Late Summer Relish

As I write this it stills feels like summer will never end. Brixton is baking hot and absolutely groaning with beautiful fruit and veg in the market and people’s allotments and gardens. But by the time the Bugle is published, summer might feel like a distant memory so this relish will help prolong the flavours at least.

I used a tin of tomatillos I got recently in Brixton Foods (Casa Morita also stock them) but you could use those end of vine green tomatoes you grew or simply substitute ripe cherry tomatoes. In went some over ripe and bruised peaches for sweetness and some fresh corn for crunch and in 25 minutes I had the perfect relish for hot dogs, grilled meats, sandwiches or roasted veg. It should give you the feeling you’re eating your packed lunch in the sun in Brockwell Park not at work.

First published on Brixton Blog…

Late Summer Relish (makes 6 x 200ml jars so simply halve all amounts if needs be)

• 1 medium red onion, finely diced
• 1 x 300g tin tomatillos or same weight of tomatoes
• 3 medium peaches or nectarines
• 2 ears fresh corn
• 2 teaspoons mustard powder or grain mustard
• 75ml cider or white wine vinegar
• juice of 2 lemons
• 100g brown sugar (not honey or any sugar substitute)
• generous pinch salt
• 2 chopped red chillies
• 1 whole Scotch Bonnet chilli
• juice of 2 limes

Start by preparing your jars. Any glass jam jars will do although I ordered matching ones online. Wash them well and put in the oven at 160C for 25 minutes to sterilise them. This means your relish will last for unopened for six months.

Prep your ingredients by dicing the onion and stripping the corn off the kernels with a sharp knife straight down the side of each ear. Peel the peaches by scoring the tops and bottoms and pouring boiling water over them. Cool slightly and use the back of a knife to peel the skin away. Chop them into a rough dice and add to a large pan along with the corn and onions.

If you are using tinned tomatillos, drain well and add them to the pan squashing the fruit slightly with your hands. Neither they nor small green tomatoes or cherry toms need peeled here but if you have larger tomatoes, follow the instructions for the peaches and chop them roughly.

Add the mustard, sugar, salt, vinegar, lemon juice and chopped red chillies to the pan. Prick the whole Scotch Bonnet once or twice and add to the pan to infuse its lovely fruity flavour to the whole thing. Don’t add any extra liquid even it looks dry at this stage and bring the whole pan to the boil, stirring occasionally.

The fruit will release its juices and the sugar will melt creating enough liquid to cook everything. Once it comes to the boil, reduce the heat to a rolling simmer for 25 minutes until the peaches and tomatillos have collapsed into a thick pulp and the onion and corn are tender.

Simply spoon the relish into the straight from the oven sterilised jars and place the lids over them straight away. Allow to cool enough to be able to screw the lids on tightly and then store in a cupboard until needed. Eat within 7 days of opening and store in the fridge until you’ve used the jar up.