Pickled

Fig and plum world cup chutney

I'm taking advantage of the fact that we are currently in France and that the lovely Chris is engrossed in the rugby World Cup to spend some quality time in the kitchen.  In my dream life, I am some combination of Martha Stewart (without the criminal record), Nigella Lawson (without the hips, although I'd be very happy with her tiny waist and her somewhat larger bank balance), Jamie Oliver (without the front bottom bits, obviously) and Catherine Deneuve as she was in Belle de Jour.  I've no idea whether the lovely Catherine can cook, but I'm sure she appreciates good food, and may well spend her "resting" days cooking up a batch of fig jam with the fruits of her country house garden.


As my garden has produced barely enough to generate a tablespoon of jam, rather than the shelves heaving with bottles and jars of my imagination, I had no choice but to revert to buying the raw materials, and returned to the house a couple of weekends ago with 16 kilos of tomatoes and a great deal of enthusiasm.  My friend Kerry was staying with us for a few days and she is a committed pickler, so the two of us rolled up our sleeves and got to it.  I had previously found a fantastic sounding recipe for a hot and spicy tomato based chutney on the net (see below) and this was the first one that we tried.  Great success, although we cooked it for considerably longer than the recipe suggests to achieve the right consistency.  
http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11855
Emboldened by our first attempt, we continued to experiment with the tomatoes over the weekend and produced several jars of aubergine, red pepper and tomato with a hint of smoked paprika (this one was Chris's recipe - great with cheese and cold meats), tomato and onion with pink peppercorns, tomato and apple and several more jars of the hot and spicy one -  the unanimous favourite.  We didn't bother with a lot of Kilner jar malarkey, we just filled up  some pretty (clean, obviously) jam jars and popped them in the freezer once the contents had cooled.  The defrosted chutney will last at least a week in the fridge, although it's so delicious that we haven't managed to make a jar last more than three days .  We had some French friends for dinner the following week and "les chutneys" were a great success.


I've just finished my latest attempt, a fig and plum, without any added sugar.  If you are keen to take care of yourself but don't wish to sacrifice tastiness, don't follow the traditional chutney recipes which call for large amounts of both vinegar and sugar.  Use a bit of balsamic instead, and a drop of red wine if you fancy.  The sweetness of the fruit is enough of its own, or you can add a bit of stevia based sweetener if you like.  This will not produce the sort of traditional chutney that will keep for a long period in a store cupboard; you will need to  freeze it if you plan to keep it for any length of time, but the end result is a joy, and a healthy joy to boot.   Bon appetit!