Chutney/Confit

As I set off for a walk the other afternoon I noticed that a neighbour, the farmer who's cows are in the fields surrounding us, was out in his orchard collecting apples with his young family.
Imagine my delight when I got back home to find a bucket of apples by the front gate.

After picking them over and washing off the leaves and grass I seperated them out, some for eating and some for cooking.
Chutney is something that I enjoy making especially at this time of year, so I gathered the rest of the ingredients together and got peeling!

The French word confit can mean any type of food that is preserved.
A tomato confit goes well with chicken and an onion confit is great served with goats cheese, a balsamic vinegar will deepen the sweet/sour flavour of both.
The English word chutney, derived from the Indian word chatni,  has become one of the UK's favourite condiments and is never far away when a curry is on the menu.
Here's my quick and easy recipe for a spicy apple chutney, equally good with English cheeses such as cheddar, cheshire and white stilton or a French cheese like camembert or brie.
It also goes well with ham/gammon, pork, cold roast chicken/turkey, ideal for Christmas leftovers.

Here's what to do..............
Take
8oz onions, chopped
2lb apples, cored & chopped but not peeled
4oz sultanas, raisins or dates, chopped
half a teaspoon each of ground coriander, mixed spice, paprika and salt
12oz granulated sugar (I used half white, half golden)
three quarters pint (or one and a half cups) of vinegar.
(I used a special pickling vinegar this time but you can use malt vinegar in this recipe also).

Put
all the ingredients into a large, heavy bottomed saucepan (if you have a preserving pan all the better!) slowly bring to the boil and cook until the sugar has melted.
Then simmer for two hours on a low heat (keep an eye on it from time to time, so it doesn't burn on the bottom) until it is thick and sticky.
To test if a chutney is ready, I always follow Delia's advice.
Take
a wooden spoon and draw it quickly along the bottom of the pan if it leaves behind a channel that doesn't fill up immediately with liquid then it's ready!

If you like your chutney a little less spicy you can amend the quantities of each spice but don't leave out any one spice completely or it will upset the balance.
Decant the chutney into sterilized jars, seal and store in a dark, cool place for 2/3 months before eating.

Joining Mrs Matlock for Alphabe-Thursday

 where you will find lots more C words

also

Beth Fish Reads

for

Weekend Cooking
and
The Tablescaper
for Seasonal Sundays

Click on the links or sidebar buttons (you know the rest!)

A Sunday walk with a difference.

On a recent dog walk we were surprised to find ourselves

 sharing the lanes and tracks with some unusual traffic.

Bonjour!

Urban cowboy!

I don't know where they came from or where they were going.

Were they on the way to a competiton, in training, or simply good

friends out horse riding and carriage driving together?

What a great way to see the countryside!

Adieu!

All I do know is that it was lovely to meet them all,

 however briefly, on a Sunday morning in Normandy.

Joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday
and
Bunny Jean for Wednesday's Bunny Hop.

Click on the links, or sidebar buttons, to visit our gracious hosts.

Lest We Forget.

Today's date is 11.11.11.

 Armistice Day

which marks the anniversary of the ending of hostilities of World War I, at 11.00 am in 1918.

It is a French public holiday and schools, banks, post offices and businesses are closed.

Poppies flowering this week in my Normandy garden

To mark the occasion, in our small village, flowers will be laid at the base of the Calvaire which stands at the crossroads opposite the Marie's office.

A two minute silence will be observed at 11.00 a.m.

This fitting tribute below can be found in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux.

Click here to see a recent post about the Cathedral

This weekend, on the Sunday nearest to Armistice Day, in towns and villages all over the UK people will come together for Remembrance Sunday.
Local dignitaries, ex service men and women from all of the services, members of  the Royal British Legion and Boy Scout and Girl Guide troops, will lay poppy wreaths of remembrance at their local War Memorial.

The National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall is a unique expression of national homage devoted to the remembrance of those who have given their lives in war. It was originally conceived as a commemoration of the war dead of the First World War but after the Second World War the scope of the ceremony was extended to focus on the nation's dead of both World Wars, and in 1980 it was widened once again to extend the remembrance to all who have suffered and died in conflict in the service of their country and all those who mourn them.
The service at the Cenotaph is framed to ensure that no-one is forgotten. The wreath laid by The Queen and the other tributes placed on the Cenotaph are dedicated to all who have suffered or died in war. Members of the Cabinet, Opposition Party leaders, former Prime Ministers and certain other Ministers and the Mayor of London are invited to attend the ceremony, along with representatives of the Armed Forces, Merchant Air and Navy and Fishing Fleets, and members of faith communities. High Commissioners from Commonwealth countries also attend the ceremony and lay wreaths at the Cenotaph.
Source: The Royal British Legion
In June of this year I was lucky enough to spend an evening in the company of two World War II veterans, at an event to mark the 67th Anniversary of the D Day landings.

