a different take on marmalade.

i am only too happy to have the breadmaking territory muscled in on if the results are as good as ed's focaccia. he keeps trying to convince me to make it, but i am sticking to my softly, softly approach to breadmaking. anyway, happy valentine's day and all that bollocks guys, i am reporting to you on a distinct and profound hangover, after three bottles of questionable chardonnay and some serious gossip (yes, ed, about you) with lady laura last night, as we had a 'kanye-tines' date. i bought her one of those godawful stuffed bears holding a heart, and she has called him kanye, and we failed at every aspect of the pub quiz other than sexually harassing the quizmaster. i am now sat here in my snowman pants (they say 'for your ice only', haaa) and drinking cup after cup of black coffee out of my i-graduated-from-portsmouth-and-all-they-gave-me-was-this-shitty-mug-that-advertizes-their-careers-service mug. all is therefore, right with the world.

so, my adventures in preserving continue, much to my mother's annoyance (she is freaking out over where to put the jars, and i'm all 'whatever, eat some then they'll disappear'). i am a bit annoyed actually; i ordered a preserving pan from amazon and it still has yet to turn up. it's been WEEKS people. i don't think amazon know who i am. so limited by the fact i have only a three litre pan at my disposal, and the fact i still cannot get my hands on any early rhubarb (which is actually starting to kill me inside a bit), i decided last week's preserving endeavour would have to be an exercise in reduction. i turned to my trusty river cottage preserves handbook, and let pam corbin guide me into making:

onion marmalade

100ml olive oil

2kg onions, peeled and finely sliced

200g demerara sugar,

150g redcurrant jelly

300ml cider vinegar

50ml balsamic vinegar

1 rounded tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper



heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add the onions. reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30-40 minutes or until the onions have collapsed and begun to colour. like this:

add the sugar and redcurrant jelly. increase the heat and continue to cook, stirring more frequently, for about 30 minutes until the mixture has turned a dark nutty brown and most of the moisture has been driven off.

take off the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before adding the vinegars (if you add vinegar to a red-hot pan it will evaporate in a fury of scorching steam). return to the heat and cook rapidly for another 10 minutes or so, until the mixture becomes gooey and a spoon drawn across the bottom of the pan leaves a clear track across the base for a couple of seconds. like this:

remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. spoon into warm, sterilized jars and seal with vinegar-proof lids. use within 12 months.

so. that was onion marmalade. not pictured is the massive jar that is already opened and in use. it might seem like an odd thing for a veggie to make, given that it is usually served with pate or cured meat, but it goes really well with cheese, and i can put away a lot of cheese. it is also useful for pepping up gravy, and veggie approximations of gravy need all the help they can get, in my opinion. one of the ways pam corbin recommends using it is swirled through pumpkin soup, and conveniently, my mother got excited at the supermarket and bought me one of the odd 'seasonal squash' specimens they are selling.

here he is. my friend lizzy has a habit of saying 'i love you but i don't know what you are!' a lot and never, in my opinion, has it been more relevant. i have no clue what type of squash this little guy is. it's skin was deep, burnt orange and it was shaped, as you can see, like one of the kremlin domes. lotta seeds, as you can see, but we'll get to that later. if anyone knows what the hell it is, answers on a postcard.

so, to make my soup, i roasted the squash in chunks in the oven, with toasted sesame oil, maple syrup, and a few cloves of garlic (i wonder who gave me the idea of roasting garlic with squash?). it probably took about a half hour. i then popped the squash and the squeezed out garlic into boiling veggie stock, let that be for about ten minutes, and pureed it. the results, were something like this:

i served it with my onion marmalade, and lightly toasted pieces of my homemade bread. i'm glad i went big on flavouring the squash, as it was a slightly watery specimen and wouldn't have done itself any favours as a classic creamed squash soup. here though, it was marvellous. and corbin is right, the tang of the onion marmalade worked amazingly with the sweet smokiness of this little orange bowful. it actually felt really good to know that everything on my plate was made by my fair hand, from start to finish. i love having this kind of working relationship with my food.

also, a note on the seeds: i hate wasting perfectly good food, so i usually roast my squash seeds with some seasoning. i almost always have a tub full of these in the kitchen to pick at as i cook in the winter months. i seasoned this batch with garam masala, coriander, chilli flakes, and rock salt:

it first dawned on me to do this when the ex was having a barbecue for some pompey cup final crap or whatever (back when they still existed, hah) and told me five minutes beforehand that we had a vegetarian coming (this was back in my carefree omnivore days). now, veggie burgers suck for the most part, but that did not stop me wishing we had some in the house. in a flash of inspiration i whipped up both the standard halloumi kebabs, and some foil wrapped squash wedges with chilli and cinnamon butter to roast in the coals. i was making couscous anyway, and was still at the stage of wanting to impress his caveman friends and their airhead girlfriends becauser i hadn't realized what a bunch of posturing tory twats they were, so i toasted the seeds in spices and use them to tart up the couscous. hostess with the mostest? you bet your ass i am.