Small Batch Strawberry Jam

This small batch strawberry jam is so much better than store bought. Made with just strawberries, sugar and lemon, it's so quick and easy, you may never buy strawberry jam again! I know I won't. 

Last year my close friend group was hosting a shower for one of our daughters who was getting married. We decided on an “afternoon tea” theme which everyone loves. 

I volunteered to make mini scones, jam, clotted cream and blood orange curd. The clotted cream was an absolute nightmare so in comparison, everything else was super easy. Especially the jam! I called it Sweet as Audrey Strawberry Jam on the labels in honor of our beautiful bride to be. 

Small Batch Strawberry Jam

This recipe makes two full pint jars and about 2/3 of a third pint. 

Ingredients

3 lbs or 1.36kg fresh strawberries

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 

4 cups or 800g white sugar

1/3 cup or 80ml fresh lemon juice

Zest from 2 lemons

Method

Remove the hulls and green tops from the strawberries. Rinse them with cool water. 

Slice the strawberries and put them in a large pot and sprinkle them with the salt. 

Add in the sugar and leave to macerate for at least 30 minutes. 

Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly and bring the strawberries to the boil.

Once boiling, add the lemon juice and zest.

Boil for about 15 minutes, or until the jam reaches the setting temperature of 220°F or 104°C.

Stir often, to make sure the jam doesn’t burn.

Ladle into sterilized jars, screw the lids on and turn the jars upside down. Leave to cool, retightening the lids occasionally.

Once cooled, turn the jars right side up. The lids should pop in. Refrigerate any that have not. 

Enjoy on scones or buttered toast! 

Welcome to the 10th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter J. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the J recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Jeerem Meerem Powder/Cladin Masala-Homemade 
• Blogghetti: Easy Crock Pot Chicken Jambalaya 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Armenian Jajukh Salad 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Creamy Jalapeño Corn 
• Food Lust People Love: Small Batch Strawberry Jam 
• A Messy Kitchen: Jollof Rice 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Thai-Style Turkey and Jasmine Rice Soup 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Jamaican Jerk Chicken 
• Culinary Cam: Inspired by a One-Word Text: Jjamppong 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sweet & Spicy Jalapeño Canned Tomato Salsa 
• Magical Ingredients: Jalapeño Popper Dip

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam – this post!

 

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Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

This fresh cherry ice cream is made with ripe cherries, sugar and whipped cream. So easy and delicious, no churning required. Gin optional! The flavor of my favorite summer fruit shines through. 

I have so many favorite summer fruits that it really is hard to choose just one but fresh cherries are definitely in my top three, along with figs and watermelon. You just can’t buy cherries or figs any other time where I live and watermelon grown out of season or imported is usually not very sweet, which is always disappointing. 

Last summer I got lucky though because I came across whole boxes of cherries at a discounted price and we ate like cherry kings for almost two weeks. Most of them were eaten straight from the box but the rest were turned into muffins, jam, tarts and, finally, this very ice cream. 

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream

If you don’t have fresh cherries, I’d substitute frozen ones but make sure to pit them if they aren’t already pitted. And doublecheck that the pitting process didn’t miss any pits if they are. Nothing will break a tooth faster than biting down on a hard cherry pit when you weren’t expecting one! 

Ingredients

12.5 oz or 354g cherries

1 cup or 240ml water

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1 2/3 cups or 393ml whipping cream

Optional: 2 tablespoons gin – I used strawberry infused gin for more fruity flavor 

Method

Pit the cherries. Chop them roughly (which helps to check for pits you might have missed!) and set aside a few for garnish for when you are freezing the ice cream later. 

Pulse the cherries briefly in a food processor. You want small chunks, NOT puree. 

In a pot large enough to hold the cherry chunks, dissolve the sugar in the water over a medium high heat and then heat to boiling.

Add in the cherries.

Cook until the liquid is reduced by about half and the temperature just reaches 220°F or 104°C. This could take as many as 20-25 minutes.

Remove the cherries from the heat and transfer them to another vessel to cool. 

Once they are cool, whip the cream to soft peaks. 

Gently fold a couple of spoonsful of the cream into the cooled cherries.

Then fold the cherries and cream into the rest of the cream. 

Gently does it! You don’t want to deflate the air in the whipped cream. 

Add the gin, if using, and fold again. This isn’t essential but I think it makes the ice cream easier to scoop and serve. 

Spoon the ice cream into a freezer friendly container with a lid. Top with the reserved chopped cherries then cover and freeze until set. 

Remove from the freezer 15-20 minutes before you want to serve it. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 9th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter I. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the I recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Instant Urad Dal Flour & Rava Medhu Vadas 
• Blogghetti: Italian Chopped Salad 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Ice Apple Salad 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Ice Cream Wafflewiches 
• Food Lust People Love: Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Italian Ice 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Iced Gems 
• A Messy Kitchen: Irish Colcannon Mac and Cheese 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sun-Dried Tomato & Kale Italian Pasta Salad 
• Culinary Cam: Es Teler (Indonesian Drunk Ice)

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream – this post!

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Whipped Espresso Cream

This rich whipped espresso cream is just sweet enough to qualify as dessert with a good hit of bitter coffee. It’s the perfect after dinner pick me up! 

I grew up drinking café au lait, my grandmother’s bitter dark roast coffee warmed with milk and sugar in her little enamel pot. If I close my eyes, I can still smell her warm kitchen, redolent of fried chicken, roux and onions, with a hint of mothballs that seemed to linger year-round. It was probably my favorite place on earth. 

My grandmother gave me a love of coffee that has lasted my whole life. The aroma as coffee brews is the best smell to wake up to! In fact, even as a child, my favorite ice cream flavor was coffee. That’s why I love this easy dessert. 

