Wild Raspberry Jam (no added sugar)

We have a walk we take with the dog where we had spotted a patch of raspberry canes - it's alongside the bridleway.  We noticed a few fruits were ripe and ready to harvest so when we returned at the weekend, it was great to see how many more had been ripened in just seven days.  Only spending a few minutes gathering fruit, we were surprised to find, once back home, that we had 350g red raspberries and eight yellow raspberries (much to Sous Chef J's delight).

As wild raspberries are small and very flavoursome, we decided to try to make jam with no added sugar. With no idea as to how it would turn out but thought it worth a go and would, we hoped, make a suitable filling for one of our favourite roulades.

After washing the raspberries, they were put in a pan and a small amount of freshly squeezed orange juice was added.  The pan was placed over a medium heat and brought to a rolling boil.  The raspberries were boiled until pulling back with a spoon revealed only a small amount of fluid.

Whilst the raspberries were boiling, we sterilised our jam jar (by placing it and its lid in the washing up bowl and filling with boiling water).  This was then quickly drained, making sure not to touch the inside of the jar or lid.

The jam was then decanted into the jam jar and left to cool.  It was good to hear the 'click' of the lid as the cooling contents created a vacuum seal in the jar.

We had read online that wild raspberries contain alot of pectin so we didn't add any sugar or pectin.  As you can see, in the pic to the right, after setting, there was no doubt this was not a runny jam!

Trying the jam on some Genius Gluten Free seeded bread that had been toasted, it was a tasty preserve that was very much like a thick paste/spread rather than a traditional jam with jelly.  Surprisingly, even though there were lots of seeds in the jam, as the fruit was wild, they were very small and not at all unpleasant.

Not bad for an almost free fruit spread!

Strawberry Smoothie

 Today the sun has been shining and there have also been clouds.  Sous Chef J decided he needed a summery drink to 'get into summer' so decided to make a smoothie.

As is good practice, he gathered the ingredients (but forgot the orange juice in this pic) then set about preparing his Vitamin C packed drink of delight.

It's a simple to make concoction.  He puts all the ingredients into a container then whizzes them with the Braun Hand Blender (although, after seeing a Vitamix demo at last week's Good Food Show, he keeps telling me one of their blenders would be better!!)

Using a handful of hulled strawberries, juice of one orange and a whole ripe banana as a base he added a squirt of lemon, a squeeze of runny honey, a splodge of natural (home made) yoghurt and a dash of vanilla extract.

Then WHIZZZZZZZ.  Pour out into "suitable receptacles" and enjoy!

Turkey Piquant

This is yet another long-standing entry from my well-thumbed recipe book.  I know it's been around a while as said recipe book was started to give me self catering ideas when I went to University many, many moons ago!

In my student days, it was a cheap meal to make and lasted me the best part of a week.  It requires basic ingredients and is good with either a jacket potato or rice as accompaniment.  I remember I used to add frozen peas to the rice mix when at Uni in a nod towards increasing my vitamin intake.

To make a panful, serving 3 with healthy appetites, we used

450g turkey breast, diced into even sized pieces
one bunch salad onions, washed and sliced
25g butter
2 Tbsp cornflour, seasoned
2 Tbsp redcurrant jelly
1" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced (or 1 heaped tsp ground ginger)
One orange, juiced.

First of all, we added the cornflour to a bowl and seasoned generously with black pepper and a sprinkle of salt. We then coated the turkey pieces in the seasoned cornflour.  Whilst this was being done, we melted the butter over a low heat in a large saucepan and lightly cooked the sliced onions and ginger.

Next, the turkey was added to the pan and slowly browned over a medium heat.  Once it was browned, the redcurrant jelly was added, stirred through and gently allowed to melt.  Finally, the orange juice was poured into the pan.  The contents were mixed well, the pan was covered and left to simmer on  a low heat for 20-25 minutes.  (At this point you could transfer to a slow cooker to cook through and be ready later in the day)

Once the turkey was cooked through and the sauce had thickened it was served with a jacket potato.

It can also be served with wholegrain rice and peas.  This will make the amount serve 3/4 comfortably.

This keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days (ensure you reheat it thoroughly) or can be frozen (again defrost slowly and ensure it's heated through properly before serving.)