Uncategorized Archives - I THINK THEREFORE I JAM

Caponata

a mozaic mezze with aubergine pulling everything together

With its sweet and sour “agrodolce” sauce cloaking a medley of olive-oil-fried aubergine, assorted veg and piquant olives and capers, Caponata is a halfway house between English chutney and Turkish “Zeytinyağlı Sebze”; olive oil poached vegetable mezzes.

I like to use it as a vehicle for late Autumn scavengings of markets and lucky gifts from friends with gardens and no two batches are ever the same! I like to think Sicily, its homeland, approves of this opportunistic make-do approach.

Marketing #6 Foça Pazarı

A frenzy of activity and endeavour with bargains and conversations accompanying every purchase – an antiseptic supermarket this is not!

Mostarda di Cremona (No refined sugar)

The “con brio” to your winter cheese board with its citrus, hot mustard, pear and dried fruit bright mix. And alongside Stilton on a digestive biscuit, it has shot to the top of my favourites list.

This Italian “sweet and sour sauce” take – traditionally is made in the region of Cremona from where comes Italian mustard (“mostarda”) and violins of course. The pears need to retain their “crunch” and not dissolve into a mush so hard varieties such as “Lucas” (as I used here with their rather fluorescent green colour) or “Conference” that grace the shelves in winter, work well.

I have adjusted the recipe to be made with fruit sugar and grape juice concentrate and for an extra taste “pop” added a mix of whole pink, green and black peppercorns and coriander seeds! Unlike jam it does not need any setting so once all the chopping is done it just needs a snooze overnight to macerate in the fridge and then a very gentle simmer before bottling.