Peel those tiny onions for the best piccalilli.

You’ve made fried courgette flowers, ratatouille, chocolate courgette donuts, courgette marmalade and spiralised seemingly countless squash. What’s left? Time to make chutney. Chutney is a mixture of fruit, vegetables, vinegar, spices and enough sugar to bind it all together. It is usually eaten as a condiment (like Branston pickle or piccalilli) but I can’t swear that the Davinator has not eaten a sneaky chutney sarnie from time to time.

Like ratatouille there are an endless number of chutney recipes on the internet. And to be honest if you cook it long enough and slow enough, ingredients become chutney. This one works for me – the main ingredients seem to ripen at the same time in my garden. It’s based on a recipe from BBC GoodFood which has a wealth of practical and straightforward recipes for home cooks.

Once you’re comfortable with the recipe it’s easy to vary the component fruit and vegetables. The ‘chutney base’ is the vinegar, sugar and spices. Then it’s a squash element, a vegetable element (don’t start on tomato is actually a fruit) and a fruit element.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 500ml (17.5 fluid ounces) cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 400g (14 ounces) brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 tbsp allspice
• 2 tbsp yellow mustard seed
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and diced very small
• 4 onions, chopped
• 1kg (2.2 pounds) courgettes (zucchini), chopped
• 1kg (2.2 pounds) tomatoes, chopped with core removed
• 4 tart eating apples, chopped
• 300g (10.5 ounces) sultanas (raisins)

Method

1. Put the vinegar, 300ml water, sugar and spices in a large deep heavy pan. Heat, stirring regularly, until the sugar dissolves .
2. Add the remaining ingredients onions, courgettes, tomatoes, apples and sultanas) with a tsp of salt.
3. Bring to a simmer then bubble away uncovered for 2 to 3 hours until darkened, thick and chutney-like. Sometimes mine takes longer. I have turned it off over night.
4. Time to sterilise the jars. If you prep 6 250 to 300 ml jars that should be plenty. You can watch this video: jam jars or wash thoroughly in very hot soapy water. Rinse in very hot water then put on a baking sheet in a 140C/fan 120C/gas 1 oven until completely dry.
5. Pour the chutney into the sterilised jars while still hot, seal and leave in a cool dark place. The recipe suggests that you wait for at least 3 weeks before opening. That recipe writer has never met the Davinator. It might improve with age, I’ve never had it stay around long enough to find out.

Thanks for reading the blog. Please let me know if you’re enjoying the recipes, send comments, photos and requests.

I don’t like beetroot, why do I keep trying to cook with it? I refuse to be defeated by a vegetable and a root vegetable at that. Also, I was traumatised by beets as a child. My parents believed that if they put food on a plate at supper time; we children should eat it. They tried various stratagems to get me to eat the beets.

Most of my generation will recognise these; ‘just one bite’, ‘how do you know you don’t like them’, ‘you’re going to sit here at the table until you eat those beets’, ‘I’m going to warm up the beetroot for every meal until you eat it’.

Basically, this was a running gun battle that happened most Thursday nights (Thursday menu was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cole slaw and beets). I didn’t (don’t) eat meatloaf or beets and so battle was joined.

However, I’m an adult (allegedly) and I’m not going to let the beetroot win. Hence, my quest to find something that makes beetroot fun to eat.

Claire, one of the lovely dressers at Smartworks, found this recipe for me. And I think we’ve cracked it. I’ve made a few tweaks. The Davinator said ‘OMG, this is it, you have made beetroot taste amazing’. Even I like this soup.

It’s a relatively simple recipe but I suggest all the usual precautions when peeling, cutting and cooking with beetroot. Wear rubber gloves, don’t let the peeled beetroot touch anything that is porous or you can’t scrub with lots of hot water and strong soap.

One health warning – excessive consumption of beetroot is not recommended for those with a history of kidney stones or kidney disease.

Time to make soup.

Ingredients

1 – small onion

30 grams of butter

1 medium potato

2 medium parsnips

4 small or 2 large beetroots

800 mls of vegetable stock or other light stock

2 tablespoons of cooking brandy

Sour cream or full fat Greek yoghurt for serving

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a deep soup pot. The recipe makes enough for 6 starter size portions of soup. But you’re going to want the deep pot later.
2. Peel the potato, the parsnips and the beetroot. Cut into rough dice, about 2 cms. The smaller the dice, the quicker it cooks.
3. Rough chop the onion and add to the melted butter. Cook over a low heat until translucent.
4. Add the cooking brandy to the onions. Increase the heat to high and burn off the alcohol.
5. Add the stock to the pot. I actually use vegetable stock cubes and put them and the hot water directly in the pot. Bring to a boil.
6. Once the stock is boiling, add the potato, parsnips and beetroot. Cook at steady simmer until the vegetables are soft. Cooking time will depend on how small you have diced the vegetables. The quicker you can cook the beetroot the more purple your finished soup will be. Start checking after about 15 minutes. Mine took about 30 minutes.
7. Take out your trusty stick blender and puree the soup.
8. Put the soup in the serving bowls, add a big dollop of sour cream or yogurt and enjoy.

Salad Nicoise – my ‘go to’ lunch when I want to get on the Davinator’s good side.

Every cook needs people who eat.  It’s like leading and following; what kind of leader are you if no one follows? What kind of cook are you if no one is eating your cooking?  Cooking only for Instagram?

My consumers are family, friends, co-workers, fellow volunteers at SmartWorks,  my pilates instructor and her family not to mention my fellow Pilates students.  But my prime consumer and best critic is the Davinator (my husband Dave).  On the one hand, he has never met a baked good he didn’t like.  On the other hand,  he has great ideas about what he wants to eat and has learned to offer frank feedback (or get the same thing again).   I hate to be old fashioned but being a good cook is unlikely to attract a man but it certainly keeps them around.

