Changing Food… One Meal At A Time!
Summer
Jan Fullwood Food Consultant
(aka JamJarJan)
NOTES FROM A CHAOTIC KITCHEN
Welcome to daily life in a chaotic, well-used kitchen…..
A constantly busy, always evolving space: full of cooking, eating and creating (dinner, treats, mess), for work and for play, for family and friends.
Let me introduce myself and my family:
- A Food and Recipe Consultant who is ‘never knowingly under-catered’, I’ll whip up a five-minute muffin mix at a moment’s notice. I’m constantly creating, evaluating and tasting, always cooking, eating and learning something new
- Long-suffering Hub, who just wants a clutter-free kitchen and peace and quiet. Happiest in the garden. He grows, I cook and preserve
- Eldest Cheffy Son and his Pastry-chef girlfriend, who cook catering quantities of restaurant quality food at every opportunity
- Protein & carb-obsessed younger Student Son, currently at uni. Loves food, but cooking not his forte - student survival skills ongoing
We all eat to live. Let me help you live to eat.
Share my learning and experiences to make the most of your meals too.
What's in Jan's Pan?
JUNE/JULY 2026
It's been a long hot summer, and at the time of writing I think we may be up to our fifth official heatwave (although it all merges into one sweaty blur), and we are officially in drought. Barren brown lawns are a testament to that, and the poor fruit trees and bushes are in a state of quandary, not knowing whether to ripen early or even bother to fruit at all.The plums lay parched with not even a prune to be seen, the redcurrants arrived early and only the birds benefitted, and even my prize blackcurrants were sparse. The original bush stubbonly refused to fruit, citing old age and mistreatment, but the young eager ones allowed me enough to make some of my favourite fruit treats, as you'll see below.
We celebrated Dad's life at the beginning of June, along with 60 close friends and relatives (and an abundance of cake, as you’d expect), at the Magpie in Sunbury Village, which sits opposite Sunbury Lock on the banks of Old Father Thames as it wends its way London-wards. A fitting place as it’s mentioned in Jerome K Jerome’s ‘Three men in a boat’ - Dad’s favourite book, given to him as a form prize whilst school in the Midlands. Little did he know he’d live so close to the locations mentioned for two-thirds of his long and happy life. He would have enjoyed every minute of our celebration for him, we did him proud. The sun shone after a week of apocalyptic weather (the last of the rain in retrospect). Our personal patisserie chef made the day with the magnificent muffins she created, which totally stole the show. Along with Ken's favourite fruit cake the guests were more than happy, no Fullwood family celebration is complete without cake, so I've shared the recipe here.
It's a boiled cake, moist and easy to make, and I made sure Dad always had a supply in the larder as Mum always made it before me. So please do try it, it'll soon become your favourite too.
Blackcurrant Beauties
Have I ever mentioned that blackcurrants are my absolute favourite crop from my garden? They are the easiest of fruit to pick and process, not to mention their divine and distinct flavour. Foodswappers don’t get a look in as it’s a fruit I’ll never trade - there are just too many delicious uses, as you’ll see here. Even if they’re just frozen and handfuls of fruit added to my morning porridge, they are not leaving the house. No way José.
This year I started with cordial. I used the BBC Good Food recipe which uses lemon juice rather than citric acid, useful if you’ve none to hand and just as good for preservation. I particularly like lime with blackcurrant, so I used the juice of two limes, to replace one of the lemons for extra citrussy tang. I put it into sterilised bottles and keep it in the fridge so it lasts longer. I like it diluted with sparkling water or tonic for a really refreshing summer spritz (a splash of Prosecco would certainly not go amiss here too if the occasion calls for it).
The problem with making cordial is that it needs to be strained through muslin, which means leftover pulp. Not being able to bear wasting one tiny bit of my precious crop, I devised ways to use it, hence the blackcurrant shorties and the blackcurrant gelato, both shown here. The gelato uses the leaf to infuse the cream mixture, adding an extra dimension of deliciousness, and the pulp was perfect to ripple through.
Seeing the potential for the leaf meant I got completely carried away when I saw Silvana Franco’s frankly fantastic use of fig leaves baked into sourdough. We chatted about options and techniques, and I promised to try my ideas, and hey presto, blackcurrant leaf Sourdough. The leaves impart their distinct yet delicate fragrance and flavour to the loaf, perfect for spreading with my homemade blackcurrant jam.
Not such an abundant crop this year, but certainly no part of the bush - currant or leaf - has been wasted with every part put to good use.
Blackcurrant leaf sourdough
Bottom left
Silvana's recipe and tips have become my absolute go to: minimum fuss, maximum impact.
It's key to have a lively starter, and frequent use really helps to keep it happy and perform at its best. Her recipe uses 100g starter with 500g flour before folding in 12g salt. Bring it together until smooth, leave for an hour or so on the worktop, give it a few more folds then tip it into the banneton and allow to rest in the fridge overnight.
