Recipe: P.A.T. Chutney combines plums (or pluots), apricots and tomatoes
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Summer brings a mixed bag of fruit as plums, apricots and pluots pile up in my refrigerator drawer. Meanwhile, tomatoes are taking over the counter space.
This easy chutney makes use of them all in a sweet-savory combination. I call it P.A.T. – plum-apricot-tomato – but pluots (which are a cross of plums and apricots) work, too.
No peeling necessary. Roughly chop the fruit and let it cook down slowly. The longer it simmers, the thicker it becomes.
P.A.T. Chutney
Makes 6 cups or half-pint jars
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups onions, finely chopped
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
¼ cup red wine
¼ cup fig balsamic vinegar
½ cup sugar
4 pounds plums, pluots and/or apricots, pitted and roughly chopped
1 pound tomatoes, hulled and roughly chopped
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon lemon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
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Instructions:
In a large, heavy pot, melt butter or margarine. Sauté chopped onions until soft.
Add broth, wine, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil.
Add fruit and tomatoes. Return to boil, then reduce to simmer and cover.
After tomatoes and fruit start to break down, remove cover and add raisins.
Simmer uncovered, stirring often, until chutney is desired thickness. For thick, jamlike consistency, simmer chutney at least 1 hour, stirring often to prevent scorching.
Add pepper, salt and paprika. Adjust seasoning.
Refrigerate or freeze in half-pint containers. This chutney will keep at least a month in a covered jar in the refrigerator.
Or process jars 10 minutes in a hot-water bath.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of April 20
Before possible showers at the end of the week, take advantage of all this nice sunshine – and get to work!
* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Give shrubs and trees a dose of a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.
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