I made this for a picnic lunch my husband and I took with us on a date day out last summer. I had bought some good-quality sausages in the hopes of making nice hot dogs, and ending up pairing it with this and homemade rolls to get amazing ones! 🙂 Although it rained a little on our outdoor day and made for slightly messy eating, it certainly made us smile and gave us energy for another round of visiting the beautiful British countryside.
So when I put burgers on our meal plan for the month in the hopes of brightening the constant stream of rain we were getting (it worked!), I couldn’t help but pick our still relatively unused copy of The Picnic Cookbook off the shelf and leafing through until I found this gorgeous recipe. Although a mayonnaise fiend (that’s what you get for growing up in Belgium), I do not often enjoy condiments otherwise. Ketchup, Brown Sauce, and the rest of them are ok, but I don’t particularly crave them. This, however, I could happily eat from the jar! 🙂 It’s great with hot dogs and burgers, but also with cheese, in sandwiches, and in salads.
Oven-Baked Sweet Tomato & Chilli Relish
Taken from The Picnic Cookbook. There is an online version from Annie Bell here.
Makes approx. 400-500ml (1-2 jars) according to the recipe, although I found I filled more like 3-4 jars!
1kg vine tomatoes
3/4 tsp salt
200g granulated jam sugar with pectin
1 tbsp finely chopped medium-hot red chilli
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
100ml white wine or cider vinegar
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/190C/gas mark 6. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, but out a cone from the top of each tomato to remove the core and plunge them into the boiling water for about 20 secs and then into cold water. Slip off the skins and coarsely chop them.
Combine all the ingredients in a large roasting dish (25x35cm) and place in the oven, uncovered, for 65-75 mins, giving the relish a stir towards the end. It should reduce considerably, with the tomatoes sitting in a small amount of syrupy juices. Spoon it into a hot sterilized jar, or jars, cover and leave to cool.
Store in the fridge.
Enjoy!
