Crab Apple and Lavender Jelly

Following my recent hijacking of the comments on Liz's pork rillettes recipe to discuss the virtues of lavender, I decided I should post this recipe for crab apple and lavender jelly. Normally, I just call it lavender jelly, but, since it's chock-full of crab apples, I felt that needed to go in the name really. This jelly goes very well with robust cheeses like Stilton or a really good vintage Cheddar, but Liz reliably informs me that one could use it to anoint a leg of lamb. Who knew?!

Lavender (usually Lavandula angustifolia Mill. or a hybrid such as Lavandula x intermedia) is a beautiful plant on many levels. Firstly, you've got the purple flowers - the shade of which is very rare in nature and there's something instantly enchanting about them. Secondly, you've got the smell. The odour profile of lavender is largely comprised of linalyl acetate [found in bergamot (Citrus bergamia risso (Risso) Wright & Arn.)] and R-(-)-linalool [pronounced "lin-a-low-ol" and also found in the sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis L.)]. I guess it would make sense then that lavender should marry well with meats that go well with bay leaves, basil and bergamot? I've often thought that Earl Grey tea (which is bergamot-laden) would make a good marinade for lamb, so I guess it's all falling into place now.

"Crab apple" is a collective term for "wild" members of the genus Malus Tourn. ex L., of which the domesticated species (M. domestica Borkh.) is referred to as just "apple". In the UK, the crab apple we usually find growing wild is the European wild apple, M. sylvestris (L.) Mill., the name of which translates as "apple of the forest" and yes, you do normally find it growing in the woods. M. sylvestris L. is a little bit like it's distant relative the quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) in that it's virtually inedible when raw but sublime when cooked.

This recipe makes a deep red jelly, but if you want to make it purple so that it seems "more lavendery", you can just add 1 tbsp of blueberries or blackberries or something similar to give it some colour during the initial cooking step.

Crab Apple and Lavender Jelly

1kg crab apples
250g sugar
A small lemon
125mL cider vinegar
Two handfuls of lavender flowers (Yes, I know this isn't precise but that's how much I use!)
Several pretty sprigs of lavender to go in the jars
Knob of butter

Firstly, wash the crab apples very well and chop them into small chunks. Don't core or peel them - just cut them up. Put the apple into a large saucepan and add just enough water to cover. Add the cider vinegar and bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes then add the lavender flowers and continue to simmer for 10 more minutes, at which point the fruit should be soft and squishy. Give the mixture a vicious stir with a wooden spoon and pour into a scalded jelly bag (cf. my pear, geranium and rose jelly recipe for instructions on how to scald a jelly bag) and leave it overnight over a glass bowl. Do not be tempted to squeeze the bag at any point or you'll end up with cloudy slime, not jelly.

The next day, measure your seepage into a jug and, for every 100mL you had, plonk 70g sugar into a Maslin pan then add the liquid. Add the juice, pips and skin from the lemon to the pan and bring the contents to the boil. Keep the mixture on a rolling boil until you reach a set-point (see my other Jams and Curds recipes to find out about this) - this could take up to 40 minutes, so be patient! Stir in the knob of butter and skim off any white scum that isn't destroyed by the butter. This recipe makes about 750mL jelly usually so take an appropriately sized, sterile jar and add the hot jelly to it. Before you seal the lid, plunge a few sprigs of lavender into boiling water for 5 seconds then push them into the hot, liquid jelly then seal the jars. If you try and add the lavender to empty jars then pour the jelly over the top, they will float and look silly, so make sure you add them after the jelly.

Steak and Kidney Pie

It's been a miserable, rainy old day and I needed something stodgy, comforting and hot for my dinner - what better than steak and kidney pie?

Meatwise, you will need 1kg steak and kidney. I buy the majority of my meat online from Aubrey Allen, who delivery your meat in a very well insulated box with ice packs by an overnight courier. I like to stock up my freezer every few months with a box from them. Yes, I know they're not cheap but the quality of the meat is superb. Right, back to my point - I buy my steak and kidney already mixed from them - it's a mixture of chuck steak and ox kidney - it looks to me to be about 750g chuck steak and 250g kidney, if you prefer to buy them separately.

Pie purists will shoot me for calling this "a pie" because it's really a stew with a lid on it. To my mind, a pie has to have sides and a base really.

Steak and Kidney Pie

1kg steak and kidney (See above)
2 cloves of garlic (Crushed)
15 shallots (Allium oschaninii O. Fedtsch; peeled but left whole)
4 carrots (Cut into rings)
5 chestnut mushrooms (Sliced)
2 clementines (Citrus reticulata Blanco; Zest and juice, thereof)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp plain flour
500mL beef stock
500mL red wine
2 bay leaves (Laurus nobilis L.)
5 allspice berries (Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr.)
1 tbsp cloudberry jam (Rubus chamaemorus L.; if you can't find this (try Ikea!) then you can use redcurrant (Ribes rubrum L.), or blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) jam instead)
Salt and black pepper
Pre-made puff pastry (Because life is too short!)

