Farmersgirl Kitchen

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Homemade Seville Orange Marmalade

I really only like homemade marmalade and have been making marmalade since I was in my early 20s. My mum always made her own marmalade and used to put the peel through the mincer, I would help by turning the handle. When I spoke to her at the weekend she was planning to make some marmalade and bemoaning the fact that she no longer has that mincer!

I managed to source some Seville Oranges and turned to my old favourite recipe from Home and Freezer Digest (regular readers will have worked out by now that I learnt a lot of my cooking from this little magazine published in the 1980s and 90s) I usually chop the peel in the food processor for home consumption, but this time I am entering a jar of marmalade in the World's Original Marmalade Awards and Festival 2nd & 3rd March 2013

This prestigious preserves contest, held at Dalemain in Cumbria, attracts thousands of entries from all over the world. Everyone who sends in a jar gets their marmalade tasted by a panel of expert judges and then gets sent a personalised mark card with feedback on how the marmalade can be improved - or if they are lucky a gold, silver or bronze award. Judges for 2013 include Pam Corbin and the WI.

My friends Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Sue at A little bit of Heaven on a Plate are also entering the awards and you can read more about their marmalade making adventures on their blogs.

Seville Orange Marmalade

Makes 9lb (4kg)

2lb (900g) Seville oranges

4pt (2.3l) water

1 lemon

4lb (1.80kg) sugar

1. Wipe and cut the oranges in half, squeeze out juice an pips. Put pips in a muslin or stockinette bag and tie.

2. Put orange juice in pan with water and lemon juice.

3. Slice peel thinly and add to the pan with pips. Simmer about 1 1/2 hours until peel is soft and liquid reduced by half.

4. Take out bag of pips and squeeze out any liquid into pan. Stir in sugar over low heat until dissolved. Boi8l rapidly to setting point.

5. Cool 15 minutes in pan, stir well, our into warm, clean jars. Cover, seal, label. Store in a cool dry place.

I suspect my marmalade is a little too set to win any competitions but the taste is phenomenal, the tart orange flavour bursts onto your tongue and stays with you for some time after eating. It's not too sweet and I'm really rather pleased with it!

Marmalade is perfect for breakfast so why not try to make some for Farmhouse Breakfast Week. There are lots of ideas for breakfast on the Shake Up your Wake Up website. You can follow @breakfastweek on Twitter and tweet a picture of your breakfast every day with the hash tag #BreakfastWatch. You can also post your photos to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

If you are cooking or baking your breakfast between now and 24th February, remember to link up to Breakfast Club and the good news is...Helen of Fuss Free Flavour s has arranged for one lucky Breakfast Clubber to win a Sharpham Park Breakfast Hamper containing:

Sharpham Park Crunchy Spelt Bran Flakes

Sharpham Park Crunchy Spelt Bran Flakes with Berries

Sharpham Park Crunchy Spelt Bran Flakes with Dates and Walnuts

Sharpham Park Multigrain Flakes

Sharpham Park Multigrain Fruit & Fibre Flakes

Sharpham Park Organic Wholegrain Spelt Flour

Sharpham Park Organic White Spelt Flour

Sharpham Park Organic Baker's Blend Spelt Flour

Sharpham Park Organic Spelt Flour

All you have to do is link your cooked or baked breakfast blog post to the Breakfast Club and we will choose one Breakfast Club entrant by Random Number Generator when the Breakfast Club ends on 24th February.

Labels: breakfast, Breakfast Club, Breakfast Watch, cereal, Dalemain, Farmhouse Breakfast Week, marmalade, marmalade awards, Seville Oranges, Sharpham Park

Fruity Porridge in a Flask for Breakfast Week

A lot of people who don't eat breakfast say that they don't have time in the morning. This super tasty porridge in a flask takes only a few minutes to make before you go to bed and it's ready to eat when you get up next morning.

The original recipe for this is Slow Cooked Vanilla Spice Oatmeal from 'Pure Vanilla' by Shauna Sever, which I blogged about last November. But I've made some changes this time, leaving out the vanilla and adding a bit more cinnamon and mixed spice and an additional 1/3 cup of mixed luxury dried fruits.

Fruity Porridge in a Flask

Serves 2

1/2 cup steel-cut oats

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg

1 pinch ground mixed spice

1/3 cup dried fruit, chopped

1 3/4 cups milk

Combine all ingredients in a jug; add 1 3/4 cups milk and stir to blend. Cook in the microwave until the milk is steaming. Pour it into the vaccum flask and close the lid. Leave overnight.

In the morning, open the flask and you'll find that the porridge has cooked and the fruit plumped up. You might need to blast it for 30 seconds in the microwave to warm it up a bit more as it tends to be a bit luke warm first thing. But the texture of steel cut oats is nothing like sloppy instant oatmeal and the flavour of the the spices and fruits is infused into the oats.

I served my porridge with banana and a sprinkle of cinnamon, but you can add cream, yogurt, nuts and any other fruits you enjoy.

It's Farmhouse Breakfast Week all this week and there are loads of breakfast ideas on the Shake Up your Wake Up website.

You can follow @breakfastweek on Twitter and tweet a picture of your breakfast every day with the hash tag #BreakfastWatch. You can also post your photos to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

As this is a 'cooked' breakfast I'm adding it to Breakfast Club, if you make a cooked or baked breakfast you can join us until 24th February.

Labels: breakfast, Breakfast Club, Breakfast Watch, Porridge, Pure Vanilla, Shake up your Wake Up, vacuum flask

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Fruit Salad for National Farmhouse Breakfast Week

I received a lovely hamper from Shake Up Your Wake Up for National Farmhouse Breakfast Week.

It had loads of great breakfast ideas from instant porridge to breads, preserves, granola and a big pile of fruit. I enjoy a bowl of fruit salad whether it's summer or winter, sometimes on it's own or topped with greek yogurt or granola. Or you can put some fruit salad on to your cereal. Anything goes, but if you are using banana or apple, you will need to mix them with a little lemon juice to stop them from going brown. The Kiwi fruit is a really good addition to a fruit salad and Kiwifruit is high in vitamin C, Vitamin K, a good source of fibre and vitamen E. (Wikipedia)

Another great breakfast idea came in the form of this Warrens Original Cornish Saffron Cake, it makes really delicious toast to eat after your fruit salad with honey or a thin (healthy) scrape of butter. Cornish Saffron bread is promoted as part of the 'Real Cornish Breakfast Initiative' which aims to encourages people to buy from local producers and eat local. Cornwall is a long way from Scotland, but I have happy memories of a student summer job in St Ives when we would buy saffron cakes from the local bakers.

You can follow @breakfastweek on Twitter and tweet a picture of your breakfast every day with the hash tag #BreakfastWatch. You can also post your photos to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Many thanks to Shake up your Wake up and National Farmhouse Breakfast Week for the hamper of breakfast ingredients, I have not been paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Breakfast Watch, Cornwall., Fruit Salad, Kiwi Fruit, National Farmhouse Breakfast Week, Saffron Cake

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Farmersgirl Kitchen

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Homemade Seville Orange Marmalade

Seville Orange Marmalade

Fruity Porridge in a Flask for Breakfast Week

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Fruit Salad for National Farmhouse Breakfast Week

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