Recipe: Festive Chutney

Feeling festive yet? We're fast approaching the beginning of December, so soon they'll be no denying Christmas is on it's way. If you're beginning to think about gifts, this guest recipe from our friend Jonathan Taylor may inspire you to a touch of foodie DIY...

I’m a big foodie and also quite indecisive, so when The Weekend Collective asked me to write a festive blog post, it took me quite a while to select my favourite recipe!  When it comes to this time of year, my mind turns to the forgotten winter recipes which are too heavy for the hot summer months. 

Before it gets too cold, it's a good time to do some preserving. I have really got into the pickling mode recently, I made piccalilli a few weeks back and have plans for pickled cucumber, herring and sauerkraut in the coming weeks. I’ve also read an interesting recipe for pickled hotdogs (you never know… apparently they’re really addictive!) and a beetroot gravadlax (cured salmon) – I have made this before, curing it with vodka, and it was amazing! But this time I’m thinking gin may be a better option (any excuse!).

So this leads me nicely into this great recipe for a Festive Chutney. I have been making this for the past few years and it has fast become my family’s favourite accompaniment to pretty much anything over the Christmas period. It goes really well with cheese and meats, or as my family does in a "leftovers" sandwich on Boxing Day. Hope you enjoy it!

What you need:

• 100g dried cranberries
• 100g fresh cranberries
• 100g dried sour cherries
• 100g raisins
• 100g sultanas
• 100g dates (de-stone & chop, I used Medjool dates)
• 175g no soak prunes (chop)
• 450g dessert apples (peel,core & chop)
• 275g shallots (roughly chop)
• 475ml cider vinegar
• 500g soft light brown sugar
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger

The Recipe:

This recipe makes 3 x 500g jars. Personally I would use smaller jars, as they fit better in the fridge once opened and they also make great Christmas gifts.

1.  Prepare the fruit and shallots
2.  Put all the ingredients into a large heavy based pan and bring to the boil (stir to help dissolve the sugar).
3. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a very low simmer and cook for a further two hours.
4. To check its ready, scrape a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan, it will be ready if the line from the wooden spoon doesn’t fill up with liquid. (Keep an eye on the mixture, as you don’t want it to dry out.)
5. Pour the warm mixture directly into dry sterilised jars*. Cover with a disc of waxed paper and seal with the lid. You can use the chutney once it's completely cooled and it will keep unopened for a year (although if you’re like me, it won’t last till the New Year!)

 *To sterilise a jar, preheat an oven to 120C, wash the jar in hot soapy water and rinse well, place the jar in the oven to dry completely.  If using Kilner jars don't put the rubber seals in the oven, just wash them in hot water.

Thanks to JT for his festive chutney! Let us know in the comment box if you try it out - or if you have any favourite festive food recipes of your own...!

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Weekend Review: Claire Brudenell

The weekend is what you make of it - there's endless opportunities whether you're at work or play. Today we speak to Claire Brudenell.  Blogger, pro crafter and fellow foodie, Claire also knows how to celebrate Halloween in style!

What do you do for work?

I have the rather brilliant job of Marketing & Licensing Manager for Nottingham based craft company Trimcraft. I feel very lucky to be able to combine my love of craft with my Marketing degree. No day is ever the same which keeps it exciting after 4 and a half years, I could be looking for new illustrators for paper collections, filming craft tutorials for YouTube or planning social media and blog posts for the website. I love being surround by so much creativity from our talented design team who make the beautiful artwork that we sit surrounded by, to our group of crafty makers who create amazing projects using Trimcraft products. I love social media and getting to connect with like-minded crafters, we are very sociable and pride ourselves on acknowledging anyone who tags or reaches out to us, and it annoys me when bigger companies with much more resource don’t take time to talk back to their followers.

What is your passion outside of work?

I love food, and luckily so do my friends, so we can often be found checking out the fab restaurants in Nottingham or eating cake. Nottingham has really exploded with the variety of restaurants it has in the last few years, we are spoilt for choice. I also love gardening and growing plants…mainly food like aubergines, tomatoes and herbs, I probably love this as I get to eat the fruits of my labour. This year I grew Okra, I was so impressed when it actually grew! Much to my boyfriend’s annoyance I also love anything vintage, I love to visit vintage markets and reclamation yards to fill our house with quirky finds, I usually sneak them in while he’s at golf then wait to see how long it is until he notices them!

We adore your blog, I heart Maggie, what inspires your craft projects?

Thanks, it’s still quite in its infancy. I used to blog for Trimcraft but as our team grew we took on our talented copy writer Sarah who now looks after that side so I thought why not start my own blog and ramble on there. I also have to give a shout out to my friend and colleague Cat who takes some of the photos you see on my social media. I am trying to get better at photography and she has some great tips! When you are surrounded by craft product day in day out it’s hard not to be inspired to create, I think my main inspiration comes from what I see in the shops, I always think that’s a great idea but I could easily make that myself, so then I set out to do just that! Also if you are wondering the name for the blog, it comes from the street I live on and not my name, it can get confusing!

