Marmalade

 

Again like the cordial you can use any citrus with this recipe. I chose to use Limes because as I said in the Cordial post, I had many of them.

 My appoligies for the lack of photo's in this blog, it seems I got carried away with the making and forgot to take them!!

I was surprised at how easy this marmalade recipe was, I have made marmalade before and it had so many steps and ingredients I was put off. Until now that is. Again substitute the limes for lemons, oranges or any citrus you desire. its only limited by your imagination! This recipe makes approximately 2 litres.

Lemons

Sugar

Lime Marmalade

500g limes chopped finely

6 cups water

1.5kg Sugar

Combine limes and water in a large pot,

bring to the boil.

Continue to boil steadily for 20 minutes or until limes are tender.

Add sugar, stir until dissolved and boil briskly for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.

Sterilised jars, now cooling

Labels are a good idea

 

Pour into sterilised jars and seal. Store in fridge or cool cupboard

Home Made Cordials

 

 

We had some donated limes not long ago, way too many to use in a hurry so we thought, what can we do to preserve them? We could have done the oil and salt way, or juiced them and froze the juice and zest separately. But I wanted to try something I had not done before.

So Cordial it was.

I made three kinds, Lemon, Lime and Lemon & Lime. 

 This will make approximately 2 litres

The ingredients you will need (Depending on which one you would like to try)

Lemons

Zest

 Lemon cordial

1.5kl sugar

1 tablespoon Citric acid

Zest and juice of 8 medium or 6 large lemons

4 cups boiling water

Or make it Lime cordial

1.5kl sugar

1 tablespoon Citric acid

Zest and juice of 8 medium or 6 large limes and 1 lemon

4 cups boiling water

Citric acid and water

Sugar

Or make it Lemon Lime

1.5kl sugar

1 tablespoon Citric acid

Zest and juice of 5 medium or 4 large limes and 3-4 lemon

4 cups boiling water

Lemon Juice

As you can see by the ingredients they are all pretty much the same other than the citrus you add. You could choose to use oranges instead, just be sure not to use more than you need, they basically need to be approximately the same about in Juice and Zest in each recipe (Which I didn't think to weigh when I made these oops!)

 How to put it together..... 

 Place sugar, citric acid and lemon zest and boiling water in a large heatproof bowl.

Stir sugar until it dissolves then add the lemon juice.

Leave it to stand overnight or until it cools

 

Strain with a fine sieve,

Pour into sterilised bottles and seal.

Cordial can be used immediately or stored in a cool place for later.

You will be surprised. These recipes taste just like the bought ones only you know what goes into it because you made it.

Garlic bread

Quick and simple today. More of a put together than a recipe.

I am showing you garlic bread two ways. Cheesy loaf and the original you get from your pizza shop or pre-made at the shops.

 

For the Garlic Bread you will need:

1 long French stick or 2 short ones

100-125g Butter softened

5-6 cloves garlic crushed or chopped finely

Handful parsley chopped finely

Preheat your oven to 180°C

Put all the above ingredients in to a small bowl and mix together until well combined.

Cut first loaf into slices without cutting right though, you want them to still be joined at the bottom.

Spread the garlic and parsley butter onto each piece of bread by opening it up a little and spreading on one side.

When all slits have their butter, wrap in foil and put in the oven for 15 mins or until you think it’s ready.

Cheesy garlic bread you will need:

The remaining butter from the above recipe

Parmesan cheese grated

Tasty cheese grated

With the other loaf I cut long ways into 2 parts. Spread on the butter,

 

Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese and then a little tasty cheese (not too much!).

Leave loaves open and place on tray. Cook in oven until cheese has melted and started to colour.

Enjoy!

Oh and you can just do the garlic bread one way for 2 loaves but I was doing it both because I could.

Steak Sauce

Today I am making my steak sauce. I use this for any kind of pasta and it can be used for lasagna or anything else you need a tomato meaty sauce. This is different from a Bolognese sauce as we are not using mince meat. However you will use it just like a Bolognese. Its more like a Ragu, it will be thick and meaty.

 

What you will need

Things you will need.

1.2kg Steak – choose a slow cooker one like chuck steak (can use Beef, Pork or lamb)

1 onion

Garlic (the amount is up to your taste)

Olive oil

2 bottles of tomato passata or pomodoro (it’s just a tomato puree)

Salt to season

Onions ready, garlic just went in

First chop the onion, you can do this finely, wedge shaped or roughly. Most of the time mine is rough but I think I managed to keep it pretty much the same today.

With the garlic you can smash it in a pestle and mortar or just chop it up.

Put a decent amount of oil in the pan and fry your onions, don’t add the garlic straight away or it will burn, when the onions are half done add the garlic, turn down the heat.

Now we are ready for the steak, I am using Beef as it’s what I had in the freezer. Trim all the big pieces of fat off, you don’t need them. I chop up the fat and off cut meat and feed it to my chickens, they love it, I also give a little to my dog Zena, there’s no way I could feed the chickens and not her! If you don't have the garbage disposals I have then into the bin it goes.

When the meat is ready for the pan, don’t chop it up, just through it all in so it all touches the surface of the pan. Cook it until it browns and then turn it over and let it cook again, all up about 5-7 mins I think.

frying on the other

 frying on one side

fill it 1/3 with water

When you’re ready, pour in the tomatoes, don’t waist what won’t come out the bottle, put some water in one of the bottles about 1/3 of the way up and swish it round, pour it into the other bottle and do the same then pour it in the pan with the rest of the tomatoes. Give it a bit of a stir (which won’t be easy due to the steaks) and let it cook.

Mmmmm

I put a lid on and turn down the heat. Mine cooked for about 2 hours but you need to check it as it depends on your stove etc. After about half the cooking time taste and add salt to your liking.

  

 Using 2 forks, try to pull the meat apart gently, if it’s ready it should come apart with no effort at all.

 

Now let it cool for a bit so you can get your hands in it, yes your hands. When its cooled down, it can be warm just don’t burn yourself if it’s too hot; pull the meat out of the sauce and put it in a dish. Using your fingers press into the meat (like your pinching) and pull it all apart, as you do this put it back into the sauce. If you really don't want to get your hands dirty, you can use a knife.

You can add herbs or chilli etc to it if you like, do it too your tastes. And now it’s ready for whatever you plan to use it for.

The sauce all done

Pasta with a steak sauce

Lasagna