Having a ball...

Enjoying summer in the UK... It's always different every day, other countries can more or less guarantee their summer weather, but not hear in the UK my Dad would often say as I was flying through the door, take a coat with you... if it's raining please yourself, it still makes me smile as I tell my children the same thing and they reply in a similar way that I did haha.

We are just not set up for anything above the mid to late 20's centigrade every year we wish for a dry hot summer and as soon as it arrives we wish for cooler weather. What I wasn't ready for was the difference I found this year with my hair extensions on my head! Would you put a tight fitting woolly hat on in 30'c+ heat? Well with a full head weave you have just that going on 24/7. There is nothing you can do during the day, and certainly nothing you can do when you try to sleep. Shopping in a large store with air conditioning really helps for a short time since we don't have air con at home that's the only time during a heatwave I feel normal again, well if scouting the store for the cool breeze is normal😜.
On saying that I do love my hair extensions and I'm very happy with my hair length and style even this unseasonably hot Brittish weather, I guess I'm having a ball as Nicola.

Pickled Red Cabbage Recipe

Nicola's Pickled Red cabbage

 

Ingredients

 

1 kg of red cabbage into strips

 1/2 cup salt

 2 red chili fruit

 1 medium onion

 4 cups vinegar approx.

 1/2 cup water (optional)

 1 tsp. coarsely ground or whole black pepper

 1 pinch. Ground cloves

 2 tsp. Freshly grated root ginger

 1 Bay leaf

  

 

Remove the outer leaves and quarter the cabbage, remove the tough white core from the quartered pieces, cut the cabbage into thin strips of 4 to 5mm, you can make it thicker if you wish, and place the first cut quarter in a large bowl and sprinkle all over with table salt. Do this with the remaining pieces of cabbage.  Then turning the cabbage mix the cabbage and salt in a bowl and let it stand overnight with either cling film or an old tea towel over the bowl. The salt draws out the moisture from the cut cabbage helping it to stay crunchy once pickled.

Rinse the cabbage in cold water until just about all the salt has been rinsed off.

I add chili peppers and a sliced onion to my mixture but this is optional.

If you are adding a chili, you need to wash the chili pepper and remove the seeds. Cut it into thin strips and mix with the cabbage. I now begin to add the cabbage and chili to the glass jars adding sliced onion in layers throughout the jar.

In a pan I bring to the boil the malt vinegar, (or pickling vinegar) water, black pepper, whole cloves and the grated root ginger to the boil. Let the mixture to cool for 5 minutes before pouring the seasoned vinegar in to the jars of packed red cabbage. During the cleaning and sterilizing of the glass jars, I keep them warm so the glass does not crack when adding the vinegar solution to the jars.

Seal the jars and place in a dark cool area or store cupboard to mature for a few weeks. Once open store in a refrigerator.

Pickled cabbage goes very well with BBQ Grilled foods and summer salads.

Cauliflower & apple soup

Well my recipe's tend to lighten the blog a bit and add something a little bit different.
I try to choose easy recipes that are useful to know about and are generally good for you and of course a little off the wall, as they say. So, here is one I made just the other day.

I make Cauliflower and walnut soup quite a bit in the autumn, but that can make a grayish soup, plus some people don't like walnuts it tastes nice to me but you feast with your eyes first, so this one is made with apple rather than the walnuts.

As part of the brassica family, more commonly known as cruciferous vegetables, cauliflower contains antioxidants and phytonutrients that can protect against cancer, fiber that helps with satiety, weight loss and a healthy digestive tract, choline that is essential for learning and memory as well as many other important nutrients. Just one serving of cauliflower contains 77 percent of the recommended daily value of vitamin C. It's also a good source of vitamin K, protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, fiber, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, and manganese.

Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 4 onion, thinly sliced
• 1½ kg cauliflower (about 2 large cauliflowers), broken up into very small florets
• 8 eating apple - 6 cored, peeled and chopped, 2 unpeeled and cut into matchsticks
• 2 vegetable stock cubes, or gluten-free alternative, crumbled
• 1½ l milk
• 8 tbsp single cream
• olive oil, for drizzling
• a few thyme sprigs, leaves picked

Method

1.      Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onions and fry gently until softened. Add the cauliflower and diced apple and fry for 5 more mins. Add the stock cubes and milk and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 mins, or until the cauliflower and apples are tender.

2.      Use a hand blender or liquidiser to purée the soup until smooth and season (the soup can now be chilled for up to 48 hours or frozen, just reheat to serve). Divide into bowls and swirl 1 tbsp cream in each along with a drizzle of oil. Top with the apple matchsticks and thyme.

Lemons...

Lemons...
Great in Gin and Tonic, squeezed on fish and perhaps preserved whole in a jar for later in the year.
But what about making some Marmalade? Great on toast or used in cooking as a marinade for fish... it keeps well and is a great store cupboard item to liven up meal times, so I hunted down a recipe that sounded easy to make and be good to eat, so my weekend is now set I'm making home made Marmalade while the lemons in the shops are cheap, I don't have a lemon tree but if I did I would be collecting my own when they were ripe.

Lemon Marmalade

Ingredients

Storage: up to 2 years
Makes: 5 x 450g jars

• 1kg Lemons
• 75ml leftover lemon juice
• 2kg demerara sugar

Method

• Wash the lemons then half them and juice them and keep the squeezed halves.
• Slice the squeezed lemons into medium to thick pieces and place into a bowl along with the lemon juice and 2.5L water. Leave the mixture to soak for 24 hours.

TIP: This helps release the pectin that helps the marmalade set.

 

• Pour the mixture into a jam making pan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 2 hours until the peel is soft and the marmalade has reduced.
• Add in the sugar and lemon juice and mix well to dissolve the sugar.
• Boil for about 20 minutes until setting point has been achieved then remove from the heat.
• Leave the marmalade to cool down for ten minutes then stir slowly to diffuse any foam from the top.
• Pour the marmalade into warm sterilized  jars and store in a cool dark place.