When is your weekend? 

My weekend starts on Friday evening and ends on a Sunday, pretty standard. I love my job but I also love weekends, they do seem to fly by though.

How did you spend this weekend?

Saturday started pretty lazy with a small lie in followed by a lovely dog walk, we are co sharing Zeus a Rottweiler cross Akita for a few months to help out a family member, he’s huge but very gentle and lots of fun to take walking. As it’s Halloween me and my friends went to a charity event, I love Halloween and dressing up, this year I went as a zombie Geisha, it was a lot of fun. I have a great bunch of friends and we try to see each other as often as possible.

Sunday started with a small hangover, brunch and a bit of cleaning. I worked on a few more blog posts while watching pet rescue reruns, the weather was rubbish so it was nice to be lazy and hang out with the dog! I also made a apple and blackberry crumble we ate it with lots of custard while watching our newest addiction Narcos. 

How typical was it for you?

Yeah, Pretty standard although there was no cake! I try and use my weekends to see family & friends, unwind and plan lots of crafty makes. My weekends are looking quite busy until the end of the year so it was nice this one was chilled. 

What was your highlight of last week? 

I am really lucky that I get to travel with my job and last week myself and our design manager Alice booked a trip to New York for a licensing show in May. It’s one of my favourite places to visit, we have already started planning what we will see, eat and do!

Your ideal Sunday menu... 

I would choose, a big house in the countryside surrounded by friends, we are lucky to have a group of friends we holiday to remote cottages with each new year, this year it’s the Brecon Beacons and I can’t wait to relax, go on long walks and drink some really good red wine by a log fire, I would choose this menu for my ideal day there.
Breakfast: Smoked Salmon on toast with poached eggs with a big mug of milky tea.
Lunch: Naughty but a fish finger sandwich with mayo and lots of black pepper.
Dinner: I just found the most amazing slow cooked BBQ Brisket recipe, I’ll let it cook all day in the slow cooker then make some homemade wedges & coleslaw to go with it. I would wash this down with a nice Malbec

What's in your fridge?

Quite a lot as I have just been shopping, we have lots of veggies and ingredients for paella (You can find the recipe on the blog), salmon, feta, picked onions (a slight addiction), a homemade apple crumble ready for pudding!

QUICK FIRE - without too much thought, name your absolute favourite...

Book: Oooo tough choice One Day by David Nicholls
Film: The Goonies or Beaches…cheesy but I have seen both hundreds of times.
Album: my music taste is quite eclectic but I seem to go back to Jack Savoretti – Written in Scars a lot,  he has a lovely voice.  
Holiday destination: Croatia, I went there for the first time in June, and it really blew me away!
Museum/Art gallery: The V&A in London

How can people follow you?

Blog iheartmaggie.wordpress.com
Twitter @IHeart_Maggie
Instagram i_heart_maggie
Work: www.trimcraft.co.uk

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Travel: Hermanus

This weekend I'm getting increasingly excited about my upcoming trip to Amsterdam - for our annual mother/daughter getaway - while praying for my cold to go away. Perhaps three years is a bit premature to deem an event "a tradition", but I think these things can be as much about intention as they are past evidence!

It started in September 2014, when mum won a holiday of her choosing through her work (yes, I know!) and decided this was the opportunity to go on her dream holiday. Being hugely interested in all things nature, and a David Attenborough worshipper, she'd always fancied a safari - so that was the starting point for what turned out to be an amazing 10 days in South Africa.

I've never fully written about our trip online, so thought I'd take the opportunity now (as I sit under a blanket feeling a bit grotty) to share some of our experiences on what is one of the best holidays of my life, so far.

To start... Hermanus

After the 11 hour flight from London to Cape Town we were picked up by car and travelled another 90 minutes to the seaside town of Hermanus.

Why here you say? Because during springtime in SA it’s where you can stand on the coast and clearly see Southern Right Whales frolicking in the waves. We also thought it would be a calm location to relax into the holiday before we tackled the more touristically-demanding streets of Cape Town.

We weren't disappointed. Not only did we see the whales almost immediately after arriving - helped by the whale caller, a man who blows a huge pipe whenever a whale is spotted - but we continued to see them from the comfort of our hotel balcony.

And when we weren't looking at the whales, there was plenty of other nature to wonder at - from the dassies (who the locals consider a nuisance but we thought were quite cute!) to the absolutely stunning flora and fauna, set against the sea.

Hermanus also offers lots of lovely boutique shops, with a few surprises - including an antiques shop with it's own retro cinema (sadly there was nothing being screened during our visit). In one shop I bought some locally-made, brightly coloured pottery as a memento.

