Seville Orange Marmalade
18 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Recipes, The Shop Tags: marmalade, recipes, seville oranges
It’s that time of year again, seville oranges are in stock in the farm shop and the smell of marmalade permeates the house!
Here’s a lovely recipe for you to make the best of the short time frame that these oranges are around.
Seville Orange Marmalade
This is a quick guide. Arm yourself with some muslin, string, a good heavy-based saucepan and buy or borrow a proper sugar thermometer.
Makes about three jars
- 400g Seville oranges (about four)
- 1 lemon
- 1 litre water
- 800g white sugar
- 1 tsp soft dark brown sugar (optional but it makes the colour rosier)
With a potato peeler or sharp knife remove all the orange zest in strips, cut away any white pith then shred the zest and tie it in a small square of muslin. Finely slice the oranges; pith, flesh, juice and all, and the whole lemon, and tip into a heavy saucepan. Add the water and your muslin bag of zest and simmer for about two hours until the pith is tender.
Pick out the bag holding the zest, and leave to drain on a plate. Line a colander with a few layers of muslin, place over a bowl, tip in the contents of the pan, and leave to drip for an hour – you need all the liquid as it contains the vital pectin that makes the marmalade set. You could squeeze any remaining juice from the pith, but it will make the marmalade slightly cloudy.
You should have about 750ml of liquid. Boil it down if you have more, or add water if you have less.
Return the liquid to the pan, add the zest from the bag, and the sugar. Bring to the boil, then quickly simmer until it reaches 104°C. Keep the temperature constant for five minutes. A spoonful on a cold saucer should form a crinkly skin after cooling for five minutes. If it doesn’t, simmer for a few minutes more; but you may have to settle for soft-set. Switch off the heat, leave for 20 minutes, spoon the marmalade into hot, sterilised jars, seal with cellophane and rubber bands and leave somewhere cool overnight to set to a jelly.
Seville oranges freeze beautifully. You do not need to do much with them apart from wash them, stick them in a bag and put them in the freezer. When you run out of marmalade you can cook them from frozen as per your favourite recipe
Winter Salad
13 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: local food, recipes, seasonal food, winter salad
Here’s a lovely simple recipe for a crisp winter salad using local seasonal produce. It’s nice on its own or served with some lovely Cornish Blue cheese, or even a chunk of rib eye steak if you fancy!
- 1/4 red cabbage, finely sliced
- 1/4 savoy cabbage, finely sliced
- 2 carrots, sliced into matchsticks
- a handful of walnuts, lightly toasted & roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp walnut oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1tsp grain mustard
- sea salt & cracked black pepper, to taste
Toss all the sliced cabbage and carrots together in a large bowl. In the top oven of the aga or in a dry pan on the hob, lightly toast the walnuts until they smell wondrous (technical cookery term!) and remember to keep them moving so they don’t catch and burn.
Mix together the walnut oil, red wine vinegar and mustard. Season to taste. Pour the dressing over the salad, mix well to coat and serve.
Happy New Year!
02 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Happy New Year to all our customers & readers of this blog! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and here’s to a good 2012 for everyone.
The farm shop will be opening again on the Wednesday 4th Jan.
Heligan Gardens on Google Street View
29 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Randoms Tags: Cornwall, heligan, heligan gardens, lobbs farm shop
How cool is this? You can now have a virtual wander around Heligan on Google Street View! It’s a bit limited as to where you can go but what is there is looking good, they definitely chose a beautiful day for it! Point your mouse over to Google and type in PL26 6EN and go from there.
Here’s the productive gardens:
Merry Christmas!
24 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Randoms Tags: Christmas, Cornwall, lobbs farm shop
Wishing all our customers and readers a very peaceful and lovely Christmas.
Featured Recipe: Turkey & Sweet Leek Pie
23 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: Christmas, Christmas recipes, Turkey Left-overs
If you’re already contemplating Turkey leftovers, here’s a change from Turkey stir-fry, Turkey Curry etc ’tis rather lovely!
Serves 6-8 people
Ingredients:
- 2 rashers Cornish Farmhouse Bacon smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
- ½ bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
- Simply Cornish Rapeseed oil
- A large knob of butter
- 2kg leeks, washed, trimmed; white end chopped into chunks, green end finely sliced
- Cornish Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 800g cooked white turkey meat, torn into big chunks (brown too if you want)
- 2 heaped tbsp Glebe Farm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 pints turkey, chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp of crème fraîche
- 1 x 500g packet Field Fare puff pastry – thawed
- 12 Highgrove vac-packed chestnuts, roasted and peeled
- 2 sprigs fresh sage, leaves picked
- 1 egg free range, beaten
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Put your bacon in a large pan on a medium heat and add your thyme leaves. Add a lug of oil and the butter and let it all fry off a few minutes. Add all of your prepared leeks and fry them off for about 3 minutes so they are well-coated in the butter. Add a pinch of salt and pepper then pop the lid on top, turn the heat down to medium and let them cook away gently for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure they don’t catch. There’s going to be enough moisture in the leeks to keep them happy in the pan so they should be soft and melt in your mouth once they’re done.