Firstly, cook the whole shallots with the garlic in the oil for a few minutes in a large cooking pot until they start to soften and brown a little. Remove them from the pan and add the meat. Cook the meat until it browns on the outside and then sprinkle with the flour and stir until the meat is well coated. Cook for 2 minutes with constant stirring and then add the stock and the wine, giving it a good stir. Add the mushrooms, carrots, bay leaves, allspice, salt, pepper and jam and then bring the pot the boil. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes then take off of the heat and leave to cool for a little while. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.

Using a slotted spoon, add the meat and vegetables from the pot to a large pie-dish and then cover with enough of the sauce so that they aren't swimming. Cover with a layer of the puff pastry and bake for 30 minutes. I had this with boiled potatoes and some peas...oh and a large glass of white wine *hic*.

Eternity

I've just been thinking about eternity, as one does when one is waiting for something to be delivered. Ikea shop online. Great idea, I thought. I'll get my new wardrobe from them to save having to undergo a Krypton Factor-style procedure to get it into the back of a mate's car. Much easier, so I thought. I got phoned at 9:05am to say they would be here "within the hour". Getting on for 2 hours later, still no sign. They've got till 1pm...wow it worked! As soon as I started to blog about them being late, they turned up! Christ why did I order so much stuff?!?! You see, I didn't stop at a wardrobe. Oh no, no, no and thrice no. I made procurement of various other gubbins, including (but not limited to) a rather complicated-looking glass-sided booze cabinet. Look, when you drink as much gin as I do, it needs a dedicated home!

Right, I have Sainsbury's delivering at 8pm so that gives me a nice long free slot to pop into the city centre and make a few purchases, namely a BluRay player to go with my Massive New Telly (special present to myself because I am allowed). After about 6 months of the last 12 being close to Dire Financial Straits, it is really nice to be solvent once again. I've dipped into my savings and procured myself a few little pressies (ranging from Massive New Telly down to some recipe books I wanted).

Right, I must be getting on. I need to buy net curtain wire. How horrifically domesticated is that?!?!

Broad Bean Salad

So, the move went absolutely brilliantly. Very fast and only one thing got broken and that was something I don't really like anyway.

Now, part of my deal with myself re: New House is that I have to be A Good Tig from now on and eat proper food every day. Now, as you all know, I love to cook, but, sometimes by the end of a week I just can't be arsed and Emergency Pizza gets used. I also can't be arsed to make a packed lunch normally and I just end up eating crap. So, I've been VIRTUOUS and set up a weekly delivery on a Monday with the lovely people at Abel and Cole for a box of vegetables. I don't really like many fruit so rather than having a box of them, I am just adding one or two items of fruit to my veg box each week. At some point during the moving-in-process, a mysterious box appeared in the hallway brimming with beetroot, sweetcorn, broad beans, magnificantly pungent spring onions, potatoes, carrots and a very handsome onion squash.

Last night, when thoroughly knackered and just wanting to eat takeaway pizza and collapse in a heap, I remembered those humongous broad beans and put the phone down and got my Le Creuset on the hob before you could say "Tig, you angel". I made a very simple salad with broad beans, tomatoes and spring onions and a very limited array of utensils. I cut the tomatoes with a Stanley knife and the onions with scissors! Mea culpa.... My excuse is that I can't unpack the kitchen until the fridge-freezer has been delivered today (it's not so much a fridge-freezer as an American "food centre" - carbon footprint be buggered!) so there.

Broad beans (Vicia faba L.) aka fava beans in the USA are something I admit I rarely eat, but I do enjoy them. I just can't normally be arsed with the hassle of peeling the little swines, so I rarely buy them. They belong to the same genus as the delightfully named bitter vetch (V. ervilia (L.) Willd.) which is something used to feed cattle in hot countries.

Broad Bean Salad

Broad beans (Vicia faba L.)
Spring onions (Allium fistulosum L.)
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.)
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Liberate the broad beans from their leather-lined-with-ermine housing and throw them into boiling salted water. Bring back to the boil and cook for one minute, then remove them from the pan and plunge them into cold water. Now for the fun part - remove the sweet, soft and beautiful green beans from within the tough, bitter, white husks. When you've done this, but the green beans back into the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain them and allow them to cool in a covered dish.

Chop the spring onions (remembering to use all of the green bits) and slice the tomatoes and arrange on a plate. Add the broad beans and drizzle with oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

This is best eating sitting on a cold, hard, tiled floor whilst using one's laptop on a cardboard box makeshift desk. Wash it down with a can of warm cider.

Well...that's it then...

Old home, old home,
Oh dear familiar,
Sweet familiar,
Memories embedded there in every brick and every corner,
Can't believe I'm hearing the last closing of the door upon my home.

(from Old Home by Fascinating Aïda)

I've done it. All packed up. Just my PC to take down in the morning and we're done. I'll probably not be online much this next week but I hope you all have lovely weeks.