Miso, membrillo and toasted sesame seeds

I cut the membrillo into pieces last night - half for me, half for L; a bit extra for her to give back to M... Then half of our bit into pieces to store in the freezer for future use and the other half to eat right away / to keep in the fridge. I think it should keep quite a long time in the fridge, but just in case that doesn't work out the frozen stuff is back-up. We managed to make quite a big dent in it last night alone - S is a big fan. He was eating it on lightly toasted bread slices with manchego. I decided that the membrillo was amazing on the aforementioned toasted bread, over a smear of white miso and below a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds - sweetness, tang, crunch, saltiness and toastiness.

Membrillo

After I made quinces in syrup a few weeks ago I had membrillo on my mind - was curious to see how it worked, but with only a couple of quinces that day it didn't seem like the best idea. Then, what luck - M and L furnished me with masses of beautiful, locally harvested quince! L and I made pickled quinces, quinces in syrup and a huge, beautiful, bendy brick of fragrant, pinkish-amber jelly-paste... membrillo!

We referred to this recipe (on the same site as the quinces in syrup one), but the basic recipe seems to be the same everywhere, and pretty straightforward (although somewhat time consuming).

quinces - any quantity, at least 6 to make it worth it though I'd say; we ended up with 4 lb 7 oz after prepping and initial boiling / draining
sugar - same weight as the boiled+drained quinces
lemon juice - I added the juice of one lemon to the 4 lb 7 oz of quince

Peel and core the quinces, cut out any bad bits and chop the good stuff into chunks. Put in a big pan, cover with water and boil for about 30 min, until the quinces are very soft. Drain away all the excess water, then weigh the quinces (at this point we had 4 lb 7 oz).

Use a wand blender to liquidise the quince pieces - try and make it as smooth as you can.

Put the pan back on the heat, add the sugar (same weight as the boiled+drained quinces) and lemon juice, bring to the boil and simmer until is has become a pinkish-amber colour and thickened.

Heat the oven to a low temperature - ~120F / 50C. Line a roasting tin or other rectangular, oven-proof, high-sided container with baking paper, lightly greasing the inside of the paper so the quince paste won't stick. Transfer the reduced quince paste to the greased, lined tin and put in the oven for ~60 min to dry out.

Remove from the oven and let cool. It will firm up as it cools, and then you should be able to lift it out of the tin by grabbing the paper at the edges, and it should come easily away from the paper and have a jellyish, sliceable consistency.

Pickled quinces

The last blast of the harvesting season came via M from LUrC. L was kind enough to collect ~15 lb of quinces for her and me to share. She arrived at my place last night with a backpack rammed with quinces. As soon as she walked past me into the apartment I got a waft of their wonderful smell. We spent the evening chopping, chatting, listening to the radio, eating yellow potatoes and pickled green tomatoes, and making beautiful quince preserves. We made half of them into membrillo, and sliced half of what was left thinly to make quinces in syrup and the rest in chunks to make these pickled quinces. The pickled quince recipe we used is here - L looked it up and said she didn't find anything on American sites (perhaps quinces are not common / not commonly used here?), and she consequently got a bit confused about metric measurements...

(we doubled the recipe below to get four large jars)

250 ml cider vinegar
750 ml water
200 g sugar
4 strips lemon zest
6 cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
1 star anise
2 (or 350g) quince, peeled, cut into eighths

Put all the ingredients except the quince into a large saucepan, bring to a simmer, then add the peeled, cored, halved and eighthed quinces, then turn down to a gentle heat and leave to cook for 20-25 minutes until tender.

Gently lift the quince pieces out of the liquid with a slotted spoon and put them into sterilised jars. Pour over the liquor, seal and cool. They will keep for a few weeks.

Pickled green tomatoes (and grapes)

With my harvest of green tomatoes, I decided to pickle some (using my trusty faux-Grillo brine) as well as making jam. In fact, I still have some left even after all this - perhaps frying is also on the cards, or exciting sauce, or who knows what else? The grapes were left over from my last bunch of Concord grapes of the season - I hung onto the unripe ones to try pickling them.

~1 lb of green tomatoes
~10 unripe Concord grapes
~20 mint leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes
3/8 cup cider vinegar
3/8 cup white vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
3/4 tbsp salt

Slice the green tomatoes thickly and pack into two (~400g size) jars. Add the Concord grapes and mint leaves to one / the fennel seeds, celery seeds and chilli flakes to the other. Put the vinegars, water and salt into a small saucepan and bring just to the boil. Pour over the jar contents, making sure to fill right up to ~1 cm from the brim, jiggling the contents to minimize air bubbles. Put lids on while the contents are still hot, then let cool before storing in the fridge.

