Veggie Stuffed Tomatoes

for times when you find BIG RIPE tomatoes…

My love of stuffed tomatoes started young. On a holiday to France we were driving through Marseilles. I think I was nine. My mum stopped at a charcuterie and as we waited in the car a girl rode by with a pet monkey on the child’s seat of her bicycle. The small black monkey, the smell of those still warm stuffed tomatoes, eating them as a picnic lunch…I can still taste how good they were. Its funny how certain memories are etched on your brain forever. So here is a recipe that I make over and over again whenever I find giant tomatoes.

Perhaps buying the tomatoes is half of the fun?

 

Gadgets & Gizmos
Deep baking tray or ceramic dish

Ingredients: serves four

This recipe is a guide as stuffed vegetables should be seen as handy recipients for leftovers:
• 4 x 200g of big fat ripe tomatoes  or 6 smaller ones
• 100g rice and 50g green lentils  or 100g couscous and 25g currants
• 1 small onion finely chopped or 3 spring onions
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
•  Selection of fresh herbs: parsley/ basil/ thyme/ mint chopped roughly
•  1/2 tsp allspice 
• Olive oil for brushing and drizzling
• 60g hard cheese (optional) something like parmesan or gruyere but strong cheddar is fine
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Very thick Greek yoghurt to serve

Continue reading “Veggie Stuffed Tomatoes”

Busy girl’s no churn ice cream

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As the mercury soars past 40C its time for ice cream.

Ready for simplicity? Here it is.  Take one quantity of ultimate cream cheese frosting and freeze it. That’s it. I promise you. The secret to this is the air – because it contains meringue and therefore air it is a mousse and so when you freeze it, it will still be soft.

I must admit to a certain feeling of satisfaction when I make one technique actually evolve into two or even three dishes. I guess its the elegant economy of it. Whatever it is…its really time saving and economical as you can whip up some frosting , double it up and freeze half for ice cream

Improvs & Ideas

Add whole fruit or my fave – chopped up pieces of crystallised ginger.

Sour Cherry & Orange Jam

a bowl full of cherries… put to good use

Romania has some of the best sour cherries I have ever tasted and they make exquisite jam.  I nuance mine with orange and cinnamon – you want those black beauties to shine through. I make this recipe with both grape juice concentrate or the classic version with cane sugar and both work brilliantly well. I use little sour green apples to make a puree and to up the pectin content – if you have crab apples even better.

Here is a version I made without any green apple puree.  In this version I used 1kg of stones cherries, juice and zest of 1 orange and 850g sugar.

Gadgets & Gizmos

A good quality heavy bottomed pan – if you have a Le Creuset casserole for example – use it for jam. A good ladle, a metal jam funnel helps.  Washed jars and lids in bicarbonate of soda solution. A sugar thermometer if you have one. Small saucers placed in the freezer.

Do read the Jam sessions – jam making rules if you have time

Ingredients  for  8-10 small pots

1kg of sour cherries after stoning so buy 1.5kg to be absolutely sure

200g of apple puree (made by boiling up whole small unripe green apples because the pectin is in the pips and skin and passing through a mouli)

This gives 1.2kg of fruit total

The zest of 1 orange

50ml orange juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1kg sugar or 1 litre unsweetened grape juice concentrate

How To

Have everything prepared including your fruit.  This is the key. Jars washed and warmed to 100C in the oven. A tray and a ladle, lids sterilised. Tea towels scrupulously clean.  Now you can begin.

Place all ingredients except the orange zest and cinnamon in your pan and warm slowly until the sugar has dissolved

Now switch up to full and bring to a rolling boil until you reach 104C or if you do not have a sugar thermometer you will wait some 20-30 minutes and notice smaller bubbles.  Start testing the jam by placing a teaspoon on the cold plates.  When it does not move/ noticeable wrinkles when you push your finger through it then it has set.

Remove from the heat. Now gently add the orange zest and cinnamon.

Pour into the hot jars and seal the lid immediately. Invert to sterilise the airspace.