Pomegranate, Cranberry and Pepper Jelly

Some of you may remember a previous post in which I mentioned the difficulty in finding an ingredient. I had found that sauce made from red wine and pomegranate, pepper and cranberry relish went really well with venison steaks, but that I couldn't find any more of the relish. Well my jar of relish finally ran out and I still haven't been able to buy anymore. So last weekend I decided that I'd just have to make an alternative.

I hunted around the web but couldn't find an appropriate recipe so I took suggestions from quite a few places to come up with a recipe for Pomegranate, Cranberry and Pepper Jelly.

Last night we tried the jelly in the sauce (served with beef rather than venison) and it was superb. It wasn't quite as hot as I would have liked (hence putting pepper last in the name), but I can tweak that a little when I make a future batch.

As an added bonus I had some cranberries left over so I decided to try and make my own Cranberry and Orange Muffins. Eaten warm from the oven they were superb. Even cold I think they are better than the one I bought in Starbucks!

The Whole Pumpkin: Part 2

Yesterday I cooked a pumpkin. Not just a little bit of a pumpkin either. I cooked everything but the stalk, pith and skin. It was a long but worthwhile afternoon in the kitchen.

I toasted the pumpkin seeds, which I then used as decoration on top of pumpkin soup which we ate for starter. I also made a pumpkin pie which we ate for desert. The rest of the pumpkin was roasted and made into puree which I have frozen ready for making more pies or soup in the future.

Unlike last time I tried cooking a pumpkin yesterday was a success. Everything was edible and I didn't end up wasting lots of pumpkin or my time!

Trotternish Mosaic

On our trip around Trotternish I've so far shown you The Storr, the Diatomite works, Kilt Rock and the Singing Fence, and the view from the car park for walking the Quiraing. There is of course an awful lot more to see. Rather than boring everyone silly with lots and lots of posts on the same subject I'll finish talking about Trotternish by showing you a selection of other photos we took that day.