TARRAGON & THYME

It has been a quiet day I have been on my own, but busy busy busy.  I am still struggling with the Jam Store.  I have found lots of stuff I had forgotten about including loads of beer bottles.  Me thinks they are going to be put into use over the next few weeks or so and I am slowly starting to restore order to complete confusion.  OH is going to help me re-line the shelves, with constant use the covers have become jaded so I am going to completely recover the shelves make things clean neat and tidy.  I have also scrubbed out the cupboard as well.  One of my Elderflower champagne bottles has struck a leak and been dripping everywhere.  I have new preserves to put away and more to do yet but the making of stuff has been put on hold.  I may start some during the week again, will see how it goes but failing which I will recommence next weekend.  I have found a load of bouquet garni which I had prepared (I had been looking for them as I use in so...

It is suprising what I am finding lurking under the stairs in the jam store.  I have just found a bottle of Toffee Vodka that I had forgotten all about and in the interests of human kind I have just had a little glass.  Boy is that pokey but rather moorish and due to the fact it is a cold day it has done a little warming up.  (For the life of me I cannot remember what the recipe is or where I got it from), but I think it was a standard  bottle of vodka and literally a bag of Werthers toffees put in a preserving jar and shaken every day until the toffees have completely dissolved, when they are you can bottle and enjoy.  Goes a beigy colour and develops a foam on top but this is all part of the liqueur/spirit of things.  I think I am going to do a couple of more bottles of that before Christmas.  That has slightly anaesthetised my throat. You need not be restricted to just toffee, you can use pear drops and bubble gum - whatever takes your fancy. I ...

I just love this time of year  especially the change in the colours of the trees, the freshness, preparing to batten down the hatches for the winter months, blazing fires (if you have one) it has a charm all of its own. The sun is trying to break through cloud here this morning; it is chilly and windy and I am in the house as I have a sore throat which I am trying to stop become anything more as it is too early in the season for colds for me. To counteract this I intend to make a scuttle full of onion soup for my lunch together with some fresh granary bread.  I think I am also going to start taking my vitamin c tablets again just to give a little boost.  Last evening I took a chicken out of the freezer and also a piece of beef.  The chicken is initially going to be roasted and either used for a hot meal during the week,  then for a casserole or a curry and sandwiches.  The roast beef is for tea this evening. OH walked Missy this morning before he w...

I have also been to the Charity shop this morning.  There were several lovely things there as usual including some furniture which I have my eye on but in reality will not be able to take as I have no room where we are.  Shucks they are the right pieces at the right prices just no room at the inn.  One day I will find something similar and I will have room.  I was primarily after books as in recent weeks I have managed to source quite a lot of good reading for 50 pence a book.  This week the pickings were bare.  Just the one book, but I did manage to pick up a little green ring flower vase and two little green enamel pie plates which I am quite chuffed with.  Unusually the pie plates and the ring vase are both a lovely pale green - I love this colour and I think they are perhaps from the same period.  I am chuffed with them in any event.  All for £4.30 pence.  Not bad at all and a win win situation. Catch you soon Pattypan x...

Even though I live in the middle of a City there are still lots of green places to go for those in the know and I thought I would share with you some photographs I have taken on my mobile phone this morning whilst walking Missy.  I have been out for two hours with her - first half an hour to get to the start of the walk (OH normally drops all of us down in the car) then a good hours run through the fields which run down to the river and then back again.  I did attempt to take some photos of Missy had her in line but soon as I shot the photo she was gone - places to go smells to catch up on she is very fast. But saying that its the first time I have really walked her on her own and she has been absolutely smashing and has come back to me when I have called so I am well pleased with her.  We have been out a good 2 hours.  This post is a little photo heavy. It is a beautiful crisp morning here but we are now into the season of the long shadows and mist and mellow frui...

It is a lovely sunny morning here - bit chilly but if I wrap up everything should be okay.   OH is working this weekend has overslept gone out in a panic and poor Missy has not had her early morning walkies down by the river so I am going to walk her - I have to get to the river which is quite a way first but then I can let her off her lead and she can run and get rid of her inhibitions.  It lets her have a bit of freedom and although not being quite what I had planned she needs a walk does her good. I am intent on sorting out my jam store today - it has got into a bit of a muddle and I have jam jars and cannot locate them easily and I am blowed if I am buying any more jam jars at present.  Kilner jars or their equivalent and sauce bottles yes but not jam jars just the lids so I shall be under the stairs when I return sorting out and organising everything so that I can get the new preserves in.  The shelves need lining with new paper in any event.  I am also h...

