Mustard Cabbage Pickles

We have some very sweet and delicious white cabbages in the garden right now. After 3 weeks straight of eating coleslaw, we looked for more creative ways to utilise this resource. We went to our old faithful, Maggie Beer, and found a recipe for pickled cabbages. It's nice to get back into preserving- we haven't had much to pickle over winter!

This tastes very much like the corn relish we made last summer (they seem to have most of the same ingredients except for corn and cabbage!)  It can be served with cold meats, on sandwiches or on a cheese platter!

Mustard Cabbage Pickles:

 


1 small cabbage (about 1kg)
3 onions, sliced
2 red and 2 green capsicums, chopped
1/4 cup salt
2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1 TBS mustard powder
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
3 TBS cornflour
1 TBS celery seeds
1 TBS yellow mustard seeds

Shred the cabbage and combine in a large bowl with the onions and capsicums. Add the salt and mix through. Cover and leave overnight to draw out the moisture.

The next day, rinse in a colander and wash out all the salt. Meanwhile, add the vinegar, brown and wihte sugar in a large saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves , then bring to the boil and add the vegetables.
Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the cabbage is soft.

Mix the mustard, tumeric, ginger and flour with 125mL water to make a smooth paste. Stir into the vegetable mixture and stir until the mixture thickens. Add the celery and mustard seeds then pour into sterilised jars. Boil jars in a large pot of water for 5 minutes to seal then remove and cool.

Dried Apples

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had this to say about Autumn apples: "There are culinary compensations for cooler days and darker evenings, not least the abundance of apples and pears. Raw but ripe, they beg to be munched, sucked, crunched and slurped. And when we've had our fill of the naked fruit, baked, poached, puréed and sautéed. And there's always time to toss some into a pie or crumble."

The pink lady apples we have picked from our own tree are not only sweeter than those bland  apples that can be bought all year round, but they have the most amazing crunch!

We have made quite a few apples dishes this Autumn. These dried apples are always a good way to use up excess. We now dry them in the oven, because when we tried baking them in the sun our daughter found the trays and took a bite out of every single one.

To dry the apples, wash and clean them well. You can peel them if you like (we didn't).

Core them and slice into thin rings (best thickness is about 3-5mm).

Cover a baking tray with al-foil and lay out the apple. Place in a pre-heated oven at 100 degrees Celsius.

Cook for an hour, then leave to cool in the oven overnight. If they are not dried enough repeat this process the following day (and again the following day).

They are supposed to last quite a few weeks in an airtight container, but they are always gone within a few days in our house, so we can't verify this!

Sweetcorn Relish

This is just like the stuff you can buy at the supermarket, only nicer. This makes a delicious dip when combined with cream cheese (I'm sure you've all tasted this at a BBQ when you were younger). Or you can serve it alongside roast beef or a corned silverside (mmmmm, boiled meat).

5 fresh sweetcorn on the cob

2 capsicums (any colour) deseeded and chopped finely

3 celery sticks, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1-2 red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)

350g sugar

450mL apple cider vinegar

Sea salt

50g plain flour

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

¾ teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon celery seeds

Boil the corn cobs in a large pot of water for 4 minutes. Remove the corn cobs and reserve 200mL of the water.

Cut the kernels off the corn cobs. Put the corn and the reserved cooking water in a pot, together with the capsicum, celery, onion, garlic, chilli (if using), vinegar, salt and sugar.

Bring to the boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make a runny paste with the flour, spices and approx ¼ cup of water. Add this to the boiling pot (stirring as you add it), then simmer for a further 15minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the mixture sticking.

Place into sterilised jars and boil the filled jars in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes to seal the jars.

Rosewater and Plum Jam

We are taking advantage of the end of season surplus of fruits and squirreling away for the long cold Melbourne winter. Our plum tree rewarded us with 5 plums this year (they were delicious). So we bought a few kilos at the markets last week and made a batch of this delicious jam (another Greg Malouf recipe).

As a dear friend noted, this tastes just like Turkish Delight Jam. Yum.

2.5kg plums

50mL Rosewater

Sugar

Place the plums in a large heavy based saucepan with a small amount of water and boil for about 10 minutes (until they are soft and mushy).

Strain them overnight through some sort of cloth (like a kitchen chux).

Pour the strained juice into a pan with 500g of sugar for every 600mL of juice. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil.

Boil for 20-25 minutes, until the jam reaches setting point  (a spoonful placed onto a cool dish in the fridge will develop a skin).

Remove from the heat and skim the froth from the surface.

Stir in the rosewater then carefully ladle into sterilised jars. Return the jars to a pot of boiling water and boil for ten minutes to seal. 

Rainy weekend: Preserved peaches

Frank's dad brought us a fridge full of late season peaches, which were starting to look a little wrinkly. We preserved them in this light sugar syrup, which tastes just like tinned peaches. Only problem is they are so much better than the tinned peaches we are used to.

This method is super quick, and the peaches will last for months if preserved correctly. And if we don't eat them first.
 

Fresh peaches (we used up about 20 largish peaches)

Sugar

Peel and quarter peaches. Place in a saucepan, cover with water and add ½ cup sugar. Poach briefly (5 minutes) then strain the fruit out. Add an extra cup of water and a further ½ cup of sugar to make a sugar syrup (or make up quantities to taste). Boil the sugar syrup (further 5 minutes).

Place the peaches into sterilised jars. Fill the jars with the sugar syrup, making sure there are no air bubbles. 

Screw the lids onto jars, immerse in a big pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes to seal.

Rainy weekend: Preserved Figs

So the seasons have decided to dramatically change all of a sudden, and we spent the weekend indoors thanks to rain and a febrile toddler.

So we spent our time preserving like madmen... acquiring quite a few superficial burns upon the way.

This fig recipe is delicious! It comes from an Italian fig farmer and is a great way to use up all the small leftover fruit on our fig tree.

It uses white wine vinegar and spices (oh, and kilos of sugar too). The vinegar gives the figs an amazing sour taste, which counters the kilos of sugar. We are devouring them with ice cream every night.

 

Preserved Figs

4kg figs

5 cups sugar

2 L water

1 tablespoon of cloves

1 cinnamon stick

3 cups white wine vinegar (or you could use balsamic vinegar but it might go a darker colour)

Combine 3cups of sugar and water in a large pot and bring to the boil. Add the figs (whole, cleaned and pricked once or twice with a fork). Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the rest of the sugar, the vinegar and spices and cook until the figs become clear.

Remove from the heat and stand for 12-24 hours in the syrup in a cool place.

Place into sterilised jars and fill with syrup. Return the jars to a large pot of boiling water and cook for about 15 minutes to seal.

Preserved artichokes

1. Pick the artichokes (make sure you pick them early otherwise the leaves will open up and they will be in flower on the inside).
2. Remove the outer leaves and cut off the top spikey 1/3rd of each artichoke. Then cut into quarters or to a size which will fit into the jars.
3. Wash well and rub the cut surfaces with lemon to prevent discolouration.

 














4. Place them in a saucepan and cover with white wine vinegar and bring to the boil. Simmer until they are soft (approximately 5 minutes). Drain and discard the vinegar.
5. Place into sterilised jars and fill the jars with 50:50 vinegar and olive oil. Add some fresh parsley and 1-2 whole garlic cloves into each jar. Put the jars into a pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes to seal the lids.
6. Leave them for 2 or 3 weeks, then enjoy. We like them on pizza!

This is what it looks like when the artichokes have opened up too much. Nevermind- in a few weeks they will become beautiful vibrant purple flowers that last for weeks.