I always knew my summer holidays were coming to a sad end when my grandparents began their laborious preparations for making chutneys, relishes, jams and pickles. The process always seemed so complicated with sterilizing jars, tongs, gloves, large pots of boiling water, copious amounts of paper towel, cling film, gauze and of course the occasional swear word.
The end results were always fantastic but for many years I suffered from ‘preserve angst‘.
This year we had a huge glut of tomatoes from the garden. Bored of using them in salads and pasta sauces I decided it was time to face my fears. Fortunately I found a simple tomato chutney recipe by Christina McCloskey courtesy of Jamie Magazine. It was so easy I didn’t even have to use tongs or swear words. Now that’s my kind of chutney!
Easy Tomato Chutney
Ingredients
250g red onions, finely sliced
500g mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 red chili, deseeded and sliced (I used a green chili)
75ml red wine vinegar
140g brown sugar
Directions
Put everything in a pan and season to taste (I used lots of freshly ground black pepper and about 1 teaspoon of specially seasoned salt)
Stir well to combine
Simmer for 30-40 minutes or until ‘jammy’ (I needed approximately 25 minutes more)
Pour into a sterilized jar and leave to cool before transferring to the fridge
The chutney will keep in the fridge for up to 4 weeks
Enjoy!
It is especially delicious with vintage cheddar and oat cakes.