Apple Chutneys

SPICY APPLE CHUTNEY

This recipe is for Gary, who accepted a jar of chutney as a gift a year ago and only found it recently at the back of his cupboard.  It was to be part of the feasting surrounding his wedding, but was put away.  Hence the slightly desperate texts, “Is it still ok?  (His new wife is now pregnant.)  I have visions of him subsisting on brown bread, cheese and chutney (how bad?) while they await their new arrival.  Having opened it the next text was “Can I have the recipe”

This is an old Theodora FitzGibbon recipe.  She wrote for the Irish Times when I first started reading about food, and I have many of her old articles cut out and stuck into an old recipe book.  They fall out from time to time and never fail to bring a smile to my face.  There is a lovely gentle quality to her writing, but solid recipes and lots of them.  One article I have on pancakes has a basic recipe and 5 savoury and five sweet fillings, plus a sweet lemon sauce for pouring over!

Back to chutney, this is the first variation (makes about 5lbs)

11/2 kilos (3lbs) of cooking apples

2 large onions finely chopped

1 ltr (11/2 pints) cider vinegar

450g (1lb) brown sugar

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 rounded teaspoons of salt

350g (12oz) raisins

4 crushed garlic cloves

3 teaspoon of ground ginger

3 teaspoon of mustard

2 teaspoons of paprika

1 teaspoon of ground coriander

1 teaspoon of ground cumin

Peel, core and chop the apples.  Prepare the onions and put into a large saucepan with a heavy bottom.  Add all the other ingredients and mix well.  Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for about 2 hours, stirring from time to time so it does not stick.  The smell is terrible and you will wonder what you are wasting your time at!  Take care and stir often at the end when it sticks easily.

When fairly dark and thick, bottle in warm jam jars and cover. Do make sure it has evaporated well and does not have too much liquid left.  You should be able to run your spoon through it without liquid filling into the gap too quickly.  Those cellophane covers you can buy in packets are good for covering the jars, as the vinegar tends to corrode the lids over time.  If you don’t have them, cover with cling film and then top a jar lid. 

Keep it at least a month for the vinegar to mellow, six weeks if possible.  The first ones will still taste a little harsh, and by the last one, you will be licking your lips.  Oh yes, the other variations

Apple and Date Chutney

Ease off on the spice a bit, one teaspoon of each is enough and swap the raisins for chopped dates

Apple, Ginger and Garlic Chutney

Use same amount of apples and onions, ease off on the spices for this one too, and add a whole head of chopped garlic and 125g/4oz chopped crystalised ginger and method as before. 

I have a recipe for Rhubarb Chutney, but honestly that will just drive you mad!  The rhubarb stick so easily if you abandon it for any length of time.  When I see you have managed this one, I might just post that.  It is divine with the Christmas leftover ham, mmmm

One Pot Chicken with Lentils and Raisin Broth

This is a recipe from one of my favourite chefs, Paul Flynn of the Tannery Restaurant and Cookery School.  He has a magical way of just making everything taste better.  Here he takes a basic chicken stew and kicks it up a notch, or two!

ONE POT CHICKEN WITH LENTILS AND RAISIN BROTH

This is the best type of food, cooked low and slow with maximum flavour for minimum effort, One pot cooking, assembling the list of ingredients is the longest part.  But everything just gets put into the pot itself and left alone, so no work after that.    This dish is known in my house as “Rubgy match Chicken” as it is started before the match and requires no finishing touches, just hearty appetites. The aromas are delicious and it smells as if you have been slaving away all day!  If you are lucky, there will be leftover soup, but usually all you will find is a pot of bones, sucked dry.

Serves 4 - 6

1 kg chicken (I like corn fed, but whatever you can afford is fine)

4 small onions, peeled and cut in half

2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces

1 leek, trimmed and cut into 3 cm slices

3 carrots cut into 3 cm slices

6 potatoes peeled and cut in half

4 garlic cloves, peeled but whole

4 tablespoons puy lentils (these are black and stay whole)

1 packet of smoked bacon pieces

2 tablespoons of raisins

Pared rind of half a lemon

1 cinnamon stick

Sprig or two of fresh thyme

1 tablespoon of creamed horseradish

½ pint dry cider

1 ltr chicken stock

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Pinch of mustard powder or teaspoon of English mustard

Place the chicken in a large pot with a tight fitting lid, and pack in the onions, carrot, parsnip, potatoes, leek and garlic around it. Sprinkle in the lentils, raisins, lemon rind, bacon pieces and horseradish sauce. Pour over the cider and the chicken stock until everything is covered. Add the cinnamon stick and the mustard, salt and pepper.

Bring the pan to a gentle simmer and either place in the oven for an hour or turn down the heat as far as it will go and cook until the chicken and vegetables are completely tender. You can make this much earlier and reheat.

Carve the chicken in the pot as best you can. It might be a little messy, but don’t worry, taste is everything. Season to taste and add a glug of olive oil to each one before serving.

Nigel Slater's Moist Plum Cake

Wonderfully moist Fresh Plum Cake by Nigel Slater

This is another lovely cake from Nigel Slater. (The other one is here) I love this recipe because it is easy to make and once cooled needs no further decoration. It is ready to serve warm with cream as dessert or cold with a cup of tea. Any stoned fruits are good in it, apricots, nectarines etc., but it is very useful for that punnet of plums you brought home that are still hard as stones a week later.  “Ripen at home” me arse!  Its not the Med here in Kerry! 
 
The only change I made to his recipe is the addition of almond extract to highten the almond flavour.  His recipe also says 16 plums, (!) but I saw the programme it was based on and he was using a local tiny plum, so four or five ordinary plums will do the job just fine.

6oz/150g soft butter or margarine
6oz/150g brown sugar
3 large eggs
3oz/75g self raising flour
3 ½ oz/100g ground almonds
2oz /50g shelled walnuts chopped
Teaspoon of almond extract (better than essence)
4 or 5 plums stoned and quartered.
　
Preheat the oven to 180c/gas4. Prepare an 8 inch square or a 9 inch round cake tin.
　
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time beating well between each one. Sieve the flour on top of this mixture and fold in lightly. Fold in the ground almonds, the almond extract and the chopped walnuts.

Scrape the mixture into the 9 inch/23cm lined cake tin. Place the quartered plums on to the cake mixture. They will sink into the cake as it cooks.

Bake for 40 to 45 mins then test with a skewer. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 mins before turning out.

For today’s cake I used chopped hazelnuts as I did not have any walnuts despite having what I thought was a well stocked cupboard.  Not like me to be caught out!  Hubby has been complaining about the lack of cake, making do with shop biscuits…….. no harm to make him appreciate my efforts.