This is the recipe for the pickle that I made the other week.  It is unusual in that it is not a cooked chutney at all but more of a pickle. The recipe is a Mary Norwak one 3/4 pint/375ml cider vinegar 1lb/450g sugar 2 teaspoons of mustard (oohps I missed this out) 1lb/450g eating apples 2 medium onions 8oz of fresh mint leaves 2oz of seedless raisins Pinch of salt Heat the vinegar in the pan and then stir in the sugar and mustard until the sugar has dissolved.  Stir well, take off the heat and cool slightly. Chop the apples, onions and mint very finely and put in a bow with the raisins and the salt.  Pour on the vinegar mixture, ix well and pour into hot sterilised preserving jars.  Seal at once. This is a very light pickle, and the flavour is lovely (I didn't put the mustard in as I missed it off the recipe) but it is still a very tasty preserve - very fresh and not heavy.  Very nice with some cold meats and fried potatoes.

Good Morning Monday the first day of the rest of the week.  I have to confess I have the blues today,  Its a duvet type of day to hide away in the warmth.  However it is still wet, overcast grey (I don't do grey) and dreary and the damp is in my joints again despite me keeping warm.  One step forwards two steps back.  Must keep positive,  But hey ho its just another day I will get through it just a bit slower than usual and I hate doing slow.  Too impatient me by half, perhaps patience is my lesson.  But then each day brings its own blessings and something special it its own way.  You just have to learn things in a different way.  Instead of cup being empty the cup is in actual fact half full and we have lots to be grateful for.  Sometimes getting through the day is challenge enough, but those days turn into weeks and those weeks into months and those months into years and I am very grateful for  the companionship of friends a...

Since my last post, its done nothing but pee it down with rain; autumn/winter is upon us in full swing.  If I had a fire I would have had it lit today and snuggled up, oh how I wish I had an open fire to cosy up to.  I have spent most of the day on my own with Missy (the dog) and Squeak (My tabby cat) and Demetri (the stray)currently all fast asleep;  The animals have stayed close all day even Demetri who likes to go out and about has for the past week been hugging the house.  I have made my greengage jam, my picallili is dry brining and will be finished off tomorrow evening. We have had a lovely tea, lamb steaks(double chops), mashed potato, cabbage, peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower with lashings of gravy and then home made rice pudding - it all went down very well. I watched Downtown and since then have been blog hopping. I just have to run the iron over our clothes for tomorrow and then  I am going to get my hair washed and then go up the stairs to ...

Its a cold chilly grey September day today and rain is promised for later on.  Its a day that reminds me so much of when I was a youngster and we used to go to my Nan's ostensibly to start the apple harvest, often going back a week or couple of weeks later  to finish off as  she had a mixed bag of trees all old English varieties, all full of flavour but funnily enough we never had a cider variety but that never stopped her making cider or wines and she was very good at it.   There was always something going on when we went to my Nan's ostensibly to do with food either cooking it preserving it sowing it or planting it.  At specific times of year you did this or that and therefore to me September/October was always apple picking weather, along with bringing in the last of the marrows and putting the other veg like onions to dry in the big old garage that latterly never was used as a garage but as a foodstore and implement store.  It also followed tr...

Alison and Mandy you really do have a lot to be responsible for and I am looking forward to this Thursday's trip. I might buy something then.  I am desperate to start my own patchwork and it is on the to do list.  It will happen eventually. However I do still have some things to clear out of the way and complete to free up some space before I set too and do a proper full sized quilt.  However that does not stop me acquiring patterns, fabrics etc in anticipation and after the looky touchy feely session with the fabrics and the crafts that were being executed at Art and Stitch yesterday I am kind of feeling all inspired again.  However, saying that I am always rather interested in recyling items re-purposing them and after an Article from Frugal Queen on how to strip a shirt down and use it for patchwork, I have succumbed and bought one shirt.  I like the fabric it has purples, lilacs greens greys in it  a stripe.  Look Here.....  I a...

I obtained a well known company's latest catalogue in the run up to Christmas - not the Christmas catalogue but it has some items in relation to Christmas.  In particular being a foodie I was instantly drawn to the foodie items in the catalogue to see out of interest if there was anything that took my fancy and that I had recipes for or seemingly to see if there was anything new that took my interest, if there was I could buy a jar of that which was different or unknown to me,  try it and then look for a recipe.  I am a bit of a meanie when it comes to buying preserves and besides I like to play and create my own.   So I went tootling through said catalogue items like Damson and Port Jam, After Dinner Mints (which are seemingly mint creams covered in chocolate easily made at home and you get far more for your money); Kendal Mint Cake, Handmade Fudge, Sticky Toffee Sauce, Shortbread, Scottish Oatcakes, Morello Cherry Jam, Christmas Pudding (why buy one when ...

