Orange marmalade

My nana is crazy about orange marmalade. She’d eat it straight from the jar, but we normally manage to convince her to spread it onto a thin crispy slice of delicious brown German bread from the German bakery around the corner. I personally like it better on white toast, with a thin film of butter underneath. Mmmh, delicious. Anyway, I always make this for my nana for Christmas, and this year was no exception. Paired with a jar of my candied orange slices, it is the perfect side to my boring old present (I always get her a bottle of that amazing Pear Rose Nana perfume).

Ingredients:

550g worth of oranges – about 4

1 lemon

3 cups of water

1 kg granulated sugar – if you don’t want to add in orange slices, use pectinated sugar as all the pectin in this jam is coming from the orange peel!

Slice up 1 of the oranges in very very thin slices, with the peel on. Cut the rest in half, then spoon the pulp out in a big bowl with the slices: try to leave all the white peel on the orange with the peel. Add the juice of the lemon in the bowl with the rest. 

 If you really like to have bits of orange in your marmalade (and I do!), take one of the peels, remove the white peel for the inside and slice it up really thin, adding it to the mix. Add the sugar and leave the whole thing to rest for about 4 hours.

 Put the whole thing in a heavy saucepan, add the water and boil on low heat for about 1 hour (more or less according to the consistency you want your marmalade to have. I like it quite tough, so I go for 1 and ½ hours, but you can do it for less if you are more into a more spreadable consistency).

And there you go. Pour in your sterilised jars and you have the most adorable Christmas little gift. Add a cinnamon stick, a pretty red ribbon, an anise star and a branch of holly for the ultimate treat.

I also like to spread this on dark chocolate chip bread. Toasted, no butter, with a cold glass of milk. The kids love it, and so will you!

Winter Jam

So, first things first, my Winter Jam. Almost none of the fruits in it are actual winter fruit, but after you spread a slice of French bread with a thick layer of this wonder you are not going to care at all.

Ingredients:

300g litchi without the peel and pitted

3 tangerines

juice of 1 lemon

1 green apple

200g raspberries

200g granulated sugar

Chop up the litchis into small-ish pieces. Peel the tangerines and chop them up into little cubes. Pass the apple (still with the peel on) though the food processor and put all the fruits (except the raspberries) in a heavy saucepan. Add the lemon juice and the sugar and leave for half an hour.

 Add the raspberries, mush them in and leave to rest (covered) overnight. 

 In the morning, put the saucepan on a medium heat and bring to boil. Let it boil for 25 minutes, then take away from the heat.

Unless you like your preserves REALLY chunky, pass the hot jam though the food processor, or use an immersion blender to turn it all into a homogenous cream. 

Pour into your sterilised jars and let it cool. This is delicious on bread as it is, but also in cookies. I like to make simple biscuits with this jam in the middle, or use this in my gingerbread treats.

These also make fantastic presents, and even little favours to give at the end of a holiday dinner party: you can find mini jars for really cheap and fill them with this ruby delight and write the name of each person on the jar with a sharpie pen. You can use them as name tags for the dinner table, and your guests can bring them home with them as a little present!

Lemon Curd and Lemon Curd Miracle Pie

Lemon curd is great. For me it's mainly because it tastes like lemons, and lemons are one of my favourte things in the world.  It doesn’t keep for very long, but a couple of weeks in the fridge are fine and make it a really good present with a spring feeling all year round. This version has a bit of a twist to it and lots of lemon, and is at the base of my 5-minute wonder pie.

Ingredients

2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

3/4 cup brown sugar

80g of butter

¾ tablespoon of Limoncello or other lemon liqueur

Zest and juice of 3 lemons

Juice of 1 lime

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a saucepan until they become smooth and creamy, then place the pan over low eat. Add the butter, juices, Limoncello and zest and whisk it all together for about 5 minutes, until it thickens. Pour into jars and prop in the fridge. If you don’t like having bits of zest in it you can sieve it, but I like the tanginess of the little yellow speckles. If you like, you can also add a couple of drps of yellow food colouring the make the whole thing look more lemony.

A jar of this in the fridge when you have children around or know you might have sudden guests is great. You can always scoop in a tablespoon of it with a bowl of greek style yoghurt for breakfast, or spread on a thick slice of warm bread for an extra treat. Or, you can fold it in a batch of vanilla ice cream to make lemon ice cream (yea, it's not really, but this is so tasty nobody will care). But nothing beats a slice of my instant lemon pie.

