• 400g Cherries
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 150ml Water
• 750ml Vodka.

In the absence of caster sugar, I substituted Golden Granulated Sugar and couldn’t resist adding extra cherries.  The recipe said to slit the cherries, but not cut in half.  It didn’t say anything about removing the stone.  I opted to use a £3 cherry pitting gadget from a local shop, which as well as removing the stones, leaves a couple of small slits behind in the fruit.  Dissolve the sugar in the water in a hot pan, add the de-stoned cherries.  When the sugar dissolves and juice starts to run, transfer the whole lot to your preserving jar and add the vodka.  I did sterilise the jars in a hot over, as if making jam, although I’m not sure you actually need to do this.  I used jars not bottles, as I didn’t have a bottle with a large enough neck to get the cherries in!

The recipe says to seal and leave for 4 weeks.  Many of the webpage comments suggest leaving it longer.  I’m hoping to keep at least one bottle until late September when hopefully, I’ll be able to drink a toast to the end of summer.

The remaining cherries went into the freezer, with the air sucked out of the bags using a straw.  Am not quite sure why the Internet suggested the pseudo-vacuum packed method, but it was good fun!

There are still so many cherries on the tree, it’s great to see so many birds, including many fledglings enjoying the fruit.  Although the tree blocks a large proportion of the sunlight from our garden, I think having a source of wonderful fruit on your doorstep is worth it.  My neighbours are talking about cutting the tree down.  I hope to dissuade them.

Belgian beer, chocolate, waffles and frites are marketed in Britain as traditional, high quality Belgian products.  For tourists, these products are also strongly pushed as souvenirs around the centre of Brussels.  It was disappointing to see so many of the same products on sale in Belgium as in Britain.  Notably, many of the same chocolates and beer brands crowd the shelves in expensive shops.  However, by looking a little deeper,  it is possible to find more exciting produce, at a nicer price too.

Beer

Many of the shops and bars have recognisable brands such as Chimay, Leffe, Hoegarden and Duval on sale – the same as in the UK.  There are however, a staggering array of other types of beer, including Amber ales (pale), the lighter Blonde beers, slightly sour or fruity Lambic beers, white wheat beer or one of many more.

Trappist Beers are manufactured by Monks and have some of the oldest and most traditional brewing methods.   Abbey beers are produced by breweries where the original Trappist monastery no longer exists, no longer brews or are just sometimes commercial attempts to imitate Trappist beers.  Although numbers have fallen, Belgium still boasts hundreds of small, independent breweries.
La Morte Subite (Sudden Death) is both a bar and a brewery, where the fourth generation of the family serve up a wonderful array of beers (nearly 30 to choose from) in the fabulous 1920′s style bar which has been home to the bar since 1928.

Alternatively, if in Bruges, why not try the Brugse Zot (Bruges Fool) brewed at De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) – Bruges last remaining family brewery.  Enjoy a tour of the brewery, grab some lunch or just sample the beer.  Periodically steaming piles of mashed hops/barley/wheat are ejected down a wooden chute and into a barrow.  The aroma reminds you that the place is a working brewery, if somewhat touristy.  The beer is a wonderful, light, crisp refreshing beer, ideal in the sunshine after pounding the inexhaustibly picturesque streets of Bruges.

Frites

It was surprising to learn that the Belgians take frites very very seriously.  None of this French Fries nonsense.  As with the waffles, mobile serveries and street hatches serve up low cost frites left right and centre.  Popular with locals and tourists alike, there always seems to be a queue.  Frites are cooked once then, re-fried before being served to you.  This adds extra crispness and a deep golden colour.  A theatrical process of tossing the frites high in the air is observed, portion by portion, to adequately mix in the salt.  Hence the queues as each portion is cooked up to order and served with ketchup and mayonnaise in a truly continental fashion.

Waffles & Chocolate

Waffles do seem to be present everywhere in Belgium.  The smell of hot waffles off the irons from street side serving hatches fills the air of many a street.  Dangerously delicious, the light, crispy waffles are uniformly good; most probably because of the huge volume produced meaning yours is almost always as fresh as can be.

