Preserving the summer lusciousness

by Colleen

Sometimes there are gluts of goodies from the vegie patch, and sometimes I just want to keep something to use later. Going way back to my early days of growing my own food, orchards etc. I've made marmalades and other jams. When I was younger I'd simply preserve using the deep freeze but in my single, more simplified lifestyle now, I don't have a deep freeze other than the top of the frig.

Over the past year I've made lots of different preserves, including the yummy zucchini chutney, beetroot relish, lime marmalade, cape gooseberry syrup, green tomato relish, ripe tomato relish. I've done so many preserves I can't remember them all!

Check out the jars above, from left: picked cumquats, mulberry preserve, lime and ginger marmalade and cape gooseberry sauce.

Last week I harvested the rosellas that grew over summer. Rosellas are a variety of hibiscus, best grown in warmer climates, but reasonably successful in my temperate zone garden. They produce large flowers with a crimson enlarged calyx. I used the fleshy red calyx, without the green seed pod to make my jammy syrup. After stripping the calyxes from the seed pods there wasn't a huge quantity of fruit to work with and I've finished up with about 750mls of the syrup. The colour is fantastic, bright red and the taste is a bit cranberry-ish. This is a keeper and I'll make sure I plant out more seeds next year for more fruit. I'm keeping the syrup to use for sauces with meat etc. And there's also the possibility of a rosella cosmopolitan cocktail for a special occasion.The recipe below is an experiment. If you were to use rosellas for jam, it's best to tie the seed pods into a muslin bag and cook along with the fruit to extract the pectin.

Rosella syrup:

200g rosella calyxes

200g white sugar

a little water

Poach the rosellas until tender, which surprisingly, doesn't take long, then gradually add the sugar, stirring until dissolved and cook gently until thickened. Bottle in sterilised jars while still hot.

Another garden experiment this year were the purple heirloom tomatillos. I'm guilty, I'm afraid, of not looking after these bushes as well as I could have and as a result lost a lot of the fruit. I'm sorry now I didn't pay more attention and harvested the fruit to be used ongoing, for instance like tomatoes.

What attracts me to these little darlings are the papery husks they grow in, similar to but larger than the beautiful husks of the cape gooseberry.

Roasted tomatillo and capsicum salsa

A few tomatillos roasted under the griller until brown

Two large capsicums (peppers) - one red and one green, charred under the griller. Place in plastic bag and when cooler, rub off the skins.

Zest of one lime

Finely chopped red onion

About a cup of chopped coriander

Salt and pepper

Blitz the tomatillos, capsicums, lime zest and coriander in a kitchen whiz, then add to a bowl with the chopped onion, salt and pepper to taste.

This salsa is delicious with steak or other grilled meats, and I also used it as a pasta sauce one night.

That's about the end of the summer crops, with autumn really kicking in now with its chilly mornings, crisp sunny days (sadly no rain) and cool evenings. I sowed garlic and shallots yesterday, along with some onion seedlings. Later today I'll plant out some broccoli and spinach seedings and sow broad bean, sugar snap pea and japanese turnip seeds.

A Tale of Six Quinces

Years ago when I was young and lived in western NSW, I had a wonderful orchard – no fruit fly and a great variety of old fashioned fruit trees. One of my favourites was the fabulous quince tree that offered up a huge crop of yellow fruit each year. Having grown up in the city, I'd never encountered quinces before.

It's taken me over 30 years to finally grow another quince tree in my suburban backyard and imagine my excitement when the first year's crop started to develop. Six beautiful little fruit, covered in the softest downy skin.

Over spring and summer I watched the six quinces grow from their small beginnings until I had large yellow fruit on my small tree. I hadn't lost one during the year, but when a couple of the quinces showed signs of bird attack, I decided they must be ripe. So I picked them, excited to have such a great first crop from the tree.

Okay - that's the good part. When I started to cut them up so I could poach a couple, to my horror, the insides were brown with the odd litle maggot wriggling around. Obviously fruit fly - despite all my efforts to lure and bait the pesky critters.

I did manage to save some fruit, a couple weren't very affected, so I poached a tiny quantity, determined to have at least a small bowl of quince, all pink and delicious. The trick is to poach them slowly, letting that wonderful colour develop. When I turned them off late at night, they weren't pink yet, so in the morning I popped them back on to the stove, I thought to poach for a bit longer while I started work.

