I could hardly imagine my Christmas day without the obligatory British cheese board making an appearance in the afternoon. Accompanying the cheddars, stiltons and camemberts of this world we also put a few delicious home-made chutneys. I make a few of them each year before Christmas and at least one is always based on a new recipe – sometimes it’s a success and it’s gone before I can taste it and at other times there’s quite a bit left after the cheese is finished!
There’s one winning recipe I make every single year though: the plum, pear and apple chutney. All my friends and family seem to love it and I have to say I’m quite partial to it as well. If you’d like to try it yourself you can find the full list of ingredients for around 10 jars of this delightful chutney below.
I’m no Nigella (in more ways than one) so it’s nice that as well as tasting rather lovely it’s pretty easy to make. First, you have to make your spice bag out of ginger, mustard seeds and black peppercorns. Simply tie them all up in a 20-25 cm square of muslin, put it together with the rest of the ingredients into a large pan and slowly bring it all to the boil while stirring occasionally.
Next leave it uncovered to simmer for around 3 hours while stirring from time to time so it doesn’t burn. It might take even more than 3 hours, but the chutney is finished when it’s glossy, chunky, has a rich colour, and is well reduced. One of the best ways to check if it’s done is to draw a wooden spoon through the pan’s base: if it is the chutney should part for a few seconds before coming together again.
That’s it! Remove the spice bag, put the chutney in jars, seal with dependable vinegar-proof lids, and (the hardest part for me) store in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks before opening.
As I mentioned every year I also try out at least one new receipe as well. For this year I was looking for a mix between traditional and modern chutney recipes and found some mouth-watering ones I thought I’d share with you.
First up is the pear and cranberry chutney (below left). Best served warm it’s a mix of pears, cranberries, sultanas, onions and orange juice – all of it should form the perfect combination between sweet and sour. Click here for the recipe and a preparation video by Food Network’s Lotte Duncan.
The second new chutney I picked for Christmas this year is made from pumpkin, apples, red chillies, ginger, and plum tomatoes amongst other ingredients (below right). This one needs a week to mature before serving but I’m not sure if I’ll manage to wait it out – it just looks so yummy in the photo! For the full recipe visit The British Larder’s website here.
Finally, I always make several extra jars of my chutneys to give as gifts to friends. This year, I’m going to decorate them a little bit using an idea by Better Homes and Gardens. Take some old Christmas cards and cut circles from them and then glue the circles on top of the lids and add a few little bells to make it a tad more playful. It’s really simple but looks very cute and I’m sure it’ll be a nice little extra touch to the contents of the jar.
