It’s that time of year again for the Waz Fam here in Wisconsin. Fall has arrived, which on the plus side, means it’s squash, apple and cranberry season. On the negative side, Andy is not working again. He was supposed to work until Christmas, but after the government shutdown, they shut down a lot of the jobs and he is currently not working. It’s not the official lay off (meaning no official notice from the boss) yet, but since he has only worked three days all month, I would say that we are in the soft lay-off period. Which, for us, means we go into hunker down mode and tighten every purse string we can find. For myself, it means a heightened vigilence in the kitchen as far as food waste is concerned.
Meaning, we waste as little as possible- every leftover gets taken into account with meal planning. When this time comes every year (which it does when one’s main source of employment is a seasonal construction job), this is when I look back on all the food preservation from the year and all I can do is smile big. Our freezer this year is jam packed with fresh fruits- blueberries, cherries, raspberries, and cranberries. The pantry is burgeoning with canned pears, peaches, pickles, tomatoes, salsas and more jams than you can imagine. I have two bushels of winter squash waiting for the canning pantry to be finished so they can have a home. Once a week I will go through them, and any that seem to be starting to turn will be baked, and then used in a dish, or frozen for adding to a million things. It’s amazing how many foods you can enhance nutritionally by adding a cup of squash puree !
I am so thankful for those things that we took the time to harvest and put aside for later. When I try to think about what our winters would be like without those precious canned goods… well, it frightens me a little. Those delicious and healthful preserves often become the main focus of a meal- or they round out something that isn’t so spectacular. Have you ever had sour cherry pancakes? Or a pumpkin scone studded with blueberries? How about a fresh from the oven slab of cornbread smothered with apple butter. Oh man, just thinking about that? I tell you, while I don’t enjoy not being able to spend what I’d like on groceries during lay off season, we always do our best eating this time of year. Always.
Which brings me to today’s recipe that I want to share. This recipe for Grape Chutney was in the October issue of Eating Well magazine. It attracted me right off the bat because it was simple- the ingredients are few, the picture was stunning, and I always love a good chutney. The grapes have also been quite good as of late, and the idea of grape chutney meant, to me, that a curry dinner was in order. The one thing I didn’t have on hand for making the chutney was dry sherry- an item I usually just skip in recipes, but in this case, I made an exception, and I bought a bottle. Hey, with all the recipes that call for it, maybe I’ll discover that I really like what it adds! Then I waited for an opportunity to present itself to make this grape chutney. I’d bring grapes home and they’d get eaten- they’ve really been delicious!
Finally, we had some grapes sitting around that had lost their lustre. They were getting soft, some were turning into rotten raisins, and they simply weren’t going to be eaten out of hand. On top of that, it was Thursday night, which is a night the kids eat at dance, so it was the perfect opportunity to put together a spicy curry which they wouldn’t want to eat.
The Grape Chutney was as easy to put together as I thought it would be. First I finely chopped some onion and got it sauteeing in some olive oil just until it started to brown. Then, I chopped two cups of grapes in half- both green and purple grapes- and put them in the pan with the sherry, some rice wine vinegar, mustard seeds and salt and pepper. This all simmered together for about 20 minutes, when the grapes had kind of mushed up and most of the liquid had vanished. Oh my gosh, this was magic! It was so good- it had that oniony/mustardy flavor that I associate with chutney, but then there was this huge POW of grape flavor, and it was simply delicious. While it was delicious with my curry, it would be equally good served with some cheese for an appetizer, or served with a pork roast. I was really glad I thought to buy the sherry some time ago, because with a drastically reduced grocery budget, it would have never come home with me. Now I’m anxious to try it in other things and see what it adds.
One note about the recipe. The directions indicate that you just want the shallot (or onion) to soften a bit. I took it further and let the onion start to carmalize, and I think that took this chutney to an even better level. It gave it an extra depth, and the bites with a bit of the browned onion were my favorite.
Grape Chutney
from Eating Well, October 2013
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil1/2 cup minced shallots
2 cups halved seedless purple or red grapes
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar or rice vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add grapes, sherry, vinegar, mustard seeds and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the grapes have broken down, 10 to 20 minutes.