Braised red cabbage loveliness x

Hello Friends,
I'm still trying to get on top of our apple glut....& not very successfully, I might add. So far this autumn, I've made apple, cider & chilli jelly, apple & mint jelly, apple chutney, apple & ginger chutney, iced apple & ginger buns, apple muffins, blackberry & apple crumble, apple sauce, Norwegian apple cake, apple & ginger loaf cake, blackberry & apple gin, loads of brown sauce and 2 batches of braised red cabbage with apples. That's a lot of apples used.....& doesn't even include the two apples I've been eating most days & the basket of individually wrapped fruits I've put to store.. Now, it's free food, grown entirely by ourselves without the use of chemical nasties, so I  don't want to sound as though I'm not grateful for nature's bounty, but it's the end of November, & I still can't see the end in sight. These are currently awaiting use in the kitchen........

.......there are already more windfalls on the ground ready to collect, & there are still more apples on the tree. 

I do love to make jams & jellies, etc, but the pantry already looks like this..............

.......and that's without the jars I've given away! Well, it's officially Braised Red Cabbage Season now, which is a Double Good Thing: 1) Each batch uses up a lb of apples 2) Braised red cabbage is very nice, if cooked as below, so is very useful for people who consider the mere presence of sprouts on their plate to be utterly ruinous to Christmas dinner. Red cabbages are in season right now - 50p each on the farm stall on our local market......and only 8 food miles!

I pretty much use Delia Smith's recipe for my braised red cabbage, but I usually kick in an extra apple or two, double up on the garlic & replace a third of the vinegar with my own home made blackberry vinegar. Also, not many of us generally have a whole nutmeg kicking around, so I just use 1/4 tsp of ground. Cider vinegar is also fine, if that's what you've got. Unlike Delia, I always make mine in my Slow Cooker, so it kind of takes care of itself. Leave yourself more time to do all the chopping than you think you'll need. If you're thinking you've just got time to get it all prepped & into the slow cooker before you go & get glammed up for a night out.......you really haven't, unless you socialise with people who will genuinely enjoy the vague aura of cabbage clinging about your person.

The easiest way to tackle the prep is to have a big bowl into which you put the finely sliced red cabbage, a 2nd bowl for the chopped onion & apples, then a small bowl for the brown sugar/spice/garlic mix. Then get the salt & pepper ready & you are ready to layer it all into the pot.

Just ram it all into your slow cooker, aim for around 5 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low and remember to stir it a couple of times throughout. It will break down into a cauldron of gloopy purple gorgeousness & your house will smell of Autumn.

Braised red cabbage freezes brilliantly, so divvy it up & get any spare supplies into the freezer. Great addition to Christmas dinner for confirmed sprout-dodgers such as myself! Can also recommend it with sausages, leek mash & home made onion gravy. Never tried making it? Give it a go. Especially if you are also trying to use up a glut of apples.

Now, I'm not wishing to sound snipey here.....I am very much a cat lover as most people know, but I couldn't help noticing that whereas by 9.30 this morning, I had done the usual daily chores, plus a not insignificant basket of ironing, been down to the veggie garden to check for any problems, walked to the post box, made some bread dough & cleared my email inbox, THIS was Albert Whiskers impressive contribution to the daily smooth running of The People & Cat's Republic:

He's on a sulk this morning because I'm afraid the 'Love food, hate waste' policy in place here at 'Hagstones' also extends to cats, meaning that last night's wasted meat & biscuits have been served up again for breakfast. This has gone down like the proverbial lead brick & he's now staging a blanket related protest.

Well, my coffee's gone cold, which can only mean it's time to get the kettle on the hob again. Hope everyone's having a good week.
Till next time,
C x

Love your leftovers!

Hi Friends,
I've been absent for a while enjoying wonderful Wiltshire & wandering among lots of these.....

A truly lovely break, visiting the Rollright Stones & Stonehenge as well as Avebury, which is where we stayed. I always think the light is really interesting & special for walking during Autumn......but despite our great week in a truly mystical landscape, standing stones are not the theme of this week's blog.........for while the Big Hairy One was at large with his camera on this particular walk, I was back at the old cottage with my sleeves rolled up, enthusiastically dismantling a chicken to make a hearty post-walk dinner. Yes, LEFTOVERS. YAY!!  One of my specialist subjects!

Shortly before our Avebury trip, I heard that I had won a competition run by Lincolnshire Co-op in conjunction with WRAP. The competition involved devising a recipe using ingredients which are frequently thrown away. There were 4 compulsory ingredients : Carrots, cream, bread & cheese. The rules allowed seasoning, plus 2 ingredients of the competitor's choice, but nothing else. Well, people who know me well will know that the stupid, immoral levels of food waste in this country really winds me up. It seems ridiculous that when so many people are reliant on food banks (got to give Cameron & the Gideot credit for the growth of that sorry sector.....), other households are chucking food out because they can't be bothered to use it, they've over-bought & because we've become too reliant on fairly meaningless 'best before' dates rather than using common sense. Hard to imagine our Nanas chucking out a perfectly serviceable loaf of bread or bag of spuds because of a date on a sticker, isn't it? I think people have become seriously de-skilled in this area.......it's easy to tell if bread is past its best because it's either hard & stale (which makes it perfect for breadcrumbs or bruschetta) or it's got mould on it....(which would make nasty grey furry breadcrumbs & perfectly horrid bruschetta, so don't bother!) I recently bought a big bag of apples which had been marked down to 30p. I asked why & was told that they were 'on the best before date'. Eh? For apples? Apples are good till they get withered, & even then they can be made into apple sauce, muffins, stuffings, etc. I handed over my 30p & those apples were still perfectly good & completely unwrinkled over two weeks later. 

According to the Love food, Hate waste campaign, the most commonly wasted foods in the UK are bread, milk, potatoes, fizzy drinks, apples, cheese, rice & pasta, ham, tomatoes & yoghurt.  Fizzy drinks could perhaps be made in smaller cans, but the other foods on this list are easy to use in a variety of dishes & baking for the freezer, if not required immediately. What a big fat silly waste of resources & money! 

Anyway, back to my recipe. I spent a couple of days pondering cheesy carrotty combinations which were also creamy & crumby, decided to add potatoes & onion as my additional allowable ingredients, plus salt, pepper & sage, and concocted a Creamy Carrot & Potato Bake. To everyone who has asked me for the recipe, sorry it took me so long - I had stone circles to visit - Here's a link to the Lincolnshire Co-op article where it is featured. I won £50 of vouchers, which were promptly used to top up our sad looking wine rack.

Albert Whiskers had his first stay in the village cattery while we were away & didn't seem too nonplussed.....& there were 'Dreamies'. One thing he DID like about coming home was that his tight-wad owners had decided it was time to put a bit of heating on! 

This was his first night in front of the fire. Clearly better than roaming those tough streets of Eastwood, eh?
Till next time,
C x