Each Peach, Pear, Plum...

All this, and apples too.







It gives me huge pleasure to look out on my French fruit trees in my little corner of the Auvergne and see them all laden.

The view this morning

Despite a heatwave, I have been happily boiling, potting and labelling up jars of jam, chutney and jelly and making cakes, pies and compotes with it all.

For each of the recipes in this blog post, you can substitute peaches, pears or plums for the apple.

The peaches will be ready in a couple of weeks

Maybe another week on the pears

But the apples are plentiful!

When we drove up, the fireworks to celebrate Assumption Day lit up the path and showed bucketfuls of windfall apples already lying on the ground. Swift action was required.

I made my first batch of Apple and Thyme Jelly the next day.

You need 3lbs of windfall or cooking apples, 3 lbs of sugar,  a litre of water, 1 tbsp fresh chopped thyme and half a bottle of liquid pectin.

Wash and trim the apples of any bad bits, chop and core them but leave the peel on.
Put the fruit in the pan with the water, cover and simmer until the fruit is soft enough to mash with a potato masher.

Spoon the mixture into a clean jelly bag and leave overnight to drip into a bowl. You will collect a surprising amount of juice.

Drain through a jelly bag

Make the juice up to a litre again if necessary and put back in the pan with the sugar.

Bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly for 2 minutes.

Add the thyme and boil for another 2 minutes.

Add the pectin and boil for another minute.

Place a spoonful of the mixture on a cold saucer and test for a set. It should part easily when you run a finger through it, without running back, and the surface should wrinkle. If not, keep boiling and testing until you are satisfied.

When ready to set, skim the surface and strain once again to remove the thyme. It will have worked its magic.

Pour into sterilised jars ( a hot wash in the dishwasher does the trick) and label.

Pour into sterilised jars

It will be set and ready to eat even by the following morning.

This recipe makes 5 lbs of jelly.

A huge thunderstorm brought down another bucket full of apples-

and these I made into compote (stewed with ginger, cinnamon and sugar and then mashed ) for the freezer.

Apple Compote

I also made chutney.

Here is my Curried Apple and Sultana Chutney recipe:

You need 500g of sultanas, 1.5 kg of peeled and chopped apples, 2 large onions (chopped), 3-4 big garlic cloves (crushed), 1 -2 dessertspoons powdered ginger, 1 heaped tablespoon of curry powder, 675g of sugar, 2 tsp salt, 1 litre of cider vinegar.
Put all the ingredients in a heavy pan and mix thoroughly. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 45 minutes or until you have the right consistency ( a wooden spoon scraped through a dollop of the mixture should leave a gap which doesn't quickly refill with liquid ).
Pot up in sterilised jars, seal and label.

Curried Apple and Sultana Chutney

This will be repeated when the peches de vigne are ripe- same recipe but I will leave out the curry powder and add some chopped crystallized ginger.

Poaching pears with star anise

The pears I will poach with star anise and keep in the freezer for trifles, tarts and other desserts.

Chocolate and Pear Tartlets

Any good eating apples will go into a tatin or a cake- as will the pears.

Apple Cake

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/week-11-cooking-for-crowd.html

Pear Trifle
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/search/label/Speculoos

Plum Tatin
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/search/label/tarte%20tatin

I am reminded of a French counting rhyme which used to delight my pupils- back in the mists of time when I was a teacher.

Pomme, peche, poire, abricot

Y'en a une, y'en a une

Pomme, peche, poire, abricot

Y'en a une qui est en trop.

Except in this household there is nothing ever en trop!

Happy fruit picking!

Kohlrabi, Kale and a Kitchenful of Veg

A trugful of treasures

Just look at all this glorious vegetable bounty. It's the result of a visit to my friend's allotment where she invited me to help myself to anything and everything that needed harvesting.
So, I have a trugful of green beans, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, curly kale and ruby chard to take home.

I feel inspired- and about time too as I have been suffering from blogger's block recently.

What did I make? A stir-fry, 3 soups, fritters, stuffed leaves, lasagne and a gnocchi bake. Not bad eh? Here's how.

First things first- a super fresh summer stir fry is in order- radishes, spring onions, kohlrabi, beansprouts, chard stems and green beans.
Freshly picked, the kohlrabi can be sliced and stirfried as it is- but if you prefer, you can steam or boil it until tender first. Do so in its peel though, to keep its delicate flavour (and then peel it afterwards)
Once prepped, the veg can be simply cooked in some hot oil in a wok, then some cooked noodles, sweet chili and soy sauce mixed in.

Veg all prepped

Super Summer Stir Fry

The leftovers make a substantial soup, added to miso or chicken stock.

Leftover noodle soup

Kohlrabi has been described as 'part veg- part alien' because of its otherwordly colour and knobbly appearance.

Allotment Aliens!

It is really a form of turnip and has the same creamy and slightly spicy flavour. For that reason it does well in Indian dishes. For something a bit unusual - try these fritters, made with shredded kohlrabi and spring onions.

Shred the raw kohlrabi in a food processor. (Incidentally, it would make a great slaw like this with shredded carrot, apple and spring onion).

