Seasonal Surprises: Savory Blueberry Chutney

My first taste of Sheila Lukins came after stumbling across The Silver Palate food shop on Columbus Avenue, NYC in the late 1970s.  It was a short road to discovering chutney wasn’t just a mango and ginger concoction.  Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate Cookbook fame was cutting edge back then.  I was hooked from that first taste all the way to mixing things up with blueberry chutney to glaze Asian style roast chicken.
Blueberry chutney was the inspiration for my Spicy Blueberry Barbecue Sauce, an original recipe that made me a national award winner in the Highbush Blueberry Council’s 2008 recipe contest.  Who’da thunk?  Next month will mark two years since Sheila Lukins died -- too young but not without having made her mark on a generation of home cooks like me.
This recipe is adapted from an original Silver Palate recipe.  Over the years, I’ve added and subtracted this or that.  Serve with roasted turkey, duck or goose, meat or curries.  Hint: Mix a tablespoon of chutney with with 1/2 cup mayonnaise or plain yogurt and make a tasty dressing for turning chunks of leftover roast turkey or chicken into a yummy salad.
BLUEBERRY CHUTNEY
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and stemmed

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed

1 tablespoon grated crystallized ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon (regular Cassia cinnamon will do)

1 medium shallot, grated (or one small onion)

Dash of salt

1 teaspoon orange zest
1-1/4 cups red wine vinegar

Dash ground nutmeg

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar                                                                                       



Place blueberries in 4 quart saucepan; add all other ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil; simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes, or until chutney is thick.


Meanwhile, wash 4 half pint jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs. Ladle the hot chutney into 1 hot jar at a time, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Remove from water bath and set on a flat surface covered with a clean dish towel to cool. When you hear the tops pop, the seal has been set.


Unopened jars store well for about a year. Once opened, refrigerate and use within 3 weeks.

Comments

  1. Best Wishes, MarieJuly 17, 2011 at 9:18 PM

    happy belated bastile day .... you have been busy. the blog's new look is great. these recipes look great !! love the idea of a blueberry bbq sauce. thanks!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grape Infused Vodka Update

Image
It took an overnight frost for our homegrown grapes to sweeten up but the wait was worth it. A big sloppy thank you smooch goes out to Mayor Mike Tautznik of Easthampton, MA for sharing his home infusion method for fruit flavored vodka. Fiddling around with Mayor Mike's sure-fire recipe helped me come up with the perfect formula for home infusing store-bought vodka with the Concord grapes from our backyard garden. And the abundance of those grapes carefully cultivated by the Man of the House deserves another big sloppy thank you smooch, this time for Farmer Paul. Start by boiling a big pot of water to sterilize pint-sized canning jars and their covers. Once they are cool, fill each about 3/4 full with thoroughly washed Concord grapes plucked from the ripest of bunches. Add one teaspoon of super fine sugar. Pour your choice of plain vodka over the grapes, leaving about 1/2 inch headroom before closing the jars. Shake gently to dissolve sugar before storing in a cool dark spot. Two w...
Read more

A Perfect Sunday Supper

Image
Nearly everyone has a favorite pot roast recipe. Pot roast begs for inspiration from the cook, roasted red peppers can be a delightful addition. Try mushrooms or whole green beans for a different twist. Choosing the spices can be daunting, bay leaf or thyme, coriander or clove? Some recipes call for tomatoes, others for a brown gravy base. I even saw a barbecue style pot roast recipe recently; not to mention the cut of beef. There’s brisket, chuck, rump roast, to name a few. Over thirty plus years of home cooking successes and disasters, I’ve tried many different pot roast recipes but always go back to page 127 of the Silver Palate Cookbook for the best and simplest example of “A perfect Sunday supper.” I follow the recipe closely though not exactly -- you might like my slightly fiddled with version. Starting with the basics is a good start but no excuse for boring – add your own special flair! PEPPERCORN POT ROAST 3 pound boneless chuck roast 1 teaspoon fresh coarsely ground black pe...
Read more

The Joy of Holiday Cookies

Image
Nothing sweetens the season like holiday cookies! The name comes from the Dutch koejke which translates to "little cake" -- the perfect single serving treat. Cookies have been part of cooking history for more than a thousand years and nearly every culture has a bite sized sweet that qualifies as a cookie. Every year I try to come up with a new twist on an old favorite to celebrate the season for my annual cookie swap. These tasty morsels are my version of rugelach , a traditional Jewish pastry filled with nuts, raisins or apricots, cinnamon and sugar wrapped in a flaky crust. A few good friends sharing a bottle of bubbly then going home with the bounty of a platter full of homemade cookies and the recipes. Lots of fun and yumminess, too! RUGELACH Dough 2 cups all-purpose flour Dash of salt 1 tablespoon white sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese 1/3 cup plain or lemon flavored yogurt Filling 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 cup finely...
Read more