When your online grocery order goes haywire and they deliver twice the fruit you ordered, it becomes, in autumn, a harvest festival. If this lot doesn't ward off seasonal depression/the common cold, I don't know what will.

Spicy Apple Chutney

We have three apple trees in the garden. This year, the tall pole shaped tree produced zero apples, the one spread against the wall produced one apple, and the third, a classic crooked old tree, produced lots. They're all mutant shapes with lumps and pock marks, so perfect for chutney. I made this batch with windfalls, having to fight our Pug Treacle for them, she loves an apple of any variety.

I used Nigella's recipe for the apple chutney, which you can find in her Domestic Goddess book. I always do double quantity. If you're going to stink the house out with the smell of boiling vinegar, you might as well make as much as possible in the process.

The smell was contained more than normal due to the use of the Rayburn. After the initial boiling, I cooked the chutney in the oven at gas mark 4, and then finished it on the hot plate to reduce it further.

I sterilised the jars by washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing and then drying them in the bottom oven while the chutney cooked, and I am pleased to say they all gave that satisfying pop as the vacuum sealed. I felt smug.

You can see that double quantity isn't that many jars.  I used smallish jars to make gift sized quantities. Still only used about 2% of my empty jam jar collection, much to husband's annoyance. 

Cocktail of the Month

The Ashgrove

This cocktail was invented to christen the house, so to speak. Whenever someone comes round for the first time, they are offered one of these.

1/2 oz lime juice. (You can use either freshly squeezed or Roses lime cordial)
1/2 oz Cointreau
2 oz Gin (Plymouth is our 'house' gin.)

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker with ice, shake hard, then serve in a chilled martini glass. Garnish with an orange wedge, wiping the wedge around the rim of the glass first. Lime cordial gives an expectedly sweeter version. You'll have to try both.

I recently made oregano pesto, mainly to enable the opportunity to hack back something in the overgrown herb patch. I found the recipe from another blog, so can't pretend to have made it up myself. You can find it here. I didn't sterilise my two jars, and found that the pesto went brown quite quickly. I don't know if this was linked. I kept them both in the fridge and they tasted fine.

My lifetime friend Yvonne lives in the idyllic seaside village of Cellardyke in Fife. Her next door neighbour Steve, a fisherman, gave me a carrier bag full of frozen line caught mackerel, the last time I was there. Of course my first stop was to cook it in the traditional Scottish way Steve'd shown me that morning. Rolled in oats and fried in butter. Unbeatable. A pinch of seasoning, sweet smoked paprika, and a few minutes in the pan, you'll wonder how Mr Kellogg ever made his millions.

With mackerel fillets filling our freezer, Mark made a variation on the Delia recipe of baked mackerel with pesto and mashed potato. Of course he used the oregano pesto. Delicious. You can find her recipe here.

Our version doesn't look quite as professional as hers but tasted amazing.

Cocktail of the Month

My husband Mark spends many an hour inventing and drinking cocktails at home. We don't get out much. With the rhubarb compote to hand, he decided to make a rhubarb based cocktail. This one is based on a 'Knickerbocker', but with the all important addition of rhubarb compote. Another one we tried which only involves one other ingredient is our south west Edinburgh take on the 'Bellini', the 'Balerni'. (Arf)

The Rhubocker
2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
2 tsps Rhubarb Compote

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard. Serve in a chilled martini glass.

The Balerni
Put 1-2 tsp rhubarb compote at the bottom of a champagne glass. Top up halfway with either champagne, prosecco or cava. Stir carefully with a swizzle stick, then fill the rest of the glass with bubbly. If you have enough of them it counts towards your five a day.

Here's a picture of the compote. I realise the colours aren't quite done justice, but please don't let that put you off.

Here's a couple of pics of the Victoria sponge. I used a mixture of whipped double and clotted cream in the filling alongside the compote. In hindsight I would have made the compote a bit tarter for using in the sponge as I like a bit of the sweetness cut through - it means you can eat more without feeling sick.

Rhubarb Rhubarb

So rhubarb has been the only successful vegetable in the garden this year thus far, and that's because it took it upon itself to come up again this spring, and keep coming up after I picked it. Any vegetables waiting for me to cultivate them have had a long wait. 
Anyway, I've had quite a few successful batches of rhubarb and ginger ice cream over the summer, even impressed a friend. The final crop of rhubarb sat in the ground for far too long, and I only picked it last week. The snails had had their fill and it took a machete like blow to cut through it, but after a night in the Rayburn simmering oven, an afternoon in the roasting oven and a good whizz in the blender, the most delicious compote was born.

Rhubarb and Ginger Ice Cream
500g Rhubarb stems, washed and cubed
250g Sugar
Heaped tsp ground ginger
150-200ml double cream

Simmer the rhubarb, sugar and ginger together until soft and pulpy, stirring occasionally.
Leave to cool.
Mix in the double cream and set your ice cream maker a-whirring. Empty into the ice cream maker and churn until nearly frozen. Transfer to your designated tupperware and either freeze for a further hour, or eat in semi freddo state. Enjoy!

Old Rhubarb Compote
Wash, chop and weigh your end of season rhubarb stems, then transfer to a heavy based casserole type dish with a lid. Add half your rhubarb weight in lovely brown sugar (ideally Barbados, otherwise Demerara).
Stir briefly, put the lid on and transfer to your Rayburn simmering oven overnight.
Transfer to the roasting oven the next day, but don't raise the oven temperature from the 'idling' setting. Sometime that afternoon/evening take the rhubarb out of the oven and whizz it with a hand held blender. Watch it transform from insipid lumpy murk to a rich fruity compote before your eyes. If it's still a bit fibrous you could sieve it at this stage.
You can eat this on its own with a spoon, with plain yogurt, vanilla ice cream or as a jam substitute. I'm going to use some as an alternative Victoria sponge filling with some whipped cream.