Some lovely edible inspiration from The National Garden Scheme
Although the NGS is best known for opening inspirational private gardens and serving great tea and cake, many of its garden owners are passionate vegetable growers too! Here are three seasonal recipes to help you preserve all the delicious tastes of summer well into the winter.
Seasonal courgette chutney
If you have a glut of courgettes this September, this chutney is the perfect solution. This recipe will make roughly 1.5kg and is delicious served with cold meats or used to jazz up a sandwich.
Ingredients
- 750g courgettes – sliced
- 1.5 tbsp salt
- 250g ripe tomatoes – skinned & chopped
- 125g chopped onions
- 125g sultanas
- 1 tbsp coarsely grated orange zest
- 500g light brown sugar
- 350ml cider vinegar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 50g chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Put the courgettes into a colander and sprinkle with salt, leaving for two hours then rinse & pat dry
- Then add courgettes to a preserving pan with the remaining ingredients with the exception of the walnuts and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer until thickened & then add in the chopped walnuts.
- Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.
A special thank you to National Garden Scheme volunteer, Christine Sanderson, for sharing this family recipe.
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Festive chilli apple jelly
Garden owner of Manor Lodge in Hampshire, Janine, has shared another delicious seasonal recipe with us. Get ready for the festive period by making some chilli apple jelly which goes perfectly with pork, gammon and also dried meats and cheese. You could even gift it as a present to friends/family.
Ingredients
- Approx 2kg various apples (can be any type including damaged/windfalls) but make sure to cut out any bad bits and skin blemishes
- 500ml water
- Juice of one lemon
- One fresh hot chilli pepper
- Jam sugar
Instructions
- Sterilise jar(s) by washing well, drying and baking in a moderate heat oven for 20 minutes – be careful – leave to cool.
- Put chopped apples, 500ml of water and the lemon juice into a large saucepan and cook until the apple turns to mush. Be careful not to let it catch on the pan bottom by stirring intermittently.
- Strain the apple mush through a jelly bag, clean muslin or old clean cotton tea towel (it will stain so don’t use one you are attached to). Leave overnight. Do not be tempted to squeeze to get more juice as you will not get a clear jelly.
- At this stage you will end up with cloudy juice which you need to measure.
- Put juice in a large clean saucepan, add jam sugar (measure 100g for each 100ml of cloudy apple juice) and whole fresh chilli pepper.
- Bring slowly to the boil – this is where the cloudy mixture suddenly clears like magic! Boil until a jam thermometer reaches 217-22 F / 103-106 C, as per jam making or until a small spoon of the mixture forms a wrinkle on a cold plate from the freezer when you push it with your finger.
- Remove the whole chilli and discard seeds, add chopped flesh back to the jelly to taste (I use about 1/2).
- Pour jelly into still warm sterile jars, seal, label and store. Refrigerate when jars have been opened otherwise can be stored in a cool cupboard or larder. Enjoy with roast pork, gammon or with cold meats and cheese.
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Tomato, ginger and chilli jam
Ingredients
- 450g ripe chopped tomatoes
- 3 red chillies
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 thumb sized piece of ginger
- 30ml fish sauce
- 280g caster sugar
- 120ml red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Puree chillies, garlic, ginger and fish sauce in a blender.
- Place the puree, sugar and vinegar into a stainless-steel saucepan.
- Add the tomatoes and slowly bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Cook gently for 30-40 minutes, stirring every now and then to prevent sticking.
- Pour into warm, sterilised jars and store in the fridge once cooled.
For more delicious seasonal recipes, and to find out about some of the show-stopping National Garden Scheme gardens open this autumn near you see www.ngs.org.uk
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