Tomato Chutney

As previously mentioned, I was given a rather large bag of cooking apples and knew that I wanted to make a nice tomato chutney as I already had a floopin huge supply of allotment tomatoes.  I found this recipe online but have failed to find it again so thank you to whoever this came from originally - great recipe. I have doubled up the quantities as I had lots of veg to use including onions and garlic from the allotment.

Ingredients

2 Large Red Onions Chopped

1 1/2 kilos Tomatoes Chopped

4 Medium Apples Cored and Chopped ( skins left on ) 

8 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped/Minced

250g  Light Muscovado Sugar ( I used dark )

2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger

1 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

500mls Cider Vinegar

Place all ingredients into a nice big pan and gently bring up to a boil stirring to dissolve all the sugar.

Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the temperature up to the boil, lower the temperature to a simmer and cook uncovered for approx 1 1/2 hours. 

I cooked mine for 2 hours as I wanted it a bit more syrupy .

Once cooked spoon into sterilized jars and immediately put a lid on.

Leave to cool and then label and place in a cool dark cupboard for at least a few weeks to mature.

Safe to say that as I had a little left over , I've already tried this. It would definitely benefit from maturing but its lovely and fresh and I think it'll be even nice in a few months time.

So Many Tomatoes.....

Pretty much half of the haul from the allotment on one day!

 Just when you think that all the work going into growing tomatoes may just be a bit of a faff - up they all come. Year after year I'm shocked as to how many we end up with on the allotment, so many questions, did I plant enough seeds ? will they ever ripen ? how did I end up with so many again ? 

We planted a number of different varieties this year but without a doubt these three are the very best:

Sunstripe Tomato - these are so good I could barely stop eating them as I was picking them.

Pomodoro Tomato - These plants produce so many tomatoes and they are great for everything, not too wet they are great served with Burrata  or made into tomato sauce.

Tomato Costoluto Fiorentino  -  These took they're time to ripen but they are magnificent tomatoes. Good for absolutely everything, eaten straight from the allotment on a hot day seems best 

Much bigger freezer needed for next year for sure.

Deb's Spaghetti Bolognese

 There were two choices for dinner this Saturday ..Spaghetti Bolognaise or Shepherds Pie?? Which one would he choose... after thinking about it for almost 2 seconds we had our answer :) 

Now, I always used to make my spaghetti bolognaise with added chopped chicken livers as it used to give a lovely rich flavour to the sauce, I absolutely cannot get these for love nor money anymore - so sad, I tried everywhere. I'm sure that these are available if you live in a city but here in the valleys it's a big fat NOPE!

Ingredients

500g Lean minced Steak/Beef

2 Large Onions Finely Chopped

3 Sticks Celery Finely Chopped

4 Fat Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped

6 Slices Smoked Bacon ( streaky or back ) Finely Diced

1 Tube Tomato Paste

2 Bay Leaves

500g Mushrooms ( I used button and chestnut ) 

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

Splash Mushroom Ketchup

Splash Lea and Perrins Sauce

1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Fresh Basil to Finish

Chop half the mushrooms and leave half ( the smaller ones ) whole.

Heat oil in a large flameproof pot ( with lid ) and gently cook onions, garlic and celery until softened but not brown. About 10 - 15 minutes.

Add bacon and minced steak and cook through until browned.

Add everything else and stir well.

Bring up to the boil, add lid and turn down the heat to very low - just bubbling.

Stir occasionally but leave to cook for about 3 hours - add a little bit of water if it becomes too dry.

Check consistency and add salt an pepper as needed, stir in chopped basil right at the end, and serve with lots of lovely fresh grated parmesan cheese.