Thursday, 13 November 2014

Christmas is coming!!! Christmas Chutney! Sweet or Savoury based?

Hullo!

It won't be long now. Just 6 Saturdays until Christmas. I love it!

I have my Christmas Cake made and steeping away in the kitchen. Now it is time to turn my attention to Christmas Chutney. I love cheese and crackers at Christmas and pork pie and it's hard to think of something that can make them even better but chutney does it. I normally pick Red Onion Chutney or Tomato and Chilli Chutney from the shop. Last year, however, I decided to make my own. I followed Nigella Lawson's recipe in her Christmas Book. On page 234/5 you'll find her deliciously sweet recipe. This was a fruit based chutney with a lot of apples, cranberries and dates. And I very much enjoyed it! If you don't have her book you can find a similar recipe of her's here. It really is gorgeous particularly with a bit of Brie.

This year I decided to try a more savoury recipe and so I opted for another culinary genius' recipe; Mary Berry! I have, for the first time, this year watched The Great British Bake Off all the way through from the start and so when it came to making Christmas Chutney I perused the internet for inspiration and there she was. I couldn't resist! You can find her recipe on the BBC Good Food website. As mentioned previously it is a more savoury based recipe with tomatoes, peppers and aubergine.

The recipe is simple and clear and very easy to follow. This years chutney lead me to peel tomatoes for the first as per Mary's instructions and it worked a treat. I must emphasise Mary's advise that the pan should not be left unattended as it is very easy for the chutney to burn, particularly at the end. But apart from that it is such a fantastic recipe to follow, have fun if you decide to make some. 

My Mary Berry chutney is now maturing in my kitchen cupboards and I look forward to trying it. It lasts for ages so you can mature it well in advance. Now all I need is my cheese and biscuits (roll on the Lincoln Christmas Market- which has an an array of amazing cheese stalls!).

Enjoy!
I know we will.
xoxo

 

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