Balsamic White Nectarine Chutney
SEPTEMBER 12th, 2011 — While I’m away, Mom tends to a miniature garden in the front yard, and we now grow cherry tomatoes like crazy. What can you do with that besides a salad caprese? Well, if garden tomatoes are purportedly richer in taste, they should be good for sauces, right?
Nope, not marinara. Chutney, a condiment originating from India and South Asia, I think.
So what did you do?
After a little bit of research, I found that authentic Indian tomato chutneys involve Indian spices, which I didn’t have. Luckily, they don’t call for as much as spice as curries do, so I was all right just focusing on accentuating the taste of the stars of my chutney: the cherry tomatoes and white nectarines.
I chopped those, making sure to save the juice, and also finely chopped a small sweet onion too.
I then added 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar (the only vinegar in the house, unfortunately), 1/4 cup of light brown sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and a tablespoon grapeseed oil, and began stewing that in a pot.
Bring it to a boil, and then, according to recipes, one ought to let it simmer for 1-2 hours.
Nah, I let the tomato and nectarine flesh soften and simmer in that vinegar for 40 minutes.
And then I threw it in the blender and pulsed the thing several times until chunky, a little smoother than salsa.
Blended, with a sprig of salad on top just makes for a better presentation too, don’t it?
I then threw it into the refrigerator, because I was going to use it–cold–later to top my Salmon Cakes.
What else can you use chutney for? On top of meat, salads, sandwiches?
Lessons learned?
Maybe a clean vinegar, like white, or red wine, or even apple cider, as well as just using refined white sugar, would have produced a brighter color and taste, but I liked the deep shade that balsamic and brown brought.
Trackbacks