A Change Of Plan(t)s

Yesterday's plan was to pick some of the beautiful basil I've got growing in the vege patch and make some pesto - I'm running out of the store bought stuff in the fridge and it's one of my cooking staples.  I decided to use my own, fresh ingredients to make a batch instead of paying a small fortune to buy the premade stuff. 

But... after a bit of reading about the funny markings on my tomato plants, I found out that they are sick.  With a heavy heart and a pair of secateurs, I mercilessly snipped away at the vines, leaves and stalks.  Where there were six big, bushy, delightful plants, there are now only four tragically thinned out plants.  I'm supposed to remove ALL vines with the awful white fungus stuff on them, but that would have decimated my biggest, most productive plant.  So I took off most of it and I've got my fingers crossed that I can control the rest with one of these home remedies.  I'm a bit worried my tomatoes are going to get a sunburn now.  Sheesh.  Does it never end?

Anywho, enter the next recipe.  Green tomato chutney.  I'm NOT letting all my tomatoes go to waste and I don't think they'll ripen if they're this green, so here goes.  I got this recipe off the internet, like many others.  Sounds pretty standard (check me out, Mrs Tomato Chutney Expert.)  I've halved the original recipe, as I'm short on jars and Mum thinks some of these green babies will ripen up.

Green Tomato Chutney - slightly modified from recipe
Weight Watchers ProPoints = 1 point per serve (based on 50 servings.)

1.3(ish - whatever 2.5 lbs comes out to) kg green tomatoes
500g onions or 1 lg. onion
1/2 tsp. peppercorns
1/2 tsp. salt
just under 500g brown sugar (whatever comes out to 1lb or thereabouts)
3/4 c. malt vinegar
1/4 c. sultanas
2 cloves

1/8ish tsp of cayenne chilli powder

I had to take a photo of the cut tomato - I thought it was so pretty!  (I may have popped a bit in my mouth accidentally... it tasted nice, like tomato obviously, but with a gentler flavour.)

Roughly chop the tomatoes and onions.  Mix them together in a basin/bowl/container (whatever) with the peppercorns and salt. Allow this to stand overnight. 

All mixed up so then I covered it with Glad wrap for the night.

It's a bit late.  I shouldn't have faffed around so much... regardless, it's standing overnight now.

The following day (today), boil the sugar, cloves and cayenne with the vinegar then add the sultanas.

Sometimes Blogger uploads my pictures sideways.  I don't understand why, but I can't fix it - even if I reupload the photo.  Anyhow, keep an eye on it at this stage because it will boil really suddenly and if you don't pay attention will burn and boil over.

Simmer for 5ish minutes, then add the tomatoes and onions and simmer until thick.

Again, sideways.  Irritating!

I simmered mine for about an hour and a half.  I think it's because I added the tomatoes and onions AND the water that was in the bowl after it sat all night.  I think if you drained the water and THEN added it, it may take only 40 minutes, as the original recipe says.

I forgot to take a photo when it was done just right.  I used the potato masher to mash it up and make it smaller and more chutnified. 

Pour into hot jars and seal.

I made cute labels yesterday.  I love them!

This chutney is a lot sweeter than the other one, and doesn't have as much of a kick.  I do like it though.  I'm not sure how it tastes with stuff yet, but I imagine it'll be nice with cheese and crackers, sausages and steaks.  If properly sealed and stored, it's meant to keep for up to a year (refrigerate after opening.)

**update - it tastes AWESOME with all of the above suggestions, and I think I like it better than my other tomato chutney... it's also a better consistency than the first batch of chutney (Phill prefers the taste of the first chutney though, so they must both be pretty good.)

original recipe source