Yes, it rained yesterday, not earth shattering news I know, but the gauge was full, and it’s been raining again today. It’s been so dry, and there are many among us who are excited, happy, relieved, to see the wet stuff falling from the sky. So with it cold and wet outside, it was a great reason to stay indoors, actually in the kitchen, and cook and keep warm, and that’s exactly what I did!
The evening before, I’d been working in the veggie patch and the parsley needed a good tidy up so had brought in a basket full and popped it in the fridge. That was the first job, it was washed, picked over and loaded into the dehydrator, with a little bunch set aside in a vase on the hob of the stove.
I’d also been tidying up the rhubarb, and the first flush of my “rhubarb and rose petal jam” rose was almost done, so ducked out between the rain drops and picked the last of the blooms, plus a lemon off the lemon tree. So have a few pots of this family favourite to label and stash away.
I was wandering around the garden looking for new colour, when I started thinking about using the then abundance of rhubarb in the vegie patch, and pairing it up with some of the beautiful crimson roses covering one of the arbors as it was providing a lovely show with a very heady scent.
- 500 g rhubarb stalks only
- 500 g sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 cups of loosely packed rose petals preferably red and strongly perfumed
- Rose water to taste optional
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Wash the rhubarb and trim the ends before cutting it into 1 cm (1/2 inch) pieces.
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Rinse the rose petals in cold water and drain.
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Put the rhubarb into a medium, non-reactive pan, sprinkle over the sugar and drizzle with the lemon juice. Cover with the lid and place on a very low heat until the juices start running. Gradually increase the heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and bring to the boil.
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Add the rose petals and stir to evenly distribute them throughout the rhubarb mixture. Boil rapidly, until the jam reaches setting point. Once setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and skim off any scum and discard it.
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If the jam does not have a lovely strong rose flavour, add a little rose water to taste.
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Pour into warm sterilised jars, and seal. Once cooled, lable and store in a cool, dark place.
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Lable and store in a cool, dark place.
- Use freshly picked, unsprayed rose petals from the garden. Do not buy them from a florist, as it is likely that they have been sprayed with pesticides, etc.
- If using roses with large petals, it is best to remove the heel of the petal (the white bit at the bottom).
- Delicious on freshly baked brioche, with scones and cream, or paired with cream to fill a vanilla sponge.
It’s also asparagus season and had picked up a few bunches while they are cheap. They have been pickled ready to put on grazing boards, or open sandwiches.
Pickled Asparagus
With mushrooms that needed to be used, and the the weather the way it was, it was definitely the perfect day for beef in red wine sauce for dinner (forgot to take a pic of the final dish). I made a big batch so that it can be packaged into meal portions and frozen for when life is hectic and there’s not much time for cooking!
And after receiving a beautiful bouquet of bay and fig leaves, with a few bonus green figs hidden amongst the foliage, I had loaded trays of fig leaves in the dehydrator, plus I wanted to try my hand at making Greek fig spoon fruits. (The fig cuttings, taken from the branches, had been planted the day before.) Making spoon fruits takes days, but not a lot of your time, if that makes sense… So I won’t have a finished product for a day or so…
A productive day, using what we had, to make food that we love, plus a little testing too!
A few jars ready for the shelf…
Until next time…
Bon appétit!
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With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.
