Courgette chutney

I'm thinking this will be the last courgette recipe of the year… Not because I'm tiring of courgette quite yet, but because the tide seems to be shifting towards autumn and in particular pumpkin.

Over here in the UK pumpkin isn't quite such the craze as it is in the US, blog world and my Instagram newsfeed is already becoming inundated. Squashes will undoubtedly make an appearance before too long but the whole pumpkin pie phenomenon doesn't really seem to exist over here, we don't even have 'pumpkin pie spice mix' which seems as commonplace as salt-and-pepper for you lot over the pond! 

I kind of feel as though I'm missing out ;-(

Anyway like I say this may (or may not) be the final courgette recipe, after all summer courgette supplies are fast dwindling now...

I got this idea for this chutney from a recipe link for a courgette marmalade in the Able & Cole newsletter, but I didn't like the idea of all the sugar so commonplace in regular chutneys and marmalades, So with the basic concept in mind I hunted around for ideas and came up with my own version using dates and a little unrefined sugar as well as all the spices you'd expect. The result is pretty tasty and once again makes a Novel way of using a ton of courgette!

I found the sauce particularly tasty with pasta, noodles, or to jazz up a veggie stir fry. Or just slather on top of crackers with a little hummus and salad leaves on the side.

Recipe: Courgette Chutney

Makes 4 jars (approx. 300ml each)

Ingredients: 

• I kg worth of courgette

• 1 tbs salt

• 2 onion- roughly chopped

• 300ml apple cider vinegar

• 2tbs olive oil

• ¼ cup un-refined sugar (i.e coconut sugar or rapadura)

• ½ cup date paste

• Spices: (note- tweak to suit your own tastes)

• 1 heaped tsp chilli

• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard

• 1 heaped tsp fresh ginger

• 5 garlic cloves

• 1 heaped tsp cumin

Method: 

Chop the courgette into smallish (thumb sized) pieces in a processor. Add to a colander, add the salt and shake well to coat. Allow to drain for a couple of hours to draw out excess moisture.

When the courgette is ready, rinse well to remove most of the salt and pat dry.

Blend all remaining ingredients to form a soft paste (leave onion out of the blend if you want this to remain chunky).

Heat ‘paste’ in a large sauce pan on a low heat for 10 minutes or so, add the cougette pieces (and onion), mix and simmer whilst partially covered on a low heat for around 45 minutes or until well softened and thickened.

Pour into steralised jars whilst hot and screw lids onto seal tightly.