I digress briefly for an anecdote.  A merchant banker of my acquaintance (probably 5-10 years older than me) told me that he married a terrible cook.  I think that this was a fairly traditional It girl marrying merchant banker story.  Assessing that this inexperience and not bad training, he cheerfully ate whatever she cooked and only offered the mildest and most gentle of suggestions.  He believed that encouragement would get him further than criticism.  Apparently, it was three years before he would come home to a reliably decent meal.  I said ‘did she ever figure it out?’.  He seemed puzzled by the question.  End anecdote.

The Davinator’s favourite salad is Nicoise.  It is a great showcase for summer produce so fits well with our ‘eat locally, eat in season’ ethos.  It also helps with using up the Abel & Cole weekly organic vegetable box.  Well maybe not the tuna but all uncooked tuna you get the UK has been frozen and comes from a distance.   I use fresh tuna but use canned tuna if it suits you for cost or convenience reasons.  Nicoise is very flexible, so feel free to adjust the dressing (there is a ‘standard’ vinaigrette and a dijon vinaigrette below) and add or subtract ingredients as you wish.  Change it enough and it’s something else, of course but it might still be amazing.   This is my ‘go to’ recipe for Salad Nicoise.

Ingredients – salad

• 450g  fresh tuna, about 2.5 cm or 1 inch thick
• 400g new potatoes (approximately 8 to 10 if small, if big, be prepared to chop)
• 120g cherry tomatoes, halved (8 to 12 cherry tomatoes)
• 120g young fresh green beans
• 4 small lettuce hearts to 2 cos lettuce heads
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 4 eggs, to be cooked
• 6 anchovy fillets (from a jar or tin)  chopped into 2.5cm or 1 inch lengths
• 16 pitted black  olives in brine
• 8 basil leaves (optional)

Marinade/vinaigrette dressing

• 105ml/7tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar (or balsamic)
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped small
• 2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped small
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped (optional, I omit because of Davinator’s allergy to all of the lily family)
• 1 tsp fine salt (not kosher or rock salt)
• 1 tsp black pepper
  (note that most vinaigrette dressings are roughly 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar or other astringent ingredients)

Marinade/Dijon vinaigrette dressing

• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped (can omit)
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Preparation instructions

(I’m trying to write for non-experts so apologies if I’m explaining things you know how to do).  This is my suggested order for preparation.

1. Tuna. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the marinade/dressing and put in a shallow baking pan.  Put the tuna in.  Turn it once or twice while you are doing the rest of the preparation.
2. Potatoes.   Scrub your new potatoes, do not peel them.  If you’re blessed with new potatoes the size of a cherry tomato (or indeed not much bigger than a cherry) go straight to the boiling phase.  If not, you want to cut into chunks not much bigger than one inch square.  Once cut, put in a pan with plenty of water and some salt (just throw the salt in but at least a teaspoon and more if you want).  Bring to a boil.  Boil for 12 minutes then take off the heat, cover and leave in the hot water until you’re ready to assemble.
3. Green beans,  Top and tail your green beans.  Get a pan of water boiling, add salt (see above for potatoes).  Throw in the beans, cook for 3 minutes.  Quickly drain the beans, then put in a bowl with ice water to quick cool.  (This is known as blanching and it keeps the beans a lovely bright green colour).
4. Eggs.   Get a medium sized saucepan, fill with water, bring to a boil.  Pierce the bottom (less pointy end) of each egg and quickly add to the boiling water.  Here’s an egg piercer, it keeps fresh eggs from cracking when cooked using this method.  It’s on my favourite gadget list.  Cook the eggs for 7 minutes, then run under cold tap water.  Some chefs would say 6 minutes, but I find this undercooked for most people.   When the eggs are cool, remove the shells.Obviously, you can do steps 2 through 4 well in advance and refrigerate your ingredients.
5. Prep the salad ingredients on individual plates: lettuce, halve the cherry tomatoes and distribute across the plates,  chop the spring onions very fine and distribute on the plates.
6. Prepare a heavy skillet or cast iron pan, bring it to a relatively high heat.  Cook the tuna steaks, to taste.  I like mine rare so 3 minutes per side.  The Davinator is a ‘well done’ merchant so 5 or 6 minutes per side for him.   While it’s cooking,  distribute the potatoes, tomatoes and green beans on the plates.  Cut an egg into quarters the long way for each plate.
7. When the tuna is cooked, add it to the plates.  Garnish with the olives, anchovies and torn basil leaves.  Whisk the marinade again (or make some more) and dress the salads.

The Davinator likes to have a some toasted sourdough rye bread with butter with his Salad Nicoise but any bread is a good accompaniment.

Good gadgets that help out with this recipe

None of these are mandatory for the recipe but each is a help.

I mentioned the egg piercer above.  The best way to make reliable boiled eggs (soft, medium or hard boiled) is to put them in boiling water (using a slotted spoon) after piercing them.  They won’t crack if they’re pierced before being put in the boiled water.  You can also bring the eggs to a boil starting with cold water and eggs in the pan (also won’t crack) but this method is much more difficult to time accurately.

Great for boiled eggs, allows for accurate timing.

I find that fresh herbs make a difference in this recipe (not always by the way).   I chop mine with a mezzaluna (Italian for half moon), its a lot quicker and more effective than chopping with a knife.

My favourite tool for chopping fresh herbs

I’ve got a grilling skillet that I only use for cooking tuna.  It probably is good for steak (Davinator cooks the steaks btw) and sausages but for some reason I only get it out for tuna.  And it does make those attractive stripes.

Nothing quite like it for searing tuna.

Keep cooking! And eat more vegetables.