Love homemade chutneys? Try making this spiced courgette chutney using ripe cherry tomatoes and fresh spices. It’s a delicious autumn treat perfect with a ploughman’s lunch.
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I have fond memories of home-made jams and preserves from my Canadian childhood. Alas, preserving is not something I’ve become skilled at yet, but this Autumn, I am giving it a bash.
I created this chutney recipe because I had some very ripe cherry tomatoes in my fridge, and quite a few courgettes had arrived in my organic vegetable box.
In addition to fantastic flavours, this is a remarkably easy recipe to prepare. All you do is chop everything up, put it in a saucepan, and leave it to simmer for an hour. The hardest part is waiting three weeks for the flavours to develop before eating it.
Ingredients
- 250 grams ripe cherry tomatoes, cut into 8ths
- 250 grams courgettes, quartered and finely sliced
- 150 ml apple cider vinegar
- 100 grams of apple, peeled and diced
- 120 grams of light brown muscovado sugar
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick, halved
- 1/4 tsp fennel seed
- 2 green cardamoms, seeds only
- 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
- fresh nutmeg
- 3 whole cloves
- 10 grams of ginger root, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
- 100 grams sultanas
↓ Jump to the full, printable recipe. ↓
Instructions
- Grind fennel seeds, cardamom seeds, coriander seeds, and nutmeg together until they form a coarse powder.
- Add the remaining ingredients to a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Simmer until thick and reduced for one hour.
- Spoon into hot sterilized jars and seal. Leave for at least 3 weeks before eating.
So, what did I serve with spiced tomato and courgette chutney?
Chutney is an integral component of a ploughman’s lunch, so I thought I would expand this blog post a bit and include locally sourced ingredients for said lunch.
5
1. Homemade Shetland Black potato crisps
I started with some Shetland black potatoes grown by the lovely Lynn from Hayfield Croft Produce, slicing them thinly and turning them into potato crisps.
Shetland Black potatoes are a small heritage potato with a purple skin, yellow flesh, floury texture and distinctive purple ring around the inside edge. Much to my delight they have just come into season now and are appearing in the local shops and roadside stalls. They make a beautiful crisp with their purple ring.
2. Shetland cheese
You can’t have a ploughman’s lunch without some cheese, so I bought some Artisan Island Cheese made by Caroline Henderson from Lerwick.
This delicious, crumbly soft cheese is made with Shetland milk and flecked with locally grown seaweed. ‘Boorick’, as this particular cheese is called, was featured on an episode of BBC Countryfile and I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who went, “Oooh? Cheese with seaweed in it, yes please!” (My blog visits peaked as folk searched for this cheese online during the show!) I’ve been hunting for this cheese ever since and found some at Scoop Wholefoods in Lerwick.
3. Orkney beremeal bread & Shetland Farm Dairies butter
I made some experimental seeded bread with Orkney beremeal to serve with this ploughman’s lunch. Bere is a heritage six-row barley which has been grown in the Orkney Islands, a group of islands south of Shetland, for thousands of years. I do believe there is a place on the south Shetland mainland that grows it as well.
Shetland Farm Dairies is known for producing high-quality dairy products, including butter. The butter is made from fresh milk sourced from local farms in the Shetland Islands. It is praised for its rich, creamy texture and distinctive flavor, which reflect the unique environment and farming practices of the region.
4. Voe bannocks
I also had some traditional Shetland bannocks purchased at my local country shop to eat. I am in love with these bannocks, made at at the Voe bakery just a few miles up the road from me. They go particularly well with ham or salt beef from J.K. Andersons butchers, again, another business just a few miles down the road from me.
5. Turriefield salad & 60° North lager
Salad (the best salad I have ever, ever eaten!) from my Turrifield veg box, organically grown on the west side of Shetland, and a bottle of mild and refreshing 60° North lager from the Lerwick Brewing Company finished off the meal quite nicely.
Recipe Difficulty Levels
Easy
Requires basic cooking skills and ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Moderate
Requires more experience, preparation and/or cooking time. You may have to source special ingredients.
