Not my holiday card

If you are not coming to my house for dinner on the 25th, you are not having my special, Jump Back! That's Good Stuff chutney, which I made tonight. Great gosh a-mighty, as Little Richard would say.

This chutney bears no religious affiliations and is good for followers of tasty food, so I thought I'd include the recipe, such as it is. I adapted it significantly from an original by Martha Rose Shulman, who is a goddess. I will also be honest in that I did not measure when I made it, and that many of the amounts were arrived at by how much of an ingredient I had on-hand.

Koog's Special Chutney

3/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 T. Balsamic vinegar
1/3 c. molasses
1/2 c. honey (or more to taste)
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. coriander seeds, crushed
1 T. yellow mustard seeds, whole
1/2 t. ground cloves
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. grated fresh ginger
1 tart apple, peeled and diced small
1 sweet onion, chopped fine
2 C. raw cranberries, whole

In a large, heavy saucepan heat vinegars and sweeteners for about ten minutes. Remove from heat and add spices, onion and apple. Return mixture to a boil and add cranberries. Cook the whole thing until most of the cranberries have popped, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. You will want to correct the seasoning at the end, particularly for bitter v. sweet. Add more honey by the teaspoon if you want it sweeter.

Do yourself a favor and use a non-stick saucepan. Mine cleaned up like nobody's business.

I intend to serve mine with the traditional holiday meats (ham and turkey), both of which are being cooked by professionals this year. (Honey Baked Ham and Cajun Deep Fried Turkey.) I imagine you could serve this with just about anything. I think it would be good with winter squash, and I think I'll make some more before the fresh cranberries go away.

Chinacat, if there is any left I will bring you some on Thursday. The tart-sweet mix reminds me of that green apple salsa that you like.

It seems like I might have posted a recipe last year, but if I didn't, maybe I'll share my recipe for cornbread dressing next year. (It's remarkably simple, but a large number of people and institutions get it wrong...)

So, greetings of the season to all of you. No matter what you celebrate, you have to notice that the daylight time will start getting longer, minute by minute, starting today. Really. A good friend pointed that out a few years ago and it changed how I viewed the holiday season.

This year, I'm celebrating extra hard because I'm not heading into surgery again. I am starting to feel better, starting to feel like 2002 is going to be a much better year. I'd say that it couldn't get much worse for me, but I know that it could.

So join me in being thankful for family and friends, and for the extended warm weather we had in the east, and for being able to do what you need to do to get by. We have a lot in this society we've created; we should enjoy it.

*mwah*
Koog

before - after