There are an alarming array of chocolate shops dotted around the centre of Brussels and Bruges, making chocolate fresh on-site, all very expensive and seemingly reluctant to give out samples.  A box of 10-12 sophisticated little chocs could cost anything from €12-15 upwards in these shops, although the choice and more importantly, aroma is wonderful.  There didn’t seem to be anything particularly Belgian about the type (truffles, mousses, praline etc) or flavours (coffee, fruit, nuts etc) but they all boasted high cocoa content Belgian chocolate.  Perhaps the growth in ‘high end’ chocolates in the UK over the last few years means the novelty of the fine Belgian chocs is not what it once was.

Restaurants

Having somewhat patronisingly heard Belgian food described as Peasant food, there appeared be precious little of it around in Central Brussels at least.  Unsuprisingly, most restaurants around La Grande Place and the Lower City are very touristy, selling Mussel & Frites at very high prices (~€20 and somewhat disappointing).

For something a little more sedate, Place Saint Cathering, in the old docks area, offers a more relaxed environment.  Again the restaurants are on the pricey side of reasonable and generally not particarly inspring.
A good choice would be  L’Achepot in the Place Saint Catherine.  It offers reasonable value, aparrently more traditional food, including a good variety of fish and offal.  They have several Belgian beers to choose from and a nice terrace, slightly away from the busier main square.  Very informal and full of locals, the Rabbit fricasse was served up with all the offal and some good crusty bread.  The black pudding, servied with apple and mashed potato is a tempting dish for the less adventourous who want to have a traditional dish.

If you do fancy a spot of sea fishing, the best place to get information and book a trip is the Swansea Angling Centre, at Swansea Marina.  In there, you can get cards/leaflets for all the local fishing boat/charter trips.  Sightseeing & mackerel trips for about £25, 8hr Sea Bass fishing on a charter boat for £35 or mackerel trips for £15. 

Weather and other commitments meant that rather than go sea fishing, we opted to search for shell fish close to the cottage where we were staying.  The beach we were staying near was littered with razor clam shells.  We had read in the River Cottage Fish book that razor clams were tasty and delicious (and of course, free).   To “hunt” a razor clam, you search out their little burrow hole and sprinkle salt down it at low tide.  The clam tastes the salt, thinks the tide is coming in and pops their siphon up out of the sand, where upon you grab hold.  Pull too hard and it breaks off (but the clam grows a new one).  Then as the clam tries to dig, it will release its grip in the sand and you can slowly draw it out of the sand.  You can’t out dig razor clams as you can with other shell fish, because they dig downwards faster than you can.  That’s the theory, but lets just say I didn’t master the art of razor clamming.  

Having miserably failed at razor clammng, we switched our attention to a somewhat less mobile shellfish, Mussels.  At the Worms Head, at the south end of Rhosilli Bay, there were several million mussels to choose from.  The Worms Head is cut off from the mainland at high tide, so you must be careful to time your visit and not get cut off.  We okay-ed it with the coastguard station on the headland and ventured down onto the rocks.

The River Cottage Fish book is a tremendously useful book.  It has become my fish bible, with information about preparing, filleting, and cooking the fish, together with descriptions of the fish’s lifestyle and habitat.  My favourite part is that it discusses sustainable sources for the fish and indicates how sustainable different varieties are.  The book said Mussels spend their whole life living where they first land as tiny baby mussels.  That’s why some live on rocks which get exposed by the tide while others remain permanently submerged.  They spawn between May and August, so collecting is discouraged during this period.  That said, they are quite sustainable by comparison to other fish such as Haddock and Cod.  Make sure to collect more mature mussels, greater than 50mm in length.

As the photo shows, the ground was covered entirely with the shells of shellfish which had been eaten by birds.We filled a pot with enough mussels for a starter and headed back to the cottage. 

When driving around the Gower, we were taken aback by an intense smell of garlic in the air.  It came from wild garlic leaves growing by the side of the road.  Too good an opportunity to miss.  We stopped and collected some to go with our Mussels.

Mussels with Wild Garlic Leaves and Home Brewed Bitter

Soak the mussels overnight in sea water to allow them to purge out any sand or grit.  I didn’t have sea water, so just added a kilo of salt to the basin.  A tip is to add porridge oats as they irritate the mussels and make them filter out grit/sand faster.  You then wash the mussels, gently scraping off any barnacles or material stuck to the outside.  You slide a knife along the joint to remove the “beard” – fine silk like hairs with which the mussel anchored to the rock.