Where we ate

When travelling I generally use two methods to find the best places to eat - search Tripadvisor for restaurant reviews and/or ask a friendly local where to eat. These proved very successful for us in Hermanus...

• The Eatery: This lunch spot was recommended to us by the owner of a beautiful shop selling regional crafts. We both had vegetable and beef soup, with a thick slice of toast - delicious! Add in two coffees and a bottle of water, and it came to just R95 (around £2.50 each!) - it was a this point we realised just how favourable the exchange rate was for us.

• The Cuckoo Tree: Run by a mother and daughter, this restaurant has only a handful of tables - including out in their lovely courtyard, which is also frequented by lots of garden birds. We had a delicious two-course lunch - I opted for toast topped with roasted veg, goats cheese, salad and nuts, followed by an almond and fruit tart with homemade orange ice-cream (see above) - delicious!

• Bergundy: Only 30 seconds from our hotel, this is where we ticked off two SA specialities - malva pudding (like a light sticky toffee pudding) and bobotie (spiced mince meat and dried fruit topped with a layer of egg - very tasty but also very rich - we only managed to half a portion!)

Next, we travelled on to Cape Town...

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Happy Friday!

Becca:

This weekend is a big one for Leicester - the Diwali lights switch-on! Tens of thousands of people will descend on the Belgrave area of the city on Sunday to see The Golden Mile lit up - if you've never been before, it's well worth a visit!

First let me wish you a belated happy National Poetry Day! Last Thursday was a particularly significant day for me, as I'd been working on a special project with the BBC to commission 41 poets to write 41 new poems, from the POV of a landmark local to them. The result was wonderfully eclectic - in subject and style. I've posted Birmingham's poet Spoz above, but you can hear/see the others HERE!

On Monday, I saw Louis Theroux's new documentary film at the cinema, which was followed by a live streaming of him and the director being interviewed by Adam Buxton. The film is largely a mix of Louis interviewing former top Scientologists, and then him auditioning and rehearsing actors who are recreating reported incidents. I'm a big Louis fan anyway, but I thoroughly recommend this - it's both fascinating and entertaining in equal measure!

Elle:

I am a fan of a sensible winter coat. This year any of these High Street offerings will do nicely Dorothy Perkins, New look, Asos

For Local Leicester readers, Carlton and I will be taking part in the Nine bar bake off competition on Sunday, We are very much hoping to gain local star baker glory, hope to see you there!

I suffer from Sciatica, which is a pain in the bum, quite literally! It's currently the worst it's ever been which causes much hinderance to a busy lifestyle, resulting in sleepless nights and me hobbling around like an elderly lady. I'm not sure if it's the sudden plummet in temperature, constantly being on the go or the fact that I have skipped yoga for the past few days but I can't wait to have a rest and get back to my yoga. If you suffer from the same struggle, I highly recommend Adriene, she's just lovely. Also if you have any tips for dealing with this problem please let me know...

Weekend Review: Sophie Murray

The weekend is what you make of it - there's endless opportunities whether you're at work or play. Today we speak to Sophie Murray. We love Sophie's beautiful documentation of family life over on Instagram and were keen to find out what inspires the lady behind these beautiful photographs...

What do you do for work?

I'm a part time teaching assistant at our local primary school. I recently left a career at a bank to explore the possibility of going into teaching. It was important to my husband and I that I work part time while the children are young and I feel very fortunate to be able to do this. I cherish my afternoons with my two boys.

What is your passion outside of work?

There are a few actually! For the past 2 years we've been renovating a 300 year old cottage in North West Leicestershire. Having just found out I was pregnant with my second child, we decided to move back to Leicestershire from South Wales where we'd been living for almost 9 years. We viewed a derelict cottage and, DIY being an alien concept to us, lost our minds and bought the place. We learnt on the job and just two weeks before the baby arrived we finally moved in. We had to gut the entire cottage. It had damp, woodworm and dry rot. It needed a full re-wire, new central heating system and a new kitchen and bathroom. We literally started from scratch. Getting creative with the interior has been a dream. Occasionally a nightmare, but mostly a dream! I love trawling antique shops, car boots and eBay for bargains. We're far from finished but things are coming together slowly.

I've been attending a sewing class for a year now and am really starting to get to grips with my machine. I love the sense of satisfaction you get as you see a project come together. I studied fine art at university and I've always painted but having children and renovating the cottage hasn't allowed me the time to do this as much as I would like so it feels great to be doing something creative again. I've enjoyed having to be disciplined enough to see a project through to completion and sewing has given me the determination to find time to paint more. 

We are National Trust members and over the last year and a half we've explored 26 different properties around the country (some multiple times). We love being outdoors, watching the boys exploring and getting dirty. Being a member has enriched our lives so much.

