Delicious Plum Marmalade for All Year Round

Just before the harvest!

 Cooking and creating in the kitchen is quite therapeutic for me. Since my spirits have been on the low side the last couple of months, I opted in for the kitchen therapy!

Since my plum tree gave me lots of juicy and delicious plums as it has been religiously doing for the last four years I decided to make some marmalade; a good solution for using all that fruit which by no means I could consume it fresh! :-)

Getting ready for the marmalade production

 My tree gives me about 20 pounds of fruit which is amazing for this young tree!

I made enough marmalade to last me through the winter months and also give away to my friends.

You can use fewer plums so you don’t end up with such a production like mine!

Plum Marmalade

11 pounds fresh plums

14 cups sugar

Juice of 3 large lemons

Wash all the fruit well in cold water. Peel the skin off the plums if they are very ripe otherwise leave it on. Cut the plums and discard the pits.

Place in a deep saucepan. No water is needed if the fruit is ripe.

Let is come to a boil on medium-high heat. Stir a few times with a wooden spoon.

Reduce the heat to low. Stir more frequently so that the fruit doesn’t stick or burn at the bottom. Cook until all the fruit is puree.

I like having pieces of the fruit in my marmalade so I don’t put it through a sieve.

Measure the fruit to determine how much sugar you will add.

For every cup of fruit puree I add a cup of sugar.

Place the measured fruit and sugar in a deep saucepan. Turn the heat to high and stir with a wooden spoon. Once it comes to a boil reduce the heat to very low. Continuously stir the mixture so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

The fruit mixture will start to thicken.

After about 15 minutes add the juice of the three lemons.

Cook for another 30 minutes or until the marmalade thickens a bit.

It should drop from a spoon but not as liquid.

To make sure that it’s ready place one teaspoon of the marmalade in a small plate and let it cool off. Once you can separate it and it’s not completely liquid the marmalade is ready.

Let it cool off completely before placing into sterilized jars.

Marmalade is ready!

 Makes 22 jars – approximate size 3 ½ inches height and 2 ½ width

Love the Outcome!

 Enjoy and share the abundance!

Litsa - Λιτσα

Summer Fig Salad with Halloumi - Σαλατα με συκα και χαλλουμι

 After a long absence I am back to start sharing with you some great summer recipes and update you on my food related projects!

Since the last time I posted a blog I traveled back to Cyprus for one more time (shortly after my trip during Easter) where I stayed there with my family for a few weeks.

I flew back home urgently to see my father who was gravely ill. A day after I arrived, my very dear father passed away. The loss is huge but life goes on.

How do you say a final good bye to someone you love so deeply?

Personally, I can’t so I continue living with the many fond memories I have of my father and I continue to keep him in my heart.

On a daily basis, my father continues to touch me and speak to me through the flowers and trees in my garden (most of them he has planted) and through my cooking. Thanks to him,  I learned to love both of these…

Today I will share with you a simple but yet tasty and healthy salad that my father loved.

Some of the figs on my fig tree are already ripe – the few figs that usually get ripe early on in the summer, are called Maggiles - ματζιλεs in my Cypriot dialect.

Green Salad with Halloumi and Figs

Growing up I had figs and halloumi with my father in our garden many times. We would cut the figs right off the huge fig trees, peel them and then pair them with a bit of halloumi and have a hearty but healthy breakfast. We would do the same thing at my father’s grocery store but there my dad would go to the vegetable stand and pull a few strands of fresh cilantrto, arugula and lettuce to eat them along with the fruit and the halloumi.

What a better combination of the pungy taste of the arugula, to be paired with the aromatic cilantro and the crunchiness of lettuce. Then the to pair two opposites tastes such as salty from the halloumi and sweet from the figs gives an unparallel taste.

1 cup chopped cilantro

1 cup romaine lettuce

3 scallions

1 cup chopped arugula

Pepper

225 grams halloumi(approximately half of the halloumi)

6 fresh figs

For the dressing

½ cup virgin olive oil

1 lemon

Wash all the vegetables in cold water.

Get rid of any excess water on the leaves.

Finely chop the arugula, cilantro, lettuce and scallions.

Slice the halloumi and cut into small cubes.

Peel the skin off the fibs. Cut in the middle. If the figs are very large, cut into quarters.

Place all the chopped vegetables in a large salad bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl whisk well the lemon, olive oil and pepper.

Drizzle over the salad.

Add the halloumi.

Toss well. Add the figs on top of the salad.

Serves 4 - 6

Enjoy with your friends and family!

Καλη Ορεξη

Tip of the day

Here is a tip on how to “force” figs to ripe faster. :-)

Take a small food brush, and brush their bottoms with some olive oil. This will help figs ripe faster!

 

Enjoy the Summer – Καλο Καλοκαιρι

Fish Plaki - Ψαρι Πλακι

My dad's garden

My dad's garden

I am back after being absent for a few weeks. I went back home to Cyprus to visit my parents and my immediate family. I have to admit that it was a very emotional visit since my father hasn’t been well. I spent a lot of quality time with both of my parents and was mostly with them while in Cyprus. As I expected it was extremely hard to say goodbye and leave them behind in a very fragile state of health…

While I was back home I baked with my sister traditional Easter pastries as well as other delicacies and consumed a lot of these creations :-). I was able to bring  back with me a couple of new recipes which I need to try out soon and share with you.

… and since Easter is long gone, I decided to share a different kind of recipe today using fish and seasonal vegetables. I will share my Easter pastries’ recipes later on in the year.

Easter Pastries - Flaounes

In today’s recipe I use whole fish something that’s unusual in the U.S. It’s a very common way of cooking fish back home though. I hope I can encourage you to try it out. It’s a simple, yet easy and healthy recipe to execute.

Snaper

 

Fish Plaki

2 ½ pounds whole fish – snapper or other similar fish

2 ½ pounds red potatoes

1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes

2 medium onions

2 cups chopped parsley

1-2 lemons

1 cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves

3 bay leaves

Salt

Pepper

Peel and slice the potatoes – ¼ inch thick. Place in cold water so they don’t turn brown.

Wash and slice the lemons; set aside.

If using whole fish, clean it from the intestines and the scales. Wash in cold water.

Peel the onions and cut in semi-circles. On high heat sauté the onions in half of the olive oil. Add the finely chopped garlic. Slowly add the chopped tomatoes and bay leaves. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Lastly, add the chopped parsley. Stir and remove from the heat.

In a deep baking dish place the potatoes in layers. Season with salt. Drizzle over them the remaining olive oil.

Place the fish on top of the sliced potatoes. Place a few lemon slices on top of the fish and then pour part of the tomato sauce.

Fish Plaki

Cover with parchment paper and bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until you can easily fork the fish.

A few minutes before removing from the oven remove the parchment paper so the fish can get a nice golden color on top.

Cooked Fish Plaki

Serve immediately.

Καλη ορεξη!!!

Makes 4-6 servings

 Till next time stay well!