruit was relatively low when compared to other recipes, I thought it was worth a try.

I’m glad I did! The resulting jam is very fruity and the addition of lemon juice really helps the flavour. It’s a pretty jam too – jewel bright and with ruby chunks of fruit suspended within. I know I’ve recommended Pam Corbin’s book before but I’m going to do it again – it’s the best book on jam-making and preserving I’ve encountered. Everyone should own a copy!

Happy Holidays!

Now, I promise not to bore you with a lengthy account of our holiday – wonderful as it was – but I would like to share a few snippets… such as sign-eating trees….

and stunning waterfalls.

Mastering the tricky art of sandcastle construction….

and taking a first-ever splash in the sea.

Visiting a quirky collection of automata (see them move here)….

and taking a (slightly bemused) look at the Rabbit Village…

and, best of all, just taking time to sit and watch the world go by.

Gooseberry Jam

Now that the soft fruit season is underway here in the UK, I thought it was time for a spot of jam-making….

Gooseberries are great for jam as they’re naturally high in pectin. The colour of the jam will vary depending on the ripeness of the gooseberries – early small, hard fruits will give a green jam whilst plump ripe fruits give a pinkish colour. The batch of jam pictured below is quite a dark pink due to the fact that I used unrefined granulated sugar – not for any particular reason, just because that’s what I had in the cupboard. Anyhow, on to the recipe…

Basic Gooseberry Jam Recipe

A quantity of gooseberries

An equal amount of granulated sugar

Water

Top and tail the gooseberries and place in a preserving pan or sturdy saucepan. Pour in enough water so that the gooseberries are not quite covered – if you prefer to measure, I usually use 500ml water for every kilo of gooseberries. Simmer the gooseberries for 10 – 15 minutes until they are soft and squidgy but still hold their shape. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. It helps if you gently warm the sugar in the oven prior to adding to the pan as it will dissolve quicker this way. Once the sugar has dissolved bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Test for setting point then pour into sterilized jars and seal.

The recipe can be adapted in a number of ways:

You could make strawberry and gooseberry jam by substituting half the gooseberries with strawberries although only add the strawberries to the pan once the gooseberries are almost soft.

To make elderflower and gooseberry jam tie up a few elderflower heads in a muslin square and simmer with the gooseberries. Remove before adding the sugar.

Some people like to add a little butter when they add the sugar.