Brielle's Avalon

Tomorrow’s Saturday so British comedies are on at 3pm. Close enough to tea time for a ploughman’s lunch…early dinner for us. I bought some ploughman’s pickle but all the commercial chutneys had mango in them and since I don’t want to itch and take antihistamines I decided to try making a small batch myself. I looked up a few recipes. looked at the pantry and this is what I came up with for now. Next time I’ll put something different like carrot or turnip or coffee or… who knows…in it.

Don’t worry about having all the right ingredients, as long as you have onion, apples, raisins, sugar, spices and beer you can wing it from there. This is poor folk making do emptying the larder of the older stuff to keep it useful food. If you already know you love chutney with certain things in it, then make sure you have them before you start. If you’re not so sure then make it a few times with different things, take notes and when you have a favourite then stick with that. It’s your condiment after all. Here goes:

In a large pan heat a knob of butter while you chop an onion.

Set the onion to sauté while you chop an apple and a few dates. I used 8 Medjool dates.

Add the apples, pour in part of a bottle of beer and add 1/4 to 1/3 c brown sugar. This is your chance to get rid of some of that brown sugar that’s too hard to bake with.

Add the dates and 1/2 c to 1 c or whatever you have of raisins and the rest of the bottle of beer. I used some Sam Adams Summer brew because, my goodness, I forgot to get Guinness on my last trip to the store. Stir that in well.

Add a bay leaf, ginger (preferably fresh & finely chopped but powdered will do), ground nutmeg, peppercorns, mustard seeds and 3 or 4 cloves. You can fish the bay leaf out when it’s done.

Add a cup of water and 1/2 c of malt vinegar. Let it boil down for about 2 hours while you do something else. Feed the cats, clean the birdcage, put some laundry in, write a blog post or, if you’re under surgeon’s orders to keep your wonky ankle up as much as possible, sit with a pot of tea and some shortbread watching Escape to the Country, 60 Minute Makeover, The instant Gardiner and check the pot every commercial break, stirring and adding a cup of water or so as needed.

When it’s been about 2 hours, the mix in the pot is dark and thick and can stand up for itself, take it off the heat and let it cool.

When cool put in a clean jar or 3, refrigerate and use within about a month. Try it with a ploughman’s lunch (this was the closest I could come on short notice), roast beef, burgers, sausages, BBQ or maybe a breakfast fry up. Any beer will do, but I figure a good dark ale or stout would be preferable. If you don’t have malt vinegar cider or wine vinegar or even plain white vinegar will do. You can try adding coffee or tea as well. I was even tempted to toss in a bit of pastis for a touch of anise flavour but figured I can try that on the next batch.

If you have a pear to use up, toss it in. I meant to use carrots this time but forgot to pick them up. A turnip wouldn’t go wrong, either. Figs, currants, cranberries, prunes, stone fruit (plums or apricots would be lovely!) or even some thinly slices or minced orange or lemon peel if you want a bit of bitter to counterbalance the sweet. One recipe called for tomato paste so I suppose you can use a tomato if you want. I don’t use mango because it makes me itch, but if you just can’t live without it go ahead and add it.

Add or leave out any of the spices. Garlic, juniper berries, cinnamon mace, coriander, star anise, fennel seed, regular sugar or molasses,

Make it in small batches, use what you know you like and be adventurous when you feel brave or bored. You’re the cook, after all, and it’s your pantry you’re emptying for use on your kitchen table. Have fun making your own condiments. Yes, that’s a hot dog you saw in the last picture. Well, a fancy smoked sausage hot dog. I obviously am not picky about buns, I’ll even use pita, biscuit dough (then bake as pigs in a blanket) or tortillas. I decided to try my new condiment fresh from the pan as I dished it into the jars. I have some seeded mustard that’s rather assertive, so I put that on instead of my usual plain yellow mustard. It complemented the chutney beautifully. The cheese was also a nice addition and I opened a bottle of beer to wash it down, the same beer I used to make it. All in all I think this was a success.