In butter, I softened some sliced onion and wild garlic leaves, collected from a hedgerow nearby.  Keep the heat low to avoid colouring the onion. 

Then I added a good slug of Matt’s Home Brew London Beer and a splash of vinegar (we only had rice vinegar, which we used).  When the mix started to steam, threw in the mussels.

You need to steam for 6-8 minutes, before serving up the mussels, shaking occasionally.  Because the mussels release any grit remaining inside them, you need to strain the liquor before serving it. 

I served up the mussels, discarding any which hadn’t opened, and garnished with the white wild garlic flowers.

I’ve never tasted such tender, sweet mussels.  The beer liquor was light and intense.  The wild garlic surprisingly pungent.  All in all it was a great success.  It was very satisfying to collect wild food.  You can’t get more fresh Mussels any other way.  There was almost no sand/grit in the Mussels, I think down to the lack of sediment at the Worm’s Head.

 Delicious.

I’ve been a fan of ‘real ales’ for a while now but I’ve always thought making your own would be a lot of effort. I used to help my Dad make wine from our home-grown grapes when I was younger, I always remember it as a long (and smelly) process, requiring quite a bit of effort (especially since I wasn’t really old enough to appreciate the benefits afterwards). I assumed beer would be the same and certainly not the kind of thing to attempt in a flat.

For my birthday I was given an exciting home-brewing kit by Belle and Paul. Not just any bit of kit though – The Brubox claimed to be easy and tasty as well as not making any mess or smell. The novel approach of the Brubox, is that everything happens in one container and box – you just simply add the ingredients provided and leave it. Another worry I had had was what I was going to do with the 10 litres plus of beer – we don’t have that much storage and don’t drink that frequently/heavily. Cunningly they’d bought it in advance of our group holiday!

Jenny was slightly worried by some of the warnings on the box, she had visions of it decorating the flat. As a result she reluctantly let me brew it in her bathroom, where minimal damage could be done. Also, it tends to be the coolest room in the flat with no windows and a hole under the bath linked to the roof (which we found out from some pigeon visitors!).

Another ingenious feature of the Brubox – the cardboard container has a perforated hole for the tap to poke out, should you wish to dispense straight from the box.

Digging into the package, there were three main components – the brewing vessel (which was cleverly folded up), a giant metal tin and a bag containing instructions, cleaner, rubber tubing, stick-on thermometer, packet of grain and hops, sachet of yeast and the cap/tap for the box.

Once everything was unpacked, I checked through the instructions. The first stage was to clean the brewing equipment which was easy enough – put the tubing in the box and add some cleaner and hot water. So far, so good – no mess, no smell.

The second step was to heat up the giant tin of malt extract in a saucepan of boiling water. Then in a jug, you needed to make a giant cup of ‘tea’ with the grain and hops bag. You then add both the ‘tea’ mixture and the malt extract to the Brubox. This bit was a little tricky – the box wasn’t that solid so I felt it needed two people to pour and stabilise it. It was also a little awkward to shake it all up.

You then leave the box to cool enough to add the yeast. We had to move the box from the kitchen to the bathroom which again was a little awkward since the 10kg box was fairly warm and a little wobbly. Once you add the yeast, you add the piping to the open tap and put the other end into a cup of water so only excess air escapes.

As the end of brewing approached, it dawned on me that I needed to work out how I was going to transport 10 litres of beer on holiday. I wasn’t sure whether transporting it in the brew box would mess the concotion up. After finally finding an email for Brupak that worked they told me that they wouldn’t recommend trying to move it in the box. I didn’t get a reply as to how long it might take to re-settle so I decided to just opt for the bottling approach.

Finding this out with a day to go, I realised I’d have to find somewhere to get bottles from. A quick search online brought up Arkwrights, a home-brew specialists in Highworth nearby. We popped along on May-day weekend. We’d never thought there was much in Highworth, but we were pleasantly surprised – it even had a surreal May-day procession.