Challenging
Recipes requiring more advanced skills and experience and maybe some special equipment.
Spiced Tomato and Courgette Chutney Recipe
Ingredients
- 250 grams cherry tomatoes cut into 8ths
- 250 grams courgettes quartered and finely sliced
- 150 ml apple cider vinegar
- 100 grams apple peeled and diced
- 120 grams light brown muscovado sugar
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick halved
- 1/4 tsp fennel seed
- 2 green cardamoms seeds only
- 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
- fresh nutmeg
- 3 whole cloves
- 10 grams ginger root grated
- 2 garlic cloves crushed and finely chopped
- 100 grams sultanas
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Equipment
Instructions
- Grind 1/4 tsp fennel seed, the seeds from 2 green cardamomss, 1/4 tsp coriander seeds and a good grinding of fresh nutmeg together until it forms a coarse powder.
- Add 250 grams cherry tomatoes, cut into 1/8ths, 250 grams courgettes150 ml apple cider vinegar, 100 grams apple, diced, 120 grams light brown muscovado sugar, 1 tsp black mustard seeds, 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 whole cloves, 10 grams ginger root, 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped and 100 grams sultanas to a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Simmer, until thick and reduced, for one hour.
- Spoon into hot sterilized jars and seal. Leave for at least 3 weeks before eating.
Chocolate Courgette Cake
Such a great chutney to use up all the courgettes around at the moment!
Hi Elizabeth – your chutney looks amazing. I would love to add it to our fundraising selection – we make preserves which we sell to raise money for Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital and some local Animal Rescues. I only make fairly small batches using a 9 litre maslin pan – most of my recipes produce between 6 and 10 jars of 8oz size. Could you tell me how many jars your recipe filled so I can increase the quantity accordingly. The quantity of fruit/veg varies from recipe to recipe but is usually around 2- 3 kg total weight.
I assume you would be ok with me using your recipe for our fundraising?
Kind Regards,
Maura
Hi Maura, yes please go ahead – if you like the recipe by all means make it and sell it! 🙂 I’m trying to recall how many jars I used, I think it might have been two or three small jars (the equivalent to 1.5 Kilner jars). At that time I was recycling old mustard and olive jars instead of using traditional preserving jars. I suppose the best way to find out would to do a trial run, see if you like the taste and then scale up! 🙂 Good luck!
Love a great chutney, don’t think I have had courgette in one so is new to me, but with the spiced tomato angle it sounds amazing! Thank you!
That cheese sounds gorgeous! Wonder if a similar kind is made over here (Ireland), we’ve certainly got enough seaweed & it’s going thu’ a huge revival as an ingredient/health food.
I would expect it is. The same seaweeds grow all around the British coast so it would be worth looking in to!
Your chutney looks and sounds delicious. Beautiful colours and spices x
Thank you Anneli. I do love using freshly ground spices in dishes – I think it makes all the difference to the flavour.
I am totally craving this now Elizabeth. My lunch is going to be a great let down now 🙁
Oh dear! Well, I guess you’ll just have to make some of your own! 😀
Hi,
We’ve recently launched the website Alldishes.co.uk. It’s a search engine that aims to gather all the best recipes from UK and Irish websites and blogs. We’ve noticed that you have a lot of great looking recipes on your blog that we would love to feature on our site. To read more about how it all works and to sign up with your blog, please visit http://alldishes.co.uk or send us an email on info@alldishes.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you!
Kind regards,
Senka
Thanks Senka! I’ve just signed up to your lovely site – what a great idea and thanks for all the new traffic! 🙂
The chutney sounds so tasty with the combination of tomatoes, zucchini and apple. But I have to admit, I really love the look of those crisps! They look perfect…
It is a lovely chutney, but my crisp-making skills need some work (or, I just need a mandolin slicer!)
Wow you have been busy. You did make me laugh with the Boorick cheese. I think you could be an ambassador for all things ‘seaweed’. I love the sound of the chutney – I just need some of that cheese to go with it.
Hee hee, I like the sound of being a seaweed ambassador! I do love all things seaweed!