I've been inspired to make a Chutney for next Christmas, having been given several jars of 'Christmas Chutney' this year. While in some respects obviously a marketing ploy, it got me thinking about what sort of chutney would have the required festive feel.

Delia has a Christmas Chutney which includes lots of dried fruit and  Mary Berry has one made from peppers and aubergines. The general idea seems to concoct something a bit richer than usual, maybe containing fruit associated with Christmas, which also goes well with cold meat and cheese (most chutneys do...)

I realise I'm coming at this from the wrong end of the year, so may save up some ideas for use in the late summer, maybe plum and apple chutney.

I finally went for a Apple and Cranberry chutney from the BBC good food website, mainly because there was a bag of cranberries lurking in the bottom of the vegetable drawer.

I reckon it's a good time of year to use make this chutney, using up cheap cranberries or Christmas leftovers along with apples still stored from the Autumn. This lightly coloured fruity chutney would make a good Christmas chutney for next year, if you could wait that long.

See here for the Apple and Cranberry Chutney recipe.

Recipe Costs

£1.34 1kg cooking  apples
£0.74 500g eating apples (coxes)
£0.33 450g onions
£0.50 50g fresh root ginger
£0.04 1 tsp peppercorns
£0.37 500g granulated sugar
£0.35 250ml cider vinegar
£4.94 500g cranberries
£8.61 Total

about £4.30 per kg of chutney (about a quarter the cost of buying similar from the Hawkshead Relish Company or 65% of the cost of similar at tesco )

Starting with finely chopped onions, with life made easier using a sharp knife.

The mixture of cooking and eating apples is not one I've come across before, I guess it should give a variety of textures in the finished chutney. The coarsely chopped Bramley Apples will break down quickly when cooking...

... while the finely chopped coxes should retain some of their bite.

The only spices in this recipe are chopped fresh ginger and whole black peppercorns, it'll be interesting to see if the finished chutney could of done with more. (perhaps a few cloves or cinnamon)

All the ingredients apart from the cranberries are cooked up together and simmered for about 50 minutes. The organic cider vinegar will add to the apple flavour, I'm sure white wine vinegar would work as well.

The cranberries are added towards the end of the cooking, to ensure they don't turn to mush. I have to admit to not knowing much about cranberries and was intrigued by the slogan 'straight from the bog' on the packet. You can find out a bit more about them, along with some photos of how they are harvested from the flooded bogs at the pineypower.com website.

After a further 10 minutes simmering the cranberries were still whole, the apples had broken down and the chutney was a good consistency.

The finished chutney is a very light colour, which makes an interesting change from the usual dark brown offerings.

Recipe Timings

25 mins chopping
55 mins simmering
15 mins potting

Taste Test

This will have to wait a few months.

 

Preserved lemons are a common ingredient in North African, and  especially Moroccan, cuisine. You can actually use them in many dishes - anywhere that would benefit from a bit of citrus flavour.  I've put together some ideas in this blog post about what to do with preserved lemons.

They're very easy to make and it costs very little to make a large jar full, especially in January and February when the new crop of imported lemons enters the UK. 

See here for the preserved lemons recipe.

Recipe Costs

£2 8 lemons (unwaxed)
£1.87 10 tbsp sea salt
£3.87 Total

about £3 per kg of preserved lemons (less than a tenth of the cost of buying them from Rick Stein's website)

After giving the lemons a good scrub in hot water the stalk ends are removed with a sharp knife.

Carefully chop the lemon into quarters taking care not to slice right through (it doesn't matter if you do, they just won't look as pretty)

Squeeze as much of the juice out as possible, this can be made a bit easier by popping the lemons in the microwave for 10 seconds beforehand. I find using my thumb to push done each quarter was the most efficient way.

My eight lemons produced about 500ml of lemon juice, which was just enough to cover them later.

Rub about a tablespoon of course sea salt into each lemon, make sure it gets well into each quarter. Pack the fruit into a steralised jar as you go, squashing each one down as you push it in, this helps to release more juice.

My 8 lemons filled about 2 litres of preserving jar. Spices can be added at this stage, try a cinnamon stick, peppercorns, coriander seeds, a chilli or a bay leaf.

When the jars are packed full, top them up with the lemon juice, making sure there ar no air gaps. If you don't have enough juice then use some bottled lemon juice or little bit of water.
The jars need to be kept for at least a month to allow the salt to draw out the lemon juice. Once opened it's best to keep the jar in the fridge.

Recipe Timings

45 mins preparation

Taste Test

This will have to wait a few weeks.