Following directions to Arkwrights brought us to a tiny village shop in a residental area. The shop was fantastic – not much bigger than our lounge, two rows of shelves with tins of beans, papers and other village-shop stuff and the rest full of brewing equipment and a good selection of beers and spirits. The guys in the shop were really friendly and knew their stuff. I learnt that bottling the beer actually lets it last for a long time – one of the guys said he actually drunk a 5 year old bottle once and said it was OK. I had been hoping for the Grolsch-style swing-tops but they’d been cleaned out the previous day. Instead, I opted for standard glass bottles and a capping gizmo. Once we got the bottles home, we washed them out and steralised them in the oven.

We understood from the instructions that if you’re bottling, you only add sugar to each bottle – the instructions still don’t read clearly, but it seemed to taste fine. Because of the speed it emptied from the box and the dark bottles we had to first fill up a jug to accurately fill the bottles.

Although there were more sophisticated capping gadgets in the shop, the guy said the cheapest one does the job fine, although there is a slight risk of smashing the bottle. You simply, pop the cap on the bottle, put the gizmo on to and bash with a hammer (always good in my opinion). We started off fairly gentle but actually found it needed quite a hit to properly seal.

Verdict

The three objectives that Brubox claim to have set out with are:

• The beers must be the finest ever produced from a beer kit.
• The brewing method must be straightforward and problem free.
• The range should encompass all of the world’s major beer styles (and some of the minor ones).

The first one, with my experience of only having done one homebrew is equally true and false. The beer however was pretty impressive, beyond my expectations. Everyone else seemed to like it too (apart from Kate, but she doesn’t like beer). It was a bit like a London Pride but possibly slightly softer.

The second point, I can’t agree with. The instructions were the major failing point of the kit. It was often not immediately clear what and when you were supposed to be doing things. In places it was still ambiguous after several reads – the steps and pros/cons for the bottles or box option for example. The lack of rigidity and poor durability of the box itself was also an issue for me. Mine actually punctured but I managed to seal properly and quickly so it didn’t affect the brew. The issue is whether it could be improved upon without affecting the compact package.

Finally, they do seem to have a good selection of beers.

So would I recommend it? Yup, I probably would, it’s pretty good for beginners and people with a lack of space.  It’s handy for getting to know the basic procedure in a neat all-in-one package. One thing to bear in mind however is that the Brubox only lasts 6 at most brews according to their guidelines so it actually works out fairly expensive compared to conventional home-brew kits.

It’s certainly got me into home-brewing now, but since I need to get a new kit I  think I’m ready to move on to something a bit more professional.

Related to home-brewing, I recently saw Nick from Hunter-Gathering (he’s attempting to live in a treehouse in a wood), make some Nettle Beer which I may well try out.

Meat

The meat used in Chilli seems to vary a lot. The most common is beef steak, but venison is also fairly popular. Some people like theirs in chunks, others like it ground. Prime beef or veal tend to be avoided though because they’re not suited to the long cooking times. I’ve also experimented with some recipes with various cuts of pork which work pretty well. I’ve spotted some more with Turkey and Chicken too, but that’s a step too far beyond my Chilli boundaries.

Chillis

For me, the key to a good Chilli Con Carne is the right Chillies. I’m fairly fussy about chillies most of the time. I get a little irritated when people seem to think of chillies as just one type of ingredient for making food hot. A lot of chillies aren’t that hot and many can add a great deal of flavour. To paint a better picture, I’ll discuss the three chillies I used in this chilli recipe: Cascabels, Anchos and Pastillas. First however, I’ll feed you some chilli trivia:

• You shouldn’t eat chillies whole (unchewed), they can do serious damage to your stomach.
• The ‘hotness’ of chillies can be measured with the Scoville rating. Something like a Bell Pepper is somewhere between 100-500 SU (Scoville Units) whilst a Scotch Bonnet measures 100,000–350,000  SU.
• Although chillies are today inherently linked with curries, chillies didn’t make it to India until the introduction by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
• India grows over twice as much chilli as the next largest chilli grower (China), roughly the weight of 300,000 Range Rovers every year.

Cascabel are my favourite chilli. They look a lot like cherries. They are full with seeds and make a rattle noise (which is the meaning of their name). They’re really smokey in taste with a slight nutty edge. They’re hot, but not hot enough to really register any discomfort, 1,000-2,500 SU.

