Marmellata d'arance

My dear Nanna G made the best apricot jam ever. She would get a new jar out specially for us three city girls when we came to visit the farm - and there wasn't much left after we were done! So I've been making jam. I've done a few batches now, so thought I was ready to branch out and try orange marmalade.

I'm not a marmalade fan... but my baby sister, D, LOVES marmalade - even though she thinks it makes you old (read her hilarious blog post here). It was slightly different from making jam, you don't add any water cause the oranges are juicy enough.

So here goes...

Peeling all the oranges... and I only did half quantity!

All sliced and ready to cook

Not sure my peel was 'finely sliced' but I gave it a good go!

Foamy

After sterilizing, I was ready to put the marmalade into jars

Looking good

The finished prouduct

I delivered a jar to D - so perhaps she could give a verdict below in the comments?

And when apricot season comes around, I will do a comparison between Nanna G's jam... and the Silver Spoon's version... anyone know when apricot season is in the UK? Let me know!

"These are a few of my favourite things"

• My gorgeous kitsch tray is a souvenir from our last snowboarding trip to Chamonix, where we found the cutest restaurant/cafe/bar called The Kitsch Inn when I asked if I could buy the tray our breakfast was served on, they sent us to Bungalow Graphics 
• Wooden chopping board is from Habitat and they have a really similar one here 
• Floral tea towel is from H&M a few years ago - but they have gorgeous styles all the time

And finally, thanks to D for all her jar collecting!
 

Salsa olandese

Yesterday was our 10 year wedding anniversary... so I wanted to cook L his favourite ever breakfast, eggs benedict. Then I thought I really need to do a blog post, so thought I'd make my hollandaise sauce (instead of buying it from M&S!)
 
I was very slack with these pics, so apologies! But also it's not a really exciting recipe (but never fear... I've got another post to come!)

This recipe uses butter instead of oil - I'm sure I've cooked hollandaise before, so the butter threw me a bit. But it's super easy and I think it doesn't split as easily as the oil version does. Lemon is added at the end to zest it up a bit (I also added salt). It's sooooo creamy and rich, and was gorgeous with the salty ham and fresh eggs.

whisking in little cubes of butter

Bottled ready to reheat for later

With muffins, eggs and fresh ham from our local butcher

Verdict: awesome! But pity the bubbly we had with breakfast (hey, it was a special occasion!) wasn't up to scratch! 

Find me on twitter @jeni_willis and also find my butcher on there too @ManorMeats