Black Currant Blueberry Jam and Up Against the House

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

House 1 me 0. Actually the score is probably more skewed than that if we look at the entire time I’ve lived here. But this week I am definitely on the losing end! And it’s all my fault. Which is really annoying.

It’s time to redo the front porch so we began the project this past Sunday. Parts of the old boards were being very stubborn in coming loose. I tried pounding them up with a crow bar. Really not the thing to do. I reinjured my injury from the fall in January. Each day I’ve brought the computer in bed with me in hopes I could sit up long enough to do a blog post. Finally I can do it today. Cooking this week has been pretty basic as well. But I’m properly on the mend so I can blog! Plus we need to do more on the porch this weekend. I have a cunning plan as they say to not screw my back up again. I feel optimistic.

I made this jam a couple of weeks ago and talked about it on the radio show. I was inspired by a jam I had in France. And we had a bumper crop of black currants so I had to do something with them all! We froze quite a bit for later crumbles. I wanted a jam that wasn’t overly sweet so I could easily use it for savory dishes as well.

I like to keep my jams on the rustic side, it’s less fussy that way. In a saucepan put in equal amounts of black currants and blueberries.

On medium low heat bring the berries to a simmer. Once enough liquid has been released from the berries turn up the heat a bit to continue a high simmer. To start I added 1/2 cup of white sugar and incorporated it into the berries. Then I added 1/2 a cup of brown sugar. The tricky bit with black currants is that they are very tart. But you don’t want to add so much sugar that the jam becomes stiff. To offset this I added maple syrup. Add a bit of a time until the jam has thickened.

Sorry about the quality of that pic! Couldn’t use a tripod at this step! Remove from the heat and can the jam. I served this with homemade crusty bread and stinky French cheese. The creaminess of the cheese balanced well with the tart jam.

Fingers crossed the porch doesn’t defeat me tomorrow!

Rhubarb Ginger Tart

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

As I suspected I was spoilt for Mother’s Day. Saturday night they made me a wonderful meal of tapas from around the world. My husband was thinking light and Spanish but the kids had other ideas! My husband made a potato and swiss chard souffle and it was accompanied by mushrooms cooked in butter, chicken satay, and spring rolls. Delicious all of it! To finish off the meal they made me a pavlova which was decorated by mangoes spelling out MUM. That was my daughter’s idea. 🙂

For the gift I was presented with the largest gift bag. So either it was going to be a large gift or a small gift with lots of packaging. After removing about a year’s supply of tissue paper I found a new tripod. A much more sturdy tripod. The other one, while a major help, would wobble and it made us nervous my good camera would tip over. The lovely weekend was finished off by playing games with the kids. My favourite way to hang out with them. 🙂

I did manage to fit in some baking. Our rhubarb isn’t quite ready but the co-op had some so I thought I’d do a treat for our kids. My son really loves rhubarb so I couldn’t resist. For the pastry I used the same recipe as my apple pie. Only make one batch as you would for a pie without a cover.

I love fresh ginger in jams and I thought it would be great with the rhubarb. I had three stalks of rhubarb for this recipe. Slice the rhubarb in small slices so it cooks down faster.

Add a tablespoon or so of fresh lemon juice and begin to simmer. If the rhubarb is on the dry side just add a bit of water while it simmers. Grate a piece of ginger about an inch/2.5cm square. This needs to be finely grated so it incorporates fully.

As the fruit softens and becomes jam like add 1/4 cup of maple syrup. The real kind. Do you know there was a poll done and a large percent prefers the fake stuff? Shows how sad the state of our food has become. Allow it to cook some more and add more maple syrup if needed. While this is cooking preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Spoon the mixture into the pastry.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the pastry is flaky. Let them cool completely so you don’t risk burning yourself.

The kids loved these. Our son says he could eat rhubarb all the time so it was a fun treat. And on a hot day a quick thing to bake without bringing the kitchen to tropical temps!

Maple Miso Stir Fry

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

Well we weren’t lucky enough for the storm to shift this time. Nothing historic but we got what they said we would. Fortunately it was the dry fluffy stuff so it’s not hard to shift. It was the bitter cold this morning that was a bit much. It was -8F/-22C.

You get warm shovelling! There was an article last week that suggested exercises to do while shovelling. I’m guessing the author has never shovelled in their life. Never mind they suggest people over 60 be careful because it increases your chance of heart attacks. Simple shovelling raises the heart rate and it’s hard work! I’m not doing deep knee bends and lunges while I shift the stuff. I mean, really.

Here is our front garden after a week of snow.

In one of the cooking competitions some one mentioned a maple miso glaze which intrigued me. The problem with these competitions they throw out ideas but don’t tell you what they do so with just the inspiration I thought it would be fun to try with a stir fry and roasted chicken.

In a dish mix about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup with miso. I used about 4 tablespoons of miso but it was incorporated about a tablespoon at a time. Add a teaspoon or two of amino acids and a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil.

Add a handful of chopped scallion and 3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped.

Stir well. Marinate the chicken for at least an hour.

Roast the chicken in an oven at 350F/175C until done or mostly done. When the chicken is on the bone it might not be cooked all they way through once the glazed skin is done. That’s ok because the chicken will be stir fried.

Heat up a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil in a wok. Add the chicken first to cook through.

Then add the chopped veg and the rest of the marinade. Add a few splashes of lime juice and some chopped fresh cilantro.

Serve with rice noodles and chopped peanuts.

This is a mild stir fry but full of flavour. And perfect for bunking down during a storm. 🙂

Our Growing Paynes

A journey about cooking, traveling, gardening, and crafting.

Tag Archives: maple syrup

Black Currant Blueberry Jam and Up Against the House

Rhubarb Ginger Tart

Maple Miso Stir Fry