Pasilla along with Ancho and Mulato form the Holy Trinity of Mexican chillies, which you often find in Mole. The Pasilla is quite large by chilli standards with a hint of grape and cherry. I’d rate them as mild-medium at 1,000-2,000 SU.

Ancho chillies are dried Poblanos, they’re very dark in colour and the most popular in Mexico. They’re often the size of peppers, quite round too. They’re very mild in heat, only 1,000-1,500 SU.

If you give this recipe a go, you’ll get a good idea of all my raving of chillies when you make the paste in step 2 below, it’s soo rich, almost like being in a coffee factory or inhaling some really strong chocolate.

There is a nice page on Chillies Galore with an overview of a huge variety of chillis.

Secret Ingredients

In addition to the standard ingredients, many people often add extra ingredients to provide more flavours. I quite often use red wine, cinnamon or bay leaves. On the rare occasion I’ve added some things like beer, honey or sugar. Some people however, do use some pretty unusual additions – bananas, peanut butter, coffee or whisky. In the recipe below, I’m taking a gamble with a little bit of Chorizo which will hopefully infuse it’s flavour.

If you’ve got any other strange things you add, it’d be interesting to hear.

Ingredients

Serves 3/4 people.

• 5 sundried tomatoes
• 1 dried ancho chilli
• 1 dried pasilla chilli
• 2 dried cascabel chillies
• 400 g minced beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon bark
• 1 tsp ground corriander
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp sundried tomato puree
• 400 g chopped tomatoes
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced
• 1/2 green pepper, sliced
• 1 oz chorizo, cubed
• 1 tin kidney beans (drained)

Method

I’m sure a lot of people will be looking at the ingredients list and be thinking of cutting back on the amount of chilli. When I made it Jenny had her sour cream at the ready, but in the end it was mild enough not to warrant any sour cream.

1. Remove most the seeds from the Cascabels – not because of heat, mainly because they have so many.
2. Soak the chillies and sundried tomatoes in some hot water for ~ 10 minutes. Stuff them in a blender with just enough of the leftover chilli/tomato liquid to make a paste.
3. Brown off the beef in some olive oil, do it in stages if necessary. Once browned, add the onion.
4. Once the onion is semi-translucent, mix in the cumin seeds (with some more oil if needed) and the garlic.
5. After a couple of minutes add the spices, chilli/tomato paste and tomato puree, mix in with the meat for a few minutes.
6. Once it’s all mixed, add the chopped tomato and cook for 10 minutes after which add the peppers and chorizo.
7. Keep cooking for ~ 1 hour covered, you want it to be constantly simmering, so if it starts to dry out keep adding the vegetable stock.
8. Leave to mature, ideally at least 10 hours. If the weather is hot, it may be best to put in the fridge.
9. When you’re ready to eat, put the pan back on the stove and let it simmer for ~ 15 minutes. Add the kidney beans and cook for 15 more minutes.

Serving

No matter what variation I’m cooking, chilli always seems to taste best the day after. Even, letting it mature in the freezer seems to improve it.

When I serve up the Chilli, I tend to go the whole hog with cheese (I like mature cheddar, but I’m sure some more purists will say you need Monterey Jack), refried beans, sour cream and guacamole/avacado. I’m equally happy with rice (as long as it’s brown), chips or tortillas. To really top things off though, a bottle of McEwan’s Champion really does it for me. It’s really strong and bitter, a good match to a feisty Chilli.

Shin of beef makes an ideal cut for pies, stewing and slow cooking, as the connective tissue breaks down during cooking to enrich the gravy.  It is also a far cheaper way to buy steak – a 500g shin (about the size of my forearm) cost just £4 from my local butcher.  The cut is evidently less popular than it once was; my mother recounts that my gran always used shin of beef in pies and and stews.   Jon Torode points out that supermarkets only sell ‘braising beef’ which can be an mixture of different cuts, and in my experience, can lack the marbled fat which is the whole point of buying it. 

