Pear and ginger chutney
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:25PM 
A few days before New Year’s Eve I took my friend Tina, a chef who is visiting London, on the obligatory foodie tour of Borough markets. This, of course, necessitated a visit to Neal’s Yard Dairy. I didn’t actually need any cheese but it is one of my favourite things to do and, if you are going to try everything in the store, you have to purchase something. So I decided to do some sort of cheese canapé as part of the New Year menu.
I started out with grand plans – a pear, Stichelton and walnut salad on chicory leaves – but I decided that a) chicory might be too bitter b) radicchio, my preferred alternative, would be too hard to find and c) it didn’t go with my other Asian themed canapés. I then thought I might try my hand at making oatcakes, which I’ve never done before, and make them really thin with a slice of Stichelton, a slice of crisp pear and a walnut on top. This would work well at the end of the meal, I thought, alongside the dessert canapé. In the end I couldn’t be bothered making oatcakes (I already had plenty to do) and I couldn’t find any ripe pears so I decided to make a chutney.
I searched pear chutneys online and found loads of recipes which I scanned for ideas. My recipe probably ended up as a combination of all of them, with a twist; ginger. Pear and ginger jam is common but I didn’t come across many pear and ginger chutney’s in my search. I thought I would give it a whirl and the result was lovely.
It has been a few weeks since I made the chutney and the flavours are really starting to develop. At first I thought it a little sweet, but now there is a good balance of sweet and spicy. If you prefer something less sticky, you could up the ratio of vinegar to sugar for something more tangy or add more apples and pears for something fruitier. I used muscovado sugar because I like the thick, nutty, caramel flavour; you could swap this for light brown sugar for a lighter touch.
The flavours are quite Christmassy so this would be a good one to make in advance of the holiday season. Nonetheless, if you like something sticky, sweet and a little spicy with your cheese or cold meats then this is nice to have in the cupboard through winter.
Makes approx 1L (or 3-4 small jars).
Ingredients
4 firm pears, e.g. conference
2 cooking apples, e.g. Bramley
1 onion, halved and finely sliced
2 shallot, halved and finely sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 lemons, zest and juiced
500ml cider vinegar
500g brown sugar
100g jam sugar
3 tbsp stem ginger, diced
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
Peel, core and slice the pears lengthways. Peel and dice the cooking apples. Put the pears and apples in a large heavy bottomed saucepan with the onion, shallot, garlic, lemon juice and half the vinegar. Cover and simmer over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft (but not brown).
Add the rest of the vinegar along with the sugar, stem ginger, ground ginger and cayenne pepper and continue to simmer uncovered over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for approximately 2 hours or until it becomes thick and sticky.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Spoon the chutney into warm, sterilized jars while it is still warm and seal. Label when cool.
Reader Comments (2)
Wow Vix ,
This sounds like the kind of recipe that the King of Windang would love to serve with his crispy skin pork at ORTO .We dined there last night - the meat - beef- duck and pork - all beautifully cooked.
Maybe send him a sample , or would it get confiscated by customs ??!
Hi Ma - Yes that would be a good combo. I'm not sure I could send it for that reason, but he could easily make a test batch at home rather than making it on an industrial scale.