Click here if you would like to see that post again.

Click here to go to the website of Woodlands School in Kent, UK.
Their Calendar of Special Events and Celebrations is extensive with categories covering Daily Life, Customs and Traditions and Etiquette in the UK, to name but a few.
It is a wonderful source for everyone, not only children, and describes what Remembrance Sunday means to us all.

Wear your Poppy with pride!

(poppy images courtesy of telegraph.co.uk)

A swarm of French B's.

clockwise from top left:
bee
boucherie
bombarde & biniou musicians on Quimper faience
ben
basil
boulanger

bulldog

clockwise from top left:
bar
boucherie
broderie decor on Quimper faience
blue shutters
boulanger
bonaparte

I trawled my photo archives and strolled around town at the weekend

to find some very Frenchy B's

for

week deux of Mrs Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday
@ off on my tangent

 where the letter B is the star today.
Click on the link to join in the fun.


In 2010 my B post for Alphabe-Thursday was all about our dogs.
Click here if you'd like to meet the gang.

Mary Berry's Victorian Christmas Cake

Did you know that there are only 46 days to Christmas?
Yikes!
Have you made your Christmas cake yet?
Now, I know that lots of people hate fruit cake but the Senior Partner and I cannot be counted amongst them.
We do both loathe, despise and abominate marzipane the traditional layer between the fruit cake and the Royal icing topping.
We're not mad about Royal icing and all the fiddly little Christmas decorations either.
I usually bake Delia's Christmas cake, a tried and tested recipe which never fails, however in the November issue of Good Food magazine I came across Mary Berry's Classic Victorian Christmas cake and decided to bake it this year instead.
Click here for the link to the recipe on the BBC Good Food website.
I tweaked the recipe only slightly by replacing sherry with whisky, and it's whisky I'll "feed" the cake with every two weeks until decorating the top with jeweled coloured glace fruits and seasonal nuts, and I might well decide to enhance it further with a beautiful shimmering ribbon.
I'll probably post a photo or two of the finished cake, all glossy and pouting in it's rich deliciousness, a little nearer Christmas, for now though all I can show you is the cake before it went into the oven and all the messy detritus left for me to clear away whilst it bakes for 5 hours and 10 minutes!

Sharing this post with Claudia @ Mocking Bird Hill Cottage

for Reality Shot Thursday #7

a fun gathering where we reveal how we really live

away from the bright lights and cameras!
I've had a request from Bunny Jean asking
 that I link this recipe to her Wednesday Bunny Hop.
No sooner said than done!

Fete de la Pomme in Trévières.

The Calvados region of Normandy is famous for it's culinary heritage based on fine local products such as butter, crème fraîche, world famous cheeses and of course apples!

A visitor to our region cannot help but notice the multitude of small farms, each with an apple orchard or two, as they drive along the country lanes.

You can often call in and buy home made cider from the owners, sometimes you might also find Normandy's famous apple based brandy, Calvados, or the apple based apéritif, Pommeau, for sale.

Last Sunday we visited the small town of Trévières for the Fete de la Pomme where we wandered around the exhibition of apples staged by "la corporation Saint Fiacre de Bayeux" (gardening club of Bayeux).
We stood for a while and watched the ancient apple press being put through it's paces, over 1 ton of apples were crushed during the day.

Trévières is twinned with Stokeinteignhead, Devon, U.K. and delicious baked apple goods, home made by the ladies of the Association, tempted us.

We bought two small apple crumbles and a bowl of Teurgoule, which is very similar to an English rice pudding, for our dessert that evening.

Joining The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday # 73

 with this glimpse of life in rural Normandy.

Alphabe-Thursday. A is for Apple

Once again Miz Jenny Matlock is hosting Alphabe-Thursdays at Off On My Tangent
I didn't fully participate last time having completed the entire alphabet in the previous round, however, AT is a favourite meme of mine and so, here we go again.................................

These apples are being shoveled into a large wooden box to be pulped
before being turned into cider or calvados.

A is for Apple, well what else could it be for in Normandy.

I took this photograph at the Fete de la Pomme in Trévières last Sunday, and will have more to share for the Tablescapers Seasonal Sundays gathering at the weekend.
If you would like to see my A post from the first AT that I particpated in, then click here, and here for the A post from the next.
This my second post today if you're looking for this week's Reality Shot then please scroll on down.