*Collapses, flailing on the couch with relief*~from Mandy Wrangles garden.

Finally, tomato season is over! I made my final batch of green tomato chutney over the weekend, marking the end of what turned out to be months of weekend sauces, chutneys, relishes and salsas.

I’ve pulled most of my tomato plants out – already replacing some with garlic, kale and leek – and this weekend I’ll pull the remaining ten or so. Already, there’s literally hundreds of baby tomato plants popping their heads up after self-seeding. What a shame they won’t last the winter! Along with tomato preserves, I’ve been pickling chilli, gherkins and other veggies, drying herbs and freezing berries. I feel very organised and prepared for any zombie apocalypse.

Berries

I’m still getting about half a dozen strawberries and maybe three or four ripe raspberries each day. While I did get to make loads of yummy stuff with the strawbs, there was never quite enough razzies in one day to do much with. So towards the end of the season, I’ve been freezing my berries. It’s by far the easiest and most practical way of preserving them for use later in the year.

Raspberries, I simply pick and immediately pop into a small snap-lock bag in the freezer. I don’t even bother to wash them – my garden is totally organic, so I know there’s no unwanted chemicals hanging around, and the lack of water means no ice crystals will form on the fruit.

I do, however, check the berries over for unwanted critters and hitchhikers! With strawberries, I’ll hull them first, and maybe slice the bigger ones in half. That’s it! Perfect for baking, defrosting to have with breakfast cereal, yogurt or desserts.

Herbs

Last summer, I turned most of my basil into pesto and froze it. I didn’t find it all that successful, and we struggled to use it all up. This year, along with chives, Italian parsley, oregano and celery leaves (sooo delicious!) I’ve been dehydrating my basil to use dried in the kitchen.

It’s time consuming, but so, so simple. You can buy a basic dehydrator like mine for about $40 upwards. I think we paid around $60 five years ago. For herbs, just pick straight from the garden, remove leaves and check for critters. With chives,

I hold a bunch in one hand and snip them into smaller pieces with scissors – much easier than cutting with a knife. Arrange leaves flat on the shelves of your dehydrator, and set to a low heat for about six to eight hours. You’ll know when they’re ready because the herbs will be crunchy. Your kitchen will smell AMAZING for days. Commercial dried herbs have nothing on the homemade stuff – you’ll find home dried herbs have a more concentrated flavour and are a great replacement when you can’t get hold of fresh produce. 

I love the whole process that goes with cooking sauces, chutneys and relishes. From collecting suitable jars and bottles to growing the ingredients myself (you don’t actually have to do that bit…), chopping veggies and adding to the magnificent four gallon enamel pot that once belonged to my Dad. He gave it to me a few years before he died, and using it isn’t just seriously practical – it’s very sentimental. I love the scent of vegetables, vinegar and spices wafting through the house, having something to stir and taste each time I wander into the kitchen, and the fact that it might take a whole day (or even two!) to make a good sauce. It’s worth every minute. If you’ve never attempted making your own sauces or chutneys, don’t freak out! It’s a much easier (and weirdly relaxing) process than you might think.

I’m going to write up a few of my chutney recipes over the coming weeks – all made from home grown ingredients. We’ll start with the simplest of them all, Zucchini and Corn.

We didn’t just have an abundance of zucchini this year, but also corn and capsicum. The corn in particular was to die for. I almost felt bad using it to make relish, but then…nah. I didn’t. Now, these quantities listed are for a double batch. Feel free to halve them. You can also play around a little bit with spices, garlic and chilli. But *don’t* change the quantities of your sugar, salt and most importantly, vinegar. This has to do with the preserving process, and keeping things safe. This recipe will make about 8 quart-size jars.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1500g of zucchini, diced. This works out to be around 8 largish zucchinis.
• 2 red capsicums, diced.
• 1 green capsicum, diced.
• 2 cups of corn kernels (fresh from the cob, if you can). Works out to be around 3 – 4 large cobs of corn.
• 3 onions, sliced.
• 3 cups of white vinegar.
• 2 ½ cups of white sugar (seems a lot, but this is a big batch of relish).
• 1 medium chilli – this is optional. I did one batch with it this year, once batch without. The spicier version is the family favourite.
• 8 teaspoons of turmeric.
• 5 teaspoons of mustard powder.
• 3 teaspoons of mustard seeds (or whole grain mustard).
• 1 tablespoon of curry powder.
• 4 – 5 cloves of garlic, crushed.
• 3 tablespoons of salt.
• Cornflour to thicken at the end of cooking.

HOW IT’S DONE:

After you’ve chopped everything up – throw it all in the pot (except the cornflour). Seriously, that’s it. Just chuck it all in. Bring it to the boil, then turn down the heat to low. Now, I have recipes where they recommend simmering for an hour. I cook it all day – well, for at least five hours anyway. Leave the lid on your pot for the first couple of hours, then remove, which will help to reduce your mixture. Make sure you remember to give it a good stir regularly. Keep tasting it, too, and feel free to add more of your favourite spices (or chilli!)

