Now it's October. We are still enjoying lovely, sunny weather, which is very nice, but it's definitely fall now. The leaves are changing, the garden spiders have set up their webs all over everything and are beginning to lay their egg sacs, and the harvest is basically over. There will be apples, of course, but the garden is done for.At the swap meet last weekend, I acquired a grocery sack full of green tomatoes. Having never had so many green tomatoes before, I looked for ways to use them aside from frying them in cornmeal batter (yummy, but not really so very healthy). Everywhere I looked, I really found only one solution: Green tomato chutney.
Chutney is kind of a weird food. Who really eats a lot of chutney? I mean, growing up, there was always a bottle of Major Grey's Mango Chutney in the fridge, and I did like that stuff. I still do. But a tablespoon or so was about my annual consumption. I don't think I've bought a bottle in at least five years. I do enjoy Indian food and actually cook it fairly often, but I just don't put chutney on anything. I make raita, usually (yogurt sauce).
Plus it's a weird word, isn't it? chutney chutney chutney chutney.... Anyway.
I found a recipe and cooked up some green tomato chutney. It's pretty simple, just chopped green tomatoes, chopped onion, raisins, sugar and vinegar and a little salt. I added garlic and hot red pepper flakes, just because those two items improve everything, right? Then you simmer it for a few hours until it is almost jam-like. And you know what? I like it! It's good! It's tangy, sweet-and-sour, jammy and delicious.
But what do you DO with it? You can't just eat it with a spoon! Although to be honest I remember doing that very thing as a child with the Major Grey's. I could give it away as Christmas presents but I canned it in quart jars. I'm all out of smaller jars. Merry Christmas! Here's a lifetime supply of chutney for you! Does this mean I'm off the Christmas card list?
So if anyone out there has some ideas about how to use green tomato chutney, let me know, wouldja? I think it would taste good on a toasted cheese sandwich, and I'm thinking it might go well on a baked potato. Maybe as a small side for pork chops. Anything else?
Presumably, the jars could be used as ballast for lightly loaded ships. Or as projectiles in ancient style drive machinery. As for the chutney itself, I suspect it would work well as a fire retardant gel.
ReplyDeleteDamn autocorrect. That should have read SIEGE machinery.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who, went I knew her, had a delicious recipe for Double Breaded, Fried Chicken and Mango Chutney. Y'know how pork chops taste so much better with applesauce? (To me, pork is far too dry to attempt to eat WITHOUT applesauce.) Same kind of thing, only fried chicken.
ReplyDeleteOr, I could see thinning it out with stock, or water, or wine, or something, and either marinating chicken in it, or cooking chicken in said sauce.
Whenever I'm stuck on how to use a product, I often go to tasty kitchen (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/) and do a quick search to see how people use it. Tasty Kitchen is amazing for comfort food of all kinds.
Make that "when I knew her".
ReplyDeleteI also have a problem, what to do with my preserved rhubarb, it sits on the shelf until all the "yummy" stuff has been eaten. Then the new fruit season comes along and guess what? There are still the jars of rhubarb waiting, and the newly preserved jars of yum are sitting alongside them, all bright and beautiful. And so on it goes.
ReplyDeleteYou're on the right track with your last item: pork. I stew pork shoulder in chutney in a crock pot; super tasty.
ReplyDeleteAlso, chutney on brie (do you make brie or camembert, Aimee?) is super-yum. Big slice of crusty bread, there's lunch.
I haven't done green tomato chutney but last year I made a pear chutney and it was fabulous with cheddar cheese for sandwiches. I'm hoping to make more this year.
ReplyDeleteJudy
el, that sounds great! I actually thawed out a pork roast yesterday, I think I'll braise it in the chutney and see how that goes!
ReplyDeleteI also made chutney once out of green tomatoes, but had to figure out ways to eat it. Ever since then, I've been making green tomato relish instead. It is much easier to use, at least in the summer, in hot dogs and hamburgers and such. Let me know if you want me to dig up my recipe.
ReplyDeleteMy green tomato chutney is way darker than that. I think I might have overboiled it!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had known you had a ton of green tomatoes. I did too last year and like a previous poster made a pretty damn good green tomato relish. It was good on hot dogs/sausages, fish, chicken, in tartar sauce etc. Plus everyone really liked it and you probably could have given away quart jars without a problem. Chutney on the other hand....I think pork is your answer. It can take the sweet/savory flavors which are chutney. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am Persian. Persians put a bowl-full of chutney on their dinner tables. We eat a little bit of it with our main dish to taste. I love eating chutney with my food.
ReplyDelete