Now, bare with me, what follows is a little bit of happy gushing and at the end an apple chutney recipe adapted from Mark Hix's 'British Seasonal Food'. It's an easy, cheap and scrumptious recipe, it's worth getting to the end of this blog for.
Firstly though though let's talk about apples. Everyday I cycle past an apple tree in a front garden in Kentish Town. Since late August the tree has been weighed down by apples, everyday the branches struggle under the weight of what must be hundreds of fruit. The road in covered in a smear of apples where buses have squashed them. Forget strawberries, APPLES are our national fruit, they're so abundant throughout our Autumn and winter that we can afford to run them over (would you be so happy to run over asparagus or raspberries?) Best of all, everyone loves apples, it's just that some people forget that they love them and take them for granted a bit, myself included.
So this autumn I'm making a conscious effort to enjoy all things apple-y. A couple of weeks ago I went for a beautiful cycle on my bike, past the common, squinting in autumn sunshine. Just as I was thinking how idyllic it was to be peddling over bright orange leaves, I happened upon a man selling apples. He isn't normally there, but I'm very happy that he was that day. The apple man must of had 8 varieties of English apple, so I filled my basket, headed home and baked two dozen individual pies for a party I was going to that evening. The whole day was so blissful that I took some cheesy photos of apples in my garden to commemorate it.
This painting is the best way I could think to celebrate the apples. She's a real beauty and an old friend of mine from the National Gallery and I'm always surprised by her elegance. I would go as far as to say that she is my favourite female nude EVER! Woh, that's quite a statement.
She's surrounded by a voluptuous apples tree and yes her breasts are the same shape, size and colour as apples. If that doesn't make apples sexier than strawberries, then I don't know what does.
P.S. When was the last time you walked through an orchard naked? I expect it's been too long.
Recipe
This recipe is adapted from a Mark Hix recipe, I've added onions for an extra bit of savoury-ness and a small amount of chilli for kick. It's delicious with all the usual chutney-loving foods; cheese, cold meats, pies, curries etc.
2kg firm desert apples
550ml of good quality cider vinegar
450g of soft brown sugar
100g on sea salt
30g of black mustard (nigella) seeds
20g of peeled grated ginger
a pinch of cayenne
2 white onions
1 small medium heat chilli
- Roughly dice your onions and peel, core and chop the apples into 1cm cubes.
- Put all of the ingredients in a large saucepan and simmer for 30-40mins, or until the apples and onions have softened and broken up.
- If you are left with a lot of liquid at this point, then remove the apples with a slotted spoon and reduce your liquid to a syrupy consistency.
- Tip everything into a clean bowl, cover and leave it to stand for 3 days, stirring when you walk past.
- Pour sterilised jam jars and leave it for a further month to develop (just in time for Christmas).
