Beetroot and Ginger Chutney

This is a great time of year in the garden and it’s been such a good year for growing.

Our carrots are doing really well and the onions and shallots have been pulled and are all lying out in the sun to dry for a day or two. The plum tree is laden with fruit which is ripening nicely, but sadly the damson hasn’t been so lucky – some beasties have been munching on the fruit and it’s looking a bit sorry for itself. Plenty of fruit on the tomatoes, though, after a slow start; we’re just waiting for them to turn red.

And last but not least, I give you….drum roll please....beetroot! This is the fabulous bunch of little beauties I pulled on Friday – how gorgeous are they?

I'm chuffed to little mint balls with them - they’re the best we’ve ever grown and there are plenty more to come. I think I can feel lots of lovely beetroot, feta and walnut salads coming on.

Given that we’re so well endowed with beetroot I started looking for a chutney recipe to play around with, although I could quite happily eat the entire crop in salads. I based this Beetroot and Ginger chutney on Nigella's but I changed the proportions a little and added a couple of extras in the way of spicing as well as a splash of balsamic to perk things up a bit. It’s a stunning colour and sort of sweet but sharp; I think it'll make a great addition to a toasted cheese sarnie when it’s had time to mature for a few weeks.

Looks like chutney-making season has started early this year – I’m now on a quest for carrot chutney. Wish me luck.

600g beetroot
300g red onions
600g Bramley apples
25g fresh root ginger
60g preserved ginger
250g soft brown sugar
375ml red wine vinegar
25ml balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed spice
⅛ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger

Turn the oven on to 200C. Wrap the beetroots individually in foil, place directly on the oven rack and roast for 30-40 minutes until tender then set aside to cool.

Peel and chop the onions and the cooking apples, place in a deep wide pan or preserving pan. Finely dice the cooled beetroot and add to the pan. Blitz both the gingers with a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar then add to the pan along with all the other ingredients. Give everything a really good stir, bring to the boil then turn down the heat a bit and allow to bubble for about an hour or so, stirring occasionally, until it's nicely thick.

Draw a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan and if it doesn’t fill up with liquid you can pot up your chutney into hot sterilised jars. Cook for a little longer if it's still too runny.

Makes seven 190g jars.

Green Tomato Chutney

 

Green tomato chutney has been made and the preserving pan has been put away for another year… or maybe not.** I’ve already made Tomato and Cranberry Relish, Red Onion Marmalade and Nectarine Chutney and I am now all chutneyed out! (I’m not sure 'chutneyed' is a word but you know what I mean…)

I thought I’d already finished for this year but the weather suddenly turned cold and wet almost overnight – summer was gone and there was no way all the green tomatoes in the garden were going to ripen. I brought them indoors to warm them up a bit but some of the larger ones were stubbornly resisting turning red so, after retrieving my spare jam jars from the back of the cupboard, I set to once again and started chopping. It’s been a really good year for our onions and apples, happily, so I was able to make good use of those, too.

I always feel so chuffed when I’m able to use our own produce – I'm pathetically easily pleased. I spiced this one up a bit more than usual – green tomatoes don’t have a lot of flavour so they need all the help they can get, poor things.

**I may have lied when I said the preserving pan has been put away… Our apple tree is weighed down with fruit and I don’t intend to waste any of it. Watch this space.

850g green tomatoes
250g onions (after peeling)
250g apples, peeled and cored
125g dates (use raisins if you like)
4 cloves garlic
30g fresh ginger root
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne
½ tsp chilli flakes
300g light muscovado sugar
350ml white wine vinegar

Halve the tomatoes, cut out the core and discard, then roughly chop; chop the apples, onions and dates a bit more finely than the tomatoes then put the whole lot into a large wide pan.

Blitz the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander and salt with a couple of tablespoons of the measured vinegar in the blender then add to the pan along with the cayenne, chilli flakes, sugar and the rest of the vinegar. Stir well, bring to the boil then turn the heat down a bit and let it bubble for about an hour or so until nice and thick.

Draw a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan and if the channel doesn’t fill up with liquid it’s ready to pot up into hot sterilised jars.

Allow to mature for 4 – 6 weeks before eating.

Makes 7 190g jars.

Nectarine Chutney

I bought a large punnet of “Ripen-at-home” nectarines last Friday – they had deep rosy-hued skins and looked gorgeous; I foolishly fell for their charms.

Ripen-at-home? Yeah, right…not a chance! They sat on the breakfast bar in the warmth of my south-facing kitchen for five days and the bloody things were still as hard as a cricket ball – they could have been used as lethal weapons! I gave up waiting for them to become edible and made some chutney with them yesterday – sadly, I am not a woman who’s known for her patience.

 

I looked online and found nothing for nectarine chutney that appealed but there were loads of recipes for peach chutney if you happen to have a fruit bowl full of rock-hard peaches. They all involved skinning the peaches, understandable when the skins are hairy, but I was looking for something less fiddly; I just knew there was no hope of getting the skins off those damned nectarines!

