Tomato & Red Onion Chutney

I've only started looking into chutney recipes recently when I got it into my head that i'm going to make everyone a jar of chutney for Christmas. So rather than going a bit gung-ho a week before Christmas and end up making a right pigs ear of things, I thought having a bit of practice would probably be the best and the most sensible idea!

I had a trawl through recipes and - seeing that I had a ton of tomatoes that i'd grown kicking about - I decided on a tomato-based recipe. However, most of them had a few different ingredients like cardomom seeds and chilli that I just wasn't into in a big way. So I concocted my own recipe using the base of red wine vinegar, brown sugar and tomatoes and kind of just added anything that I could find!

This does take quite a bit of preparation so make sure you have plenty of time to do this!

I do hope that you try and enjoy this recipe as I think I actually done really well considering this is my first attempt!

This makes about two standard jam-sized jars, however you can increase or decrease the ingredients accordingly :)

2 medium red onions
750kg tomatoes
1 or 2 peppers
4 garlic cloves (crushed and chopped finely)
half teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
250g light brown muscovado sugar
1 braeburn apple (or any type of cooking apple)
150ml red wine vinegar

First of all peel and deseed your tomatoes and peppers. To peel them, plunge the tomatoes and pepper into boiling water for about 30 seconds, drain then fill with icy cold water. This makes is so much easier to peel them! Cut into quarters and remove the seeds (WARNING! Your hands will actually stink of tomatoes afterwards!)

Dice the apple and onion into small bits and slice the tomatoes and the peppers.

Add all the ingredient to a stainless steel pan (not brass or copper as it reacts with the the vinegar and leaves a metallic taste apparently) and bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and simmer for about an hour.

In this time you can sterilise the jars. There is a few ways which you can do this:

  - Wash the jars in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Shake off any excess water and place in the oven on a LOW HEAT for about ten minutes or until dry.

  - Place in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, boil for about ten minutes.

  - Or simple place in the dishwasher and fire it on a warm rinse (this is the method I chose!)

You should do this so the jars are just done and warm for when your chutney is ready.

So after the hour, the chutney should be looking a lot darker in colour and have a jam-like consistency. Like this...

It will reduce dramatically as all the ingredients sort of mush together. I left it on a low heat and stirred for about five more minutes just to make sure it was cooked properly.

I then placed into the warm jars and covered in kitchen paper until cooled. If you place the lids on right away, the condensation will settle on top of the chutney and make for a runny consistency.

This keeps for about 6 weeks.

So there you go! Some yummy chutney to make, right on time for this freeeeezing weather! It goes amazing with hard cheese and oatcakes. You could also mix up the vegetables and add or take away certain ingredients.

For hints and tips a great website to visit is here as it gives you ideas on how to prepare certain fruits or vegetables for the chutney and also whats a complete no-go for it!

Seasonal Spiced Lentil Soup

So here in good old Scotland it's just gone September and already it's time to pull on some slipper socks and a big jumper and make some soup to warm those cockles!

I LOOOOVE making soup and find it so relaxing. Plus it's so easy to make!

I don't generally follow recipes for soup. It's a theory of mine that firing a selection of veg into a pot with stock and leaving for 45 minutes, while you go sew/crochet/have a cup of tea, will make something gloriously comforting.

I've decided to post a recipe for this today as a few people i've spoken to recently have claimed they have no idea how to make soup. One even mentioned buying a soup recipe book. My answer? "Why ever would you do that?" so hence I am here and typing out a recipe (not so much a recipe as an idea for people) for lentil soup :)

Okay doke :) so for this you will need:

250g red split lentils (or there about i normally buy a 500g bag and put in just under or over half depending how generous i'm feeling!)

2 stock cubes (for extra veggie flavour)

some potatoes (however much you fancy i used 4 medium sized ones)

carrots (I found a bag already sliced in the supermarket for 50p! BARGAIN! Again just add what you want however if you're a bit unsure i would say about 3 medium sized)

half an onion

quarter of a teaspoon of ground ginger

a pinch of nutmeg 

I also added a leek just because there was one kicking about the fridge

some oil for cooking

You will also need a large saucepan, a seive and a blender.

That's the joys of this, is that you can add whatever you feel like and it will still taste amazing!

First of all give the lentils a bit of a rinse using a seive (some packets may say to soak them for an hour but I never do that as they're getting cooked anyway) then place in a pot and half fill with water. 

Place on a high heat and let it boil for 15/20 minutes. While this is happening, peel and dice the veg and place aside. Place the potatoes in a pot of water to let the starch escape. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan on a medium heat and add the leek and onion, cook for 2/3 minutes until softened but don't allow to brown.

So the lentils should be ready and looking transparent and a bit yuk! Add all the veg into the pot and top up with water. Add the stock cube, ginger and nutmeg. Bring to the boil then drop the heat to a medium heat and allow to simmer for 45 minutes. This will allow the veg to soften the the flavours to merge :)

Once the 45 minutes is up, blend and season to taste. If the consistency is too thick just add water a bit at a time and stir throughout until desired consistency is achieved.

This can be frozen and defrosted when needed. However in this household it doesn't make it to the next day! I love serving it piping hot in a big bowl with some toasted crusty bread placed on top.

Enjoy!

Dressing Table Runner :)

                       

                                                 

So the other day I had a massive clear out of my room and found some spare material from my sewing "box" (it's actually just a flowery waste paper bin filled with materials and thread!) and decided to put it to good use! Plus it's soooo easy and quick to make (I only spent half an hour doing this!)

All you need for this is a length of fabric slightly longer than the desired table/item you wish to cover and have it slightly wider as well, ideally you'd be looking for twice the width, but i didn't have that much! Also you'll need a needle and thread.

First of all i pinned down the edges of the fabric to create a hem. This is to make it the desired size of the table you're covering (check the creases in this! HAHA!)

I then used a back-stitch for this to create a stronger stitch. You could also use a sewing machine if desired or for quickness a running stitch (though it won't be as strong!) Do this around the hem part.

Once this is done, give it a quick iron (especially if you're fabric was as creased as mine!) et voila! A lovely little runner to bring colour to a table without the need for paint! 

You could also be more creative by going slightly longer and folding it into points at the ends then adding a tassle at either end or by simply adding some fancy edging.