Farm-Fresh Friday: Rosemary Jelly

Canning season is still months away - trust me, you'll hear a lot more from me on that front as the fruit starts coming in this summer. But that doesn't mean you can't have loads of fun making jars of prettythings now! I discovered rosemary jelly this year and I absolutely love it.

This goes beautifully on a sandwich with a little cheese, or thinned with a bit of apple juice and brushed over chicken or pork, or in place of mint jelly with lamb. It's sweet, but the rosemary gives it a nice herbal twist that makes it perfect for savory dishes.

ROSEMARY JELLY

1 cup boiling water
3 Tbsp fresh rosemary
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 pkg liquid pectin
Green food coloring (optional)

Pour the boiling water over the fresh rosemary in a bowl. Cover and let stand for a half hour or so.

Strain the liquid into a pan, add sugar and vinegar, and bring to a rolling boil. Add the pectin, and boil another minute or two, then take off the heat. Add a drop or two of food coloring if you want. Pour into sterilized jars, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes if you want. If not, let the jars cool overnight at room temperature and then store in the fridge once set.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Nothing like a dish you can make without really having to pay attention to anything going on for the better part of an hour. Perfect for a lazy dinner that is still full of flavour and inspired from a Masterchef recipe, it's a winner in my house every time I cook it. I try to make it last until lunch the next day, but it never does.

Make dinner. Insert face.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine w/ Saffron Lemon CousCous
Olive oil
1 kg lamb steaks
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tspn ground coriander
1 tspn ground cumin
1 tspn ground turmeric
¼ tspn ground ginger
¼ tspn cayenne pepper
1 tspn ground cinnamon
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 cup vegetable stock
½ cup roasted blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper
CousCous
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 threads saffron

Preheat oven to 160C. Brown lamb steaks in olive oil until medium. Most recipes call for diced cubes, but I wanted steaks this time, because I just felt like a change. Place steaks in bottom of tagine.
Fry onions until soft and clear. Add spices and cook until so fragrant, you want to lick the pan or about one minute. Add orange juice and vegetable stock. Stir for three minutes, scraping up delicious goo from bottom of pan. Place liquid in tagine, sprinkle with almonds, salt and pepper to taste, cover and bake for 45 minutes.
After 40 minutes, boil some water and place lemon juice and saffron threads into the liquid. Take off fire and place cous cous into spiced water, covering and waiting 3 minutes. Afterwards, place either a tablespoon of butter or oil in the cous cous and put back on hob. Stir for a few minutes and take off heat.
Serve with orange zest and coriander if desired.

-Elizabeth