Refreshments for the heat

Today is the 10th anniversary of the devastating Canberra bushfires, that killed 4 people and destroyed around 500 homes.  The heat and dryness of the past couple of weeks has lead to conditions almost identical to those in the lead up to the 2003 fires.  Understandably some people are very nervous.  Today is another hot day with the temperature predicted to reach 39oC (102oF).  Last week I heard numerous helicopters overhead but none the past few days so I'm taking that as a good sign (they are spotting for fires in the National Parks around Canberra, there have been several small fires near Canberra and the smell of smoke was in the air).

I'm beating the heat today by staying inside with the curtains closed against the sun and making rhubarb cordial so I can have delicious drinks later this afternoon.  While thinking about writing this post I searched 'cordial' on the internet and was quite surprised to find that what I call cordial (as an Australian) isn't what other parts of the world call it!  So to clarify, this rhubarb cordial is a non-alcoholic fruit based drink mixer - it is best mixed with still water, soda water or tonic water.  My personal preference is cold soda water (and maybe a splash of Bacardi or vodka!).

We have three rhubarb plants but I must admit that while I don't mind rhubarb, I'm not a huge fan.  My favourite way to eat it is in a rhubarb and apple crumble, which is best eaten in winter - when the rhubarb is dormant!  So last summer we started making rhubarb cordial.  It is fruity and a little bit tart, so it is quite a refreshing way to use our crop.  This recipe is one I created by mixing up a few recipes I read on the internet and in magazines.

I'm not sure what variety of rhubarb we have, but it is quite green.

Ingredients:
400g rhubarb stems, chopped into about 3-4cm pieces
300g caster sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1 litre water
1 tablespoon citric acid
 (Double the recipe if you have lots of rhubarb)

Method:
Place the chopped rhubarb, sugar, lemon juice, lemon halves and water into a saucepan.  Stir to combine.
Place saucepan on medium heat, without lid.  Stir occasionally to ensure the sugar dissolves.  When mix comes to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer.  Continue to stir occasionally.  Simmer until the rhubarb is mushy.
Remove from heat and leave to cool for a couple of hours.
Push the mix through a strainer to separate the stewed rhubarb from the liquid.
Put stewed rhubarb into a clean container, remove lemon halves and place into fridge, eat within 3 days.
Whisk citric acid into the cordial.  Pour into sterilized jars or bottles.  Place cordial into fridge and drink within 2-3 weeks.  Makes about 1 litre of cordial.

This is not as concentrated as shop bought cordials, so you dilute it 1 part cordial to about 3-4 parts water.  It is also quite cloudy from the sediment of the stewed rhubarb.  I have tried a recipe where you didn't cook the rhubarb, just let it sit for 24 hours.  That recipe gave a clear cordial, but I didn't think it was as tasty.

You can eat the leftover stewed rhubarb, it is quite nice with a dollop of thick cream!  Just remember a lot of the rhubarb flavour is now in the cordial, so it is a muted rhubarb taste.

Everything in the saucepan, ready to cook.

 

 Mushy rhubarb!

 Freshly bottled rhubarb cordial ready to go into the fridge.

Homemade goodies!

Over the past month my husband and I have been busy in the kitchen turning fruit (both home grown and bought at the farmers markets) into tasty treats.

Some of the apricot jam, lemon curd and cherry jam we made.  We also made cordial for the first time - two different types, homegrown elderflower cordial and homegrown rhubarb cordial.  The elderflower tastes just as good as the boutique one from Tasmania.  The rhubarb is really different and tastes great mixed with soda water (and made a nice change from rhubarb cake or rhubarb and apple crumble like I usually make with our rhubarb!).

A couple of years ago we got kilos of free apricots and after we got tired of making jam we made some rustic pies that we froze and then cooked from frozen during the winter.  They were great, so when we had some spare apricots on the weekend I thought I would make another pie.

It is super easy and it is so nice on a cold evening to have a home cooked dessert with no effort!  Make your favourite pasty (I use Stephanie Alexander's shortcrust pastry) line a baking dish with it, sprinkle ground almonds over the base, top with apricots and a sprinkling of sugar.  Finish by folding over the edges of the pastry and freeze.  The next day take the pie out of the dish and seal it in a bag until you are ready to cook and eat it, then just put it back in the dish and straight into a hot oven.  Serve hot with custard or ice cream.  It worked really well for us a couple of years ago so I hope it does again!

We also had some spare plums so I made a plum pie, but used ground hazelnuts instead of almonds.  The plums have a lot more liquid than the apricots, so I'll guess we'll have to wait and see if it works!

Weekend work

What a wild week of weather it has been - Cyclone Yasi in Northern Queensland and the icy conditions across North America, even our blazing hot days have been interspersed with rain storms.  Late on Thursday afternoon when we were going home a storm suddenly blew in.  As we were driving along a road not far from home we saw branches ripped off trees and the rain was so heavy the traffic slowed to a crawl.  The next morning when we drove back along that road we saw several trees had been pulled up.  Today the heat has been replaced by a pleasant (and welcome!) cool change.

Yesterday afternoon we made more tomato sauce.  We only used Sunny Boy tomatoes, which are yellow when ripe, so we were somewhat flummoxed when the sauce turned red...

Six jars of sauce this time (we used more tomatoes than last time).  But why is it red??

  

  Yesterday morning we went blackberry picking again - blackberry season is in full swing and for the first time we filled all of our containers, and it only took a little over an hour to do it.  2.05kg

Today we used 1kg of the blackberries to make blackberry and apple jam.  My husband was busy with other chores, so I was left in charge - sadly baking is the only thing I can successfully do in the kitchen and I overcooked this jam (like I have done with the other jam I've made).  It is VERY thick.  I'm not sure what bread or scone will be sturdy enough not to crumble if we try to spread this.  It tastes great though!

Four little jars

Yesterday we converted 2kgs of home grown tomatoes into homemade tomato sauce.  We've made jams and chutneys before so we thought that 2kgs of tomatoes would make quite a lot of sauce, but it only made four little jars.  It smells amazing though!  Now we have to wait a month for the flavours to develop before we can use it.  We can hardly wait and are already planning a BBQ for that day!

1.1kg of Sunny Boys and 0.9kgs of Tommy Toes

Add vinegar, onion and spices (and we added a chili for extra zing).

A strong clove smell permeated through the house, but close up it smelt just like tomato sauce.

Finished product - we sieved out the tomato skin and spices, but left in the tomato seeds.  And even with all those yellow Sunny Boys it is still quite red. 

Preserving

Two summers ago we made lots of chutneys and jams.  We are down to our last bottle of chutney (roast peach), so today we (well, mostly my husband) made some more chutney.  Two different types - nectarine and lemon balm; and peach and tomato.  Nine jars in all.