River Cottage

It’s that time of year when, with a blink of the eye, the dramatic mellow yellow flowers of the courgette plant turn into a cornucopia of plenty. 

Well feasted on, and now fed up of their proliferation, try this brilliant recipe so you can still savour these summertime specials in the bleak mid winter. 

Next year, you’ll find yourself planting even more courgettes........

COURGETTE CHUTNEY

Time honoured traditional Indian spices turn a pan-ful of  courgettes into a superb chutney to enjoy with just about everything;   cheese, cold meats, curries etc.  

Of course you can use up your overgrown courgette monsters, but I prefer to use young, tender courgettes when they are no more than 15 cm long to make this delightful spiced chutney.
 
1kg courgettes, green or yellow
2 tablespoons salt
2 medium onions
4-5 large cloves garlic
1 red chilli (more if you want to increase the heat)
25g root ginger
100ml sunflower oil
2 tablespoons black mustard seed
1 tablespoon coriander seed
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon turmeric
300 ml cider vinegar
225g Demerara sugar

Start by wiping the courgettes over and cutting off the stalks.   

Chop into 5-6mm pieces (for larger courgettes cut lengthwise and then slice).   

Place in colander and sprinkle with the salt.  Stand the colander over a bowl and leave for a couple of hours.  

The salt will draw out excess water from the courgettes and will prevent the courgettes going mushy when they are cooked.    

Meanwhile, peel the onion, garlic cloves, ginger and de-seed the chilli. 

Place these four ingredients in a blender and blitz well to form a paste.  
Rinse the courgettes with plenty of cold water and dry well. 

Heat the oil a large roomy saucepan.  Sprinkle in the mustard and coriander seeds and fry for a 3-4 minutes. 

Add the ground cumin and turmeric.  Keep shaking the pan to prevent the spices burning.  

Add the onion paste and cook with the spices for 4-5 minutes.   Add the courgettes, vinegar and the sugar.  

Stir well and  bring to simmering point over a medium heat.  Reduce the heat and let the mixture cook slowly until the courgettes  have softened and the liquid has reduced. 

This will take approximately 45 minutes.

Pot the chutney whilst still hot in sterilised jars  packing down with a spoon to remove any air pockets.  Seal with vinegar proof lids.  

Store in a cool, dark place.     

WOMEN’S INSTITUTE  JAM FEST’

The Women’s Institute are holding their very first Jam Festival  between  20th-21st November.  

This is a terrific opportunity to try out some new ideas and  I hope it will inspire you to have some fun and you’ll enter your very favourite jam into the competition. 

Visit www.thewi.org.uk to find out more.  One word of advice if entering, do use new, unbranded jam jar lids. www.thejamjarshop.com