Cooking with the seasons: October

Autumn has arrived and with it new choices, including squashes galore. Our thoughts turn to warmer dishes, soups and tagines. The choice of apples and pears has increased as they come into season. It never ceases to fascinate me watching the changing face of the markets here in France during the year and really focussing on using what is local and in season. This can mean a glut of one particular item and the challenge to find ever new and interesting ways to cook with whatever it is. Fresh borlotti beans were available at the market last weekend, a colourful and fleeting treat, delicious cooked with bay and garlic, a wonderful addition to stews, soups and salads.

Over the last weeks we have been inundated with figs. I wish I could say they came from our fig tree but sadly the frost got to the early fruit and the second round seems destined to remain small and perfectly formed, but definitely mostly green and unripe! Our lovely neighbour across the way has masses of figs so crates arrive regularly, or we head over to help her pick more. Whilst I have been away she has pressed Max into more fig harvesting and another crate of figs! He now knows how to freeze figs so that I can make some more chutney on my return. Having had to make a huge batch of fig compôte the morning of my departure for my trip to the UK, I was pretty sure we didn’t need more! In my blog post It’s raining figs I mentioned some of the recipes I had been using for the fig bonanza. The chutneys have turned out really well, very tasty immediately and getting better each week they mature. The curried fig chutney recipe is an adaptation of the curried rhubarb chutney that I shared months ago (see post: Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes: Day 11). I also mentioned the ingredients in the fig compôte in the post: It’s raining figs.  This month I thought you might like a different fig chutney recipe – this time made with apples and raisins, seasoned with nutmeg, ginger and cloves. It got good reviews from my son and his friends in Manchester. The recipe comes from notenoughcinnamon.com and is well worth a try if you can get some figs. The quantities make a small amount. If, like me, you have plenty of figs, quadruple the ingredients for a good supply of jars to see you through the winter! Chutneys make great gifts too, either when you visit someone or, dare I mention it, for Christmas. The longer you keep it the better the flavour.

Fig Chutney

Preparation Time 20 minutes; Cooking Time 1 hour 15 minutes approx

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar – I use muscovado sugar
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups figs fresh or frozen, stems removed and quartered
• 1/3 cup apple diced
• 1/2 cup white onion chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground clove
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Soak raisins in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes.
2. In a heavy based saucepan, melt the sugar with the vinegar. Add the figs, apples, onions, raisins, salt and spices (ginger, clove and nutmeg).
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low heat and cook for about an hour, stirring frequently to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the chutney has thickened.
4. Sterilise the jar(s) and once ready put the chutney into a jar, seal and store it in a dry place.

Enjoy. Great with cheese and cold meats. I love it with cheese on toast or baked camembert or goat’s cheese.