Trine Hahnemann’s Christmas Chutney
Inspired by a fellow foodie blogger who has already prepared a festival of mincemeat for her friends this Christmas, I decided to make some chutney for mine and so, Monday was destined to be Chutney Day!
I’ve always loved pickles. As a child, Christmas evening was spent in my paternal granny’s for tea of cold meats and pickles. The whole family gathered together with the kids at one end of the table alongside the grownups. We ate ham, turkey, pickled onions, beetroot, red cabbage and branston pickle. How our stomachs survived all that vinegar I do not know! I also fondly remember my dad making pickles. He has a love of beetroot and red cabbage but also loves chutneys. The smell of vinegar pervades every inch of a home when pickling which drove my mother nuts so beware!
I selected a recipe from one of my recent cookbook purchases only to find that I couldn’t get half the ingredients. Disappointing to say the least! Another rummage through my library of books and I selected a recipe from another recent purchase, Christmas Chutney from Trine Hahnemann’s Scandinavian Christmas cookbook. You just couldn’t get a more perfect title than that now could you?
This is a lovely recipe where the ingredients include apples, plums, tomatoes, onion, chilli, cardamom, fresh ginger amongst others. I have to admit that I pulsed the fresh ingredients bar the apples in the food processor to speed the prep work {this is what happens when you decide you’re spending the day in the kitchen only for one of your kids to end up in the doctor’s surgery with a chest infection…!}.The cooking time took only 40 minutes and my house didn’t smell awful! Excellent.
But even more excellent is this chutney. The colour is a vibrant red, the taste is fresh with a lovely chilli kick. No overwhelming taste of vinegar at all! The chutney is perfect with cold meats and cheeses and as Trine suggests chicken and lamb dishes. I’ll be making more of this for sure…especially since we’ve already opened a jar and it will be gone by Friday. Forget letting the flavours mature! Too good, Trine, TOO GOOD!
Xx Paula
SCANDINAVIAN CHRISTMAS by TRINE HAHNEMANN, published by Quadrille (£16.99, hardback)
To find out more about Trine, visit her website, trinehahnemann.com.
There is also an excellent interview at Scan Magazine.
The SCANDINAVIAN CHRISTMAS cookbook is available to buy from Amazon.
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Salt, Pepper and a Dollop of Cream 
what a lovely blog;)just followed!keep it up!xx
Thank you so much and for the follow! Hope you enjoy the blog. Xx Paula