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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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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