So, WE LOVE CHEESE. And we find no cheese board is complete without bread and some good chutneys.
Today we have decided to make a batch of onion chutney with a bit of a kick ready for all the Christmas activities (and cheese eating). Rather than your everyday red onion chutney we have decided to go for a smoother jam with a few chilies to give it some extra heat and flavour. We are both big fans of a homemade chili jam (with goes with everything) and this is just a bit of an expansion on that.
For this you will need sterilised jars, the best way to do this is by putting them in the dishwasher. alternatively you can soak them in boiling water with a little washing up liquid. Put your sterilised jars in a low oven for about 10 minutes before use – the heat will continue the sterilisation and prepare your jars for the hot jam you’re about to put in them and help prevent them from cracking.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1kg red onions, finely chopped
- 4 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 5-6 red chillies, deseeded and very finely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 50ml balsamic vinegar
- 250ml red wine vinegar
- 400g jam sugar
- season to taste
- Sterilise your empty jars
- In a large, deep saucepan melt the butter with the oil on a medium heat and fry the onions until softened and translucent.
- Add your garlic and chillies and continue to cook for a few minutes.
- Stir in the tomato puree, worcestershire sauce and seasoning until all combined.
- Add the bay leaves, vinegars and sugar and allow the sugar to dissolve.
- Bring to a high boil for around 10 minutes, checking every now and again that the onions aren’t catching at the bottom.
- Leave to simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, your jam should have thickened by now and be ‘jam-like’.
- Pour into your sterilised jars and seal whilst they’re still hot.
It’s best to wait around a month or so before using your jam /chutney to allow the flavours to intensify. It’s perfectly fine to use it straight away as it’s hard to resist temptation, it will just taste better over time. We like to prepare all our preservations in mid-late November, ready for Christmas.
We recently used ours to go on the top of some goats cheese and bacon profiteroles. Add if we do say so ourselves, it is a wonderful use of the jam….