2. When your leeks are ready, add the turkey meat to them and stir. If you’ve got a bit of stuffing mixed in there you can put that in too. Add the flour, mix it in well then pour in your stock and stir again. Add the crème fraîche then turn the heat up and bring everything back up to the boil. Have a taste and add a bit more salt and pepper if it needs it then turn the heat off. Pour the mixture through a sieve over another large empty pan and let the wonderful gravy from the mixture drip into the pan while you roll out your pastry.
3. Get a deep baking dish roughly 22 x 30cm. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with a bit of flour and roll your pastry out so it’s about double the size of your dish. Crumble the chestnuts over one half of the pastry then tear a few of the sage leaves over the chestnuts. Fold the other half of pastry on top then roll it out carefully and evenly so you have a rectangle big enough to cover your baking tray. Don’t worry if a few bits stick out here and there.
4. Spoon that thick leek mixture from your sieve into the pie dish and spread it out evenly. Lay your pastry on top, tuck the ends under then gently score the pastry diagonally with your knife. Add a pinch of salt to your beaten egg then paint this egg wash over the top of your pastry. Pop your pie in the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. When the pie is ready, re-heat the lovely gravy and serve with your pie, along with some steamed Lobbs purple sprouting brocolli & mashed swede.
Featured Recipe: Sausage & Bacon wraps with sage & honey
22 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: Christmas, Christmas recipes, lobbs farm shop, recipes
A twist on the traditional pigs in blankets, simple to make & very tasty!
Sausage & Bacon Wraps with Sage & Honey
- 12 rashers of streaky bacon – rind removed
- 24 Lobbs chipolatas
- 24 small sage leaves
- 5 tbspn Glebe Farm clear honey
Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°F/Gas 5. Cut each bacon rasher in half length ways. Roll up the sausages in the bacon with a small sage leaf tucked in each. **Secure with cocktail sticks if you like & arrange in a large shallow tin. Drizzle with the honey.
Cook for 35-40 mins. Turn once or twice to brown evenly all over. Remove the cocktail sticks before serving, if using.
Christmas Opening Times 2012
21 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in The Shop Tags: Christmas, Cornwall, lobbs farm shop
Here’s the opening times for Lobbs Farm Shop over the Christmas & New Year period. Hit the print button at the bottom of the post if you want a proper copy you can doodle on!
Featured Recipe: Chestnut Stuffing Balls
21 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: Christmas, Christmas recipes, food, lobbs farm shop, recipes
So, here’s today’s featured recipe, essential to your Christmas Dinner I’d say!
This stuffing can be made 2 days ahead , keep in the fridge. It can also be frozen; defrost thoroughly before using
- medium onion – finely chopped
- 3 juniper berries – bruised
- 750g Lobbs sausage meat
- 1 x 200g Highgrove vacpac chestnuts – roughly chopped
- 1 free range large egg
- 3 tbspn sage – chopped
- 2 tbspn parsley – chopped
- 100g Martin’s bread – crumbed
- ½ tsp ground allspice
Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/Gas 5.
In a saucepan, melt the butter over a gentle heat, then add the onion & juniper berries. Cook for 5 minutes, without letting the onion colour. Leave to cool. Remove & discard the juniper berries.
In a large bowl, mix the cooled onion with the rest of the ingredients & season. To perfect the seasoning, fry a small piece before shaping, then taste & adjust.
Shape into about 24 balls – this is easier with wet hands – and bake in a roasting tin for 30-35 minutes, turning halfway.
(Running out of time to make your own? – have you tried our frozen stuffing balls – in our freezer next to the Yorkshire puddings!)
Featured Recipe: Cherry Shortbread
20 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Recipes Tags: cherry shortbread, Christmas, lobbs, lobbs farm shop, recipe
In the last few days up to Christmas on this blog we’ll feature a different recipe each day, either something to complement your Christmas Dinner or something sweet for a naughty treat!
How’re all your foodie preparations going out there in cyberspace?
All Butter Cherry Shortbread
Makes 16-20 pieces:
340g (12 ozs) Plain Flour
227g (8 ozs) butter
113g (4 ozs) castor sugar + extra for dusting
85g (3 ozs) chopped glace cherries
——————————————————————————————–
Method:
- Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F / GM3-4)
- Lightly grease shallow baking tray and line with parchment.
- Sieve flour into bowl and add chopped up butter pieces.
- Rub butter into flour until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add chopped cherries.
- Draw mixture together to form a ball and knead very lightly using floured hands until smooth.
- Press mixture into baking tray and prick all over with a fork.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 mins or until the colour of straw and shortbread is firm to touch.
- Remove from oven and leave until lukewarm.
- Dust with castor sugar, shaking tray until all shortbread is covered.
- Shake off any surplus sugar and cut into pieces.
- Leave to cool on wire rack.
You might like to try this:
- You can use chocolate chips, or chopped crystallised ginger pieces instead of cherries.
- You can dip one end of each shortbread piece in melted chocolate to make them an extra treat.



