Recipe - Apricot and Ginger Chutney

I've been wanting to make a chutney for ages but thought I needed to go out and buy a jam pan and so I kept putting it off. My lovely mother told me that she just used her deep bottomed pressure cooker pan so I set about to do the same!

I love ginger in recipes so this is perfect for me, especially as we are starting to go into autumn/winter so it feels appropriate to be bottling fruits and it smelled delicious whilst cooking.

Ingredients

350g dried apricots
100g sultanas
110g blanched almonds
350g granulated sugar
375ml white vinegar
3 onions
6" stem ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp ground ginger

Method to the Madness

Heat a large stainless steel pan over a medium heat until the pan is hot. Once hot combine the sugar and vinegar in the saucepan, stirring until a syrup mixture forms.

Add all of the remaining ingredients and simmer the mixture, uncovered for 45mins/1hour, until a thickened chutney forms.

NB. I burnt the first batch I made as it didn't seem to be cooking and it was in the same state after 45 minutes of simmering so I turned up the heat and went back to The X Factor resulting in a very blackened sludge at the bottom of my pan. YOU MUST SIMMER. 

Preheat the oven to 170c and place your intended jars in the oven with it's lid to sterilise for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before spooning your chutney in and shutting the lid tight until you want to spread this very tasty chutney on some cheese and crackers!

C x

Camembert Cranberry Puffs - Recipe

Time to get your santa hats on because it's going to get a bit festive in the kitchen. 

I made these little bites of scrumminess for the Christmas meal I went to recently and they went far too quickly. I was very glad I doubled up!

So you will need (this is the double up version and makes about 50):

Ingredients

For the chutney

1tsp olive oil

1 small red onion

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

3tbsp red wine

5tbsp sugar 
100g (3½oz) cranberries

For the puffs

1 egg

250g (8oz) puff pastry

125g (4oz) Camembert, sliced and cut into 16 squares

Method to the madness

Preheat oven to 200°C, fan180ºC, Gas 6  and line a baking tray with baking parchment and grease. Heat the olive oil and gently cook the red onion until softened. Add balsamic vinegar, red wine, sugar, cranberries and cook till jammy - about 10 mins.

 It looked so twinkly when it was heated!

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and either use a little star cookie cutter like I did or just cut into squares about 2.5cm. Brush with egg and then bake these for about 10 minutes until golden and risen.

Whilst those are in the oven cut Camembert into 50 little pieces and then taking the puffs out of the oven top each square with a small slice of Camembert and a spoonful of chutney. 

Return these to the oven for about 2 mins or until the cheese melts.

Try not to burn your mouth as you pop them in your mouth. Oh and try and save some for others. Or not.

Happy Eating :)

xxx