Cucumber Relish

Cucumber Relish

6 medium-sized cucumbers peeled and sliced
4 onions halved and sliced

Put in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Cover with a tea towel and allow to stand for 2 hours. Drain the liquid out in a colander and wash the salt out with cold water.

Put well washed bottles into oven at 100C to heat. Pour boiling water into the lids.

½ teaspoon ginger
500 grams brown sugar
1 ¼ cups white vinegar
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon Chinese 5 spice

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan. Boil for 8 minutes. Fill the hot jars with the cucumber and onion mixture using a slotted spoon. When full pour in the liquid to overflowing, seal with the lids. Wash the bottles off with hot water.

This quantity made up one very large jar and one jam jar. It would probably make 3 normal size jam jars.

I had a spoonful left over which tasted yummy, but I think it needs to be allowed to stand for at least a month to let the flavours mature.

Roz sent me the following recipe which I was keen to try, but as I was unable to get mustard seed after a search of 5 different shops, I opted for the above which is quite similar.

Cucumber pickle

3-4 large cucumbers
3 large onions
50g salt
550ml vinegar
500g brown sugar
1/2 level teaspoon turmeric (curcuma)
1/4 level teaspoon ground cloves (clous de girofle)
1 tablespoon mustard seed (black is nicest)


Slice (peeled) cucumbers and onions. Layer them with salt in colander over a bowl. Leave for 3 hrs.
Put vinegar, sugar and spices in large saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolved. Add cucumber and onion to pot. bring to boil and simmer uncovered for just one minute.
Remove pan from heat. Use draining spoon to lift cucumbers etc out and into jars. Boil the spiced vinegar, again uncovered for about 15 minutes until it has reduced to about half.
Pour mixture into jars to cover contents. (Save any let over to top up of for another batch) seal immediately and store for a month before serving.


Fills about 1 1/2 litres.


Just as I finished this post, the owner of the 'Natural is Best' / "C'est la Nature qui a raison"  shop in Chasseneuil sur Bonnieure, phoned me to say she had ordered mustard seed for me and it would arrive on Tuesday. She is so good about ordering  unstocked items for people!  So, I will try the second recipe next week when I pick the next batch of cucumbers.
 

Courgette Pickle and TDF - Blog 97

Too many Courgettes? (zucchini or squash) Very easy recipe.

My Courgette Pickle

½ litre white wine vinegar
3 ½ cups sugar
1 packet of pickling spice mix (I used South African) Tie into a muslin bag.
Put into a stainless steel pan and bring to the boil.

Then add
8 cups of chopped courgette (about 1 cm square)
2 cups of sliced onions
1 cup sliced peppers

Simmer for 10 minutes. While that is happening, heat the jars in the oven - 100 degrees C for about 10-15 minutes. The hot jars are then tightly packed with the cooked vegetables and then filled to overflowing with the boiling vinegar liquid. The lids are screwed tight, and the sticky overflow liquid is washed off with hot water. The lids may need re-tightening as the jars cool down. Label and date. Delicious.

TOUR DE FRANCE

Stage 14 - Revel - Ax 3 Domaines 184.5 km Sunday 18 July

Another stage win by a Frenchman; this has been one of the more successful TDF for the French in recent years.
1. Christophe Riblon (ALM) France
2. Denis Menchov (RAB) Russia
3. Samuel Anchez (EUS) Spain
4. Andy Schleck (SAX) Luxembourg

Again the positions for the yellow jersey changed very little. Schleck is still 31 seconds ahead of Contador, despite the latter making several charges to get away. Andy Schleck was watching him like a hawk and every move Contador made was matched by Schleck. They finished in the same time group.

Stage 15 – Pamiers - Bagnères-de-Luchon 187.5 k Monday 19 July

It was the celebration of the 100th ride in the Pyrenees today, so it was  perhaps appropriate  that once again, we had a Frenchman winning the stage.
1. Thomas Voeckler (BTL) France
2. Alessandro Ballan (BMC) Italy
3. Aitor Perez Arrieta (FOT) Spain

Overall there was a major change today; sadly, Andy Schleck’s chain came off just before he reached the top of the  last climb, just 20 km from the finish. The delay to replace the chain  cost him a lot of time, so he lost his 31 second overall lead, and a bit more. He ended up in second place 8 seconds behind Alberto Contador, who now wears the yellow jersey. In third place is Samuel Sanchez, who is 2 minutes behind Contador.

Andy Schleck is still in the white jersey as the best young rider, but he will now need to do something special to beat Contador, who is expected to do better in the upcoming time trial stage at Bordeaux. The polka dot jersey (King of the Mountains) - the first three places are held by Frenchmen, but the jersey is being worn by leader Anthony Charteau. No changes in the green jersey competition, which is still led by Alessandro Petacchi.