Tomato & Chilli Relish

Its been a while between tomato relish batches, what with buying a new house and renovating for 5 months and living without a kitchen, I have been hard pressed to find what box my cooking mojo was hidden in. But with our kitchen now complete and functional, I finally attacked this cooking adventure again in preparation for dinner with my sister and brother-in-law tomorrow night. I had already taken care of the dessert course earlier in the day with Noah's help, and so I turned my attention to main course - Neil Perry's slow roasted lamb shoulder with tomato and chilli relish to garnish. I especially liked the idea of cooking a relish that "goes the whole nine yards" as Perry describes it in his write up about this recipe. I was also thankful that tomatoes have come down from $10-$12 a kilo to around $4, making the relish far more affordable to new home owners.

So here it is, Neil Perry's Tomato and Chilli Relish from The Food I Love:

15 vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and chopped

2 brown onions, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 small knob of fresh ginger, finely chopped

2 red capsicums, finely diced

125 ml olive oil

1 tablespoon sea salt

375 ml cider vinegar

225 g caster sugar

175 g soft brown sugar

3 lemons, juiced

2 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

8 small red chillies, finely chopped 

Put a large saucepan on the stove and add onions, garlic, ginger, capsicum, olive oil and sea salt. Cook over medium heat until syrupy. Add the tomatoes, cider vinegar, sugars, lemon juice, cloves, cinnamon stick and chillies. Simmer for 1.5 hours, or until reduced to a jam consistency. Remove from the heat and when cool put in sterilized jars, cover with a layer of oil and refrigerate. Makes about 1.25 litres.

A few changes I made - I only used 6 red chillies because that is all I had; I cooked the relish for over 2.5 hours and was still not happy I had reached a "jam consistency" but it was 11pm and I wanted to go to bed. It still tastes delicious and has quite a chilli kick in it - I'm glad I only used 6 chillies!!

Here's hoping the slow roasted lamb shoulder matches up well with the flavours of the relish!