For many years now, I have been cooking and packaging special Christmas hampers for our family in Queensland. These hampers are our Christmas gift to them, something from our kitchen to theirs on Christmas day. The hampers are generally made up of various sauces, pickles, jams etc that have been prepared during the year, and then there’s a cooking frenzy just before they are sent off, where Christmas cakes and puddings are made, batches of biscuits are baked, and if there’s time a big batch of crunchy granola. This year I also popped in a little recipe for them to try, using my Mango and Kiwi Fruit Chutney. Continue reading
Mango & Kiwi Fruit Chutney
I’ve been making this chutney for many, many years, and it’s always really popular with family and friends.
A month or two ago I was preparing for a class, Preserving the Produce of Spring, and was lucky enough to pick up a tray of beautiful mangoes for a really good price. This provided me the perfect opportunity to introduce those attending the class, to this delicious chutney recipe. Fortunately there were plenty of mangos and I was also able to cook up a batch or two to stock our larder for the next twelve months. This chutney is a key ingredient for a quick easy meal that I find myself making on a regular basis, so am really happy to have a good supply on hand again.
You will be surprised at how easy this chutney is to make!
The fresh produce ready to be prepped and brined…
Mango, Kiwi Fruit, Chillies and Garlic, chopped and salted (brined)…
Labels ready to go…
Mango & Kiwi Fruit Chutney
A Cake for Sonnie
My sister, Sonnie, has just turned 70. She didn’t want to celebrate, just wanted to have a quite day… But her family and friends had other ideas!
A message, out of the blue, from my nephew, Dave, put us all on notice. There was to be a surprise celebration! Oh the pressure of trying to not make her suspicious of the goings-on. Continue reading
Mum’s Little Pineapple Tarts and Memories…
When we were clearing our late parents’ home last year we found some cute, old baking tins. My sister, Sonnie, recalled our mum using these tins to make little pineapple tarts – I had no recollection of them, but Sonnie had a story that went with her memory!
Mum’s tart tins…
Mum’s tart tins.
Garlic Scapes
Don’t you just love it when you discover something new!
I’ve been growing garlic, successfully, for a few years now, and still I’m learning…
I’ve realised that I now grow both hard neck and soft neck garlic, I don’t know the type though, as I’ve purchased the originals from farmer’s markets and providors. How I know that I have hard neck and soft neck garlic, is that the hard neck garlic sends up a long solid green stalk with a bud on the top called a scape. Initially I used to leave these in place, allowing them to flower, and then, in turn, produce small bulbils. I loved this idea, and often gifted people the little bulbils, telling them they would need a couple of years before they were of a size to produce garlic as we know it. Then I discovered that scapes could be used in the kitchen – really? Continue reading