*Do note that I don’t use any oil in my chutneys. There’s good reason for this. Firstly, you don’t need it. With the vinegar and combined vegetables, trust me when I say there’s plenty of fluid in this mix. It won’t burn if you stir it every now and then. Secondly, oil can be a carrier for botulism when you’re working with preserves. So I’d rather stay safe than sorry.

To thicken your relish at the end, add a couple of teaspoons of cornflour to a small jug. Add water and mix until it forms a smooth, thin paste. Add to your relish mix in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Best to go a little at a time with this, remembering your relish will also thicken as it cools.

Jarring Up:

Ah, the controversial bit. Depending on which country you live in, and what your food safety laws are, there are different recommendations for the preservation of food. What do I do? Well, I wash all jars – make sure they are the type where the lid will ‘pop’ up and down – on a sterilisation cycle in my dishwasher. Yes, even the brand new ones.Then, I add a couple of jars (and their lids) to a large pot of boiling water for ten minutes. Use a pair of tongs to remove. I make sure I’m wearing thick rubber gloves, too. Fill jars with VERY HOT relish mix, leaving about 1cm at the top. Wipe away any mess around the lip, and fit the lid. Some preserving jars will have a flat lid and a metal ‘skirt’ to fit around them. If your jar has sealed properly, and depending on the heat in the room, within about half an hour, the lid will ‘pop’ down with suction from the cooling relish. I store my sauces and relishes for over a year in the pantry if they’re unopened, in the fridge once they have been opened.

Other methods include water baths and pressure baths. I recommend checking them out for yourself and seeing what you feel most comfortable with, depending on the quality of your water and sanitising conditions. A good website for all things preserving can be found here:

Pick Your Own

Zucchini and corn relish is super-delish on ham, corned beef or salami. I’ve been using it as a dip, spooning a couple of tablespoons over cream cheese and serving with crackers and a crumbly tasty cheese. But my favourite use for it has turned out to be as a pizza sauce! Yep, a few spoonfuls on a pizza base, salami and a sprinkling of cheese – AMAZING.

What’s better than chocolate eggs at Easter? Chocolate creme eggs hidden in cupcakes, of course! Even better, with a few cheats, this is a quick, simple recipe that’s easy to make with a bunch of kids and minimal mess – and they taste as good as they look, especially when they’re bitten into!

What You Need:

300 grams caster sugar

300 grams of softened butter

6 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

60 grams of cocoa (I used Cadbury brand)

240 grams of self raising flour

24 mini creme-filled Easter eggs. I used a mixture of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, caramel-filled, strawberry-filled and mint.

24 cup cake cases. Good quality ‘foil’ cases work better for this recipe (though not essential)

2 tubs of commercial vanilla frosting. This is part of the ‘cheat’ bit.

Various aerosol food colours (colour in a can)

Various Easter-themed sugar decorations or melted chocolate

How it’s Done:

Freeze your eggs for a few hours, overnight is best.

Pre-heat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line two by twelves cupcake tins with the cases. Using an electric beater, beat the sugar and butter until it lightens in colour and begins to ‘fluff’. Beat in the eggs on at a time, and then the vanilla. At this stage, your mix will probably look pretty ghastly and have begun to curdle. Don’t worry! It will all come back together with the next step – adding the flour and cocoa. As I’ve mentioned in previous recipes, this is a good time to remember to use the spill guard on your mixer, or to stir through the flour slowly. Unless, of course, you like to wear flour…

Now, don’t be thrown by the fact this is quite a stiff mixture. It needs to be that way to stop the eggs dropping. One mixed through, add a large teaspoon of mix to each cupcake case. You need enough to give a generous covering of the bottom of the cupcake. Then, add an unwrapped Easter egg, by laying it on its side. Cover with another spoonful of cake mix, making sure the egg is totally covered and the case is about 2/3 full. Bake for aprox. 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back when you touch it. The usual method of sticking a skewer inside won’t quite work this time.

When baked, allow your cupcakes to cool completely. Fill a disposable piping bag with frosting, and using a large nozzle, pipe a simple swirl. Give a quick squirt with the aerosol colours, and decorate with either: more eggs, melted chocolate or sugar decorations…or, you could use all of the above like we did!

It’s almost Easter! Just a few more days until the Easter Bunny is due to deliver the goods. And when you’re six years old, this is a Very Big Deal indeed. Such a big deal in fact, that the six year old living at my place has been counting down the days since… well, December 25^th came and went. My kids are also currently on school holidays, so to help keep Mr 6 amused (and yeah, maybe to keep the Bunny-ache at bay…), we’ve been making all sorts of Easter Yummies. First up, the Mandy Wrangles version of that oh-so-amazing-gooey-chocolately-fondantey-goodness in a ball – the Cadbury Creme Egg.

