Chocolate and Chutney

Hello! I hope everyone has had a lovely Easter holiday! The weather has been great, there has been far too much chocolate and I have had a really good time myself.

I actually had a few days off over the Easter break so I decided to go home.

I started my Easter preparations on Wednesday. While I was at work during my break I left and went to the greengrocers next door and asked for a pound and a half of plums. The guy looked at me as if I was a little bit odd asking for it that way but he was very nice and he gave me a couple extra plums for the same price. I came back into work holding a bag of plums and everyone just kinda looked at me but I was happy because I got my plums!

Plums? Why did I need a pound and a half of plums? I'll tell you why! I had recently purchased a Nigel Slater cookbook that I found in a charity shop. His film Toast is one of my absolute favorite films. It's about his childhood and how he fell in love

with food and cooking. It's a beautiful film. So I was looking through this cookbook just having a little search and for the past few weeks now I've been really wanting to make some chutney and there were none in this book, so I started googling online and lone behold I found Nigel Slater's hot sweet plum chutney recipe and I thought yes, I have his book finally I need to make something that this man has created. And so I bought a pound and a half of plums.

I came home to a lovely dinner made by My housemate Louise and then It was chutney time!

The recipe was fairly simple,plums, onions, chillies and some spices. I'll link it below.

It was really fun making it as I'm a big chutney eater. I absolutely adore chutney and now I finally know the process of how it’s made!

I had a very memorable chutney at Christmas time with my Mum when we both had covid. It was hot gooseberry chutney and my goodness! This chutney blew my mind and my Mum actually sent me home with it because I would not stop talking about it! I also bought one that i’m yet to try when I went down to see her for her birthday. We went to a little artisan fair and I bought some fig chutney from this adorable lady. She was talking about how they harvested it in their home in Italy and I was instantly sold.

So I divided up my chutney into several different jars (leaving the biggest one for myself because I want all the chutney) and packed them away into the cupboard. The next day I then took three of the jars and some homemade cheese (that I had made in school) into work ready for the trip home!

I came home late Friday evening and had a picky dinner with my Mum to which I unveiled the chutney and the cheese, the cheese being a bigger hit than I thought!

I will also type up the recipe for that cheese. It’s a cultured cashew cheese that I adapted the recipe from from school. I made it herby rather than spicy. It's like soft cheese.

The next day we then headed to my uncle's house. I gave him a small jar of chutney and my mum took some of the cheese that I've given her to which my cousin's my aunt and my uncle tried and they all seemed they all seem to like it!

I always enjoy going to my Uncle’s as we have good food, play silly games and I get to spend time with my family ( and as it was easter, I ate a lot of chocolate)

I'm yet to hear back the results of the chutney if it was liked or not but I'm sure that they will tell me in good time. Paul, Claire, if you're reading this and you like the chutney please let me know!

On Saturday I started my day with a scone that my grandmother had sent my mum for Easter and let me tell you a hot coffee and a cream scone for breakfast is delicious! After a quick reading session and play time with my cat I then drove into Guildford to spend the day with a friend. We went on a dog walk and came back to mac and cheese that her Grandfather had made for us. Eating it in their beautiful garden in the sun with my friend and her dogs was a great way to spend my saturday.

I think having someone make your lunch or any food for you will always make the food taste better. Anyone who has lovingly prepared something for you whether it's a sandwich or a five-course meal is adding their heart and soul to it. And that immediately makes the food taste better. Why do you think ‘homemade’ or ‘mum’s cooking’ are such warm comforting words used to advertise food? I also brought a jar of chutney over to this house as well. There are six of them and I brought the smallest I had so they could probably have a teaspoon each but it's the thought that counts.

I left mid afternoon, collecting my things and saying goodbye to my cats. I brought my pasta roller and a blender back from my mum's house and I'm very grateful that I now will not spend hours rolling out pasta to be thin and have a lovely little machine that will do that for me.

I was home alone when I came back and spent my evening re-potting my chili and pepper plants that I have been growing! Growing your own plants!? Yes! It's very easy!

If You have a chili pepper or a regular pepper lying around, take out the seeds and just plant them in some soil, water it and in around 2 weeks you'll have little seedlings. When they're easy enough to gently pull out you can repot them so they don't overcrowd when they grow and soon you'll have some mini chili and pepper plants on the way! Unfortunately I cannot remember what I planted in what so it's just going to be a case of waiting until they're all grown up and start producing either chillies or peppers! It makes waiting more exciting!

There has been beautiful weather this weekend and it was really nice to actually go back and see my family and get away from London for a little bit. It's very busy and loud and going home to a quiet, green filled environment was just what I needed.

This morning I just finished reading a book that was very beautifully written. It's called ‘Beautiful world where are you’ and it's by Sally Rooney. That and everything that's has happened in the last two or 3 days has made me reflect a little bit about my own life. I have a job, I've got friends and family who support me,a roof over my head and I'm able to create and work on my career and my cookbook. I'm trying to appreciate everything I have and the people around me a bit more. Plus I have a massive jar of chutney in my cupboard that’s waiting to be eaten!

I hope everyone has had a very lovely and relaxing Easter weekend whether you were with family, friends, at work or on your own. I hope you've had your fill of chocolate or whatever you like to eat during Easter time. I hope there's been a mass of hot cross buns everywhere you've gone, and that you've taken some time to think about what we have that's good, among all the bad.

Thank you for reading and please let me know any chutneys I need to buy! What are your favorites? What's not good?! Tell me!

https://www.seriouseats.com/nigel-slaters-a-hot-sweet-plum-chutney

Yields: approximately 200g cheese Soaking time: 8 hours Preparation time: 10 minutes. Fermentation time: 24-48 hours

200g nuts (blanched almond or cashews for about 8 hours)

120 - 235ml water (or rejuvelac)

1 tsp probiotics (2 capsules) * *omit probiotic powder if using rejuvelac.

¾ tsp salt

2 tsp nutritional yeast

1. Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. 2. Place the mixture in a strainer that has been lined with cheesecloth and let it ferment for 12 hours. 3. After the first 12 hours, place a weight on top. The weight should not be so heavy that it pushes the cheese through the cloth, but heavy enough to gently start to press the liquid out. 4. Leave to culture for at least 24 but no longer than 48 hours.

Cultured cashew

50ml coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp salt

Mix herbs: 1 tbsp of dried basil, 2 tbsp dried oregano

1. Place cultured cashew, coconut oil and salt into a bowl and add coconut oil and salt. 2. Put the cultured cheese in the fridge for about 12 hours to set. 2. Shape the cheese into a log, use cling film or parchment paper to help. 3. Roll the log into the mixed herbs till covered. Keep refrigerated and dry. It lasts 1 to 2 weeks.

Sourced from - Bruna Oliveira