Green tomato, pepper and chilli jam

I took in all the green tomatoes from my roof after seeing a forecast of -1C for Friday. I had quite a lot - they had come back in September but not many of that second round had ripened much. I also had a lot of green peppers (from D) and some green chillies, so I decided to make another version of this, but with everything green - also reminiscent of this, but somehow more savoury due to the garlic, ginger, chillies, peppers.

(makes ~5 smallish jars)

800 g green tomatoes
18 green peppers
18 green chillies
12 garlic cloves
two thumb sized ginger chunks
1.4 kg sugar
400ml cider vinegar

Finely chop the green tomatoes, peppers, chillies (wearing lab gloves), garlic and ginger.

Put sugar and vinegar in a pan and stir til sugar dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer til reduced  / thick and sticky (~60 min). When reduced, cook on high until setting point is reached. Let cool for 10 min before putting into sterile jars.


This tastes great - similar to sweet chilli sauce. And is resoundingly, pleasingly, emerald. It's a soft set, but I think that's OK. Perhaps some lemon juice would help with the set?

In a wonderful postscript, S took some of this for his friend / colleague W, who is a legend and who had been chatting with S about taking in his green tomatoes while I was taking in mine - it seemed a nice thought and it's fun to share successful preserve experiments. I thought nothing more of it, but a couple of days later W gave S a wee jar of liquid gold from his Brookline bees - so excited and thankful! It's gorgeous honey - very pale and delicate - quite different from A's JP honey despite both coming from city bees - perhaps the time of year, perhaps the flowers in the different hoods? I love them just the same.

Beetroot and pistachio dip

This morning I was putting my box of dried fruit and nuts back on a high shelf and somehow managed to bust open a full bag of pistachios over my head. Pistachio rain for breakfast.

The plus side is that those plummeting pistachios combined with seeing this and eating some tasty pink stuff (made by D+K) during our woods picnic the other day inspired me to make a beetroot dip. Beetroot gets on well with most nuts, but I've never really explored its affinity with pistachios - those colours and textures have got to be amazing together, though, right?

1 large beetroot
2 small cloves garlic, peeled
2 tbsp olive oil
2/3 packet (~250 g) shelf-stable silken tofu
1-2 tsp lime (or lemon) juice
salt and pepper
~3 tbsp pistachios

Heat the oven to 350F. Wrap the beetroot in foil. Put (on a baking tray) in the oven for ~45 min, until just tender. Remove and let cool. Do this step in advance if you can.

Peel the beetroot and chop roughly. Put into blender with garlic, olive oil, tofu, lime juice, salt and pepper. Blend until fairly smooth and well combined. Tip out of blender into serving plate or tub.

Crush the pistachios using pestle and mortar (or roughly chop). Sprinkle over the beetroot mixture just before serving.


This is nice - colours and textures beautiful as predicted, and I like how using relatively few ingredients means you can taste each one clearly: sharp garlic, pungent olive oil, sweet beetroot, creaminess from the tofu and the crunch and richness of the pistachios are all detectable individually as well as working beautifully together.

Wild mushroom and lettuce 'risotto'

Chicken of the woods (above) has a tendency to be a little dry, especially when it has been sitting in the fridge for a week like the stuff I needed to use up last night. I also had some maitake that had dried out a bit. I'd been wanting to try some form of chicken of the woods risotto as I thought it might be a good way of counteracting the dryness. Both mushrooms have a substantial enough texture (and taste) to hold up to cooking in liquid without losing their shape or going slimy. The problem with real risotto is that it is not good as leftovers (unless it becomes arancini), so I decided to make a kind of pseudo risotto with a different kind of rice. Lettuce also needed eating. I enjoy cooked lettuce and thought its sweetness would go well with the earthy mushrooms and rice.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
~1/2 cup chopped chicken of the woods
~1/2 cup chopped maitake
1 cup rice mix (brown rice, black barley, daikon seeds - TJs)
2 cups hot veg stock
2 tbsp barley+chickpea aged miso
3/4 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 small lettuce, chopped
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley
soy sauce
salt+pepper
toasted sunflower seeds

Heat the oil in a medium, lidded saucepan. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or so til starting to soften. Add the chicken of the woods and maitake and cook for a few more minutes, cover and cook some more until lightly browned. If it started to dry out add a little of the stock. Add the rice mix and stir until the brown rice looks transparent. Add the stock, cover and cook for ~20 min, until all the liquid is absorbed. Add the miso halfway through and mix it through the liquid. Finally, add in the lettuce, parsley and sweetcorn and mix until the lettuce is wilted. Taste for seasoning and add black pepper and salt (and/or soy sauce) if needed. Sprinkle with toasted sunflower seeds to serve.


