My kitchen runneth over .

It's been a really busy week in the coast  kitchen, The man of the house went off away  to work and I decided,in my wisdom that I really needed to pull the proverbial finger out and get something accomplished and have something to show for all my time here alone.
So I decided in my wisdom to  stock up on my Apple Pie Moonshine supply as as it was  getting pretty low and I had found some cute jar mugs for $1.00 each

in our local cheap shop that I thought would be perfect for the job.I was really pleased with the result and am sure that they will be a big hit at our next  social gathering that we  organize .
Next  item on the agenda was "Habanero Gold", we had grown Habaneros for the first time this year specifically to make this gorgeous golden jelly with a kick  and thought that if I didn't do it soon, they would fall off the shrub and all would be forgotten ,which would be such a waste..

So, I picked the hot little blighters (wearing gloves) and prepared them(wearing gloves) along with the other ingredients and  produced these beautiful little jars of the most tasty jelly to have with cheese and crackers  during happy hour. I have also been told it is  lovely as a baste for chicken and fish before grilling and warmed a little as a dipping sauce.

This  batch is supposed to last me 12 months, but there is fat chance of that happening, so as more habaneros ripen looks like  I will be making jelly again.
The next item on my to do  list was dilled carrots, I had purchased a 5kg bag and had big plans for them, half into the dilled carrots and half for  some salad pickles.

I had decided to make some Vietnamese  Daikon radish and carrot pickle. There had already been an earlier batch made of this  a few weeks ago, and I quickly realized that the supply I had was definately not going to last very long, as we were consuming it at the speed of light(or should I say The Man of the house was !).So, here goes, this is how I make it.....
Firstly I peel and  julienne Daikon long white radish and the same for carrots. I think there was about 2 kgs of each when done.

Then in a deep stainless steel saucepan on the stove, I heated up 6 cups of white vinegar,6 cups water, 3 cups white sugar,and about 2 tablespoons grated ginger root, until boiling, adding the carrot and radish and bring back to the boil and simmering for  1 minute.Then take off the heat.

Then into the bottom of your pre -prepared jars place 1 Star Anise (a beautiful aniseed tasting  spice).

Next pack the carrot and radish into the jars and pour the sweet  boiled liquid over the top of them leaving about a 1/2 inch head space at the top.You will then need to  release any bubbles with a non metallic utensil and then re-adjust the head space level again.

A quick wipe over the rims  with paper towel soaked in vinegar, and pop on the pre-simmered lids and screw on the rings finger tight and all is ready for the water bath.

We then place the jars in the water bath preserver (electric in my case) and cover the tops of the jars with a couple of inches of water, place the lid on ,bring to the boil and maintain that for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes is up, turn the heat off, and remove the lid and let the jars sit for another 5 minutes before removing them  onto a towel covered bench out of cold  draughts  to cool down .

The jars are  left  to cool for 24 hours before removing rings, washing and labeling and storing away in the pantry(minus the rings).
Another job  I decided to do  was to use up the peelings of the radish,carrot and some celery leaves  that I had saved  to  make  some vegetable powders by dehydrating them and  grinding them up..

So I loaded all these into my great little dehydrator and set them going. I had to do this in two loads which took most of the day.After they were ready ,they looked like the photos below.

After they had all dried and been ground up this is what I had, celery powder, Tomato powder(from a previous days work) and a mix of carrot and radish together.

These powders will be a wonderful addition to my pantry to use as fillers and flavours for many dishes to come out of my kitchen, without the added salts and chemicals and preservatives that are found in the commercial products.I was very pleased with the final results and will continue to make and use these extra little  bits and pieces that would normally have been wasted to a certain degree.
So until we meet again next time,
I bid a cheery farewell to you all,
Jane.

Green Beans and carrots.