September is the month when I start to prepare for Christmas doing  a little bit here and there.  Where a few extra items find their way into my shopping basket to be stock-piled out of the way in readiness for the Christmas celebrations.  Pickling, making chutneys bottling fruits  all so that we can have something different on the plate and little treats here and there.  September is also the month when I make my Christmas Cake giving it time to mature.  However this year it would appear that I am writing about Christmas earlier than I usually do.  The Reason  - I went for a touchy feely session with my two friends from work to Art and Stitch in Peterbrough ostensibly to look at fabric, patterns and have a good mooch around.  But as usual they had lots of other bits and bobs on the go which took my eye namely the bauble decoration below, so much so I decided to have a look around to see what was available and thought everyone else might wan...

I have been busy this evening - we ran out of bread so after getting myself sorted and fussed an extremely excited Jack Russell I then set too and started to make the dough for some bread baps.  I was quite impressed with the Tiger Roll recipe and so I have used the dough recipe for that minus the sesame paste.  I have made 16 baps tonight and I am extremely chuffed with them.  I have had one already with some butter on. Yummy and crusty but to get the dough to rise properly (my kitchen gets very cold) I put the heating on full blast and then put the oven on result really hot kitchen - that hot I was thinking of stripping down a few layers and the bread has risen really well.  As I say we had run out of bread;  OH needed some bread for pack up and as we are having chicken stew for tea tomorrow night we needed a supply of bread for dipping in the gravy; the gravy is often the best part.  Will be quite simply chicken carrots, peas some stock and a little pea...

I was shattered when I got in last night and as the evening went on things didn't get on any better so I put a rain check on the picalliili.  I will do this tonight together with some pear and ginger chutney which I can put on and have simmering (you just have to keep an eye on it and stir it every so often) whilst I sit with the radio on,  on my Nan's old stool preparing the vegetables for brining.  I quite like the methodical work the quiet time where I can lose myself and my thoughts it is a kind of meditation and nearly always valuable in restoring my inner calm. In recent years I have taken to using the Pam Corbin recipe for Picallili which is one of the better ones I have come across.  In fact that little Preserves book is one of my all time favourite preserve recipe books  it was cold here in Peterborough last night and the heating was put on for a little while. (It is chilly again this morning)  I can feel the change in the seasons so much and...

Ingredients: 2lb shallots/pickling onions 4oz salt 2pints of water 1 1/2 pints spiced vinegar (see previous post) Preparing the onions: Onions are beggers to peel at the best of times - t hey always make me cry; I have tried several methods of peeling the same even the one about holding the teaspoon between your teeth whilst peeling the onions all it does is make me look a bigger pratt than ever.  I came across the method I now use by chance.  About an hour before you start to prepare your onions put your onions whether pickling onions or shallots pop them into a bowl and then fill up the bowl with boiling hot water until  until full.  Leave to soak.  Go back an hour later and start to peel the onions by using a sharp knife to make a clean cut to the base of the onion and even off the top of the onion and remove the outer leaves.  Carry on until all onions have been processed putting the processed onions into another holding bowl or bucket.  ...

One of the best bits about the pickled onions is the spicy vinegar.  You can buy this ready spiced, but I usually prepare my own well in advance, and then when the pickles are all used up I decant what remains of the vinegar and we use it where you would normally use vinegar as a condiment.  Waste not Want not and all that jazz. You should only really use whole spices and not ground ones on the basis that the whole spices do not cloud the vinegar and give a clearer  appearance of the vinegar and preserve whereas using ground spices can and does make the vinegar go cloudy so I tend to steer away from the ground spice, although I have on occasions been known to use them.  Ideally you should prepare your vinegars  at least two months prior  say end of June beginning of July in advance of making your pickles but don't fret if you do not manage to achieve this.  There are ways around this. Method one:  This is the cold steeping method where your ch...

