West Ealing Family Day – Saturday 24th September 2011 10am – 4pm September 22, 2011

Come along on the 24th September 2011 from 10am - 4pm

A fantastic day for all the family this Saturday, our second West Ealing Family Day. This year is bigger and better than last year, some highlights:

St Johns Church – Mattock Lane – The Church has their open day, climb up the tower and see Ealing at its best

Farmers Market – Leeland Road – Celebrating its 10th year and extended to 2pm. There will be a kids cookery school.

Melbourne Avenue (outside Sainsbury’s) Live music, food, stalls including Ealing Transition, WEN, Dr Bike, kids activities and treasure hunt.

St James Church & Avenue – Craft Fair, Abundance stall, classic British motorcycle display, Opera Viscera children’s workshop at 1pm, full performance at 3.15pm.  Oddfellows folk band, Cafe and children’s activities.

The weather looks like it’s going to be great too – a perfect day out so please come along and support your local community.

Come along to Abundance London Fruit Day October 1st 2011 September 20, 2011

Abundance London Fruit Day October 1st 2011

My Abundance friends in Chiswick are having their second fabulous fruit day this year on October 1st 2011 from 11am – 3pm at St Michaels & All Angels. Lots of fun for all the family.

Quince Cheese September 18, 2011

Makes about 900g- small quince rounds are usually around 120g each

Ingredients

1.3kg quinces

juice of a lemon- might like to use the zest also (reduce if you use fewer quinces)

granulated sugar- see ratio below

caster sugar for dusting- optional

Making:

•  Wash quinces then chop into fine slices or small cubes and place in a large pan.
•  Pour enough water to nearly cover the fruit, cover with a lid or foil and simmer for 45 minutes or until the fruit is very tender.
•  Press the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. (see tip below)
•  Measure the puree into a large heavy based pan and add 400g sugar for every 600ml of mixture.
•  Heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
• Increase the heat and cook slowly for about 40-50 minutes stirring frequently until very thick.  (Recipes talk about being able to stand the spoon up in it)  It will darken as it cooks.
• Pour the mixture into a small oiled baking tin (or whatever you want to use) and leave to set for 24 hours.
• Cut into squares, dust with sugar and store in an airtight tin.  (I think this presumes you are going to use immediately)  
• If you have used individual containers then you just leave and wrap in fancy paper for a present.  Small, smooth sided, plastic containers that can take heat are useful.  Even better if they come with a lid. 

Tips:

• Some recipes pour off the excess liquid and use that to make Quince jelly and then sieve the pulp for the cheese.
• I think I would only dust when you are serving otherwise it will simply soak in…
• Instead of setting the cheese and cutting into squares, some recipes recommend simply spooning the mixture into warmed sterilized straight sided jars.  Seal and label, then store for 2-3 months in a cool dark place to dry slightly before eating.
• Keeps for a year if airtight.  I kept mine in the jelly moulds until I wanted to turn it out and had wrapped it in baking foil.  You might find it useful to place on a piece of card to keep the shape firm.

Elizabeth Highton

September 2011

A bumper crop of quinces – oh and did I mention apples & pears too September 18, 2011

My first attempt at quince cheese!

This year really is going to be our biggest yet with over a 1,000 kilos of fruit picked so far and more coming in!

Quinces are in season now and my first experience of them is that they are very, very hard to cut through so whatever you are making make sure you have your sharpest knife out to cope!

Anyway for once I decided to make something for myself rather than the Abundance project and Elizabeth (guru of chutney and all things related) gave me a recipe for quince cheese to try.  It was a bit off a faff, by as I tend to do these things in around 3 stages, possible over 3 different days too it wasn’t too bad.  To buy quince cheese is very expensive, now I know why!

A picture of my cheese in small plastic containers setting nicely.  I bought them from Poundland and they have airtight lids so will be easy to store for as long as a year – maybe more.  I’m going to be hot footing it down to the Cheddar Deli on Northfields Avenue to get a lump of manchego then I’m all set for a very tasty snack.