I have preserved food in one form or another for about 30 years now. When my Mum first passed me on her Fowlers vacola preserver and her bottles(jars) I mainly did peaches, plums and apricots along with tomatoes. One year we grew a bumper crop of green beans and I preserved those too, the only problem was that to do green beans in the Fowlers vacola System you had to Water Bath them in a brine solution for about an hour and  then 48 hours later re-water bath them again for 45 minutes. The outcome was a very soft, very salty jar of beans.
We haven't grown a lot of beans over the last 20 years, just enough to eat fresh or freeze a few, but this year Brian has grown another lovely patch or three of green beans.
We picked three buckets full about two weeks ago and  took them up to the farm and pressure canned  them, great result.
We brought the canner home the other day as we knew we would have a lot of canning to do over the next couple of weeks before we get a chance to return to the farm.

Early  this morning he picked me another bucket of beans , and I prepared them  ready to can.

I also had  a heap of carrots left over from some soup I had been making(I had got the carrots on sale at Harris farm) I chopped them up two and was going to do half the canner  load of each.

Brian then suggested that it may be a good idea to mix the two in each jar. I agreed that this would be very practical, as there is just the two of us, it would be sensible to be just able to open one jar and have both vegetables.So I filled the jars half and half approximately  with the beans and carrots.I did not add any salt to mine but some people do, and I then filled  with water  leaving about 1 inch headspace, I then de-bubbled and adjusted the water levels in the jars.

I then wiped the rims with paper towel and white vinegar,placed on my lids that i had previously simmered in hot water and screwed on the rings finger tight.

After they were all lidded and ringed, I then put them in a double layer seperated by the rack into my pressure canner. Up at the farm I have a gas (propane) stove, but down here on the coast I have a flat glass topped stove  which I am unable to use as I have a  Big 930 AA canner and  it is not recommended  to use it on it.
So we have purchased a gas burner designed for cooking crabs and prawns ect, and decided to use our canner on that outside in a sheltered spot .

We found that this worked brilliantly, although we had to keep a fairly close watch on it to keep to the required 10lbs pressure. We  processed the bean /carrot mix to the carrot  times as they required the longest preserving time.After the  25 minutes had elapsed, we turned the gas off and allowed the canner to cool down, removed the weight, waited a few more minutes and removed the lid.
The result was 19 lovely colourful pints of green beans and carrots.

I have left the jars  on the towel on the bench to cool completely overnight, each one made that sweet ping to tell me that it has sealed and in the morning, I will remove the rings, check seals,wash the jars and rings and store the rings away for future use, label the jars and store them away  in my pantry.
It  always feels good to put a little away, These little jars will be a very handy item to have in my pantry. There is nothing better than  having your own home grown produce  on hand.
I am very tired as I type this, we have had a few very big days of canning, some of which will be included in another entry soon, and I am  nearly ready to call it a night,
So until we meet again,
Cheers,
Jane.

Chick,Chick,Chick peas

We have gone through a fair few tins of chick peas and four bean mix over the years, so when I recently saw a quick method of canning  chick peas and beans recently I was keen to give it a go.
I owe credit for the info to a fellow called Ben Scholes on one of my canning sites I belong to, and the recipe was just called "Ben's Beans ".
I started with just one jar, slipped into a canner load of raw packed lamb chunks.as they are processed for the same time.
When I opened the jar we were very impressed as the  ratio of beans to liquid was perfect and the texture of the peas was just right.
So I decided that I would do a whole canner load of chick peas.I used  packets of dried chick peas that I purchased at a  middle eastern shop down in our local shopping centre that sells lot's of interesting bits and pieces.

I started by rinsing off the chick peas in a strainer under running water and then placed 1/2 cup of the dried chick peas into each pint(or 1 cupful per quart).

Next I filled the the pre-washed  jars with plain water  leaving about 1 inch headspace.

I then  wiped all the jar  rims with paper towel dipped in white vinegar, and applied the lids that had been previously simmered in water for a few minutes to soften the seals.  I then added the rings and screwed just  until finger tight.

I also added 1 jar of 4 bean mix as well so i could see how they would process too.

