grapefruit marmalade | organised castle

I mentioned in my last post that I had been cooking.

We hosted lunch on Sunday for GMan’s birthday. There were 17 of us altogether and I did almost all of the preparation beforehand.

Here is a list of what we ate.

NIBBLES

Raisins
Spiced peanuts*
Dips – beetroot, tzatziki, hummus*
Cheese – brie
Biscuits – water crackers, GF crackers, pita chips

HOT SNACKS

Mini meatballs*
Kofta balls*
Potato wedges*

Sour cream
Tomato sauce*

MAINS

Green chicken curry*
Beef casserole*
Rice

DESSERT

Mulberry and apple crumble*
Ice cream
Cream

The spiced peanuts and tomato sauce are homemade pantry items and wedges were made on the day but everything else that I made was prepared in advance and either refrigerated or frozen. This made for relatively easy catering.

There are very few photos, however, here are a couple from when I was making the dessert.

I retrieved about 1kg of mulberries that had been in the freezer since December. I think we picked and froze about 6kg. It is great to have them to use at other times.

The mulberries and apple combined and ready to be refrigerated. I made the crumble topping and froze it. I assembled the crumbles and popped them in the oven on the day.

It is great to eat seasonal produce but it is fairly easy to store some things for a treat in the off season. It is difficult to imagine this mulberry tree laden with fruit but that is exactly what it will be like in another 4 months. It is in a public space in our town and the fruit is appreciated by many.

Meanwhile, there is abundance of citrus everywhere at the moment. These grapefruit were being given away.

So, I made more marmalade. That should keep GMan supplied with breakfast condiments until next winter.

After my previous post it is back to the things we do ourselves.

Today I picked up a couple of large grapefruit at our local LETS market. I have sliced them finely and am soaking them overnight and I will make some marmalade tomorrow. Grapefruit marmalade is GMan’s favourite so another jar or two is always a welcome addition to the pantry.

In the past I would have draped a tea towel over the bowl to cover the soaking fruit but I am using this cute fabric bowl cover which is simply a circle of fabric with an elasticised edge. It was a gift from a friend in Maleny and was made by one of the members of WAM (Waste Action Maleny). I was part of the group when we lived there so it was lovely to receive this gift.

Marmalade goes on toast and GMan was particularly proud of his latest loaves of sourdough. We have been here for almost 12 months and in that time he has been unable to replicate his best efforts but we both think that these are as good as any he has made.