Spring at the Allotment

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Spring Onions from the Allotment.

Before and after a proper wash. :-)

All images my own. Edited with Photoshop.

Harvest Time and Recipe for Tomato Chilli Jam

Nante Carrots

Yellow Courgette

Onion Flower

 Red Onions

Pepper and Chillies

 Tomatoes including Marmande and Greek Basil

All the vegetables are from my allotment and freshly harvested.

Tomato and Chilli Jam

2 kg tomatoes (ripe, skinned and quartered)
4 large red chillies (chopped roughly with or without seeds)
3 small (or 2 medium) red onions
1 clove of garlic (or more if wanted)
1 tablespoon olive oil (and more to cover the jam in the jars)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsam vinegar
4 tablespoons red wine
salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoon black onion seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
approx. 100g golden caster sugar

1. Gently fry the onions with the chillies and spices (pepper, black onion seeds, cumin and fennel seeds) in the olive oil until soft and starting to caramelise (don't burn them). 
2. Add the red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar and gently simmer until the vinegar has been absorbed.
3. Add the red wine and gently simmer until the wine has been absorbed.
4. Add the tomatoes and sugar, stir occasionally (stage 1) and let it simmer gently until the liquid from the tomatoes has almost been absorbed (stage 2). This can take several hours and has to be done slowly - don't try and cut corners and have the liquid bubbling at a high temperature as the sugar content might make it burn at the bottom.
5. Taste and add more sugar if required. 
6. Add a pinch of salt to taste.
7. Fill into jars and drizzle a little olive oil over the top (stage 3)

I am not sure how long it will keep, but think it will be fine for a few weeks. The jam is very hot and perfect with cheese or cold meets or could be mixed with a little oil to make a marinade for chicken, steak or grilled vegetables. If you don't like it too hot, remove the seeds from the chillies and use less of them. :-)

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Bounty

Here are some pictures of the vegetables and lettuces we got from our allotment:

Marrow, sweet carrots, peppers, chilli peppers, various tomatoes, beans and onion.

The lettuces are sweet and crisp and almost don't need any vinaigrette because they're so tasty.


There is loads more in the allotment, including cabbages, aubergines, more of the above, HUGE courgettes, horseraddish, beans, butternut squash and raspberries (almost gone because I've been eating them as they ripened - treat for the gardeners) and rhubarb. I've also planted lots of flowers so we'd have something pretty to look at whilst doing the inevitable weeding. Thanks to the changeable weather the weeds are growing like mad too....

Distractions....

Now my computer is finally back and in working order, I've been distracted designing Caroline's website. Check it out here. Caroline has signed up for this year's Cambridge Open Studios and was desperate to have her website up for people to view her art on the web.

The website is still an ongoing project as Caroline hasn't taken photographs of all the paintings she wants to show on her website and some of the info is still a bit sparse BUT at least it's up and running...

... so hopefully tomorrow I can finally get back to:

- finishing my top
- painting
- possibly dying some more yarn....

The weekend was gone in a flash with work on the allotment, including shifting lots of paving slabs in preparation for a shed. However, despite the hail we had yesterday all the vegetables are looking great (except for my poor melon). We even discovered a gooseberry bush at the back of the allotment with lots and lots of fruit, which I turned into three large jars of jam.