Making damson jam: 'jamson'

Under the heading of preserves, I've made pickled veg, chutney and clementine curd, but never jam.

On a walk a couple of days ago, while out walking with a friend, I spotted an amazing array of plum (or maybe damson) trees bordering the footpath. We'd already enjoyed apples and blackberries along the way. 'I'm coming back with a bowl,' I said. And I did. 

I was thinking of making damson gin (I like to make drinks from foraged finds) but my partner surprised me by suggesting jam, adding that he'd made it before. He couldn't remember when, or what type, but he'd definitely done it.

So I dug out my ancient Delia Smith Complete Cookery Course and found a recipe, conveniently for around the weight of damsons we had, about 2kg.

We heated the sugar in the oven, as directed, then into the pan (not a special preserving pan, just a big saucepan) with the sugar and fruit and it was soon boiling away.

The bit I was waiting for was the wrinkle test, when you drop a blob of your soon-to-be-jam on a cold plate and push it with your finger to see if it wrinkles. We did this about five times – 'another five minutes' – before it was set.

What went wrong
I forgot to remove the stones, so need to put warning labels on some of the jars. Before I filled the biggest jar, I put the remaining jam through a sieve, picked out the stones, then scraped the mush into the jar.

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How to make kale crisps

Three years ago I tried ready-made kale crisps for the first time. I realised that they would be easy to make, so soon after that I made some. Ones you buy ready-made are often overloaded with flavouring, so thickly coated that it's hard to see the green leafy veg that lies within. They're no longer a super-trendy snack, but I still make them. I like them and it's a great way to use up the massive bags of kale that regularly come in my weekly veg box.

• bunch of kale
• oil to coat - either poured from a bottle or sprayed on
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• dried chilli flakes (optional)
• smoked paprika (optional)
• garlic powder (optional)  

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Wash the kale leaves and dry very well with kitchen paper, pressing into the crinkles. Cut or tear the kale leaves into pieces, drizzle or spray with a little oil and toss with your hands to coat all the pieces.

Spread on a baking tray so that the leaves aren’t touching. Bake for 10 mins and take a look. The edges of the leaves need to be brown and frizzled without being burnt. Exactly how long this takes depends on the moisture content of the kale, so keep checking, on what seems a ridiculously frequent basis. Some pieces will cook faster than others, all to do with their relative surface area according to how 'curly' your curly kale is. When the majority of the leaves are browned, take the tray out of the oven. Season and sprinkle with the flavouring of your choice (any or all of the above) and serve immediately.

More of my recipes
Super-speedy spinach and coconut soup
Make pickled beetroot

How to make pickled beetroot

Beetroot keeps turning up in my weekly organic veg box. Recently I've been spiralising it, and serving it with candied walnuts, goat's cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar, which is a great mix of texture, taste and colour.

But this week I wanted to do something different. Cleaning out the fridge, I came across an ancient jar of home-pickled home-grown beetroot, well past its eat-by date. So I thought I'd make some more.

And it's so easy. I used BBC Good Food's recipe. This calls for wrapping each beetroot in foil and baking it, then unwrapping and peeling. And this calls for pink fingers, as you can see (right).

Next you make the pickling juice (below left) by simmering spices in vinegar. Once the beetroot are cold, slice or cut them into chunks, put into a sterilised jar, pour over the vinegar, add some sea salt and screw on the lid (below right). Ready in two weeks!

How to make chocolate Easter eggs

Even if you love chocolate, you can have a bit too much of it. I know, what am I saying? So this Easter, I wanted to make a small-scale Easter treat.

How to make chocolate Easter eggs in the half-shell
Carefully crack the eggs in half, and set aside the yolks and whites for cooking. (Shakshouka, anyone? Perfect Bank Holiday weekend breakfast).
Rinse the shells and scrape out the membrane inside the shell. Wipe dry with kitchen paper.
Melt your choice of milk or dark chocolate (you'll need about 50g to fill four half-shells) in the microwave, or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
Spoon the melted chocolate into the half-shells – no dribbles! – then sprinkle on whatever decorations you fancy. I used edible rose petals (Waitrose, £1.99) and chopped nuts, but sprinkles or even a chocolate mini egg would look good too. Happy Easter!

Enjoy more ways to cook with flowers

Baking: lemon and lavender drizzle cakes recipe

I love lavender, but I'd only used lavender essential oil in cooking (try beating a few drops in to good-quality vanilla ice cream). I'd eaten lavender-topped cakes from Konditor & Cook, and then my mum gave me some dried edible lavender designed for culinary use, and I devised this recipe to use it. They're now one of my favourite bakes – so fragrant – and other people love them too!

These mini lemon and lavender drizzle cakes, made in muffin cases, are a delicious teatime treat.

Ingredients
• 250g unsalted butter

• 225g caster sugar

• 280g self-raising flour

• 2 level tsp baking powder

• 4 large eggs

• 4tbsp milk

• finely grated rind of 2 lemons

• ½ tbsp dried lavender flowers

For the topping:
• 150g granulated sugar

• juice of 2 lemons

• 1 tsp dried lavender flowers

You will need...

16 muffin-sized paper cake cases

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF. Place paper muffin cases in a muffin tin.

Place all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat until well blended. Spoon into the muffin cases. 
Bake for 20-25 mins until the tops of the cakes are golden brown.

While the cakes are cooling, mix the sugar, lemon juice and lavender. While the cakes are still slightly warm, spoon the topping evenly over the cakes.

This recipe first appeared on Allaboutyou.com, where I used to work. It was a great website, with lots of top-quality content, including a few recipes by me. Unfortunately, it was closed in January 2015.

Cooking shakshouka

I've been meaning to make shakshuka since I got Yotam Ottolenghi's book, 'Plenty'. It seems to have started a trend: I've seen this recipe or variations of it everywhere, from magazines to menus and everyone I know seems to eat it all the time. I exaggerate slightly. Finally I got round to it last weekend and although it takes a little longer than my normal breakfast to cook, we agreed it was well worth the wait. It's a delicious slow-cooked mix of spiced peppers and tomatoes with eggs broken into the pan.
See Yotam Ottolenghi's shakshuka recipe here