kitchen: making

There has been much making and baking going on in this house. Not to worry about our fairly unproductive garden of late, as our neighbours have kindly given us much of their excess. A very slight shift in weather has re-ignited my interest in the world of preserving and other such things. I'm starting to feel Autumn. Which, I think, has to be my very favourite season of all. Have you been feeling it too?

Back to the food.

Baskets of sour apples and over a kilo of blackberries landed on our doorstep. Some were made into the most delicious crumble (Nigella's recipe from this book). Twice.

Even more were made into Blackberry and Apple jam.

And once that was done, I think I may have caught the preserving bug all over again. There is still a whole basket of apples left. I'm thinking of making this.

You might remember me saying a little while ago that I wanted to make sweet chilli sauce? My chilli harvest this year has been one whole chilli. So far anyway. But that's one whole more than any other year, so that one chilli was cause for some excitement. That, of course, wasn't anywhere near enough to make a sauce. So I simply bought a big bag of chillies (from that place that we don't like to talk about) and made a batch from that. The recipe made seven bottles worth. I left out the ginger because I didn't have any on hand.

As much as I would have liked the chillies to be organic, they weren't. But I do know what went into it. Let me just say that there is a world of difference between bought/processed and homemade sweet chilli sauce. But I think you may already know that. I used this recipe (I used a mixture of whatever vinegar I had on hand).

And then I made yoghurt. I've made yoghurt before, just not in a long time. To tell you the truth I was a little tired of the whole temperature, oven and thermometer fussing involved. I always told myself that when I had more time I would get back into the swing of making it weekly again.

Then I remembered Tammi's method and thought to give it a go. The method seems to suit me very well. Kind of like the lazy guide to making yoghurt. Using that favourite appliance of mine, the slow cooker.

It worked. Just remember to leave it to strain in the muslin afterwards. It really gives the yoghurt that thick, rich quality. It puts a smile on my face when I open the fridge. Funny how making things yourself can fill one with a certain sense of satisfaction. I'd been missing that lately.

Have you been feeling a little Autumn-like too? What have you been making/planning to make?