This is good. I like it.

Muesli muffins

I have had to come in to work before 6 am a few times lately. It doesn't make sense to eat my usual muesli breakfast in the wee, dark hours somehow. I just had a brainwave though: what if I transform the muesli into easily-portable muffin form?! It would make a great, practical breakfast for those days and for any other days when I have to have breakfast (or a snack) on the go. My basic muesli bowl contains oats, linseeds, sunflower seeds, flaked almonds, raisins, almond milk, blueberries, banana, a little cinnamon and a splash of maple syrup - I would hardly have to add anything (perhaps some raising agent; perhaps some oil but sunflower oil would effectively be covered already)...

(makes 10)

1 cup oat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar*
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp toasted linseeds
1 banana, mashed roughly with a fork
2 1/2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup almond milk
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/4 cup frozen blueberries

Heat oven to 380F and prepare a muffin tin. Mix oat flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, flaked almonds, sunflower seeds, raisins and toasted linseeds in a medium mixing bowl with a fork. In a separate bowl, mash the banana, then add linseed-water mixture, maple syrup, almond milk, brown sugar and oil and beat together with a fork. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix until just combined, adding the blueberries in the final strokes. Dollop into prepared muffin cups and bake for ~25 min.

*consider leaving out brown sugar and increasing maple syrup


I made these exactly as above and they were dreamy. Exactly as I wanted. Seriously - perhaps one of the best recipes I have ever made up. They held together and rose excellently and were packed with deliciousness. I took them to the woods with D, K and A and we tested them, and they were good. Might reduce the sunflower seeds to 1/8 cup but apart from that wouldn't change a thing.

Edit: Also, I ate one before aerials one night and it gave me loads of energy. I think it was the muffin anyway, it might just have been adrenaline or who knows what. Will repeat the experiment.

Gluten-free bread

I went to the woods today with A, D and K. We planned to have a picnic in the woods. I wanted to take something straightforward to eat, considered making these cookies again since everyone liked them and I wanted K to try them. But fancied something savoury. I realised I had never made a yeasted GF bread - I have made some excellent accidentally GF breads, but never one that was intended to take the place of a regular bread, to be sliced and toasted and so forth. I decided to try this recipe as a first pass (note, I had eggs from A's CSA needing used so the egginess was fine this time).

(makes one loaf in large loaf tin)

2 tsp dried yeast
pinch of raw sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) fake milk
3/4 cup (185ml) water
2/3 cup (115g) brown rice flour (subbed TJ's GF flour mix for brown rice flour and potato starch)
1/2 cup (85g) potato starch (subbed TJ's GF flour mix for brown rice flour and potato starch)
1/3 cup (60g) cornmeal
1/2 cup (62g) millet flour (ground millet seeds in spice grinder)
1/2 cup (56g) ground almonds
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp fine desert salt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cider vinegar
sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

In a small bowl combine yeast and sugar. Add warm water to the fake milk so that it reaches body temperature. Pour the milk mixture over the yeast/sugar and mix to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes to ferment.

Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with a fork. When the yeast starts to bubble, add it to the dry ingredients along with the remaining ingredients and mix to form a smooth batter. It will not become kneadable (more like cornbread batter), but will thicken slightly after you have mixed it for a few minutes. Pour into a greased loaf tin with a lined base, scatter the top with sesame seeds and set aside to prove.

Once the dough has nearly risen to the top of the pan (around an hour) turn your oven to 220C/425F. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown, then turn the oven down to 180C/350F and cook for a further 20-25 minutes or until done (should sound hollow when turned out and tapped). Cool on a wire rack. Slice when cold and store in the fridge.


I had trouble turning it out of the pan - would recommend lining the base. It bakes up well, with a nice crust. Slightly sweet - I might leave out or reduce the honey as the cornmeal is sweet on its own. Quite moist - perhaps it was slightly under (could also explain difficulty turning it out?). Pretty satisfactory though, and I always enjoy mucking around with different flours. I sliced it and took it to the woods along with some lentil dip and muesli muffins. Also ate some with this amazing Speculoos-cocoa vegan (but not GF) spread I found on a foray to TJs - too pretty to eat for about 5 sec (above), then too good to leave alone.