Silvana's loaf used fig leaves but they are best positioned on what will be the base of the loaf. I experimented by putting blackcurrant leaves around the sides of the banneton to soften and add flavour. Bring it out of the fridge the next day, heat the a suitable pan with a lid at 230C, turn the bread out onto greaseproof and add to the pan, cover and bake for 45-50 mins then take the lid off for the final 5-10mins. I usually take the cooked loaf out of the pan for the final 5 and turn the oven off for a final crisping in the residual heat. Looks and tastes amazing with real wow factor.
Blackcurrant Pulp Shorties
Top Centre
These are based on a melting moments style recipe.
Cream 115g softened butter with 25g icing sugar then stir in 115g plain flour, 2tbsp cornflour and 25g melted white chocolate.
Use a fluted nozzle to pipe onto a lined baking tray approximately 12 circular biscuits with a flat base and slightly raised sides. Spoon a teaspoon of the blackcurrant pulp, or jam into the centre then bake in a preheated oven at 160C fan for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the tray to firm up before removing - they are very short. Best eaten within 1-2 days.
Blackcurrant pulp Gelato
Centre
I used a recipe from 'Gelup Gelato' by Jacob Kennedy (of Bocca di Lupa restaurant fame) and swirled in the pulp.
If you love gelato, you’ll love his ‘delectable palette of ice cream recipes’, filled with wonderful flavour combinations. I love his philosophy too:
‘the world is your gelato - lick it’.
You can’t argue with that.
Blackcurrant Cordial
Bottom Centre
I usually try a different recipe every time but this BBC Good Food Blackcurrant cordial recipe works well. I added a bay leaf to the currants during cooking, but the flavour didn't really come through. Perhaps more bay required? Or, as my foodie pal, Angela Nilson recently suggested, (whilst picking fruit together at Cammas Hall Fruit Farm in Hatfield Broad Oak), is the flavour of bay overrated? Drop me a line if you have a view!
Blackcurrant Jam
I recently came across my Nan's recipe book with her recipe for blackcurrant jam, so will follow that for my next batch. She was president of the High Wycombe WI back in the day, so her jam making skills are not to be sniffed at.
Bottom right
What’s in Jan’s Cake pan
Life Celebration Cakes:
Blueberry Cream Cheese
Chocolate & Caramel
Lemon & Poppyseed
These were based on recipes from ‘Baked to Perfection’ by Katarina Cermelj but with our Pastry Chef’s twist of hollowed out centres filled with caramel or curd then swirled with Italian buttercream. An absolute triumph.
They work well with gluten-free or standard flour. I'd recommend Katarina's books, both of which have been shortlisted and won the Guild of Food Specialist Cookery Book award. They not only contain failsafe gluten-free recipes, but they give a deep dive insight into the why's and wherefore's of baking in her very accessible, comprehensive and readable style.
I also recommend having a Harrod's pastry chef in the household, who despite having worked a full week of punishing hours, still managed to produce 60 of these perfect delights in time for the celebration. It's not necessarily good for the waistline though. Good thing the two chefs are off globe-trotting soon, for a much needed break from the madness of the hospitality world. I may have a chance of regaining my sylph-like figure once again. (In my dreams. That went literally pear-shaped years ago).
Barb's Boiled Fruit Cake
My recipe is to make two 8in cakes but it worked a treat in one big 28in cake tin to feed the masses.
In a large pan melt the following together:
2 cups sugar (2 x 225g)
2 cups water (2 x 250ml)
2 lb mixed fruit (900g)
4 tsp mixed spice
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
16oz margarine (450g)
Allow to cool slightly, then stir in
4 eggs
2 cups self raising flour (2 x 150g)
2 cups plain flour (2 x 150g)
Cook in 2 x greased and lined 8in/20cm tins for 1 1/2 hours at 170C/Fan 150C/Gas 3 until a skewer comes out clean
What's in Jan's veg box
Carrots with Carrot top Chermoula
I love the bunched carrots I often get in my weekly veg delivery box and always save the carrot top fronds with the best of intentions to make good use of them. Did you know that they contain six times more vitamin C than the roots themselves? Plus Vitamin A, K, Calcium and fibre, so it’s really worth putting them to work rather than instantly discarding them. They are slightly bitter tasting, and can be quite tough, but combined with other herbs and finely chopped they are ideal for pesto or the chimichurri I made here to top the whole roasted carrots.
I used some marjoram, thyme and garlic chives from the garden as well as the carrot tops, some garlic, some chilli (fresh or flakes to suit your taste) and some red onion all chopped together. Then I mixed olive oil and red wine with some seasoning and served with the sweet roasted carrots. We ate it with some burrata and salad. Such great colours and flavours for an eye-catching, palate-pleasing side dish.
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