You will need

8 egg whites

1 cup white icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

15 digestive biscuits

1 cup of melted butter

1 and ½ cup of mini marshmallows

1 tablespoon of milk

½ cup of lemon curd

drops of yellow food colouring

Crush the biscuits into a powder and mix them in with the butter. Press them in tightly at the base of your cake tin to make a cheesecake-like base. Put in the fridge to set for at least 15 minutes.

In a pan on medium heat melt the marshmallows into a cream and, off the heat, mix them up with the lemon curd. Add the food colouring until you are happy with the colour, which should be obnoxiously yellow. Of course you can skip this part f you don’t want to. Pour this mixture over the biscuity base, level it down to form a uniform state. If you literally have no time, or marshmallows, you can skip the marshmallow stage and just pour in about 1 cup of lemon curd on top of the base. Put back in the fridge to set for another 15 minutes minimum.

Whish the egg whites with the food processor until they are so stiff you can reverse the bowl and they wouldn’t fall down. Fold in the icing sugar very gently in order to maintain the meringue solid. Prop the meringue on top of the lemon curd cream, smoothing it out on the top. Put in the oven at 120°C with the fan on for an hour, until all the meringue is crunchy and cooked.

Serve with a nice cool glass of pink lemonade for a summery bliss, even in the middle of the winter.

Chrstmas treats 4: pomegranate jelly

These are a real treat. They are refreshing after all the chocolate and butter and they keep really well in the fridge so you can make them early in December and use them throughout the festive season. Plus they are red and festive and make for a real table decoration.

Ingredients:

4 cups pomegranate juice

1 drop of jelly red food colouring

7 cups pectinated sugar

juice of two lemons

10g of jelly – either powder or in sheets

about 2 cups of raspberries or cubed pineapple

Combine pomegranate and lemon juice with sugar in  big saucepan and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil for one minute, then take off the heat and add the gelatin. Let it dissolve, putting the pan back on the hob if necessary but without allowing it to boil. Add food colouring and pour in the moulds. I like half-sphere moulds, but you can use whichever small moulds you have available: silicon ones are very good for this.

Drop a raspberry (or a cube of pineapple or whatever fruit you like) into each jelly and make sure the jelly encases the piece of fruit completely. Put in the fridge to set overnight before taking the jellies out of the moulds.

Decorate with a light dust of icing sugar and a couple of holly leaves. An alternative is a light spray of whipped cream and a dollop of rum raisins.

Fantastic at parties or at the end of a big festive meal. 

Rhubarb Champagne Jelly

I am not normally a fan of rhubarb. I think it looks cool and the taste is not too bad, but its stringy consistency has got too many memories connected with force-fed spoonfuls of a somewhat undercooked rhubarb crumble my nana used to make for me to truly enjoy it. But this jelly, this is my secret guilty pleasure. When I am on my own in the morning, I make myself a quick slice of express French toast and cover it with this colourful wonder. A cup of dark hot coffee and I’m in paradise before eight in the morning.

Ingredients:

750g fresh rhubarb

1 Granny Smith Apple

110g sugar

10g gelatin, about 6 sheets

1 litre water

250 ml Champagne or other white bubbly stuff

Wash the rhubarb and cut it into 1 inch regular segments. With a knife, get rid of the stringy bits that make it so chewy. Grate the apple.

In a large saucepan, pour in the water, the sugar, the apple and the rhubarb. Bring to boil and let it simmer for 20 minutes: then let it cool completely.

The next bit involves a sieve, which sounds much worse than it is. Pour the rhubard through a sieve set over a large bowl, and let it drip down for 15 minutes, or until you have 1 pint of juice (500 ml).

In the meantime, soak the gelatin sheets in warm water and, once they have hydrated, squeeze the excess water away (if you are using powdered gelatin, make that according to the instructions on the packet). Add the gelatin to the pint of rhubarb syrup in the pan and heat it gently to melt the gelatin, without letting it boil. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then gently fold the Champagne in.

You can pour this into sterilised jars and keep it for yourself in the back of the fridge, or give it as a treat to someone you really, really like.

