COLUMN: Green tomotoes make the dining table as chutney

Well, the weather has been frightful. A friend said to me today her garden if full of half-finished jobs and I know exactly what she means.

It is difficult to know what to focus on when it’s so wet and windy and downright not conducive to being out in the garden. The veg patch is a mess frankly. The tomatoes really never did ripen outside this year and I have an absolute glut of green tomatoes.

True to my word, this month I made green tomato chutney. I was thinking about the tartness of green tomatoes and how something soft and sweet like mango, would be a good counterbalance.

So here you have it: Green tomato, mango and rose harissa chutney. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but you know the great thing about chutney - you can pretty much add or take out whatever you want. The rose harissa is something I stumbled across and now I love it in a savoury dish, but if you don’t have it or can’t find it, don’t worry. I don’t particularly like raisins in savoury dishes, so I leave them out, but lots of people love them in a chutney. Have a try, don’t worry if it doesn’t turn out great. If it does, give it to your friends as a cheap and cheerful Christmas gift.

Ingredients:

• 1kg mixed tomatoes; green, slightly ripe, cherry and beef – roughly chopped;
• one large white onion – roughly chopped;
• mustard seeds, ground cinnamon, dried garlic (the type you grind) – to taste;
• 300g demerara sugar;
• two apples (any kind) peeled and chopped;
• 250g chopped mango;
• 200ml raw apple cyder vinegar;
• 100ml malt vinegar;
• 200ml red wine vinegar;
• two generous teaspoons of rose harissa (I used Belazu)

Put the tomato, onion and spices in a heavy based saucepan and leave to soften. Add the sugar and coat the veg well, making sure to stir everything thoroughly so it doesn’t stick and burn. Add in the apples, mango and the vinegar. Stir well, leave to cook for about 20 minutes without a lid then add the harissa.

Cook for a further 20 minutes, then I use a potato masher to mash up some of the bits of mango and tomatoes. Reduce heat and leave to cook for at least another couple of hours. You want to reduce the vinegar right down and get to the point where your spoon makes tracks in the chutney. This could be a good time to transfer it to a slow cooker where the chutney will be less prone to burning.

Fill sterilised jars up to the top, place a circle of greaseproof paper over the top and seal. Leave to cool then label. Enjoy!