We adore your beautiful photos on Instagram, what inspires your photography?

Thank you! I see my Instagram account as a photographic journal. I'm not the most technically minded person and the lure of the dark room never really appealed to me. As a painter, I do however, understand composition. I try to capture the warmth I feel as I hang out with my family, I like to share funny moments with the boys and of course, my passion for interiors, specifically the cottage. 

 

When is your weekend?

We're standard Saturday and Sunday folk. My weekend starts when we finish school on Friday and usually ends with a slob on the sofa on Sunday night. 

How did you spend this weekend?

Saturday:
I met my brother for lunch and a Camp coffee at 1940s themed The Larder in Ashby de la Zouch. I had bubble and squeak with a poached egg which was delicious.
We recently bought a DVD version of the 90s board game Atmosfear. I spent the afternoon baking and cooking dinner for friends who came over for a game in the evening. It was a late one!

Sunday:
We had a slow morning and after a late breakfast we drove to a garden centre and picked up some bulbs to plant ready for spring. We stayed for coffee and cake and I spent the afternoon curled up on the sofa planning next year's garden with a film on in the background. 

How typical was it for you?

It wasn't! We rarely have a slow day. We are constantly on the go, often driving an hour or more to different National Trust properties so it was a welcome treat putting my pyjamas on at 4pm. 

What was your highlight of last week?

It was my youngest son, Luc's second birthday on Tuesday. Although I worked in the day, we had family over in the evening and a little dinner party. He was beaming all evening, we had a lovely time. 

Your ideal Sunday menu... 

Breakfast: I'd go continental. I'd be sat outside a Parisian cafe alone, people watching with a croissant, a sketchbook and a cup of good coffee. 

Lunch: My favourite lunches are the picnics we share when we venture out at the weekend. Even with a million pounds sitting ready on my America Express card, I would still be sat on my bottom eating sandwiches in the open air with my family. I may treat us to a new picnic blanket though!

Dinner: my husband and I would have a child-free meal at Jamie Oliver's restaurant in London. We love his cookbooks and Italian chain of restaurants so this would be such a treat. I'm vegetarian but my husband loves his meat and Jamie always finds a way to cater for the both of us. 

What's in your fridge?

The fridge drawer is full to the brim with veg which we have delivered by super ethical, Leicestershire-based 'Wonky Veg' on a Friday. This week we received leeks, carrots, onions, potatoes, sweetcorn, lettuce, pak choi and mushrooms along with some sweet recipe cards (which we don't keep in the fridge). Our delivery of vegetables dictates our weekly menu, which is mostly vegetarian although I do cook meat for the boys. 

The staples... Butter, milk, yogurts for the boys, cheese (white Stilton, cheddar, halloumi, feta and paneer), tomorrow's lunch (couscous salad) and a tub of leftover couscous. Oh and yogurt which I eat with homemade granola and figs. We're fairly well stocked today! 

QUICK FIRE - without too much thought, name your absolute favourite...
Book: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. This was my first Vonnegut book and I fell in love with his writing after reading this.
Film: Breakfast at Tiffany's (I'm all about the breakfast!)
Album: This is too hard! Scarlett's Walk by Tori Amos
Holiday destination: Paris
Museum: I definitely prefer an art gallery. The Pompidou Centre in Paris. 

How can people follow you?

Over on Instagram... littledollydaydream (my great uncle used to sing this song to me as a little girl) 

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Happy Friday!

Weekend musings and inspirations from the pair of us -  happy Friday!

Elle:

If I had an iPhone 10 I would definitely be downloading these amazing, slightly hipster/foodie emojis via Food 52 - avocado emoji anyone?! 

Shock news this week as the Bake Off moves from the BBC to Channel 4. I've mixed feelings about this as I do think the Bake Off was due a change. However no Mel & Sue and the fact that viewing will now be interrupted by adverts means the future looks bleak. If the opening credits are updated (that goddamn raspberry cake irritates me every time, to the point where C now requests I close my eyes when it comes on - its in the WRONG PLACE) then I'll consider giving it a chance.

I adore everything about this video:

Becca:

Wow. I've never even noticed the cake in the Bake Off credits...!

Meanwhile I've been enjoying another BBC offering - I say enjoying, when I really mean trying-not-to-shout-out-in-public. Even if you're not a Radio 4 listeners, you'll know that major stuff has been going down on The Archers - even if you've never tuned in before, it's so worth listening back to the Rob/Helen court drama in the last couple of weeks...

I've also started following the well-worded tweets of Twitter poet Brian Bilston, after reading this article about his rise to online fame.

Finally... if you're a Leicestershire local, be quick! You only have one weekend left to visit Wistow Maize Maze - which this year is in the shape of the BFG! I went there for the first time over the Bank Holiday weekend and it was such a great afternoon out.

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you get up to!

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