What are you making….?

Our fine crop of tomatoes – I hesitate to call it a surplus, never mind a glut – seldom causes a problem. We can always give some away as well as eating them with most meals. Usually I put some in the freezer then add them to casseroles in the winter and they’re a great addition to bolognaise or anything where I’m using ragu-style sauces. This year we’ve had so many Marmandes which have a lot of flesh and very few seeds, so chutney became the solution, thanks to a timely reminder from a friend who’d done the same with her green tomatoes. This takes me back to a Friday afternoon when my group of international students wanted to make traditional jams, lemon curd and chutney to take home at Christmas. The jam and lemon curd were fine, making the whole building smell wonderful. But the chutney? That didn’t go down too well with The Boss as he had a group of prospective parents to impress. He later put his head round the door and asked if we could leave that recipe out in future…? It was the one and only time he didn’t appreciate our endeavours – usually he relished any tasters that came his way, looking forward particularly to bread making and, of course chocolate cake. Happy days !