The cool thing about this jelly is that it works as a pudding as well, which works especially well after a fairly substantial meal. Pour it into champagne glasses and let it set in the fridge for at least 6 hours. Garnish with a splosh of whipped cram and mint leaves – classy yet delicious. 

The leftover rhubarb and apple compote can be used to make a crumble, or a pie or whatever have you. Because f my thraumatic experiences, I just tend to pour ot all in a jar, seal it, pur a ribbon on it and a nice label reading "Rhubarb compote". then I gift it to one of my female relatives who like rhubarb pie. 

Candied orange slices

These are one of the most festive things I can think of. They are pretty, they are perfect gifts and they are delicious!

Ingredients:

However many oranges you (not blood oranges)

And

1/2 cups water or 1/2 cup of smooth orange juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

per orange you are using.

Wash the oranges thoroughly, then slice them into half-inch wide slices. Melt the sugar in the water on medium heat, then add the orange slices and cook on moderate heat for about 20 minutes turning the slices every now and again, letting the syrup slightly boil and reduce itself. Then reduce the heat and leave it on for 10 more minutes, until the syrup turns thick and the slices are translucent and tender but still intact.

Transfer the orange slices to a rack to cool and pour the syrup into a small sterilised jar.

The syrup can be heated up and serve, warm onto icecream or crepes. My favourite is hot American style pancakces served with this warm syrup and with a dollop of cream. You can also use it to make orange ice-cream, fold it into cake batter or use to make chocolate orange cake. Buy or make some chocolate sponge, cut it in half horizontally and spread both the top and the inside with royal icing into which you will have mixed a couple of tablespoons of the syrup.

The slices are delicious eaten just like that. They can be used to garnish desserts (for examples the chocolate orange cake described above), dipped in dark chocolate and offered as candy or frozen and then served with ice cream. You can stack them in a jar and give them away as Christmas presents, or you can run a thread of raffia through the empty centres and make Christmas decorations with cinnamon sticks and anice stars. Our neighbours would always decorate their Christmas tree with gingerbread figurines, threads of orange slices and little red balls, and as a child I used to think their tree smelled like Christmas more than anything in the world. 

Rose delight

Finding pesticide free flowers is hard and, quite frankly, I don’t see why bother. Unless, of course, you want to eat them! For this recipe you’ll need to buy a big bunch of roses (which makes me instantly happy) and make sure they are organic, pesticide free and so on. The dream of my life would be having such a lush rose garden that I could make this every year with my own produce, but nothing is perfect.

20 roses

2 cups of pectinated sugar

1 and ½  cups of water

juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon of honey

red food colouring if you wish (I don’t use it)

Get all the petals away from the roses, wash them and dry them thoroughly. Keep half the rose petals and put the rest through the food processor with the lime juice and the honey to blitz until it becomes a gorgeously crimson puree.

Melt the sugar in the water on medium heat. Add all the roses and bring to a volcanic boil for about 3 minutes.

Let it cool and ladle into sterilised jars before sealing them.

You can choose any colour rose you like. Tradition says red, but I almost prefer those yellowy-pink roses that smell of lemons and sugar and overall heaven. Or you could mix them up, adding red petals to a yellow or pink rose base for a glorious effect. Either way, up to you.

Rose jam is delicious on toast and quite the stunner to bring out for breakfast when you have guests. I like to buy really good quality sponge (or make my own, but that takes time), cut it horizontally and spread a very generous layer of this confection in between. Add a simple royal icing on top and cut into slices for the perfect teatime treat for when you have people over.

It is also a very good present, especially for ladies and girls. 

Chestnut Jam

I love chestnuts. When I was little, my mom and I would go Christmas shopping really early, in November, and get ourselves a handful of roasted chestnuts wrapped in newspaper from a stall in the street. Chestnut jam is a little uncommon, but incredibly delicious and very autumnal. It’s a great gift - my American friend throws a Thanksgiving party every year, and every year I bring him a couple of jars of this delight, with a packet of home made honeycomb and a jar of chilli jelly.

Ingredients:

800 g raw chestnuts

350g dark muscovado sugar (if you can’t find this, try regular dark sugar with a spoonful of golden syrup)

180ml water

1 tablespoon oil

juice of 1 lemon

The first part of this recipe is quite a bit of a pain, but trust me, it is worth it. Put on some music that makes you happy, wear a pair of latex gloves and it will be done in no time.

