So it's been awhile, well a long time since I posted , life events and all that and starting a new business www.theelvishtailor.co.uk. Anyway the elf is now back in the kitchen with a vengeance  Posting regularly this week as we prepare for the biggest function of this year. Next Sunday is the mother-in-laws 80th birthday. This is no little old lady, well she is little but he is bright and feisty and stubborn and keeps her three boys in check and we love her. So her birthday present is a banquet for the whole family  cooked by yours truly!!!!

I have gone through about 50 cookery books looking for recipes but went back to the old favourites last week . The problem at this time of year is the weather , after about 6 months of freezing temperatures , greyness and snow  ; spring has finally decided to grace us with her loveliness and next Sunday will be lovely . So going from ideas for heavy pork with a Parmesan and pine nut crust we decided to go lighter and classically French . But that means lots of preparation and lots of work through the week to make things easier for next weekend.

I started two days ago making a blackberry chutney, the blackberries were gathered back in September from  mother in laws favourite place on the Suffolk coast. Not with any thought of this celebration but just because they are lovely. But they seemed perfect to go with the rest of the starter, more of later. 400g of blackberries were boiled up with 400g sugar, 1 chopped onion, 200g raisins, 1/2 litre malt vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon each of mixed spice, smoked paprika and sumac and 3 cloves garlic. This was simmered for 2 hours the smell was incredible and not in a good way , overpowering and vinegary that took the linings off your eyes! I thought it was going to be a disaster but once your half way there you may as well go to the finish. So it was left to cool.
Blackberries have a gazillion seeds and these need to be removed but rather than go through that  mammoth task first we decided to let it cool and taste.
The taste was sublime, sweet, sharp and slightly smokey. The perfect combination with the rest of the starter.
So the next night it all had to go through the vintage mooli ; a mooli is like a sieve with a handle that presses the given substance through thus removing seeds etc. It takes for ever, we ended up with just over a kilo of chutney before going through the mooli. After 2 hours of filling , winding, scraping and cleaning the result is a of a perfect molasses smooth blackness all jarred up and ready to roll.