Green tomato chutney

As Autumn hits the UK, there comes the possibility of frosts. When growing Mediterranean fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, they aren't used to such cold temperatures and will die off at this time of year.

If you still have lots of unripened fruit on your tomato vines when a frost is due, then you can either pick them green and try to ripen them indoors (you can place them by ripe tomatoes, or by bananas to achieve this) or you can do what I do and make delicious green tomato chutney. :)

Green tomatoes chopped and ready to become chutney

When cooking I don't tend to follow recipes, but go largely on memory and following instincts, so although I've written it as a recipe, you can take it as guidelines and adjust to suit tastes or fit what ingredients you have around you.
I had enough green tomatoes to produce about 4 jars (or in my case, 2 large jars) of chutney, so that's how much this recipe will make. If you have more tomatoes, just multiply up the other ingredients accordingly.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 500g green tomatoes
• 250g white onion (2 medium sixed onions)
• 250ml white wine vinegar
• Handful raisins
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cardamon

Tomatoes, onion, raisins and spices simmering in vinegar and sugar

Method

1. Finely chop the onion and lightly fry in the oil in a large pan, finely chop the tomatoes whilst this turns transparent.
2. Add the tomatoes to the onion along with the vinegar and simmer on a low heat. Add the sugar and stir until it's dissolved to avoid it burning on the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the raisins and the spices, give a good stir and pop a lid on the pan to let it simmer away for about an hour, or until it looks like the ingredients have all softened and it's become thicker.
4. Whilst the chutney is cooking, wash and sterilise a few jars, always prepare more than you think you'll need in case there's more than you think, or in case of breakages. I sterilise the jars in a low oven and poor freshly boiled water over the lids in a bowl. You could use chemicals if you prefer, but I always worry it might affect the taste of the produce. If using chemicals, rinse thoroughly.
5. Once the chutney is cooked, carefully fill the jars to the brim whilst it's still hot and seal them. The chutney will be best eaten if you wait  a month for the flavours to infuse. Although if you're impatient, like me, it can be eaten straight away!

Green tomato Chutney

Tips

As the mixture cools, the volume of the air will decrease inside the jars, creating a tight seal. If any lids 'pop up' it means they weren't tightened properly, or the mixture was cool when the jars were filled. Eat these soon, as they won't keep. The properly sealed ones will keep for months or even years as long as they were sterilised properly.

Nasturtium Tempura

Nasturtiums are brilliant things. They're easy to grow, they look pretty, they help keeps pests away from vegetable crops, and you can eat both the leaves and flowers! Fantastic!

Nasturtium flowers

I has a go at making tempura for the first time, and my first thought was to try nasturtium flowers stuffed with goats cheese. It turned our to be a very good thought, as it's delicious! The leaves aren't bad as tempura as well, I expect they'd be even better rolled around cheese too though. ;)

The ones I made are gluten free, but if you fancy 'normal' tempura just replace the Doves farm flour with ordinary wheat flour.

Flowers stuffed with cheese, ready to be fried

Here's how I made the stuffed flowers.

Ingredients

• Nasturtium flowers
• Soft goats cheese
• 170g Doves farm gluten free plain flour
• 80g Corn flour
• 120ml Water
• 1 egg
• Sunflower oil (or another oil with a high smoke point) to half fill a deep pan (enough to submerge the flowers)

Method

1. Freshly pick as many nasturtium flowers as you fancy eating.
2. Place a blob (about a teaspoon) of goats cheese in the centre of each flower and fold the petals around to cover the cheese.
3. Mix the flour, corn flour and egg in a bowl, then add the water gradually making a smooth batter.
4. Heat the oil in a deep pan. Test to see if it's hot enough by dropping half a teaspoon of batter into the oil, if it gently sizzles, rises to float on the water and is cooked to become crispy fairly quickly, then the oil is a good temperature.
5. Use a slatted spoon to dip your stuffed flowers into the batter and then quickly, but gently, place into the oil. (Be careful not to splash hot oil on yourself!) Place enough flowers in so they approximately half cover the surface of the oil. (If you place too many in, they can bring down the temperature of the oil too much).
6. After 1-2 minutes the flowers should be cooked and crispy, remove with the slatted spoon and place on some kitchen towel on a plate to soak up the excess oil.
7. Eat whilst freshly cooked, yummy!

Tempura flowers, ready to be consumed!

Tips

Try courgettes, cheese stuffed courgette flowers, sweet potato and carrots as tempura too!

Elderflower Curd

Elderflowers are a fantastic ingredient found in many hedgerows during the Spring/Summer. They're light, refreshing and fragrant echoing the lighter, summery days.

Elderflower is most commonly used in drinks, but it also makes a fantastic alternative to lemon curd. Here's a recipe for how I make it.

Ingredients

• 4 lemons (unwaxed)
• 10-15 heads of elderflower (fewer if large, more if small)
• 400g (14oz) sugar
• 4 eggs
• 100g (3.5oz) butter or sunflower spread

Method

1. Shake elderflower heads gently in water to remove dirt and insects, then snip the flowers of the large green stems (leaving small bits of stem won't matter too much).
2. Place sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and butter, along with the elderflowers, in a pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and allow the flowers to steep for 5-10 minutes. Sieve contents, squeezing excess liquid out of the flowers, returning the mixture to the pan. (The flowers can go in your compost, the worms will love it!)
4. Beat the eggs, and whisk into the mixture over a medium heat until it starts to thicken.
5. Pour into sterilised jars, or eat and enjoy!

This recipe makes around 900g, enough for about 3 jars. (Or 2lb curd in total).

Whisking the egg into the mixture over medium heat

Jars filled and ready to be eaten :)

Tips

• It's delicious with pancakes, in sponge cake, spread on crumpets or toasted teacakes...yummy!
• To sterilise jars, you can place the lids in a bowl and cover with boiling water, and bake the jars at a low heat in the oven.
• Make sure you know what an elderflower looks like before you go foraging!