Tomato and Chilli Chutney

I had quite a few green chillis on my plant in the garden recently and I was really hoping they would ripen at the same time so I could make some chilli chutney or relish. But they didn't - they ripened frustratingly slowly, one by one. Not helped by our cat pulling a couple off the plant before they were ready, bringing them inside and giving them a good chew. I did however pay a visit to my aunt in Martinborough - who supplied the olive oil used for the pesto a few weeks back - and she gave me an abundance of chillis from her garden. Back on track.

I love a good chutney, especially with cheese and crackers or in sandwiches, and this recipe was so easy. It was from BBC Good Food, which is another of my go-to websites. It was submitted by a reader, so I was a tiny bit sceptical, but it had some positive comments and seemed super easy so I thought I'd give it a go. I made a half batch, because I don't have a really big pot at the moment, so that's the quantities I've listed below. It made one and a half medium jars and one small jar, which was plenty for just two of us. Just double everything if you want more.

Tomato and Chilli Chutney

250g red onion, roughly chopped
500g tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves -  4 if you're doubling this recipe - roughly chopped or crushed
4-6 chillis, roughly chopped - I used 4 and it's a bit on the spicy side, so I'd recommend less if you don't like it too spicy, or removing the seeds
A thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
125g brown sugar
75ml red wine vinegar
5 cardamom seeds - I had ground cardamom in my pantry, so I used about 1/4 teaspoon of that instead
1/4 tablespoon of paprika - add a little more if you like the smoky flavour, like I do

Put all your ingredients into a pot and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. If you're making a half recipe, like I did, you might need to add a splash of water as well - but not too much as the tomatoes have a lot of water in them. Simmer on a low heat for one hour, without a lid on. Use a hand blender to blend the ingredients, but just a little as you don't want to purée it - it should still be chunky. Bring it to a gentle boil again, and boil until it looks shiny, thick and sticky. This should only take a few minutes. Spoon into sterilized jars. I had no idea how to sterilize jars because this is the first time I've made anything that goes in jars, so I just boiled some water in a pot and put the jars in for a few minutes and took them out with tongs. Turns out the same website this recipe is from, has some handy instructions here if you need them though. Refrigerate in the jars overnight. The recipe says it will keep for 6 weeks.

Nice and spicy and sticky and excellent with cheese. I'll definitely make this again now I know it's good - and I'd make the full recipe as a few extra jars would make great gifts. I even made some cute labels, and gave the small jar to our upstairs neighbours.

Basil Pesto

I was recently in the enviable position - and fairly uncommon for an amateur city gardener, in my experience - of having a fairly bushy basil plant that was starting to go to seed. Basil needs a really sunny spot - and fortunately my wee garden bed gets lots of it - but only a few months ago, my basil was a forlorn little thing and had mostly been eaten up by bugs. I was on the verge of pulling it out and planting another one when suddenly it rescued itself and took off! Miracle basil! And of course when I thought about what I could do with all my basil, I immediately thought pesto. This is a super easy recipe by the free range cook herself, Annabel Langbein. Her recipe apparently makes a lot more than I ended up with but by the time I got all the basil leaves off my plant, I didn't have quite as much as I'd originally thought.

Basil Pesto

2 packed cups basil leaves - I had 1 cup
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 cup good quality olive oil - I used about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 teaspoon of salt
ground black pepper
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts of walnuts (optional) - I used a mix of toasted pine nuts and cashew nuts


This recipe is so simple as all you really need to do is whizz it all up in the food processor.
I used a mix of cashew and pine nuts because pine nuts are pretty expensive and cashews have just as nice a flavour. I toasted them lightly in a dry pan first. Even though I had half the amount of basil leaves, I still used the same amount of everything else, but only 1/4 cup of olive oil. I put everything except the olive oil into the food processor, blitzed it, and the added a bit of olive oil at a time while I blended it a bit slower until I was happy with the consistency - I prefer a little less oil, but you might like a bit more. Good quality olive oil is very important, to get a really nice flavour. My aunt and her partner live in Martinborough and grow their own olives which they press at the village press and I was lucky enough to be given a bottle last Christmas, so I used that.

You can store the pesto in the fridge for two weeks, or freeze it in small containers, according to Annabel. Mine only made one small container though, so I ate it over the next week on crackers, on toast, and stirred through spaghetti with some lightly friend broccoli, kale, spinach, chilli and lemon. Yum!