Strawberry and Vanilla Jam

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Multicultural Inspiration from... family :)

As promised, here's some follow up action from my Lime and Coconut Curd post - my "anything-you-can-do" strawberry jam! Fortunately for Sous-Jeff, unlike the red hot chilli jam that he produced (which I can't touch for fear of death by spice), my jam is deliciously sweet and shareable!

It is sugary sweet, syrupy, with a little taste of vanilla. Really, really yummy. And it was surprisingly easy to make too! Here's how it was done, with the inspiration of this recipe from taste.com.au (though I must confess, I did change a fair bit...)

You'll need:

• 4 x 250g punnets of strawberries, washed and hulled
• 600g white sugar
• 100g vanilla sugar
• 80ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 vanilla bean

First up, I put all the strawberries and sugar in a large bowl, added about 75ml of water, and mixed it all up. I covered the bowl and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Yes, the recipe says overnight, but my patience doesn't extend quite that far.

This is what they looked like after 30 minutes - I then decided that instead of a conserve, with full berries, I wanted smaller chunks, more jam like. So I took a knife to the bowl and just chopped through the berries until they were in smaller chunks.

Next up, I squeezed me some lemon juice.

Then, I put the strawberries in all of their sugary goodness, and the lemon juice, and the vanilla bean seeds into a giant pot, and I cooked it on a medium heat for about 10 minutes - until the sugar dissolved, stirring it often, till it looked like...

... this! Then, I upped the heat and brought the mixture to the boil.

The mixture bubbled and boiled away, forming a pink froth on top...

... which I scooped off the top with a metal spoon.

I ended up cooking it for around 50 minutes, until the mixture started to really gel. Then, into the jar it went - against the recipe I went again, leaving it to sit in the jar for about 30 minutes before sealing it up and putting it in the fridge.

I absolutely LOVED the vanilla taste in the jam, and, if anything, I'd perhaps use a little more vanilla sugar next time instead of regular sugar. The jam itself is super sweet, with the most gorgeous strawberry flavour, and I'm really glad I chopped the strawberries up a little. It tastes like summer, in the middle of this bitterly cold Melbourne winter!

And, it goes great on my gluten free buckwheat pancakes!

Really, really delicious! I got the tick of approval from Sous-Jeff too, and with all of our efforts so far successful, we're ready to try some more!

Over to you guys and girls - what jams have you tried, what's on your to-try list, and what should I try next?!

Lime and Coconut Curd

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 Multicultural Inspiration from... Fiji

Fresh off the success of Sous-Jeff's Chilli Jam (which I can't try because it's too spicy!), I decide that it's time for me to try a condiment of my own. Not to be outdone, I decide to try not one, but two preserves - a lime and coconut curd (again, coming from the love of lime and coconut I developed over my many visits to Fiji), and strawberry jam. First up is my curd.

I have very fond childhood memories of lemon curd used as butter, coated on my toast, cake, biscuits, and whatever else I could get my little hands on. I absolutely loooooved the citrusy punch of the lemon combined with the secondary, super sweet sugar hit.

After a bit of googling and a bit of imagination, I've looked at around 5 or 6 different recipes, and decide to take elements of all of them, and a lot of my own imagination. And I'm glad I did, because it came out absolutely AMAZING!!!!

Here's what I did to get it right...

First, I passed 3 lightly whisked eggs through a strainer, to make sure the curd is super smooth.

Then, I grated the zest of one lime, and squeezed the juice of 2 limes.

I added the lime juice and zest, along with 100g of butter and 200g of sugar to a pot...

... and stirred and melted it all together, until the sugar had dissolved and the butter had melted, and it looked...

... like this!

I removed it from the heat and added to the melted mixture the strained eggs, and stirred with a wooden spoon to combine it.

Then, I put it back onto a low heat for about 10 minutes, constantly stirring, until it was thick and coated the wooden spoon...

...like this!

I added in 50g of dessicated coconut next...

... gently stirring it to combine.

And that's it! Finished! That simple! Into the jar it went, and I left it to cool slightly for about 15 minutes before putting the lid on.

It is absolutely delicious, and I can't tell you how in love with this curd I am!! I loooove tropical flavours, none more so than coconut and lime; I just find the flavours so refreshing, yet it really packs a punch.

It's just the right balance of sweet and tangy, and goes absolutely perfectly with buckwheat pancakes :)

I was surprised at how easy it was to make, and Would like to try a passion fruit and coconut combination too.

Over to you, lovely readers - what combinations have you, or would you like to try?! 

Amore Cucina's Home-Made Italian Salami Workshop

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Multicultural Inspiration from... Italy

I've been very lucky to have grow up with such strong cultural influences and heritage. My mother's side of the family are Italian, as are my father's side. And I've been fortunate enough to have been raised on traditional Italian food and cooking. One of the big things we grew up learning to do was making the passata, or, tomato pasta sauce. My grandparents have done this every year for as long as I've been around, and much longer back that that. One of the other things they've always done has been to make their own salamis and sausages. 

So, when Agata asked me to come along to help out at one of her home-made Italian salami workshops, I jumped at the chance to get involved! Agata prepared a few bowls for the class participants, with a big of pork sausage mince.

To the mince, we added pepper...

... fennel seeds...

... and some salt.

Next to be added in were some chilli flakes and paprika of varying degrees of spice, depending on what each individual wanted their salami to taste like.

Mix it all up...

... and leave it to rest for a little while. In the mean time, the lovely Agata explains to the class a little history behind the whole process, and shares what the finished product will look (and taste!) like.

After a relax, a taste and some fresh mandarins from the garden, it's time to get back to work. Agata takes out the sausage skins and explains how they work and where to get them from (the deli, when you buy the mince)...

The sausage machine is plugged in and ready to go, and Agata explains how to stuff the mince into the casing. Once the cases have been rinsed of the salt, pour a little wine through it to lubricate it.

And into the machine with the mince mix, stuffing it gently, but firmly into the casing.

The dirty dishes and empty jars start to pile up...

... and we all gather round to learn to tie them up.

And there you have it! Home-made Italian salami! Ready to go in 6 - 8 weeks!

Have a look at the Amore Cucina website for more classes (including the ones I'll be teaching!) if you're interested :) Buon appetito!