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| A selection of applicious goodies |
As part of the Hertford Food and Drink Festival the Hertford Transition group holds Apple Day; where (oddly enough) there are many apple delights to sample. I'm loosely allied to the group and volunteered to make a few bits and pieces for this years Apple Day (11th October - yesterday at the time of writing). Apples were picked mid September from trees volunteered by a local supporter in Wareside and I've been beavering away to make apple, pear, apricot and brazil nut mincemeat, apple and mint jelly, brambly apple jam and a rather fab apple butter.
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| Apple tasting and juicing with Transitions |
At dawn,ok 930 ish, yesterday I helped set up the Quaker hall and garden for Transition Apple Day then I hopped off to the Hertford Foodswap. If you've never swapped before I can highly recommend it as I generally come back with interesting goodies of everything from salad to homemade wine/beer to cake. This week I picked up a rye bread that someone had made for me (I can't eat wheat but rye, spelt etc are ok), fresh herbs, cakes, flapjacks and of course beer. Currently the swap is looking for a permanent home (any places that have a room or area spare on a Sat morning once a month?) where it can be held on a regular day per month as we've been chopping and changing due to fitting in with the schedule at the Hertford Museum. After a good chat and swap we then headed back to the Quaker Hall to try some different varieties of apple plus freshly pressed apple juice. A quick trip round the farmers market followed (including purchasing an enormous pumpkin) then we ran over to McMullins' brewery for a special 6 course lunch in the tasting kitchen.
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| And so it begins.... |
I've been in two minds as to whether to publicise just how fantastic this meal was as I'd like to do it next year and don't want to be trampled in the rush for tickets. We were welcomed to the chef's table in the testing and development kitchen by our host Paul who poured a generous libation of a dry and eminently quaffable Prosecco while regaling us with the history of the brewery together with tasting notes for the wine. Lee, chef extraordinare, laboured in the kitchen loving preparing every course to perfection
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| Lee putting finishing touches to the first of six courses |
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| Scallop Ceviche |
I'm not intending to list every course but two that really stood out were the 'mushroom ccappuccino' and the blade of beef; I'd been somewhat sceptical about the former but when I broke through the tasty cream to an intense mushroom soup underneath I have to admit I was completely bowled over. The beef was also perfect, well cooked, superbly spiced with a lingering hint of cinnamon.
Each course was accompanied by a wine and four courses also had a beer accompaniment; all of which were expanded upon by Paul. By the desert wine (and beer) I have to admit to feeling somewhat squiffy and extremely full but a quick tour around the brewery (where my husband experienced 'mash tun envy) soon put paid to that.
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| Proof of the proverbial in a brewery! |
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| Mincemeat before the overnight soak |
So, recipes: only the mincemeat one for now as the tale of yesterday has taken a lot of space. Having tasted the plum mincemeat I decided to make a huge vat of apple mincemeat with the adapted recipe below. We now have what can be described as a mincemeat mountain and have been working our way through it eating it with creme fraiche, vanilla icecream and just with a spoon as well as in traditional pies. It's also been spectacular added into a crumble to zing up the fruit and I'm working up to having a bash at strudel in the near future.
Apple and Ginger Mincemeat
2kgs apples
1kgs pears (chopped into 1/2 cm cubes)
600 gms dried apricots
600 gms juicy raisins
200 gms ginger jar
500 gms demerara sugar
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1 nutmeg
200 gms brazil nuts (chopped finely)
100 ml whisky
100 ml brandy
Peel and core the apples then cook in a drop of water until soft. Puree with the cloves then add all other ingredients apart from the alcohol. Stick in the fridge overnight to combine.
Dollop into oven proof dishes after mixing in the alcohol; I halved the mincemeat and added the whisky to one half and the brandy to the other. Cook at 1/2 a reg for a couple of hours then turn up to mark 2 for a half an hour while sterilising jars (on the top shelf with the mincemeat on the lower ones). Leave to mature for as long as possible before eating (we had the first jar after a week but a few months are recommended!)
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| The health benefits of beer |
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