An hour later, shut away in my office, my nose started to twitch - smoke.

Yes, the worst had happened, I'd forgotten about the quinces and they'd burned to a crisp. I remember saying to myself as I walked away from the kitchen after seeing the beautiful pink pieces nestled among the black, that there's always next year's crop. No point crying over burned quinces, but what a disappointment.

Colleen's Moroccan Lunch

MENU

Mezze tastings: Broad Bean Dip - Spiced Pumpkin Dip -Labna Cheese - Dukkah - Persian Figs - Turkish Bread

Main Course: Tagine of Lamb with Prunes and Preserved Lemon - Spiced Cous Cous - Orange,

Beetroot and Cinnamon Salad - Fatoush Salad

Dessert: Mandarin Almond Cake - Saffron Raisin Cardamom Ice Cream - Cape Gooseberry Syrup

Moroccan Mint Tea - Turkish Delight

When it was my turn to host the Foodies lunch, to be honest I was nervous because Frances had set such a high standard as the first hostess. Because some of my favourite flavours are Middle-Eastern, I decided to do a Moroccan inspired shared table.

With our policy of sourcing our ingredients from local produce as much as possible, I was at a loss to find lamb for the tagine. I spent what seemed like hours on the phone, calling Sydney providores until one told me that the Milton meatworks (in the southern Shoalhaven) often produced lamb from Goulburn (inland from here). Then coincidentally, the meatworks told me a butcher at East Nowra (10 minutes drive) had just bought in some of the Goulburn lamb. I felt quite triumphant that I had been able to source the lamb after being told by another butcher that 'everything comes from Cowra'.

For my mezze tastings I was able to use produce from my own garden - seasonal broad beans and the last of my butternut pumpkins from last season.I made the labna from home-made yoghurt using South Coast milk and the dukkah and persian figs, although not being grown in the area, are produced by a local business.

Luckily I had made preseved lemon from my garden just a few months ago and the orange and beetroot for the salad also came from my own backyard.

Other ingredients were sourced from a greengrocer in Nowra who is really making a great effort to supply locally grown fresh produce. The mandarins for the cake and the eggs for the ice-cream came from this supplier. South Coast milk also went into the icecream and the cape gooseberry syrup was made from berries from my garden. This ice-cream is seriously decadent and delicious. Cardamom has to be one of my favourite spices.

I sent my dog Boomer to a kennel for an overnight stay because I just knew he would pester the Foodies with his constant need for love and attention. The cats all hung around and Angie joined us for the experience. The food looked great on the colourful table, covered with a Rajasthan sari I bought on an Indian trip. We accompanied the food with Petit Rouge - a wine from Cambewarra Winery.

Thanks to Kim and Christine for taking photos - I was so busy with the food, I forgot to photograph it.

About Shoalhaven Foodies

We're a group with a lot in common. There's our love of food of course. Sourcing, cooking, serving, eating and discussing it. Cooking is such a fun and creative thing to do and we all share the passion.

Each of us has chosen to walk an artistic path. Between us, we draw, paint, sculpt, work with clay, paper, create artists' and lifestyle books, write novels, short stories and poetry, take photographs and cook.

We also share a love of caring for the environment and sustainable living. Some of us grow our own vegetables, all grow our own herbs and use locally grown ingredients wherever possible.

This is our doctrine. Source food locally as far as possible and be as creative as we want.

One of the most important aspects of the group is the enthusiasm, friendship and support we share. We hope you enjoy visiting us.

"Frances' lunch was akin to being in a surreal artistic setting, with light streaming into her unique farmhouse filled with her inspiring artworks. With such a wonderful setting, it was a delight to have beautiful food too, with many of the herbs and vegetables picked from her garden. My favourite dish was the lavender crème brulee – so creamy and delicious!

"Next it was Colleen's turn, and this was another artistic experience. Colleen's walls were filled with the art she collects and one of her beautiful cats sat sedately in the background. Colleen also sourced a lot of her food from her garden and I was truly inspired by her loving care and the amazing amount of work she put into all her dishes The tastes of Morocco were truly gorgeous.

"Recently we dined at Kim's house, which is also filled with artworks she has created. Kim set up an Asian experience, with red as the overriding colour. Putting her creativity to work, Kim delighted us with fascinating and beautiful touches at the table and on the food. The food was delicious and, although it was hard (and even silly) to choose, the Rose Ice Granita was my favourite." - Chere