I then placed them all in my pressure canner and processed them at 10lbs pressure for 75 minutes for pints(or 90 minutes for quarts)

After the processing time was complete I turned off the stove and let the canner  drop back down in pressure and after it returned to zero I removed the weight,and when all steam had completely ceased I removed the canner lid .
I then removed all the jars and placed on a towel on the table to cool for 24 hours.

The next day I removed all the rings, checked my seals were intact and washed the jars and stored my rings for future use.I then stored the chick peas away for future use.
I had also on a previous load of  lamb stock processed some lima beans in the same way, but forgot that stock is processed at a shorter time than beans, so the beans really hadn't been done correctly so I refrigerated those and used them straight away.
I made "pantry stew" the next day, with jars of,lamb chunks,tomatoes,carrots,corn,stock,and the lima beans, It was really delicious.

We had unexpected quests turn up that weekend also  and I was quickly able to make up a 4 bean salad with the jars of beans, a  pint of canned corn, and a few other bits, and it was  great too.

Tonight I am cooking a small piece of pork and instead of the usual baked vegetables, my husband requested  that we have a chick pea salad and coleslaw, suits me just fine.

These beans will be so handy to us for quick salads and ways to stretch a soup or stew if extras turn up, I am certain that I will can many more jars of them in the future. Every time I can meat and I haven't a full load I will just slip a few of these in.
I must away now as it is close to our dinner time and I have that roast to check,
Until we meet again,
Cheers,
Jane.

Curry in a hurry

I haven't been on line much this week as we have been up at the farm, and for some reason the internet service up there was really bad this time. So I decided to wait until I returned to so called civilization to write up a couple of entries to the blog.
My ready meals in the pantry are always in much higher demand in the cooler months and the pantry is starting to get a little empty, so thought I would make up a new batch of curried sausages,using our own homemade  lamb and rosemary sausages instead of bought ones.
So to start with I par boiled the sausages and cut them up into smaller rings,which is just a good  size  and ready to eat.

I then chopped, 1 kilogram of onions, 4 kilograms potatoes, 1.5 kilograms of carrots,200 grams dehydrated peas and one large bunch of celery with my trusty  chopper  that I really couldn't live without and  put all the vegies in a big pot with 4 quarts of previously canned chicken stock(or whichever stock i have available.

To this I then add, a couple of desert spoons of minced garlic, a heaped teaspoon of minced chilli, a good handful of dried herbs, and I added 3 pints of previously canned tomatoes,salt,pepper and  I then add a variety of sauces( i usually keep my just empty sauces specifically for this, add a little water,and  wash them out into the pot.) I also then add curry powder to our taste( a few tablespoons usually to a pot this size) There  should be enough liquid to totally cover all ingredients,if not add water or stock)
I then cook this mix  in the big pot until the potatoes are  just tender, I then add the sausage pieces back into the pot and heat through.

I then prepare my jars, rings lids ect according to normal Ball instructions and fill my jars. I choose to use quart jars for this as I find that 1 quart jar just does us a meal perfectly, either on toast or with rice or pasta  or other vegies.
I then place all my jars in the pressure canner,mine holds 14 quarts or 19 pints and process at 10lbs pressure(for my altitude) for 90 minutes. With this batch I think I may have filled the jars just a smidge too high with the mix as I had a bit of leakage during processing, something I will watch closer next time. The photo shows the overflow  in the canner.

I placed all the jars on a towel on the table and waited for that magical ping, they all sealed beautifully, I left them the required 24 hours and then removed bands, washed and labeled them and they are now tucked safely away in the pantry for future  quick lazy yummy meals.

When I am ready to open one of these jars, I empty into a saucepan, heat for 10 minutes,  and decide if I want to eat this as a stew like consistency or thicken it. If it is the latter I mix up a paste of plain flour, curry powder and water and stir into the saucepan and stir until thickened and heat through, being careful to avoid the flour mix clumping. We enjoy it both ways, although my personal preference is to thicken it.
We had a lovely break away, the weather is certainly cooler, we had about half an inch of rain which was very welcome and life is good.
Cheers to everyone until we meet again,
Jane