Sunday Potterings

Today I have been busy in the kitchen.  I have peeled a load of apples and made a chunky apple sauce which has been bottled and is about to be hot water bath processed to make sure that it keeps on the pantry shelf for a little while. I processed 2kg of Bramley apples and then added 8 small dessert apples (they form the chunks) as well as lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar and some water.  For my efforts I have 5 x 1 litre jars of apple which will come in useful for making apple pie, apple sauce cake, apple sauce for serving with roast pork, apple amber, apple puffs wherever you would use pureed apple. 

I like rootling around in the kitchen, trying a bit of this and that together sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't and those we just put down to experience.  You have to play with your ingredients to understand them all the better and for the best part I work with what I have to hand even when the pennies are scarce I usually somehow manage to rustle something up.

For Sunday tea this evening I cooked a gammon joint that I had picked up for £5 and rather than just cooking it for a ham and meat for sandwiches or for serving with potato wedges or home made chips I thought I would cook and get a nice hot meal out of as well. Once the gammon was cooked I grabbed a jar of my home made Seville Orange marmalade that needs using up and slathered a load of the marmalade over the gammon joint and simply kept basting the meat until it was nice and shiny and the meat fat had started to gently caramelise. ( I had soaked the gammon joint before cooking bringing to the boil slinging he water away and then cooking with some fresh herbs, rosemary, thyme, parsley bay leaces, a shallot some cloves and black pepper, white pepper and I now also have some nice stock to make some soup with tomorrow).  I now have about half a jar of marmalade left over to use.  I shall have to go rootling and see what I can come up with.

The gammon was served simply as it was in slices and it was nice a lean served with steamed kale, broccoli, cauliflower, mashed potatoe and carrots.  I used the remnants of the marmalade and meat juices to form the basis of the gravy adding other bits and bobs as I went and it made a lovely tasty meal, just right for a cold wintry evening.

I think it might be stew for tomorrow - I am supposed to be out tomorrow evening and OH will need something substantial after being at work all day.  I will get the pressure cooker out and make it first thing in the morning and then I can forget about it.   I am home on holiday for the week trying to get ready for Christmas this week so I will be able to play for a change with the cooking.  

OH will be having the left over ham for his pack up - there are some veggies left so I might make some bubble and squeak patties to go with the stew and to help use up some of the veggies left over from tonight.

Right I have things to do  - quite a lot of them.

Catch up soon

Pattypan

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