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It seemed the next logical step to posting tons and tons of pictures of making fruit relish (catsup aux fruits) was to give my recipe. This recipe is easily adapted to what you have, and it will still be good. I promise.
Fruit Relish, Ketchup or « Chow Chow »
- 4 apples or pears, peeled, cored and diced
- 4 peaches, nectarines or plums, peeled, pitted and diced
- 8 tomatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 onions, diced
- 4 branches of celery, diced
- 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1-1/2 cups of cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 2 tsp of salt
- 2 tsp of pickling spice (Or a mix of coriander seeds, mustard seeds, bay leaves, whole dried chillies, all-spice, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks) I also put a tsp of garam masala or 5-Spice powder in mine.
The Ingredients Chopped and ready to simmer
The ingredients with the spices, brown sugar and vinegar.
Combine all of the ingredients and simmer for at least 45 min or until thick. Put the ketchup into sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 20 min or at 11lbs of pressure (inMontreal) for 15min. Because chow chow is acidic, I actually just put it in hot sterilized jars and close them right away, but to be sure, use the hot water bath or pressure method.
Use of pressure cooker is optional.
Final product- easy and delicious
Stuff that Chow Chow is buddy-buddy with:
Tourtière, Cipaille, Roasted Sausages, Roasted and Grilled Meats, Melted cheese on croutons, grilled cheese, Veggie Burgers, anything that you would put chutney or relish on!
Presto Instructional images. The same poster girl then and now!
Anyone who knows me knows I have a bit of a soft spot for salt, spices, aromatics and hot food. I grow a variety of herbs and at the end of the season, I have a surplus. There are many things we can do with the masses of left-over herbs: drying, pesto, […]
Anyone who knows me knows I have a bit of a soft spot for salt, spices, aromatics and hot food. I grow a variety of herbs and at the end of the season, I have a surplus. There are many things we can do with the masses of left-over herbs: drying, pesto, perfumed oils and salted herbs. I tend to dry a bit, make a bit of pesto and make salted herbs. Every year, the thing I have the most of is basil. I like pesto as much as the next girl, but I like other things too. I’ve started making pestos with a few different nuts just to switch it up a bit, but I’ve also started making my own blends of salted herbs besides the Bas-du-Fleuve style. I make Calabrese, Provençal, and Indonesian-style salted herbs now. These are recipes I made-up. They are my way of grouping and preserving a concentration of flavours from a certain culinary tradition, so I can add their essence to a dish. Salted herbs are good for soups, stews, sauces, salad dressings, or anywhere you want to put salt and flavour!
When I did a cooking internship in Calabria with Luigi Quintieri at La Tavola di Melusinda he showed me that the key flavours in Calabrian cuisine were mint, garlic, basil, pepperoncino (hot peppers) and lemon zest. There were alot of Moorish tones to Calabrian food.
Here is my recipe for Calabrese salted herbs
Salt, garlic, mint, basil, lemon zest, pepperoncino
Calabrese salted herbs
400g of basil
200g of mint
1 head of garlic
zest of 3 lemons
2 to 4 hot peppers of choice (you can use dried chilis of you want too)
1/4- 1/3 c. of sea salt of choice
a little olive oil or water to make the paste smoother
Wash the basil
Chop the garlic and the hot peppers
Zest the lemons
Blend everything in the food processor adding a little water or olive oil.
Wash the herbs. Slice the garlic and hot peppers. Zest the lemons. Put all ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth, adding a little water or olive oil. Mix in the desired amount of salt. I use grey salt or fleur de sel, but you can use something much cheaper as you will probably use the salted herbs for cooking and not finishing a dish. If you want to do an even more Moorish version (pardon the pun), you can replace the lemon zest with minced preserved lemon. Enjoy! Thank you Luigi for the inspiration!