I could tell you that I adapted my Chilli Plum chutney recipe… or, I could be completely honest and say that, in the end, I made this one up as I went along. As I’ve said before, chutney is very forgiving; just as well, really…

600g nectarines (after stoning)
325g red onions (after peeling)
125g dates
30g root ginger
30g garlic
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
325ml cider vinegar
300g white or soft brown sugar (I used a mixture)

Blitz the ginger and garlic, cumin, cayenne, salt and a couple of tablespoons of the measured vinegar until slushy. Chop the nectarines, onions and dates into largish dice and put into a large wide pan; add the garlic and ginger mix, the vinegar and sugar.

Stir well and bring to the boil then turn the heat down and let it bubble away steadily for about an hour until thick, stirring occasionally, by which time it will be a deep tawny colour. It’s ready when a channel drawn across the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon leaves almost no liquid behind.

Pot up into hot sterilised jars while the chutney is still very hot and allow to mature for about 6 weeks before eating.

Makes 5 190g jars.

Chilli Plum Chutney

Before I take up my favourite seat in front of the TV to watch the Olympic closing ceremony I thought I'd get this post on; I wrote it up a couple of days ago but I've been so taken up with sporting action I haven't had a minute to myself... (Incidentally, hasn't it been fabulous? I've loved every minute and have cried buckets whenever we've won gold, daft old bat that I am! Special mention to Andy Murray - I have at long last seen a Brit win a final at Wimbledon...!)

I’d been thinking recently about making some chilli tomato jam, but when I was in the market last week there were some lovely looking plums on the veg stall which set my mind wandering; would plum chutney with a chilli twist work? Well, I’d never know if I didn’t give it a go…so here it is.

It’s a gorgeous deep red from the plums and the red wine vinegar, but I must tell you the plums I bought, although a lovely colour, were absolutely the worst ones I have ever tried to stone; the stones seemed to have been embedded in the plums with the aid of superglue! As my fingers turned red, the air turned blue – I’m not ashamed to confess I said more than a few unladylike words…

However, recalcitrant plums aside, this was very easy and well worth doing if you happen to have a plum tree that has enjoyed our summer; well, when I say summer, what I actually mean is the few warm days that have constituted the British summer this year! The chilli I added gave just the right amount of oomph for us but if you like things a bit more spicy you can ramp it up as much as you like.

750g plums, stoned and chopped roughly
1 large Bramley apple, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
450g light muscovado sugar
350ml red wine vinegar
2 pieces of stem ginger in syrup, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
½ tsp chilli flakes

Put the stem ginger, garlic, cumin and salt into a blender with a couple of tablespoons of the measured vinegar and blitz until slushy.

Put the plums, apple, onions and sugar into a large wide pan, add the garlic and ginger mix followed by the vinegar and chilli flakes; give everything a good stir and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer steadily for about an hour or so, giving it a stir from time to time, until thickened and almost no liquid remains when a channel is drawn across the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

Pot up into hot sterilised jars whilst the chutney is still hot and allow to mature for at least 4-6 weeks before eating.

Makes 5 190g jars.

Spiced Apricot and Apple Chutney

I thought this chutney would be the last one to go on the blog this year, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a small batch of green tomato chutney is also on the cards. We’ve had masses of gorgeous toms from the garden but there are a few which are stubbornly resisting turning red. I've been outside and threatened them….if they won’t behave themselves it’ll be the chutney pot for ‘em!

This particular one was made to use up a lot of bits and pieces that were looking for a home. I had the last couple of cooking apples from the bagful my sister gave me, a Tupperware box of frozen apricots, some very small red onions from the garden that weren’t much use for anything else and half a bag of dried dates which were leftover from something but I can’t remember what!

Twenty minutes of chopping and an hour or so of simmering gave me four jars of a rich, spicy chutney that I suspect will go well with cheese and crackers. My window cleaner said the house smelled lovely...now, be fair, you can't get a better recommendation than that!

I used odds and sods that I had to hand for this but, if you want to substitute plums for apricots or maybe use sultanas instead of dates, just remember to keep the proportions roughly the same and you’ll be fine. Chutney is very forgiving.

225g red onions, chopped

300g bramley apples, peeled and chopped

350g apricots, stoned and chopped

60g dried dates, chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

1½ tsp mixed spice

1 tsp dry mustard

300g soft brown sugar

300ml red wine vinegar

Put the garlic, salt, spice and mustard into a blender with a couple of tablespoons of the measured vinegar and blitz until slushy.

Put the fruits, onions and sugar into a large wide pan, add the garlic and spice mix followed by the vinegar; give everything a good stir and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer steadily for about an hour until thick and no liquid remains when a channel is drawn across the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

Pot up into sterilised jars whilst the chutney is still hot and allow to mature for 4-6 weeks before eating.

Makes 4 190g jars.

Curried Fruit Chutney

This is another one of the chutneys and preserves that I’ve made over the past couple of weeks. It’s been a bit like running a production line at times, but it’s the same every year at around this time; September is always a hive of activity whilst the autumnal fruits are widely available and cheap.

