Green tomato chutney

There is always a time when the summer is gone, most of the tomatoes have ripened beautifully, but a few have decided to stay green. As my mother would say, ‘thou shalt not waste’. There are so many wonderful ways you can use these tomatoes: in jams, pickles or in a beautiful chutney. This wonderful condiment was completely alien to me until I came to Britain and enjoyed a piece of York ham served with a sweet fruity chutney. And now I’ve come to have huge admiration for this preserve, which can take on hundreds of different guises depending on the fruits, vegetables and spices used. I serve chutney with everything I can.

Credit: Headline / Jean Cazals

• serves

  2

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

One of my biggest failures in life is not having found a way to replicate the smell of a raw tomato, cut from the vine: one of the greatest scents in the world. I would love it to burst out from a chutney like this. I have spent many weeks trying to capture or reinvent that smell – through steaming, simmering and making consommés. So if any of you have solved this mystery, please, do let me know.

Ingredients

• 500 g green tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 100 ml white wine vinegar
• 75 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 2 g pink peppercorns
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
• 100 g white onion, roughly diced
• 100 ml water
• ½ tsp ground coriander seeds
• pinch sea salt

Instructions

In a medium saucepan on a medium heat, place all the ingredients and cook for 10 minutes covered with a lid.

Remove the lid, turn the heat to high and continue to cook for a further 7–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chutney has reduced to a compote consistency. Remove from the heat and allow to cool at room temperature.

Once cool, taste and adjust the seasoning if required, then store in the fridge where it will keep for up to three weeks.

Serve with a mature Cheddar, or a creamy blue cheese. As a Frenchman I would also suggest that a great Comté, Roquefort, Bleu de Gex or any of the other 400 French cheeses will go very well with this chutney.

Note

• This chutney is very light in vinegar and low in sugar. Vinegar is the preservative that enables you to keep chutneys for many months, but this recipe doesn’t contain enough to allow you to store the chutney for more than three weeks. On the other hand, it will be beautifully rounded and fresh without the sharp acidity that comes from recipes that contain a lot of vinegar.

• When you make something spicy, acidic or sweet, the flavouring will feel much stronger while the dish is hot so be aware of this when you test your chutney. It may taste a little fierce at first but the spicing will mellow.

Recipe from Kew on a Plate with Raymond Blanc (Headline, hb, $55). See more from Raymond Blanc in Royal Gardens On A Plate, on SBS and SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

One of my biggest failures in life is not having found a way to replicate the smell of a raw tomato, cut from the vine: one of the greatest scents in the world. I would love it to burst out from a chutney like this. I have spent many weeks trying to capture or reinvent that smell – through steaming, simmering and making consommés. So if any of you have solved this mystery, please, do let me know.