Blackberry Syrup

I made this this afternoon with a few blackberries I picked in my bottom field.

Its reasonably quick and easy - and the result is the most fresh tasting and vibrantly coloured ice cream sauce you can imagine !

Of course you can use for many other things too.........

I measure the fruit and sugar in cups or mugs or whatever you please !

Blackberry Syrup or Sauce

Freshly picked Blackberries
White Sugar
Water
Lemon Juice

1. Wash the blackberries to remove bits and wildlife...

2. For every cup of blackberries, use a 1/4 cup of water.

3. Put the blackberries and water into a large saucepan.

4. With a potato masher or something similar, squish the fruit down well, to release the juice.

5. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to simmer.

6. Simmer for about 5 minutes, or until the fruit is soft.

7. Pour the pulp/fruit mash through a fine sieve or a muslin/jelly bag, into a bowl. Don't push it through harshly, let it drip and just encourage it gently by pressing it with a spatula or similar.

8. Once the juice stops running through, measure the juice and discard the pulp to the compost.

9. For every cup of juice add a cup of white sugar, and put all this back into the cleaned saucepan with about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice per cup of juice.

10. Bring it to the boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.

11. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid becomes slightly viscous, but still runny. This should only take a minute.

12. Pour into sterilised jars while very hot and seal immediately.

Will keep for months and months.

Homemade Tomato Ketchup

Tonight I am making tomato ketchup mmmmm.

I hated ketchup all my life (junk food full of chemicals). And then 2 years ago I had so many tomatoes I needed something extra to make with them. As I was involved in farmer's markets at the time, I decided to make tomato ketchup and sell it !

I never dreamt I'd want to eat it all...

Now I make enough to last me a year until next years tomato crop. Roughly double the quantities in the recipe below will supply me for the year, although I'm just one person.

I also use almost all organic ingredients, and naturally the veggies are organic as I grow most myself.

Tomato Ketchup
(Original recipe adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly)

4.5 lbs Tomatoes
2 medium Onions
8oz White Sugar
4.5 fluid ounces Red Wine Vinegar (just over half a cup)
1 tablespoon thick Tomato Puree
2 teaspoons coarse Sea Salt
1 Bay Leaf
1 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
6 whole Cloves

1. Chop the tomatoes and onions roughly. They don't need to be small. Put in a large saucepan.

2. Place the bay leaf, peppercorns and cloves into a muslin bag and tie tightly to close. Put the bag into the pan with the tomatoes and onion.

3. Bring to the boil.

4. Simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes. Stir now and then. If at 45 minutes the onion isn't soft, keep going until it is.

5. Take out the bag and throw away.

6. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.

7. Blend the mixture with a hand blender or in a food processor until it is smooth.

8. Strain the blended mixture through a fine sieve and put it back into the saucepan.

9. Add all the other ingredients. Stir over a gentle heat and do not let it boil. Do this until the sugar dissolves.

10. Now simmer for from 15 to 60 minutes, uncovered, or until the mixture thickens to the pouring consistency that you personally like.

11. Pour the hot ketchup into sterilised jars or bottles and seal them fast whilst still very hot.

I have kept these in a cool dark place for up to a year. However, once you open one it will need to be kept in a fridge.

Fast & Easy Cocktail Sauce

My apologies for the early morning post, but I have received an email from a gentleman who was eating his shrimp without cocktail sauce, and he wondered if I knew of a very easy one.

So for all you bachelors out there who are allergic to cooking (and bachelorettes too) (oh and wives too I suppose, allergies don't discriminate do they)(and partners)(and husbands)(did I cover all the bases ?), here is a very simple way to make a great cocktail sauce.

Soph's Fast & Easy Cocktail Sauce

Mayonnaise
Tomato Ketchup (I make my own but Heinz has a good flavour)
Tabasco Pepper Sauce (I use McIlhenny & Co from the USA)

I just flop all the ingredients into a small bowl and stir fast.

However, at a good guess the proportions I use are say 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise, to 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup, to about 1 teaspoon of tabasco sauce (or less).

In fact I just shake the tabasco bottle over the mayo and ketchup say 5 times... so start with that and add to taste.

Et voila... a great sauce for shrimp and also for dipping anything you care to really.

Homemade Tomato Ketchup and a dash of romance

As usual I am realising my excesses... 50+ tomato plants is a wee bit OTT to supply one single female who doesn't even like eating them raw.