There’s something very elemental, almost primal, about having a store of food for the winter months. Yes, I know I don’t have to do this these days; times have changed, we don’t starve any more if we don’t put food away for the winter and I could just go and buy jars of whatever I want from Waitrose, but I can’t buy the sense of satisfaction that goes with it. I love opening the pantry door to find it groaning under the weight of jars.

We’re already enjoying both jams I made in the summer. Mincemeat, plum compote, red onion marmalade and spiced apple butter are all ready to eat, but the spiced apple and apricot chutney, tomato and cranberry relish and this curried fruit chutney will all benefit from some maturing time. Clementine marmalade won’t be made until November when the fruit is reasonably priced in the run-up to Christmas. Phew, I think that’s about it for this year!

This chutney is ridiculously easy and, judging from the taste I had, it’ll make a very good addition to a hot curry on a cold night; I suspect it'll also go down well with a slice or two of cold nut roast or maybe cheese on toast.

250g onions, chopped

750g (prepared weight) fruit - I used apples, plums, rhubarb and apricots

25g garlic

25g fresh root ginger

1 tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

2 tsp curry powder

300g white sugar

300ml cider vinegar

Put the garlic, ginger, cayenne, salt, cumin, coriander and curry powder into a blender with a couple of tablespoons of the measured vinegar and blitz until slushy.

Prepare the fruit, chop into large dice and place in a large wide pan with the onions. Add the garlic and ginger mixture, the sugar and the vinegar. Bring to the boil, stir well and simmer uncovered over a low heat for about 1½ hours until thick.

Pot into sterilised jars whilst still hot and leave to mature for 6 – 8 weeks before eating.

Makes 6 190g jars.

Tomato and Cranberry Relish

...or Tomato and Cranberry Chutney, if you prefer. I’ve decided to call it a ‘relish’ because it’s very slightly smoother than a chutney.

In terms of cooking, I love this time of year; it’s all about squirreling things away for the winter and having lots of nice bits and pieces to eat when the weather’s crabby and you don’t want to go out.

First off the blocks is a new addition to my preserving repertoire; the tomatoes break down during the long cooking to become really sweet and flavoursome whilst the cranberries give it a festive edge. I think it’ll be perfect for adding to a good chunk of bread and a wedge of Brie, a couple of Not Sausage Rolls or maybe a toasted sandwich (or three!)

Talking of tomatoes, I thought you might like to feast your eyes on some of our home-grown beauties. We’ve had such a good crop this year even though the weather hasn’t been great; I can’t believe we grew these stunners from the spindly little plants we put out in the garden in May.

Some people can see beauty in art, but I think I must be a philistine. However, I can see beauty in a basket of tomatoes…Does that make me weird? Yes... probably! To be honest I think there ought to be a law against anything looking this gorgeous!

150g red onions, thinly sliced

20g butter

1kg ripe tomatoes

25g garlic, peeled

25g root ginger, peeled

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp salt

300g white sugar

300ml red wine vinegar

50g dried cranberries

Cover the tomatoes with boiling water, leave for one minute then peel, remove the cores, and chop roughly.

Put the ginger, garlic, cayenne, salt and a couple of tablespoons of the measured vinegar into a blender and blitz until slushy.

Melt the butter in a large wide pan, add the onions and sauté until softened but not coloured; add the tomatoes, garlic mixture, sugar and vinegar. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered over a low heat for about two hours, stirring occasionally, until reduced and nicely thick. Add the cranberries for the last 15 minutes of cooking time.

Ladle into hot sterilised jars and leave for 6 – 8 weeks to mature before eating.

(I had a little taste on a spoon and can already tell this is going to be a winner!)

Makes 4 190g jars.

Red Onion Marmalade

It’s a bit late now to start getting chutneys made up for Christmas – they generally need a good few weeks at least to mature, in fact I usually leave mine for a couple of months, but it isn’t too late to make up a quick batch of sublime red onion marmalade.

This stuff is truly addictive….rich, dark and flavoursome. Try it in a baguette with brie and rocket; with a chunk of mature cheddar and crackers; with Not Sausage Rolls; in a nut roast sandwich or a spoonful with a curry instead of mango chutney…I could go on! Just don’t blame me if you spend a fortune on lovely breads and cheeses to eat it with!

1.5kg red onions, thinly sliced
25g butter
700g light Muscovado sugar
200ml red wine vinegar
250ml red wine
50ml balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme

Put everything into a large heavy based pan, stir well and bring slowly to the boil. Turn the heat down and allow to bubble away gently, stirring occasionally, for at least 2 hours or until the onions are translucent and the liquid has reduced and turned into a gorgeous sticky syrup; no liquid should remain when a channel is drawn across the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon (it may take up to 3 hours). Keep an eye on it and stir a bit more frequently towards the end of the cooking time or it may ‘catch’ on the bottom.

Pot up whilst still hot into hot sterilised jars and try to leave it for a couple of weeks before eating.

Makes 5 medium jars