Friday Favorite: Chutneys, Sauces and Toppings
I have a friend that always jokes that my table looks like a French table because I put out so many jars of sauces, chutneys, mustards and other toppings for meals. I must admit, I’m a lover of a good topping. With a variety of toppings you can take a burger from “everyday” to “extraordinary”. Not to mention you can make the same thing taste completely differently depending on which topping you add. I have a collection of mustards in my pantry, I buy them when I spot an interesting one while traveling.
This past fall I got a delicious jar of Ipswich Ale Mustard at Plum Cove Grind a small coffee shop in Gloucester, MA. I also have small pots of mustard from around the world purchased from specialty grocery stores.
The chutneys and sauces we use are made in my kitchen. I try just about every chutney recipe I stumble upon. Making chutney is a really great way to use up small quantities of fruit. My most favorite variety is Roasted Pear Chutney, although I have a peach chutney that comes in a close second.
ROASTED PEAR CHUTNEY
adapted from Epicurious
2 ripe pears, peeled and cut in half
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon organic sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 small red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 tablespoons currants
3 tablespoons golden raisins
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Toss the pears with the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the cinnamon, and cloves. Coat a sheet pan with half the vegetable oil. Set the pears cut side down on the pan. Brush the pears with the remaining oil. Roast until caramelized and tender, 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the degree of ripeness. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3. While the pears are roasting, bring the remaining ingredients to a boil in a nonreactive saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Using a small spoon or a melon baller, scoop out the cores of the cooked pears. Cut the pears into 1/2-inch slices.
5. Combine the pears and the onion mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 day before serving.
I make a big batch of this and can it. I fill sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, add rings & lids, process in waterbath canner for 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.
The sauce, chutney, topping section of my pantry is starting to look a little sparse. I typically make my chutneys every two years. This year I’ll definitely be restocking my collection as I’d hate to run out. My burgers would be very boring without them!
Do you make any sauces, chutneys or toppings? What’s your favorite way to eat chutney?
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Cultivating the Spirit
As I was looking through my photos of last summer this past week, I came upon this image. This is my hat on the fence around the vegetable garden that my mom and I share in her yard. I really love it because it perfectly visualizes what gardening is, at least to me.
Gardening isn’t just about cultivating food or flowers, it’s more about cultivating your spirit along with a deep sense of appreciation for soil, plants, and the earth.
What is gardening to you? Have you learned anything through your gardening?
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Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks
Last Friday morning Mr Chiots and I signed the papers and closed on the empty lot next door. It’s been for sale several times while we’ve lived here, but it’s always been way out of our budget, especially since we were focusing on paying off our mortgage as soon as we could. We paid off the mortgage last fall and we’ve been saving up our extra cash for our dream of purchasing some acreage in a more rural location. The lots on both sides of us are for sale, but both were priced much higher than we were willing to pay for quarter acre lots. Last month we noticed that the lot below us had dropped in price by half and decided it was a price we were willing to pay. We called, made an offer and they accepted it.
With this purchase we have doubled the size of our lot from a quarter to a half of an acre. This is going to be a HUGE bonus for my gardening! We can clear off the front of the lot and I can have a nice sized full sun gardening area, something I’m severely lacking. When we have it all cleared I should have a few thousand square feet of gardening space for vegetables and a thousand square feet or so for an orchard. The back half of the lot is a grove of maple trees, which we’ll keep so we can tap them each spring.
This weekend we spent some time clearing off the saplings. There are a few huge trees that will need to be taken down by professionals, but most of the trees we’ll be able to remove ourselves. I won’t be able to plant anything this year, because we’ll still be digging up tree roots and hopefully planting cover crops to improve the soil. Lucky for us the lot has never really had anything done to it so the soil shouldn’t be too bad.
I spent a long time this weekend picking up the saplings after Mr Chiots cut them down, carrying them to the back of the lot, and piling them up for future use. We will most likely use a lot of these saplings for fencing, plant supports and I may even get creative and make a bench or an arbor out of them. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us this gardening season!
How big is your garden?
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Quote of the Day: Ralph Waldo Emmerson
For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’m so thankful that I’m starting to see color in the garden again.
What are you thankful for today?
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Friday Favorite: Spring Cleanup
There’s something especially exhilarating about spring cleanup in the garden. I think it has something to do with us Northerners being cooped up in our houses for the long dark months of winter. When we have a few nice warm sunny days, spring cleanup begins in the garden. I always wait until I know really hard freezes are over, as I’d hate to uncover my perennials only to have them freeze again on a cold night.
Yesterday was perfect, sun, blue skies, high around 60 – simply perfect. I spent the morning inside working and then made my way outside around 1 when it had warmed up and the sun was high in the sky. It sure was nice to feel the sun on my back as I cleared the leaves out of the flowerbeds, unwrapped the hydrangeas and weeded the raised beds.
I especially love peeling back the leaves that mulched the beds throughout the winter and seeing the soil teeming with life. I saw tons of spiders, worms, beetles, wooly bears, caterpillars, grubs and all sorts of creepy crawlies. I’m happy to see each and every one of them, including those giant wolf spiders, because I know each and every one of them, whether good or bad, plays an important role in my garden.
What’s your favorite garden chore in the spring?