I have about 40 Moneymaker plants which are normal size tomatoes, 10 Tumbling Toms which are cherry toms (can't remember the exact name), 5 Gardener's Delight plants (more cherry toms but climbers), 2 plants given to me by a friend who used seeds from the Irish Seed Savers, and a few strays (no idea what kind) which have self seeded into the tunnel's soil from last summer. After an early setback where I unknowingly deprived the poor little dears of nitrogen, they are now rampaging happily around the tunnel reproducing like mad.

Hence, all my friends and relatives are going to be receiving tomato ketchup for xmas this year... with a cute little red bow on each bottle of course.

Lucky I also like pasta sauce... I find I use it for no end of meals, including lasagne and spaghetti bolognaise, as well as those heavenly burrito thingamys they have in southern parts of the states, or is it Mexico ? Yummy.


And of course I also put it on pasta.

Naturally amid all this bounty and frenzied cooking and preserving, I have become rather a recluse, for want of a better word... Who could possibly want a wild social life when she can spend her evenings making jam, preserving various vegetables and writing this blog.

Well into this domestic bliss has snook a white knight in shining armour, who has declared that he's whisking the aforementioned blog writer off for a day of nature appreciation and good food. Will the tomatoes manage without me for a few hours ? Will the donkeys choose this moment to go walkies up the road yet again ? Will I ever be the same again ? Do I wear wellies or high heels ?

For the answers to these questions I am afraid that you will have to wait until next Tuesday... Meanwhile, here is the Tomato Ketchup recipe I promised you.

Sophii's Tomato Ketchup

16 large Tomatoes (about 4kg), chopped
4 Onions (600g), chopped
2 cups (440g) white Sugar
2 tablespoons Tomato Puree (paste)
12 Cloves (whole)
2 teaspoons Black Peppercorns (whole)
2 bay leaves
1 cup (250ml) Red Wine Vinegar
4 teaspoons coarse sea salt

1. Have a small of muslin and pile the peppercorns, cloves and bay leaves in the middle. Tie the ends to make a small herb bag.

2. Put the tomatoes, onions, and the muslin herb bag into a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring to the boil.

3. Once boiling, turn down the heat until the mix is just simmering, uncovered, for around 45 minutes. Make sure the onion is soft, if not simmer a bit longer. Remember to stir it now and then.

4. Take out the muslin herb bag. Let the mix cool for about 10 minutes.

5. Use a blender (a hand one will do) to blend the mixture into a smooth consistency.

6. Strain through a fairly fine sieve, and then return the mix to the pan. This part is important.

7. Add the rest of the ingredients.

8. Return to the heat and stir gently, until the sugar is dissolved. DO NOT let it boil.

9. Simmer the ketchup, uncovered, for 15 minutes maybe more, until it thickens to the consistency that you like your ketchup. This process is called reducing. Remember to stir it now and then to stop the mix sticking to the bottom of the pan.

10. When thickened, pour the ketchup into pre-sterilised glass bottles or jars, and put the lids on straight away whilst they are very hot.

This should store for at least 6 months in a cool place, maybe more, without light if possible. Once you open a bottle, keep it in the fridge.

Tomorrow - Onion Marmalade (as I have a thing about marmalade...)

Fresh Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce

I have a tonne of tomatoes ripening in the polytunnel, so now I start making pasta sauces and ketchups etc for the winter. Free food ! I love it.

Here is my recipe for a very simple, basic and easy to make fresh tomato and basil pasta sauce. I made a small batch today and have stashed them away for the cold winters evenings.

Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce

I never measure the ingredients, I just know by memory and what it looks like... so here goes -

15 ripe tomatoes

Basil leaves - fresh - loads !
(if you don't have fresh basil, use about 4 tablespoons of dried basil)

Garlic cloves - use a whole bulb

2 medium onions

1. Chop the onions small. Throw them into a big pan on the stove top with some olive oil in the bottom. Saute lightly for 4 minutes.

2. Chop the tomatoes small too, including the skins. Throw them into the pan too. Keep cooking gently.

3. Chop the garlic cloves and put them through a garlic press if you have one. Otherwise just chop them very finely. Add them to the pan and keep simmering.

4. Chop the basil leaves very finely and also add to the pan.

5. Cook whilst keeping the pan covered, on a gentle heat on the top of the stove/cooker/hob. Stir every few minutes.

6. After about an hour of gentle simmering all will be well infused and the vegetables beautiful and soft.

7. It is now ready to either eat fresh, or to be put into sterilised jars whilst hot (put the lids on fast while very hot to seal and create a vacuum).

If you prefer you can whizz the sauce in a blender to give a smooth sauce, rather than a lumpy textured one.

This will keep in the jars for up to a year. Alternatively you can freeze it.

Happy eating Italian style on our wonderful balmy summers evenings ! Well I can dream can't I...