In My Kitchen | April 2015

A quick peak into a few of the happenings of my kitchen for the month of April. 

Joining Celia of Fig Jam & Lime Cordial for a look at kitchens all around the globe.

In my kitchen was a large box of persimmons. We picked them up a few weeks ago from a farm-gate stall. They weren't certified organic but they were grown without any sprays or chemicals.
The farmer also runs Dorpers, the same sheep breed as ours, so what was supposed to be a quick stop at a farm turned into over an hour of chatting about holistic and natural farming and animal health. You really never know where things will lead!
Anyway, we managed to eat most of the persimmons as they ripened - a persimmon a day is such a delicious treat! But, as fruit tends to do, the last armful ripened super quick and all at once. Before I knew it they went from hard and pale to dark orange and soft!
Jam was the obvious solution.

This jam may not be the prettiest colour in the world, but it sure does taste good. It's called Persimmon Lemon Jam, made with three simple ingredients - persimmons, lemon and rapadura (or sugar, for the regular cook). Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it.
I cut down the sugar a far bit in mine as I wanted to be able to taste the fruit and don't mind the tang of lemon, and I'm glad I did as the resulting jam was still quite sweet. I cooked mine as per the instructions but for some reason it hasn't set, despite passing the "spoon test". Go figure.
It's lovely and thick though, somewhere between a curd and a sauce, so it's still useful on toast, pancakes and scones. I like that it has those little flecks that resemble cinnamon throughout it from the persimmons.
I had just over a kilo of persimmon pulp and three medium jars is what resulted from my efforts. I'm quite pleased.

Yet another loaf of Spelt Sourdough. I've discovered how to make my baking efforts last longer. For some reason, no matter what size I make the loaf of bread, at least half of it gets eaten in the first day. So, instead of making one large loaf I now make two quite small ones. Half gets eaten on the first day, and the remaining loaf and a half lasts gets used as toast for most of the week. Perfect.

Pears are in season, and after seeing this delight be whipped up on River Cottage one evening, I knew I had to try it. Here's the recipe in case you'd like to, too.
This beautiful cake has become a fast favourite. It's been baked twice in the course of a week.
It's delicious warm but my preferred way of eating it is actually at room temperature or cold from the fridge. Once cold those soft caramelised pears taste like a kind of pear custard through the middle of the cake....delicious!
I'll just add here that I did tweak mine slightly - I used all Spelt flour as Almond Meal just seems to be something I never have on hand, and I added an extra pear as we've a bowl full that needed using. I also forgot to use a spring-form tin so had to serve it like an upside down cake, which didn't worry me at all.

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What's happening in your kitchen this month? It's the Easter long weekend, so no doubt there is chocolate eggs and bunnies in many houses. There is chocolate in our house, but that is nothing irregular; there's usually several bars of Loving Earth chocolate stored away in the pantry. Buying it bulk through a co-op makes it a bit more affordable, but means a certain amount of self control is required when there is over ten bars of chocolate in the house!

I hope you and your family enjoy this long weekend, and have a Happy Easter too! I'm looking forward to getting into the garden on the weekend. 

Have the best weekend lovelies!

Sarah x