Rachel's roasted tomato chutney

Preheat your oven to 200C/Gas 6.

Pluck any green tops from your tomatoes and tumble into a small roasting tin. Trim the pointy end from the garlic to just expose the cloves and to help the bulb sit flat. Nestle into the centre of your tomatoes. Tuck the rosemary in on the sides. Roast 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are starting to collapse and have released a sticky pool of juices.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven. Squeeze the garlic cloves out from the skins, directly into the pan with the tomatoes. Pluck the rosemary out and discard.

Finely chop the pitted dates and add to the tomatoes, along with the herbs. Grate in the ginger (you can leave the skin on). Add the leaves, blossom, or a hint of other herbs (finely chop if using larger leaves like basil). Give everything a mix.

Set a saucepan on a set of digital scales and weigh your tomato mix. For a more traditional, sweeter chutney, add equal amounts of sugar and vinegar, equalling the weight of your tomatoes – so if your tomato mix weighs 300g, use 150g sugar and 150ml vinegar. If you want it less sweet, swap out some of the sugar with vinegar (i.e. for 300g of veg use 100g sugar and 200g vinegar).

Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a rolling boil, until all the ingredients come together into a jam-like consistency – you’ll know it’s done when you can drag a spoon across the centre of the pan and the mixture should start to part (but come back together). You want it a jamyy but pourable consistency as the chutney will thicken slightly on cooling.

Spoon into sterilized jars, seal, label and mature for at least 1 week before use but it’s best after 6 weeks (the vinegar is less strong, and the flavours have had more time to meld. It will keep at room temperature for up to 1 year. Store in the refrigerator once opened and eat within one month.

Makes 1-2 x 200g jars