Whipped Espresso Cream

This makes four servings. It takes just minutes to make and can be eaten right away or chilled in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, plus more to sprinkle on top

1/3 cup or 41g powdered sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml hot water

1 1/4 cups or 300ml whipping cream

Pinch cream of tartar

Optional for decoration (and eating!): Chocolate-covered espresso beans

Method

In a small bowl, dissolve the espresso powder and sugar in the hot water, stirring well until it is completely liquid. 

Chill in the refrigerator or freezer until cold. 

Whisk the whipping cream with the cream of tartar until you have medium hard peaks. As you can see, I use my stand mixer for this step but you can use electric beaters. 

Add a couple of good spoons of the whipped cream to the coffee mixture and fold to combine. 

Add the coffee/cream mixture to the cream bowl.

Fold gently till it’s almost homogeneous. A few little streaks of espresso are fine. 

Spoon the whipped espresso cream in four pretty glasses or ramekins. Sprinkle some more espresso powder on top.

Add a few chocolate-covered espresso beans, if desired.  

Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 5th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter E. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the E recipes below:

• A Messy Kitchen: Eggs Benedict for One or Two 
• Blogghetti: Easy Easter Egg Sugar Cookies 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Egg Jalfrezi 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Espresso Martinis 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Avocado Egg Salad Cups 
• Culinary Cam: A Dozen Eggs - Stuffed, Scotch, Curried, and More 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Pork and Cabbage Egg Rolls 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Escargot a la Bourguignon
• Food Lust People Love: Whipped Espresso Cream 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Cajun Deviled Eggs Garnished with Pickled Okra 
• Palatable Pastime: Emerald Isle Pub Spread

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream – this post!

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Zucchini and Bacon Pangrattato

Buttery golden zucchini with bacon pangrattato is a great combination of tender and crunchy making this dish one of our favorite sides. I have been known, in fact, to make a meal of it!

During the summer, when the zucchini abounds in our local honesty boxes and farm stands, I am always on the lookout for new ways to prepare it. While searching, I came across a Nigel Slater recipe online that sounded interesting. For the record, I love Nigel Slater and, in my book, he can do no wrong. 

HOWEVER, in the instance of this recipe, Nigel was clearly, ahem, mistaken. He called the breadcrumb topping gremolata! You and I both know that gremolata is an Italian condiment consisting of chopped parsley mixed with lemon zest and garlic. And it would be very tasty sprinkled on some zucchini but what Nigel actually made was a pangrattato! Because breadcrumbs. 

Potaytoe, potahtoe. Still delicious. 

Zucchini with Bacon Pangrattato

I use the very handy real bacon crumbles I buy in Costco for this dish but it’s never crispy enough, hence the extra frying step. If your bacon is already cooked extra crispy, you can skip that. Just put the bacon and butter in the pan and add the rosemary and garlic right away. This recipe is adapted from the one I found online (link above) but it is originally from Nigel’s 2013 book, Eat, The Little Book of Fast Food.

Ingredients

1/3 cup or 40g crumbled cooked bacon

2-3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 short sprig rosemary

1 clove garlic

Several sprigs parsley

About 1 oz or 28g day-old bread

zest small lemon

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

3 medium zucchini, approximate weight 340g

Method

Slice some day-old bread thinly. 

I like to use baguettes because they get pretty hard the same day I buy them. This pangrattato is the perfect way to use a stale baguette up that might otherwise be thrown away.

Cut the slices up in to smaller bits and pulse them in a food processor to make breadcrumbs. 

Pull the leaves off of the rosemary and parsley sprigs and mince them and the garlic finely. Zest the lemon. 

In a large skillet, fry the bacon with one tablespoon of butter, until it gets crispy.

Add the minced rosemary and garlic. 

Stir for a minute or two then add the fresh breadcrumbs. 

Add more butter if the crumbs look dry. Let these cook until golden, turning them regularly, then toss in the minced parsley and the lemon zest. 

Season generously with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. When all is crisp and golden, remove from the pan and wipe it with a paper towel. 

Trim the ends off of the zucchini and then cut them in half lengthwise. Cut each half in diagonal pieces. 

Sauté them in the skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and some butter until they are golden on all sides. 

Season well with salt and pepper. 

Pile them in a serving bowl.

Top with a generous helping of the bacon pangrattato. 

Store any leftover pangrattato in a sealed container in the refrigerator. 

Enjoy! 

Whew! That’s a wrap on our Alphabet Challenge for 2024! This is the 26th edition, brought to you by the letter Z. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the Z recipes below:

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Easy Ziti Bake
• Culinary Cam: Zabaglione alle Mandorle
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Zuppa Toscana
• Blogghetti: Baked Ziti with Ground Beef
• Food Lust People Love: Zucchini with Bacon Pangrattato
• Sneha’s Recipe: Zucchini Balls & Chicken Bake -Keto
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Kolokithipites
• A Messy Kitchen: Zucchini Jam
• Magical Ingredients: Zhoug Zalouk Paratha Pockets
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Zesty Italian Balsamic Baked Oyster Crackers
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Za’atar Swirls

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs 

P. Homemade Piri Piri Sauce 

Q, Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread 

R. Leek and Lobster Mushroom Risotto 

S. Cheesy Sausage and Egg Casserole 

T. Stuffed Turkey Cutlets 

U. Spicy Urad Dal -

V. Spicy Vinegar Braised Chicken 

W. Honey Walnut Brittle 

X. Xmas Eggnog Fudge 

Y. Yemma Aouïcha – Eggplant with Chickpeas 

Z. Zucchini and Bacon Pangrattato - this post!

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