Slid the chestnut shells and boil them in a large saucepan for 10 minutes. Wearing your CSI gloves, remove the skins (which by this point should be softened and easy to work with): leaving the chestnuts in a bowl of cool water will help with the scorching heat.

Put the chestnuts back in the pan of boiling water and let it boil away for a good 50 minutes.

Cool the chestnuts down in a bowl of cold water again and try to remove as much of the dark brown crunchy film as possible. It is not the end of the world if a couple of pieces stay in it, so there is no need to have a panic attack over this.

Weight the chestnuts: you should now have approximately 500 grams. The does of sugar and water are given for 500 grams, so if you have a lot more or less you can adjust them accordingly.

Take about ¼ of the chestnuts and chop them roughly with a knife. You can change the amount of chopped chestnuts according to how chunky you want your preserve: if you want it particularly smooth you can skip this step. Put the rest of the chestnuts in the food processor with the lemon juice and the oil and blitz them until you obtain a perfectly smooth puree.

Dissolve the sugar in water, add all the chestnuts and simmer for about 30 minutes (reduce down to 20 if you are not using chunks).

Pour into sterilised jars et voila.

As well as great presents, these jars are at the basis of many autumnal treats. Try mixing a cup and a half of the jam with half a cup of good brandy to obtain a sauce to be flambéed and poured over vanilla ice cream and garnished with a caramelised violet. If you like to be healthy, try mixing a tablespoon of this in a bowl of natural yoghurt for an added kick to your morning routine.

Peach Jam

Talking to people about food, I have realised that regardless to where you are from, Peach Jam tends to be one of those childhood summer memories that have the power to make you happy all year round. My nana used to make this in humongous saucepans (were they that massive or was it just me who was little?) which would boil for what seemed like ages in the kitchen, hot as a furnace in the August sun. She then poured it into really tiny jars, because she made enough to actually keep this though winter (as opposed to eat it all in about a week, which is what I do) and an open jar of peach jam is not good for more than a week. This is a simplified, modernised version which still retain the peach slices to give it a touch of comforting memories.

Ingredients:

14 fresh, ripe peaches. I like to do 7 yellow and 7 white.

2 oranges – I use blood oranges

2 lemons

2 limes

7 cups of pectinated sugar

optional: 1 cup of caramelised blueberries or raspberries

Slice 4 or 5 peaches (with their beautiful skin still on, make sure you wash it thoroughly) into thin, regular slices. Put the rest of the pulp in the food processor and blitz it until it’s a deliciously sweet, sunset coloured cream.

Put all the peaches in a big bowl and add the sugar and the juices of all the oranges, limes and lemons. Cover and leave to rest overnight in the fridge.

In the morning, transfer the mixture in a saucepan and let simmer uncovered for at least 2 hours (the heat should be low and you should use an anti-stick pan if you have it because the jam tends to stick), until most of the juice is gone. I know this is a long time (if your peaches are particularly watery it will take up to 3 hours), but you don’t really need to do anything in the meantime, aside from stirring every now and then. 

For a revolutionary kick, you can now fold in the shop-bought caramelised blueberries or raspberries to make an instant Melba preserve.

Once it’s ready, pour into your sterilised jars trying to distribute the caramelised slices equally. If you want to keep this for the winter, make sure you seal them properly and use gum rings and parchments paper discs (all of this can found in the supermarket).

This jam is fantastic on toast, with a little peanut butter and white bread. You can also use it in cooking, for example by adding a couple of spoonfuls to your apples when baking an apple crumble, or as the perfect filling in a rich chocolate cake.

The jars are beautiful and make nice gifts as well as fantastic kitchen decorations. I once found a white-and-yellow chequered ribbon which alone made these little pots into true objects d’art.

Apple crumble in a jar

Jams and Jellies are the best presents ever. That is, if you don’t have the money or inclination to realise the recipient’s wildest dreams of going scuba diving in Australia or owning a pair of designer shoes. As with all DIY presents, it is all about presentation.

And this little treat in a jar has the maximum presentation effect with the minimum effort. And it is delicious, which helps.