What You Need:

Egg shaped chocolate moulds. Mine are plain, but you could use patterned ones.

Milk chocolate melts.

White fondant, available from all cake decorating shops, some supermarkets and online.

Yellow food colouring.

Vanilla essence.

A clean paintbrush.

How It’s Done:

Make sure your moulds are clean and completely dry. Remember: when working with chocolate, moisture is your enemy. Melt milk chocolate using your favourite method, whether it be a small amount at a time in the microwave, over the stove-top using the double boiler method, or like me, using a cheap little fondue set. Once your chocolate is melted, you need to work fairly quickly.

Place a small teaspoon full into each chocolate shape. Now, you need these eggs to be hollow, so don’t over-fill. Using your paintbrush, brush the chocolate right up the sides of the mould before moving on to the next egg shape. Once all egg shapes have been chocolatised (yes, that is totally a word. Now.) put aside to set at room temperature.

While your chocolate egg shells are setting, take a couple of tablespoons of the white fondant and add some vanilla to taste and a few drops of yellow food colouring.

The vanilla flavour won’t give you the exact flavour of the Cadbury kind, but it’s pretty darn yummy.
Technically, you could use any flavour – in fact I’ve been considering making up some zombie Easter eggs with green or blue insides flavoured with blueberry or mint… but that could be an entirely different blog post…

Once your shells are set, spoon a teaspoon of white fondant into each. Then repeat with a smaller amount of yellow fondant in the centre. Melt up some more chocolate and smear over the top of your shells, trying not to make too much mess of your fondant.

Smooth off the top with a flat knife or spatula, as in my pic.

Once the egg halves are completely set (don’t rush them), they will pop out of the moulds with a small tap. Then, with a little more chocolate dabbed onto the back, join two halves together to make a whole. See… so easy a six year old could do it!

Chocolate shells with fondant

Gooey Easter Goodness!

 I’ve mentioned before that we have a glut of strawberries happening at our place this year. I’ve been growing them in pots for 3 or 4 years, and a good day’s picking would mean half a dozen, maybe more, and gobbled up within minutes of reaching the kitchen. If they reached the kitchen. 

This year, we built a dedicated strawberry patch. I split a couple of the plants I already had, and planted about six more from my local nursery, in the hope that I’d have enough for jam in a next year or two. Wow, did I underestimated the fruiting ability of a happy strawberry! Still not getting enough in one day for that illusive batch of jam – but there’s been plenty of other recipes made. Including this one – possibly my favourite:

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

In the past, I’ve used a basic vanilla base without eggs for my strawberry ice cream. Since I have so many strawbs to play with this time around, I figured why not go for a traditional ice cream base using eggs (did I mention we also have a permanent glut of eggs, kindly laid daily by our eight backyard chickens?)

What You Need:

• 3 cups of fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped roughly into quarters. Put aside 1/2 cup to add to ice cream later.
• 1 ¾ cups of caster sugar. This will be divided into 2 lots – 1 cup for the strawberry sauce, ¾ cup for the ice cream base.
• 2 eggs.
• 3 cups of heavy cream.
• Juice of one lemon.

How It’s Done:

Add 2 ½ cups of chopped strawberries, 1 cup of sugar and the lemon juice to a medium saucepan. On a low heat, cook until the mix resembles a slightly chunky sauce and sugar is dissolved. It’s okay to bring it to a simmer, but try not to boil. This step will take around 20 minutes. Make sure you stir frequently. Allow to cool and then refrigerate.

For the ice cream base, using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs for a couple of minutes until they become light and fluffy. Whisk in the ¾ cup of sugar a little at a time until completely combined. Then add the cream and whisk until blended. Here’s a secret – even though this mix will be at room temperature, chill it for an hour. Your ice cream machine will be so much happier you took the time to do so.

Once both mixtures are sufficiently chilled, begin churning the egg mix according to your machine’s instructions. I use an ice cream add-on to my KitchenAid machine, but there’s plenty of dedicated ice cream makers out there, ranging in price from hundreds of dollars right down to $30.

The trick is to keep the bowl in your freezer so that at any time you need it, it’s fully frozen. My machine will produce soft-serve ice cream in around 25 minutes, so I churn the egg mixture alone for half that time, and then while the machine is still running, add the strawberry mix. Once the required consistency is reached, add the reserved chopped strawberries and continue churning for a further minute or two. You can either eat now, or pour into a sealable, freezer-happy container for a further two to three hours, which will give you a great, scoopable consistency.

Be warned…you will never, ever bother to buy commercial strawberry ice cream again. The difference is AMAZING.

*best eaten within four days, due to the raw egg factor of this recipe. That’s if it lasts that long…