Hot and sweet pickled figs

I make no claim that this is a tried and tested recipe, or indeed that it even works! The following is an experimental attempt to recreate some most delicious pickled figs I had not so long ago. They had chilli with them, and yet were still sweet, hence the title. Ive just finished jarring these so I shallnt be able to tell you what they're like for a while yet, but if you have an abundance of fresh figs and fancy joining in my experiment, please let me know how you get on.

Recipe

1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsps chilli flakes
700ml white wine vinegar
100g granulated sugar
1 split vanilla pod
12 fresh figs

In a medium saucepan toast the spices, minus the chilli flakes, until starting to smell aromatic. Add the chilli flakes and toast for a moment more.

Pour in the white wine vinegar, vanilla pod and sugar, and warm slowly until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a very gentle simmer.

Slice each fig in half and carefully pack in to hot, sterilised jars, cut side facing out if possible. Pour over the pickling liquor and seal up the jars.

Simples! I plan to wait at least two weeks before I try them, but longer may allow the flavours to mature better.

P.s. If you're not sure about how to sterilise jars, take a look at my August post 'feeling plummy.'

Crafty individuals stamp tapestry scenes

This week I have been experimenting with a bit of flat stamping with inks. I love how easy it is to be creative with the tapestry style 'build your own picture' stamps. For each of the cards below I have inked backgrounds using versa colour and distress inks (applied with my favourite dry baby wipe!) and then stamped the foreground however pleased me.

This one was made using the CI build a meadow set. When I finished I added a few highlights with the gelly roll white pen though these don't show up too much in the picture.

To  create the line of blue and white on this one I simply masked off the top with a piece of white paper whilst I inked the rest of the background. The stamps are a new set from rubber stamp tapestry ideal for men's cards!

To really bring them out, the fairy and toadstools are the only thing stamped in black embossing ink and embossed with glitter.  This is the same build a meadow set in the background but I have used Lindsay mason fairy stamps. 

I plan to pop these on to this weeks craft Barn challenge and see how I get on! 

http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/weekly-challenge.html

Animal magic - The Craft Barn Challenge

I've been a quiet watcher of the Craft Barn blog for a while now, but I couldn't resist their weekly challenge of 'animals' this week. I'm constantly making cards with an animal theme so I thought I would submit this one made with the hobby art owl stamp set.

To make this card;

Stamp the owl on to a patterned paper of your choice. Cut it out and add highlights to it with a white gelly roll pen. Set aside until later.

Cut out a circle using a fiskars large punch and stick it to your card where you want the moon to be, using some low tack tape.

Use clear versa ink on the little star stamp and stamp in the background. Emboss with a blue glittery embossing powder and colour the centre with a lilac promarker.

Use versa colour ink pads in a mix of blues and lilacs to create clouds, leaving some whiter areas for effect. Remove the circle mask and ink a cloud or two across the moon if so desired.

Stamp the branches and hanging hearts in black. Colour with promarkers and add stickles glitter to the hearts. Stamp your message in the lower right corner.

Use silver liquid pearls to add a few spots in the background.

Add your owl back in, in front of the moon, fixing it with 3d mount foam pads.

Mount your image on a dark colour and then on to a white card. You will notice I have left lower aligned the mounting to mirror the whites in the owl's eyes.

Sit back and admire your work!

Sampling Annie Sloan

I've read and heard so much about the joys of Annie Sloan's chalk paints that when I inherited a slightly tatty egg stand, I felt it was really time I joined in and had a go myself. I picked up a few sample pots of chalk paint as well as a sample pot of clear wax in a cute little shop in Falmouth- Sweet pea and Betty.
This is what I started with

The real selling point of these paints is that there is basically no prep work involved. The paint adheses to the wood regardless of its finish. You can buy special brushes to apply it, but for my starter project I was keeping things low cost.

I applied one coat of Louis Blue to the stand;

Once dry, I went over it with a coat of the clear wax. To begin with I was a bit worried about the finish as it seemed tacky but giving it a bit of a buff with some dry kitchen roll finished it off nicely. The wax does seem to do a great job protecting the paint so I would definitely recommend using it. 

And that's basically all there is to it! If like me you have been wondering about the merits of these paints, I thoroughly recommend picking up a sample pot or two and seeing for yourself. This transformation cost little more than a tenner and there is plenty of paint left over as well as lots more techniques to get creative with!