You need 1 jar of my Apple Jam, only made with very big chunks of apple (which means you probably want them boiling for 15-20 minutes rather than 10) and no muscovado sugar or golden syrup. You will also need:

1 cup of sherry-soaked dried blueberries.

1 cup of whole-wheat cereal

2 cups of crushed digestive biscuits

½ cup of honey

juice of 1 lemon

Fold the dry fruit in with the jam. Crunch the cereal and mix it in with the biscuits, the honey and the juice of 1 lemon until you obtain a sort of paste. Try and use as little of the honey as possible.

Lay down a 2 inch thick layer of jam at the bottom of you jar, followed by a 2 inch layer of the biscuit-y rubble. Repeat until you reach the top of the jar, finishing with a biscuit layer.

Close the jar, add a ribbon and you are good to go.

Theoretically this is best served with some whole greek-style yoghurt to contrast the sweetness of the jam and honey. However, if you’ve given up caring about your health try it all on its own with a generous portion of whipped cream and, maybe, a couple of spirited plums. Mmmmh, heaven.  

A last little thought, this is a great way of getting rid of undesired jam. If you've made too much apple, pear or peach jam, it doean't really matter if it's not as chuncky and unsweetened as it's indicated in this recipe. Slam it in a jar with some crushed biscuits and give it away: no harm done.

Apple jam

This is an all-time childhood favourite. Apple jam speaks of autumn, but you can make it any time of year really. And spread on a thick slice of bread, maybe over a thin layer of crunchy peanut butter, it is just heaven. Moreover, it is insultingly easy to make.

Ingredients:

1kg very finely chopped apples – I like Granny Smiths for this

2 kg pectinated sugar

100g dark muscovado sugar or, alternatively, 1 cup of golden syrup

juice and zest of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 tablespoon brandy

Put the apples in a large saucepan with the juice and zest of the lemon and about 200ml of water. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the pectinated sugar and the muscovado sugar (or the golden syrup) and let it boil on high heat for about 2-3 minutes until all the sugar is dissolved and bubbling. Add the brandy and the cinnamon. If you are feeling adventurous, this is the time to add about ½ cup of raisins previously soaked in water and rum.

Pour into sterilised jars and close tightly – if you want to seal them this preserve will keep outside the fridge for a couple of months.

One of the best presents I have ever received was a large jar of this golden wonder (made with golden syrup, which makes it slightly more sticky), layered with store-bought caramelised blueberries. You only need a spoon and a slice of toast to make yourself the most express and delicious pudding ever.

Chilli Jelly

This is a real treat. It is normally considered a festive season recipe, but I love this in the summer with some cold Feta cheese and pita bread garnished with a couple of fresh Basil leaves. You can make it more or less spicy by varying the proportions of regular peppers and chillies and even add some green chillies if you are doing this over Christmas and want the red-and-green festive feel.

Ingredients

200 g of red peppers

100 g of red chillies

for an extra kick – 2 or 3 bird’s eye chillies

2 cloves of garlic, without their skin

paprika

1 kg pectinated sugar

1 small Granny Smith apple

500 ml cider vinegar

Melt the sugar with the cider vinegar in a pan on low heat with the garlic cloves. Try to resist the urge to stir: the more you stir, the more cloudy your jelly is going to be.

Blitz the peppers and the chillies together in the food processor: if you are in for a spicier taste, you can chop them thinly with a knife. Be extremely careful when chopping the chillies (especially the birds eye chillies, if you are using them): wear gloves, clean your processor/chopping board promptly and wash your hands before touching your face or eyes. Grate the apple. Add all the fruits to the syrup and take away the garlic cloves: raise up the heat until your concoction reaches a volcanic boil and let it be for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and wait for about 40 minutes, when the chunks of pepper will start to sink into the jelly.

Ladle into sterilised jars, close and leave upside down overnight to set.

This is an incredibly pretty confection, which just screams for a festive ribbon and a card to become the perfect stocking filler. It goes wonderfully with cold meats (especially turkey!), strong cheeses and bread.

You can make it into a more complete present by setting a jar of this in a basket with a small loaf of seeded bread (you can go wild with different kinds of seeded bread, I especially like poppyseed bread with this jelly) and a small tub of posh cream cheese.

Alternatively, you can turn this into a typically Christmassy feast by giving it as a gift with a jar of caramelised oranges and one of your favourite chutneys.