Piccalilli

I saw cauliflowers coming into season, and for some reason thought of piccalilli. I'm not even sure if I like piccalilli! But I was thinking about making some more savoury preserves for Winter - I have a lot of jam, and the aubergine chutney I made a few weeks ago reminded me how good savoury preserves can be (and how much faster I tend to eat them). And in my head piccalilli has to involve cauliflower and be really yellow and crunchy... and that's about all I knew (aside from a sketch in the James Herriot country vet books I loved as a kid where he had to eat piccalilli to be polite to a farmer's wife although he loathed it... anyway, I digress).

The version in my preserving book looked OK, but this Jamie Oliver version really grabbed my attention - the ingredient list sounded intriguing and delicious - mango, broccoli and apple as well as the cauliflower. So I followed it (more or less) - gave me the chance to preserve some Somerville-harvested apples I had hanging around the kitchen as well as broccoli, chillies and carrots from the CSA and green tomatoes and green beans from my roof garden. Surprisingly, mango is something I often have in store, owing to my frozen mango habit.

(made 3 large jars and 2 medium ones)

½ large cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
2 bulbs fennel, cut into small chunks (subbed ~4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small (~1cm dice), and some chopped green tomato)
4 red chillies, seeds still in, finely sliced (subbed dried)
2 green chillies, seeds still in, finely sliced
200 g fine green beans, chopped into short lengths (used roof beans - Kentucky Wonder and French Filet of varying ages - for these plus runners)
150 g runner beans, cut into short lengths (see above)
300 g shallots, cut into eighths (subbed 1 large and 2 small white onions for this and the red onion)
1 red onion, roughly chopped (see above)
2 handfuls fine sea salt
2 tbsp mustard oil (subbed canola oil)
2 heaped tbsp mustard seeds (used 1 tbsp yellow mustard seed and 1 tbsp brown mustard seed)
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp fennel seed, ground (I added this to make up for the absence of fennel)
2 tbsp turmeric
1 nutmeg, grated
2 tbsp English mustard powder (subbed ground yellow mustard seeds)
4 tbsp flour
500 ml white wine vinegar (subbed cider vinegar)
100 ml water
2 apples, grated
2 mangoes, peeled, stoned and roughly chopped (used equivalent quantity chopped frozen mango)
6 tbsp sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed (/finely chopped)
2 tbsp dried oregano
4 bay leaves

Put all the vegetables in a bowl, add the salt and enough water to cover. Leave in a cool place for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, prep the remaining ingredients and start cooking them.

Heat a saucepan big enough to hold all the vegetables. Add the mustard oil to the pan, then fry the mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric and nutmeg for a moment. Lower the heat, add the mustard powder, flour and a splash of vinegar. Stir well to make a thick paste. Gradually add the remaining vinegar and the water, stirring all the time to make a smooth paste. Add the apples, mangoes, sugar, garlic, oregano and bay leaves. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Drain the salted vegetables and add them to the pan, stirring well to coat with the spicy paste. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables have just softened and started to release some juice. Spoon into sterilised jars and close the lids tightly. Give it at least a month to mature in a cool dark cupboard before eating.


Ha, I took a photo because having that hour of soaking veg in brine meant I was probably the most organised I've ever been before I started cooking...  I haven't tried the piccalilli yet (got to wait a month!) but it looks suitably, violently yellow - I especially enjoy how yellow the cauliflower becomes...

Spiced quince in syrup

Another thing I'd had hanging around in the fridge for too long was a couple of quinces. I love quinces, but it always takes a bit of activation energy to get through the prep: those cores are HARD. Worth it though. I noticed this recipe and it was simple enough to spur me to put those quinces into syrup (I accidentally made it even simpler, to no ill effect).

2 quinces
300 ml water
125 g brown sugar (or white)
5 green cardamom pods
1 clove
small piece of star anise (1/6 of a star)
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 strips of lemon rind
2 tbsp honey

Peel and core the quinces, and slice thinly. I had ~250 g quince when prepped. Put the quince slices in a pan with all the other ingredients, bring to the boil and simmer for ~20 min, until the quinces are softened but not falling apart. Remove spices if you like (if not then be careful not to crunch them by accident when eating the quince), transfer quince slices and liquid into a sterile, wide-mouthed jar, cover and let cool. Keep in the fridge (unless you feel like water bath processing them) for 2-3 weeks at least (if they last that long).