Feeling plummy - a recipe for spiced plum jam

Just outside my workplace there is the most wonderful plum tree which has been fruiting beautifully for the last few weeks. As I left work the other day I spotted a cheeky squirrel with one of the plums in his chops - it was so large he could barely see over the top of it! I decided it was time for some humans to get the benefit of the bounty and collected up as many as I could.

 Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to gather no less than 8kg of the things! It was time to get my preserving hat on and come up with a recipe - and here it is.

Spiced plum jam

1.8kg plums, halved and stoned
300ml water
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise
3 balls of stem ginger, finely chopped
Pinch of ground cloves
1.8kg granulated sugar

Add the prepared plums with the water and spices to a very large pan ( a preserving pan if you have one)

Simmer for 35mins (give or take 5 minutes) Stir occasionally.

Turn the heat right down while you fish out the whole spices (at this point you will realise why I didn't suggest you use whole cloves!)

Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until completely dissolved. (The base of the pan shouldn't feel grainy as you drag a wooden spoon across it)

Raise the temperature and bring to a rapid, rolling boil. At this point you must resist the temptation to stir- it is much better left to do its thing.

Pop a sugar thermometer in and watch closely for when it reaches 105°. It should take around 10 minutes. To be sure of a good set, use 'the saucer test' - see below.

Once you are happy that your jam is set, ladel it in to a jug and pour in to sterilised jars. Seal, then pretty the jard up however you like.

Tips and tricks;

The saucer test; Pop a saucer or two in your freezer before you start. When testing if the jam is set blob a little if the jam on to the saucer and then push with your thumb nail. It should 'wrinkle' a little if it is done.

This recipe uses a lot of plums because that is what I had, however it is easily halved.

The recipe makes around 8standard sized jam jars but I find it is always best to sterilised more jars than you think you'll need, just in case!

Vary the spices according to your taste- if you prefer something less pungent, skip out the cloves. For an extra gingery kick you could add ground or fresh ginger as well as stem ginger.

To sterilised your jars wash them in warm soapy water and then dry out in a low oven. Pop the kids and any seals in a pan of gently simmering water for a few minutes.

Blackberry Bounty

I always eagerly anticipate the arrival of the first blackberries each year. This summer we have skipped ahead a bit as there is a cultivated variety of blackberry growing in the garden which fruits just a little ahead of its wild counterparts. Gathering blackberries (whether wild or cultivated) is one of lifes real simple joys but I often find myself with a lot more blackberries than I know what to do with! To make the most of the first harvest I devised this ice cream recipe below.

Blackberry and black pepper ice cream

You will need;

500g blackberries

75g caster sugar

30ml water

Good grind of black pepper

300ml whipping cream (double will also work)

Stir the blackberries, sugar, black pepper and water together in a pan. Gently simmer for five minutes until it is all looking pulpy.

Tip the mixture in to a sieve held over a bowl. Allow the juices to strain and then press with the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much juice and pulp as you can. Allow to cool thoroughly.

Churn the cool puree for ten minutes in an ice cream maker until it's starting to look thick. Carefully pour in the whipping cream and continue churning until the ice cream is scoopable.

Variations;

Skip out the black pepper if you're not feeling so adventurous- you will still have a delicious blackberry ice cream. 

If you don't have an ice cream maker, whip the cream before you add it to the mix. You can then freeze the mix for a few hours, removing it from the freezer every hour or two to mash the ice cream with a fork. The result may not be as smooth but it will still be just as tasty!

P.s. Hiding in the photo here is some chocolate ice cream that I made (recipe another day!) as well as some lemon ice cream from a Devon dairy. Yum!

Veg box challenge - tapas tonight!

It was only a few months back now that my hubby and I subscribed to a local veg box scheme. There was a certain scepticism (particularly from my OH) about whether it would be worth it, but I can safely say we'll never look back. But more on that another day.

In our box this week we had 'padron peppers' which I had never cooked with before. There was a suggestion that you might want to play 'pepper roulette' with them as some are hot and some are not. So I got thinking about that and decided to add some cream cheese to the mix in case of any scorchers. We also had a few of our home grown spuds to use up and a little left over chorizo so that got turned in to patatas bravas. Recipe can be found here; http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2362/patatas-bravas-

Suddenly we were having tapas so I filled out the rest of the dinner with the following ultra easy additions;

Prawns fried in lemon, chilli and garlic
Sundried tomato rice (from a pouch!)
Tomato bread
Chicken fried in piri piri marinade
Dips, olives and a mixed meat selection

For the padron peppers I simply fried them in hot oil til the skins blistered and served them with the cream cheese.

All told I reckon I served up dinner in about half an hour, and was quite chuffed with the results! :)