The marmalade morning

It’s raining and blowing a gale so a good day to be busy in the kitchen. It was the day of sticky clarts as after soaking my pulp yesterday I made the marmalade today. I don’t enjoy the process but we love it made by my mother’s recipe of 3lb Seville oranges plus 2 grapefruit and 2 lemons. I don’t need a thermometer or even a bit of muslin for the pips - her method is to soak the fruit overnight in 6 pints of water and the pips in a separate bowl with 1 pint water. This morning I strained the pip water (now with its pectin) into the jam pan, boiled the lot till the fruit was soft then added the sugar 1lb for every lb of pulp. It’s always a worry whether it will set but of course it always does and I have all the jars filled and ready to store after giving the daughters some. My blip is what was left as I had no more spare jars. This dish is what my mum used to serve marmalade in.

I’ve also made an Ottolenghi recipe from Saturday’s Guardian for supper - aubergines baked in a coating of crunchy peanut butter, maple syrup, soy sauce and spices and served on flatbreads with cucumber riatta.

I’ve also tried the magic bread recipe Katy gave me - I just mix the flour, dried yeast, porridge oats and seeds with water and leave overnight then bake tomorrow in a casserole. We’ll see - we are fed up with bought bread but I don’t want to invest in a bread-maker. Most people’s bread I’ve tasted from the breadmaker is very puffed up and no nicer than the shops though Ken can get good results. Sadly his maker was very expensive and no longer available. I’d be interested in hearing if any of you get good results and what machine you have. I could be convinced.

Now I’ve earned time on the sofa with my book for the Literature course. It’s Salt Houses by Hala Alyan. A generational saga about the lives of a family of refugees, fleeing from firstly the Israeli occupation of Nablus, to Kuwait, starting over, building a life, till Saddam invades Kuwait from where they move again.