These are really delicious - the quince taste, spices and brown sugar balance out really beautifully to make a very fragrant, lovely snack... yup, I have been snacking these straight out of the jar with a teaspoon.

Carrots, red lentils and big couscous

While S is away I've ended up spending a fair bit of time in the kitchen, trying to work my way through a backlog of vegetables. Having got more carrots in the CSA this week, I made an effort to get through all the titchy / odd-shaped ones still hanging around in the fridge from previous weeks - in this and piccalilli.

1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 green chilli, seeds removed, chilli chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped 
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp cinnamon
~6 medium carrots, peeled and diced fairly fine (~1cm)
3/4 cup red lentils
1/2 cup big couscous
1 1/2 cups veg stock
2 tsp honey
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
salt+pepper
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli, cover and cook for a couple of minutes until starting to soften. Add the onion and cook for a few more minutes. Add the ground spices and cook, uncovered, for 30-60 sec, until fragrant. Add the carrots and mix / cook for a minute, then add the lentils and couscous and mix well. Add the stock, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils, carrots and couscous are all cooked. Add the honey, lime juice, soy sauce and taste for seasoning. Mix in the fresh herbs. Eat warm.


I was aiming for something between a soup, a stew and a pilaf, which is what I ended up with: a warming, one-pot, Autumn dinner. Processing all those weirdo carrots took awhile but it was kind of nice to be cosy in the kitchen and feel useful.

Maitake, the Dancing Mushroom

In August, I dreamed about Black Trumpets and how much I wanted to try them. And, lo and behold, that very day C rang to see if we wanted to share in a fantastic haul of those very same shrooms. So lucky! Come October maitake (hen of the woods) was my dream. Lucky again: this time it is D whose generosity lets it be reality. Maitake is a beautiful mushroom, inside and out. I may have to revise my favourite mushroom rankings...

I was thinking of just sauteeing the mushroom with a little garlic, but I fancied eating it with bok choi... and miso... and egg... and the next thing I knew all those things (and a few more besides) were in one pan making party. Maitake is fairly substantial in volume, taste and texture, so I figured it should stand up to some light flavour addition - I wouldn't consider any of these additions to be too overpowering (in the quantities used).

1-2 tbsp veg oil
1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 piece ginger same size as the garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
~2 cupfuls cleaned maitake, torn into equal-sized pieces about 1 in x 3 in
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 egg, beaten (optional)
1 bunch small bok choi, washed and cut into pieces similar sized to the maitake
1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn, defrosted
1 tbsp white miso
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp lime juice
1-2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped (optional)

Heat the oil and add the garlic and ginger. Cook for a minute or two then add the chilli flakes. Stir, then add the maitake. Saute for 10-15 min, until it has released liquid and taken it up again, shrunk, and is lightly browned. Add the sesame seeds and cook for a minute or two til just starting to brown. Make space in the pan then add the beaten egg. Let it cook into a mini omelette in the middle then slice roughly with your spoon and mix in lightly. Add the bok choi and sweetcorn and cook until the bok choi just wilts. Mix the miso, maple syrup, soy sauce and lime juice in a small bowl, then add to the pan, turn off heat and mix to combine. Serve with a sprinkling of coriander. Good with noodles or rice or wheatberries (the last being what I had kicking around in the fridge).


For notes on drying and rehydrating maitake, see here.

Spiced cocoa rice pudding

J left half a bottle of milk in the fridge. I wondered what to do with it, then thought I may as well cook with it. With the days getting crisper and the nights colder, rice pudding suggested itself. And, when it did, I couldn't resist putting all sorts of things in it - I guess I fancied hot chocolate or chai as much as I did rice pudding. I didn't feel like switching the oven on or waiting a long time so used a stovetop method, based on this rice pudding recipe.

150 g risotto rice
500 ml milk
500 ml water
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
pinch ground cayenne
pinch desert salt
1/8 cup raisins
1/8 cup toasted flaked almonds

Put rice, water and milk in a pan and bring to a steady boil. Boil (uncovered) for about 15 min. Add sugar, cocoa, spices and salt and simmer gently for another 15 min, until thick and creamy. Mix in the raisins and almonds before eating. Store in the fridge and eat whenever you like, warm or cold.


Well, it's what I wanted. All those spices and additions might not be everyone's idea of a good rice pudding but I'm enjoying it. I was thinking of the rice pudding at my first primary school - either chocolate (we loved the skin) or plain with jam swirled through (I ate some today with added plum jam). Probably the only thing I remember liking from school dinners.