nineteenth - how to make rhubarb cordial

Hello sweet peas,

I hope you've had a gorgeous day.

I was going to write about something different tonight, but then we made rhubarb cordial from that crate-ful we picked yesterday and now I can't think of anything else.

So just in case you find yourself with a clump or a bunch of rhubarb and your family are as sick of rhubarb cakes as mine are, I thought you might like to make some cordial yourself. 

As with most of the recipes I post here, this one is more of a guide than an exact science. 

Here's how we made it;

Gather

• a bunch of rhubarb  - we used 1.5kg
• a couple of lemons
• some sugar
• a couple of sterilised bottles

Make

• roughly chop your rhubarb into small pieces and pour into a saucepan
• add the zest of one lemon
• pour about a litre of water into the rhubarb 
• cook the rhubarb on low heat until it gets soft and mushy. stir it often to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan and add more water if it feels like it is
• set aside to cool for a bit
• strain rhubarb mush through a muslin cloth over a big bowl until most of the liquid has dripped through. we left it overnight
• pour the beautiful pink rhubarb juice back into a saucepan and cook over a low heat.
• compost the mush
• add the juice of two lemons 
• slowly add sugar to your taste. i think we used half a cup in the end or maybe a little bit more
• once the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat and allow to cool a bit
• strain the liquid and pour into bottles
• make some cute labels and then you're done

Next time we make it I might cook the liquid for longer and reduce it into more of a syrup, but today we were making it up as we went along and were eager to get to the taste test bit of the process.

Late this afternoon, after the heat had finally broken, we sat outside in the garden and sampled our cordial. The girls drank theirs with icy cold water and we added vodka, a wedge of lime and some ice.  It was gorgeous. Exactly the tangy but sweet taste of summer that I'd hoped for.

Cheers!

And thanks you guys for the book recommendations. I'm excited to have so many to choose from.


Big smooches,

Kate
xoxox

Blackberry & yoghurt cake. A recipe.

It's blackberry season here in southern Australia. And what that traditionally means for us landholders and farmers, is that for the next few weeks we can stop stressing about this prickly weed that takes over everything, and start enjoying her fruits. For a short amount of time we can reap the rewards of this crop that we didn't pay for, or spend time weeding, fertilising or maintaining.

The blackberry fruit is like something for nothing. Like a thank you for putting up with it.

And so for a few weeks of every year, we get about with scratches up and down our arms and purple stained fingers. And during this time, there are always bowls of berries on the kitchen bench. There is always a big heavy pot simmering on the stove. There are saucers for testing jam readiness in the freezer. There are jars and jar lids being sterilised in the dish washer and in the oven. And there are always piles and stacks of jars of fresh, just bottled blackberry jam.

Every year I make jam. Hundreds of 300ml jars. Some for us, some for family and friends and some to be sold at farmers' markets. This year I've made about 30 so far.

But this year I've got a bee in my bonnet about expanding my blackberry horizons. This year I want to make blackberry other things too. Blackberry everythings.

It's just the start of the season, but so far I have made blackberry cordial with this recipe.

And blackberry and yoghurt cake.

This cake has been such a success that I've made it twice already. It's just so moist and delicious.
And most importantly, it's super dooper simple to bake.

Blackberry and yoghurt cake

• A small bowl of blackberries.
• A cup of yoghurt.
• A third of a cup of oil.
• Half a cup of sugar.
• One lemon (juice and zest).
• Two eggs.
• One and 2/3 cups of self raising flour.

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.

Line a cake tin with baking paper.

Measure and then whisk together the yoghurt, oil, sugar, lemon juice and zest until all combined.

Add the two eggs and whisk until combined.

Add self raising flour and keep mixing until you've made a smooth batter.

Pour a layer of mixture into your lined tin.

Sprinkle the blackberries over the mixture.

Pour the rest of the mixture out to cover the blackberries.

Put your tin in the over to cook for one hour or until the top of the cake is golden.

Pop the kettle on and enjoy a piece. Yum!

Next up for me is blackberry ice cream I think.

And then...who knows.

Do you have a favourite berry recipe?

A blackberry recipe suggestion?

Do you pick them?

Do you like them?

If you are in the other hemisphere, do you miss them?
Do you ever cook recipes you read on blogs?

Happy cake baking and happy, happy new week. xx