I have recently seen two steak pie recipes and a steak pudding recipe in BBC Olive Magazine

• Individual steak, red wine and mushroom pies (no pastry base and a lattice pastry top);
• Steak pie (with pastry top and bottom);
• Pickled onion, steak and ale pudding.

I felt my ideal pie needed to have steak, onion and ale.  Not deterred, I studied all three recipes and came up with my own pie recipe. 

• Carefully peel 8-10 shallots (taking care to keep them whole) and place into a pan with 25g melted butter and slowly caramelise for 10-15mins on medium heat before setting aside.
• Brown 500g diced shin of beef in a hot pan, in batches if necessary.
• Add back shallots and sprinkle in 35g plain flour(which will act to thicken the gravy) and cook for 2 mins.
• Slowly add 300ml of ale (I chose ‘Old Slug Porter’ a beautifully dark rich ale) and 300ml of beef stock, stirring to stop flour sticking to pan.
• Add 1tbsp of Worcestershire sauce,  a sprig of thyme, a hand full of chopped flat leaf parsley, a grating of nutmeg  and some freshly ground black pepper.  Keep the stirring  until the gravy boils and thickens.
• Taste the mixture – depending on the ale you chose to use, you may wish to add some sugar.  The dark porter I used (similar to Guinness) had given a strong rich flavour, but gave a slightly bitter aftertaste.  I added 2 tspn of dark brown sugar, but the amount required will be to taste.  A light ale probably won’t require any sugar at all.
• Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally, whilst sitting back enjoying the rest of the ale.
• Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan or gas mark 6).
• Roll out a block of puff pastry  (hey, if Jon can buy ready puff pastry, so can I!), butter a 20cm pie tin, line with pastry, spoon in steak filling.
• Brush a beaten egg around the rim of the pie before adding the pastry top.  Cut the top to size, crimp the lid and base together (with fingers or fork), brush with top with egg.
• Prick holes to let out the steam and stop the pie going stodgy.
• Bake for 45 to 50 mins oven. 

The ensuing pie was easily the best I’ve ever tasted.  The meat melted in you mouth and the gravy was rich and thick and meaty.  Shop bought puff pastry is ever reliable and was light and fluffy and golden.  The length of cooking meant that the shallots had completely broken down.  Next time, I will hold some back to add in before it goes into oven.

Possible Variations: 

• I intend to try this with some shallots held back to the last minute, so that they stay more intact.
• Button mushrooms would enhance this pie, perhaps add them whole just before the pie is made up and goes into the oven.
• I will try the pie with red wine (perhaps using say a full bodied red and adding some bacon to make the pie reminiscentof a boeuf bourguignon)

Also, I’m really excited about the prospects for my new favourite cut of beef – the shin.  I think it will make fantastic curries and stews.  I’m now going to try to track down some equivalent cuts from Lamb or Pork – something which will be glorious slow cooked.

Pie Debate

To me a pie has to have a top, a middle and a bottom.  I realise that this leaves Shepherd and Cottage “pies” out in the cold, but unless there’s a pastry case, I don’t feel it’s really a true pie.  I’d be interested to know what others think.  A pie without a lid is a flan or a tart.  I don’t know that that makes a pie without base – a bake perhaps?

I think I probably committed a sacrilegious act by only cooking it for about 2 and a half hours rather than the 5 he recommended but I started it too late and somebody was getting hungry! It ended up being seriously tasty though, went down lovely with a bottle of Brakspear Tripple. Next time I will certainly try to cook it longer to try to get the meats a bit more tender. I wasn’t that impressed with Sainsbury’s Toulouse sausages either, so I’ll have to get that from the butchers too.

With the nights drawing in, I decided we were in need of some good wholesome winter food. I spotted this one on the Waitrose website. I’m a huge fan of Leffe Blonde, but I’d never tried cooking with it before. If you’ve not tasted it before, the beer is sweet, fresh and fruity with a slight caramel taste. It’s from Belgium, one of the Trappist-like beers.

I cooked it on a low heat for slightly longer than they recommended. The meat was really soft and just melted in your mouth. The meat seemed to really soak up the flavours – at first it was quite subtle, but it built up as you ate.

I served it with some creamy mash blended with a touch of cheddar and some carrots and brussel sprouts. Of course, someone had to finish up the remainder of the beer too.