Chutney is not a thing I normally keep in my kitchen. Since we have 180d our diet in the last year I decided it was time to reach out to a new flavor palate. Even my spice cabinet has seen a shift. I used to have tons of great mixed spices and my poor tiny spice cupboard was cluttered with all kinds of little jars of savory and sweet concoctions. With my son's corn intolerance we are much more strict about what kinds of spice mixes and condiments we can keep around. No ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise etc. All of our foods are made from scratch if we want them. It has actually been pretty liberating on our cooking and budget. No more trips to the store because we are all out of ketchup or ranch dressing. If my food isn't good enough by itself, it is time to make better food. I have found that good sea salt and freshly ground black pepper actually tastes perfect now that my palate has adjusted to real tastes and textures. Our food isn't supposed to be all crazy all of the time. This new perspective has really opened my mind to creating new sauces and jellies that are baby approved. So now we journey to the east to experiment with chutney.
So what is chutney anyway?
Chutney is a condiment from South Asia that is a spice and vegetable mixture. I have really only seen them at fancy food stores or in Indian restaurants. My chutney experience is limited to what I have eaten at out local Indian places and a few fancy-schmancy restaurants.
The question then is how did I come up with a chutney recipe with such limited experience? Necessity. I have lots of rhubarb. Tons of it. A few years back I had the idea to plant rhubarb in my garden. I kept waiting for the stems to turn red thinking that they were only ready when red. So it turns out that there are three colors of rhubarb. The red we see in stores, the solid green and the red turning into green. I have the red to green variety. Since I now know that my rhubarb is edible, it was strawberry-rhubarb pie time. But then what? That is pretty much all I know how to make with rhubarb. I suppose I could make rhubarb jam but since I don't eat toast anymore, my jam/jelly consumption is at an all time low. After some searching for what to do with the rack of lamb I bought at the farmer's market from what are the creepiest people on the planer, I found suggestions to serve it with a chutney.
I am really not that judgemental...maybe I am. They creep me out. I know they are nice people and they raise great product so I see them every week, but they are really creepy. Like every single member of the family has the London-Paris eye thing going on. I think they creep me out more than they guy who sells chickens that has holes in his shirt and is missing half of the fingers on one hand. He also removes the chicken skin from his chickens to make them "less fat" for you. Everytime I see them I feel like I have walked into that episode of the X-Files with the people under the bed.
I digress. Back to the chutney. This chutney is a fine chutney. It is spicy, nuanced and totally different from that mint jelly crap that everybody puts on lamb. I tried the chutney by itself and it was strange. Once I tried it with the meat...Hallelujah! It was so tasty. This is going to be a great gift for people since it is certainly not the usual fair. Enough blagging. Time for a recipe. This is best served cold so make it the day before.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 huge rhubarb stalks, chopped down
- 2 tsp ginger powder or fresh ginger
- 1 tbl garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1/3 cup of golden raisins
Directions:
In a large cook pot heat the apple cider vinegar and stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Meanwhile, clean and chop up the rhubarb and onion. Add the onion and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Make sure it is in bite sized or smaller pieces since it will stay that size. Add the spices and rhubarb to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes. The mix will begin to thicken. Add the raisins and turn off. Place in your jars and screw the lids on tightly. This should allow them to seal but don't count on them being perfectly canned. For that, place them in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Serve chilled.
Now for the lamb. 450F for only about 10 minutes. Our rack was small so we didn't have to cook it very long. Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting the lollipops apart so the juices do not all run out. Serve with your chutney. mmm tasty.
Lamb cooking temperatures:
Rare: 120-130F
Medium: 130-140F
Well done: I am not even going to tell you because well done lamb is a crime.
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