Most of us love the flavour of Garners pickled onions, however around here for Shallots we have been paying around £3 a jar.  What's that you say PP buying pickled onions - I must admit only when we run out.  This is the time of year where I do tend to put a lot down, but bearing in mind that I did a load of pickled onions and shallots last year and they did not last too long (despite doing a couple of stone of each - I decided to do an early tranche at the weekend and I have seven jars (Sarson Tall Vinegar Jars) full.  I have still another couple of bags of picklers to come and a couple of shallots.  £3 a jar is a lot of money - I bought a net of pickling onions for £5.50 and then used  gallon of vinegar to go with- probably £3 a canister which works out a £8.50 works works out just over £1.35 or so (I am not being precise) for a very large jar full.  How much would they charge you in the shops to buy this probably nearer to £3.99  a jar.  Call ...

Sorry I did not get back last night things got a bit busy again in the kitchen after I had watched Downtown - wasn't it good.  I got the first batch of pickled onions completed I have 7 large jars of pickled onions now, (these are the Sarson Vinegar jars) although I had to prepare another batch of spiced vinegar.  Because it was late and because I wanted cold vinegar and it was warm in the kitchen I put it outside the back door as it was cold outside esconced in Big Bertha.  That got it nice and cold.  Who is Big Bertha you wonder? Big Bertha is my very large maslin/preserving pan that I have had since I was 19 years old.  Big Bertha and I have been through quite a few trials and tribulations together but mainly I use her for chutneys, preparing vinegar, or preparing bulk batches of jam.  She is well battered and has the war wounds to prove it.  The funniest of which was that we were decorating the kitchen and the contents of said kitchen were her...

This Sunday afternoon has been a busy one.  I have made 6 jars of Nectarine Chutney to add to my stash, done the washing up in between, cooked a meat pie.  That's a big deal for me as I made it from scratch including the pastry.  Much as I love cooking I become a nervous wreck when it comes to pastry.  Reason - I was taught to make pastry at school - my mother did not like the technique I had been shown and intervened and confused me so much especially as she wouldn't leave it.  Part of the problem is that I naturally make a very short pastry so it needs care in rolling out where it normally falls apart.  Mum reckoned I made nice pastry just like her mum used to.  Normally I have cold hands but when it comes to pastry they go hot.  But every so often I have another go.  Today I have been able to play on my own in the kitchen without interference and although not perfect the pie has come up reasonably well and "rustique".  I a...

When I do my main shopping (usually around pay day) I try to buy in enough ingredients for the month so that I can make my own bread, do a little bit of cake baking, make puddings.  I have found sticking as much to a basic list month in month out usually makes sure that I have enough ingredients in house so to speak to have a go at a lot of basic stuff and a few fanciful things as well. You have to have something nice every so often to tickle the taste buds otherwise things get monotonous and people lose enthusiasm for what they are eating and life in general.  I have a set few things that I tend to make week in week out, like some scones, butterfly cakes, muffins, chocolate refrigerator cake, flapjacks, a swiss roll or a victoria sandwich and some tea breads and then I sometimes make a treacle tart, mini fruit pies or mince pies as well.  It depends very much on what time is available to me in any one week and sometimes I batch bake and then store the basic cake in the ...

I have been busy in the kitchen again.  Yesterday was a busy day I had acquired all sorts of goodies and needed to get on with processing them.  I bought 2kg vine tomatoes and roasted them down in two large roasting trays sprinkled with shallot onion garlic thyme rosemary sage a little sugar a little  white wine vinegar basil bay leaf black pepper white pepper  until everything was golden brown and then just whizz everything up in the food processor and then pour into hot sterilised kilner bottles (or their equivalent) adding  little lemon juice to each bottle before  hot water bath processing them  for half an hour from when they boil.  People think why bother doing it all yourself - because I know where the ingredients have come from there are no nasties in them and I have produced 7 jars of sauce reasonably economically that can be used in lasagne pizza as a base for soup etc. Just on the ingredient front alone works out to 50 pence a jar. (if...

Comfort food is a must when the weather starts to turn; this past ten days or so (apart from the mini heatwave the other weekend) especially when you have been at work all day and want something substantial and good for you to eat.  I always have a main eye when I am cooking to how much it costs.  If I switch the main oven on I always fill it up to get maximum amount of food cooked often preparing several things before actually switching the oven on.  On this occasion I added some scones to the oven to make use of the cooker being on. A meal is a meal at the end of the day and you don't have to have several vegetables on the plate at one time; sometimes its about making the best of simple ingredients and getting the best flavour out of them.  Tonight we have had home made Toad in the Hole made with some decent sausages, home made onion gravy served very simply with home made mashed potato and it was warming, cheap and scrummy and best of all was made ready...