Apples and Pears (cont)

In case you were wondering what I did with all those apples and pears .. well, firstly I made mulled spiced pears and figs for Christmas presents. This was one of those torn from a magazine recipes now creased and splattered over time. We had the bit over that wouldn't fit into the kilner jars while it was still warm with a little vanilla icecream. Remains to be seen if the other jars make it until Christmas and actually leave the building!

Mulled Spiced Pears and Figs

200ml white wine vinegar
400ml ruby port
250g soft light brown sugar
heaped tspn mixed spice
a cinnamon stick
7 pears, peeled and cored and cut into 8 wedges
250g ready to eat dried figs, cut into halves

Put the vinegar, port and 200ml water in a pan with the sugar and spices. Stir, bring to the boil, then simmer for 35mins. Add the pears, bring back to the boil and cook for 2-3mins. Transfer the pears to a bowl and stir in the figs. Boil the liquid in the pan for about 10-15mins until halved in volume. Pack the fruit tightly into sterilised jars, top up with the syrup and seal.

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And I made these apple soul cakes from a marvellous apple recipe post at Tales of a Kitchen Herbwife (thankyou, Sarah!). We had them still warm from the oven with mugs of tea while watching fireworks outside on Bonfire Night. I had been reading about soul cakes and the tradition of leaving little cakes outside the front door to appease any wandering souls on Halloween, so was really excited to stumble across this recipe.

Apples and Pears

We have been blessed this week with a rather wonderful crate brimming with apples and pears from mum-in-law's garden. Its been a bumper crop for both this year and I've been busy devising more and more schemes to make the most of them, having distributed the bounty as far and wide as possible amongst friends and neighbours. One of the things I love about this time of year and its abundance is the passing on of tips and recipes for storing, freezing, preserving and baking of produce.. I am learning so much. We eat a lot of porridge in the winter, so I have stewed and frozen plenty of fruit to put on top. We only have a small freezer, though .. already made a huge batch of chutney, so looking up new recipes. Please share yours if you know some good ones?

Have found this book from the Soil Association invaluable this year as it has good illustrations of the different varieties of fruit and vegetables and tells which are best for which sorts of thing. Also, as well as full-blown recipes, it has lots of quick and easy ideas for enjoying produce simply (which is ideal when you have a glut and aren't able to spend too many hours in the kitchen!), such as yesterday's upside down cake (recipe to follow)

Pear and Ginger Upside Down Cake

Thickly butter an 8'' sandwich tin and sprinkle liberally with light soft brown sugar.
Lay peeled, cored pear halves attractively on top (I did slices).
Beat 4oz each softened butter, light soft brown sugar, wholemeal SR flour with 2 tspns ground ginger, 1tsp baking powder and 2 eggs.
Spread over the pears.
Bake at 190degreesC(375degreesF/Gas 5) for 20 minutes until just firm.
Turn out.