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January Lock-Down Pickling

January Lock-Down Pickling

Both of these monstrosities used a 2% brine. That’s about 4 heaped table spoons of Salt to 1 litre of water. The slight pink haze is from the Ferrous Salts as I used ground Himalayan Salt. It’s not got magical properties (!!!) as some folk think, it’s just not got anti-caking ingredients which sometimes interfere with fermentation.

The Pickled Ginger was a bit of a challenge as it has natural anti-microbial properties and after a false start I had to ‘Seed’ it with a little liquid from an existing Garlic ferment. But it’s been worth the wait. If anything pickling have intensified the flavour and softened the texture. I started this on on the 29th of November, so it has been quite slow.

The Pickled Round Shallots I only started on Wednesday, so they’ve had 3 days so far. They are very active and bubbling away happily. There’s quite a lot of natural sugars in Alliums, so this will initially be a very fast ferment and eventually settle down as the Ph increases. I’m thinking perhaps 3 weeks until it goes dormant but we’ll see. The Shallots were on offer so this 1l jar will have cost us about 35p including the Salt!

 

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Mediterranean Meatballs recipe, eat well on universal credit

For us this is quite a traditional recipe. We didn't shoehorn any oddities into it. Yay!

Meatballs Ingredients:-

400g of Pork Mince
1 Onion, diced
3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp of fresh Basil, chopped
1 Tsp of Ground Cinnamon
½ Tsp of Garlic Powder
½ Tsp of Mixed Herbs
Salt & Pepper to season
1 Tbsp of Oil & 1 Tbsp of Olive based Margarine, to fry

Sauce Ingredients:-

1 Onion, diced
3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
200ml of Chicken Stock
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
2 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
1 Cinnamon Stick
100ml of Red Wine
1 Tbsp of Caster Sugar
Oil to fry
Salt & Pepper to season
Pasta to serve, gluten free for us

Method:-

For the Meatballs

(1) Add the Oil & Margarine to a frying pan.
(2) Over a medium heat add the Onions and soften, then add the Garlic and fry for a further minute.
(3) Remove and set aside to cool.
(4) In a bowl add the Mince, Salt & Pepper, Garlic Powder, Basil, Mixed Herbs, Ground Cinnamon and fried Onion & Garlic.
(5) Mix well and form into balls.
(6) Add a little Oil to a frying pans and over a low heat fry the Meatballs until they are cook through.

For the Sauce

(1) Add a little Oil to a pan oven a medium heat and add the Onions, frying until softened.
(2) Add the Garlic and fry for a further minute.
(3) Add the Tomato Puree and stir in.
(4) Season with Salt & Pepper.
(5) Add the tin of Tomatoes, Red Wine, Stock, Cinnamon Stick and sugar.
(6) Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
(7) Cook you Pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
(8) Plate the Pasta, placing the Meatballs over the Pasta and then spoon the Sauce over. Making sure to remove the Cinnamon Stick.

We dressed ours with some fresh Basil. But grated Italian Style Cheese would be a wonderful addition.

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