Kohlrabi Slaw

Chop 2-3 spring onions and mix in with the kohlrabi. Add a teaspoon of curry powder, a pinch of turmeric and a tablespoon of flour. Season well with salt and pepper and then mix in an egg to make a batter.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and shallow fry spoonfuls of the mixture until golden on both sides.

Fry in hot oil

You can eat this as a starter like a bhajia  with raita or hummus or as a side dish.

Kohlrabi fritters

Next- the Stuffed Ruby Chard leaves. (The red stems went into the stir fry).
These are steamed for a few minutes and then drained on kitchen towel.

Steam the chard leaves quickly

I made a meatball mixture from breadcrumbs blitzed with fresh parsley and garlic (keep a tablespoon back to sprinkle over the top), minced turkey and an egg. Season and mix the ingredients well, then form into meatballs using wet hands.

Turkey meatballs

Fry the meatballs to caramelize the outside, and when cool enough to handle, wrap in the chard leaves, lay in a gratin dish and pour over some tomato sauce. (I used a ready-made tomato and mascapone sauce and it went really well). Sprinkle on the remaining breadcrumbs and bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbling in moderate oven.

Stuffed Ruby Chard Leaves

The green chard leaves I blanched for 2 minutes in boiling water, then into cold water to preserve the colour. I squeezed them out in a J Cloth and used them as a layer in a lasagne:  leftover bolognaise ragu, then pasta, then chard leaves

layers of leaves, pasta and ragu

ragu, pasta, bechamel sauce, grated cheese and a dusting of nutmeg for the final layer. Baked for 40 minutes again in a moderate oven until golden.

Meat and 2 Veg lasagne

Time for another soup- this time using the chard stems. Chop these and use them exactly as you would celery. I softened some onion and garlic in a soup pan, added the chard stems, a few chopped new potatoes and 1 1/2 litres of chicken stock. Simmer until the veg is all tender, then blitz with a stick blender, add 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley and adjust seasoning to your taste.

Swiss Soup

Now, the gnocchi.
Cook these little potato dumplings according to the instructions on the packet- usually for just 2-3 minutes or so in boiling water. Drain and set aside with a tea towel over the top.
Make a bechamel sauce, season well and add 100g of grated spicy cheddar with chilli.
Meanwhile blanch and squeeze the kale as for the chard leaves above, and then chop and fry with a crushed clove of garlic in a deep frying pan or wok.
Add the gnocchi and toss together, then mix in the chilli-cheese sauce.

Ready for the oven

Pour into a gratin dish and bake until bubbling and browned on the top ( 20 minutes or so in a hot oven).

Chilli-Chard Gnocchi Bake

Last, but not least- if you have leftover cooked veg I often put it all into my Use-it-Up minestrone- vegetable stock simmered with tomatoes (or leftover pasta sauce) soup pasta, any cooked veg such as green beans, courgette, peppers, kale or spring onions and- the secret ingredient- any leftover baked beans. Season well- a kick of hot sauce goes well with it too, I am told.

Use-it-Up Minestrone

Phew! I think it's time to stock up on some more veggies!

In the bag

Cooking things en papillote- in a paper or foil bag- is a delicious way to cook fish, vegetables and even fruit. The filling stays succulent as it cooks in its own steam and juices.

How much more delicious though to make your recipes en papillote- but in an edible bag?

If you use filo pastry or feuilles de brick - or wontons or spring roll wrappers- then you can do just that.


For Salmon en Papillote, lay your pastry circle (or rectangle) out in a baking tray and coat it liberally with melted butter or liquid Flora.

Lay on a tablespoon of softened leeks,

then a salmon fillet.

Add lemon, dill or parsley.
Seal up the parcel and brush with more melted butter.

Bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Serve in its parcel, and allow your guests to slit it open to release the fragrant steam.

Salmon en Papillote

Use the same principle for vegetarian parcels- tomatoes, courgettes, leeks, mushrooms, asparagus all work well if thinly sliced and sauteed in a little butter or oil before wrapping.
You can add feta cheese or mozzarella if you like too. Just take a look at what you have in the fridge or veg drawer and draw up a combination that you like, wrap it in the buttered pastry and bake.

Vegetables en Papillote

I tried out the same idea using banana and chocolate for a sweet version- scrumptious!

Banana and Chocolate en Papillote

Although delicious, this is a little ugly at first glance. A prettier version would be to slice your fruit and wrap it up like a little money bag to make an Aumonier.

Aumonier

This photo came from the pastry wrapper- hence a little creased!

You can also make Pastillas- like these chicken ones:

Ingredients:
1 onion
500g minced cooked chicken
100g of chopped almonds
1 tsp ras-el-hanout
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 circle or rectangle of filo/brick pastry per person

Soften the onion in oil and add the minced chicken and spices. Season with salt and pepper and then lay onto your pastry rectangle or circle and roll up, tucking in the ends like a wrap.
Brush well with melted butter or liquid Flora and bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes until crispy. Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds and cinnamon.

Chicken Pastillas

Leftover pastry can be made into sweet or savoury samosas

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/samosas

or baked until crispy and layered with fruit to make mille feuilles.

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/milles%20feuilles

You can even wrap some around an After Eight dinner mint and bake in the oven for an indulgent chocolate treat!

Chocolate Wontons

Well, it would be a shame to waste it, wouldn't it?