Too tired to post yesterday

I was a little tardy yesterday. After having to empty the loft in order to make way far a plumber to replace the power shower pump I lounged on the sofa bemoaning my aches and pains from dragging box after box of books down through the loft access. I decided to pop a small pork shoulder joint in the oven for supper and, after parboiling the potatoes for roasting a little later I noticed the rewards from my last bit of activity on the garden yesterday.

A few years ago I was bought a nice little crab apple tree for my birthday. It had a small but beautifully coloured crab apple crop. I had picked them last thing on Saturday ready to make the perfect pork accompaniment, crab apple jelly. It was these little treasures I spotted on the counter. I knew they would not last much longer so I had to knuckle down and make some jelly now.

I like my jelly soft and clear. You can go to the trouble of boiling the whole crab apple and straining the juice but there is always a chance of clouding it. I cheat a little here. I used my juicer to draw off the pink juice. All in all I managed to get 600ml of juice out of them. To this I added 600grams of jam sugar and the juice of one lemon. I popped the pips from the lemon into a little muslin bag and added this to the pan. I brought it slowly to the boil and simmered it for an hour before increasing the heat and getting the mixture to 220C. having cleaned the scum off the top I bottled the jelly and hid it away. The tree only fruits every other year so this hoard of golden jelly is just for us.

As the pork was resting I was about to wash the pan from the jelly when I noticed a little at the bottom.. Not wanting to waste any of the golden treasure, I carefully managed to get a teaspoon of the it from the pan and added it to the jus I had de-glazed from the meat roasting dish with a little white wine. Pork, sliced drizzled with this fruity jus and served with cauliflower cheese, peas and roasted potatoes. What better way to end a Sunday ?