Making marrow and chilli spicy pickle

We make a lot of pickles and jams of fruits and vegetables in season; enough to see us through the year and to gift a few jars to friends and family. We came across this wonderful pickle last year after being given a jar by our friend Cal. We were given another jar this year which prompted us to have a go at making it.

Cal and Rob brought us some wonderful chillies from their plant and together with home-grown marrows, further chillies from our plot and some bought fruit, ginger and sugar, we were ready to get hot in the kitchen.

We made double quantities to this recipe and eagerly await for it to mature. We compared the taste with Cal's as we adapted the recipe by adding more fruit and slightly less chilli. We also chopped the ginger very finely and left it in whereas Cal removed hers after cooking; cooking time was reduced. They are strikingly similar of course but there is a difference in when the heat strikes but both are sweet and spicy; wonderful.

We of course sampled it with freshly cooked tortilla and sautéed peppers and, again with some cheese and crackers. Absolutely delicious. I can't wait to try it with a fruit and veg based curry. Have a go and maybe adapt it to your own tastes.

HOT MARROW AND CHILLI CHUTNEY

2 kilos finely chopped and de-seeded marrow

3-6 hot chillies to personal taste

2 kilos soft brown sugar

300mls of vinegar

60 gm fresh ginger

60 gm fresh garlic

120-240 gm raisins

40 gm salt

1. Gently simmer marrow and sugar for approximately one hour.
2. Add finally chopped chillies, garlic and raisins plus the salt and vinegar.
3. Add chopped bruised ginger
4. Boil gently until thick – approximately 2+; depends on sugar used and moisture content.

5. Leave or remove ginger and bottle.

Making Piccalilli from home-grown vegetables

It's that time of the year again when the lure of Piccalilli can be heard calling from the green tomatoes, cucumber, celery, cauliflower, onion and green peppers. You cannot beat a home-made piccalilli relish for bringing to life savoury dishes, cheese, rices, tagines or meat (if you eat it).

Much to my surprise and delight, I found two jars in the store room just the other day. They are from last year's batch and still wonderfully fresh and crisp. We just couldn't resist opening one. Enjoyed with chestnut stuffed marrow last night for dinner.

The recipe I use is one which has been in our family for at least 5 generations. I have still to taste one that can beat it. They don't sell mustard powder in Spain so I usually bring it back with me, along with several litres of malt vinegar, when I return from the UK.

We have published this recipe previously but felt it was worth repeating two years on. Let me know how you get on with it if you decide to make it. We usually double this quantity.

Piccalilli

2 cauliflowers

1 cucumber

2 lb of shallots or onion

2 lb of green tomatoes

1 head of celery

About 6 lb of vegetable in total. Chop all the vegetables into small pieces. The cauliflower should be broken into small sized florets and if small enough, the shallots left whole. Soak overnight in a brine solution made with 8 pints of water and 1/2 lb of salt.

The following day, drain and rinse well, leave to drain whilst you make the sauce.

4 oz of mustard powder
1/2 oz of Turmeric
1 lb sugar (can be reduced if necessary)
2 1/2 pints of vinegar
1 cup of plain flour

Make a sauce with all the ingredients, thicken with the flour and gently bring to the boil to cook out the flour. Be careful not to burn the sauce, stir constantly. Add the dry vegetables and bring to the boil and immediately remove from the heat. Cover and leave to cool. Bottle and seal in sterilised jars the following day and label. Hide from everyone except your best friends....

Growing and pickling peppers

There are many pepper varieties to chose from. Here at La Pasera we tend to concentrate our efforts on those varieties that grow well during the humid Summer months we get so close to the coast. The peppers we grow are old varieties traditionally grown on the north coast.

Isla peppers is a variety that originates in Cantabria and produces rather fleshy and very sweet fruits even before they ripen and become red. The other variety is a very mild and pleasant chilli pepper called Guernica from the Basque country; delicious even raw. This year we were given some Cayenne peppers for us to germinate that we intend to dry and use in cooking.

We like our peppers and have fine-tuned the variety and methods by which we grow and preserve them.
Peppers are slow to germinate and more so this early in the season without a heated propagator or greenhouse. Our pepper season commenced a few days ago when we started germinate the seeds by soaking then in water for 12 hours after which we cover then with a wet tea towel in a closed plastic container. We wait until they start showing signs of sprouting before sowing in compost and placing against a warm and sunny wall.

We grow enough plants to provide us with fresh pepper for use in cooking and to eat raw when in season during late Summer and early Autumn. With the glut of chilli peppers and ripe Isla peppers we bottle some and dry the remainder to use in stews, salads and cooking throughout the year.

To pickle the Isla pepper or any other red and fleshy varieties you need to fill the jars with the washed and cut pieces before filling up the jar with a pickling fluid containing 4 table spoons of vinegar and 2 table spoons of sugar per litre of water to which we add spices to taste. Making sure the peppers are fully covered, seal the jars and Bain Marie for 15 minutes. Once cool, store the jars in a cool dark larder and use over the next 12 months.

To pickle the chilli peppers: To vinegar add a few pepper corns, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, paprika and some olive oil. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes. Then scald the chillies for about 1 to 2 minutes depending on how tender they are. Drain and bottle without cooling them. Fill up the jars with 3 parts of the boiled vinegar and 1 part of boiled but cold water and cover the peppers completely and start using after 1 month in storage. No need to preserve using a Bain Marie. They can be used in cooking or eaten straight from the jar as an accompaniment with hearty soups or with salads.