I love cheese with chutney! The sweet-acid flavours of chutney are a great contrast to the salty-fat-umami the cheese. This is a recipe I find myself making many times a year. Better than store-bought and it keeps for months in the fridge.
- 2 onions
- cup of raisins
- cup of vinegar (I like a mix of balsamic with cider vinegar)
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, cut into small pieces
- 3 cups of brown sugar
- just a little salt
What we’re going for in this recipe:
high acidity and a high sugar-to-water ratio: this will inhibit microbial growth, allowing it to last for weeks in the fridge. They also make it taste great.
deep mahogany colour: some of this comes from browning the onions, some from the sugar, and some from the balsamic vinegar
The fruit and vegetables are a vehicle for the sugar and acid! Chutney is an acid-syrup conveyed through veggies.
Add onions to a pan with the sugar a couple of tbsp of water. Cook at a medium heat until a medium brown (20 mins+), then add apple, raisins, and vinegar, salt and keep cooking at a low heat until the pan is a uniform dark brown. Taste it and add if you like add more vinegar and more sugar to get the consistency you like. The longer you cook it, the softer the fruit/veg will end up.
When you’re done, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It should keep for months. Try some variations: you could use other veg like carrots instead of onions, or omit the onions altogether and go for an apple-raisin chutney.
My favorite cheese pairing for this onion chutney is Trader Joes’ black pepper Toscano. Yum!