Date: 06 September 2007 23:14:39
Oh. My. Goodness. I think I might have just fallen in love. The blackberry chutney is just stonking. A cheeky little blend of sweet and sour.
I am torn about sharing the recipe with you because a girl has to have some little specialities she can wheel out. But in a general haze of magnanimity, I decided to put ee out of his suspense. It would be mean to make him wait until next blackberry season, wouldn't it?
Blackberry chutney
Makes about 350g/12 oz *
1 small red onion, chopped**
1 cm /1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of red chilli flakes***
225g/8 oz blackberries
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
Fry the onion, ginger and garlic in the olive oil in a covered pan for 10 minutes, until soft but not browned.
Stir in the chilli flakes, blackberries, sugar, vinegar and salt. Cook gently for 15-20 minutes, until the juice produced by the blackberries has reduced and the mixture is quite thick.
Cool. Keep in the fridge.****
*apparently - mine came out nearer 4 oz - at a guess
** I couldn't get red from the village shop so managed with a white one
*** I think I will use the freshly minced type next time. The dried sort didn't quite work - they seemed a bit crunchy
**** I think it should keep for a while because of the preserving properties of the vinegar but I don't think it's going to be around long enough to do a particularly scientific study.
So far, I have eaten it with some chilli con carne, feta cheese, halloumi cheese and can't wait to get some ham or more cheese for a blackberry chutney fest.
I have tasked a friend with finding a good patch of blackberries for tomorrow evening's entertainment. The heat is on. The season will be at an end soon and I must have a stash of jars to keep me going throughout the next - um - week.
If you thought that I had forgotten to comment on the word “chutney”, you were wrong. Chutney (which is Chutney in German, so that's handy) comes from the Hindi “chatni” meaning spicy.