Stephen King, executive chef at Uisge in Muthly, uses new season rhubarb to make a tasty chutney in this week’s Chef’s Table column.
With spring in the air we are just around the corner from having an abundance of beautiful fruits and veg ready for harvest. One of the first that is ready from any time now, right through until July, is rhubarb.
Commonly mistaken as a fruit due to its sour flavour and use in desserts, rhubarb is actually a vegetable that is rich in fibre and antioxidants and can be used well to complement savoury dishes such as roast meats.
Rhubarb is one of the delights that a lot of people don’t often have to pay for due to its ability to grow so readily in Scotland most people know someone that has “too much” growing and each year has more and more due to the plant spreading so easily.
The most common and family favourite way to use rhubarb has to be slowly cooked down with sugar and baked in a crumble with a delicious homemade custard, try adding some oats to the crumble topping for that extra crunchy texture.
With the sharp rise in popularity of flavoured gins over the last few years rhubarb finds itself as one of the most popular flavours to add and is easy to create your own at home.
My favourite way to use rhubarb is to either make a jam which goes really well with home baking such as scones or to make a chutney to complement anything from cheese boards to pate.
To make a rhubarb and ginger chutney, you’ll need: 1kg rhubarb stocks washed and roughly chopped; 2 red onions, diced; 5cm piece of ginger; peeled and finely grated; 300ml apple cider vinegar; 300g demerara or caster sugar; 100ml apple juice.
Add all the ingredients to a heavy based pan and stir well to mix the sugar through. On a low heat stir regularly until the sugar has dissolved, don’t worry if it doesn’t look like a lot of liquid to start with as the rhubarb will add its natural juices as it starts to break down. Once the sugar has dissolved increase the heat to medium and bring to the boil again stirring regularly. Once it reaches the boil turn the heat right down and cook slowly for 1-1½ hours until it leaves a channel when you pull a spoon through the pan.
Spoon into sterilised jars. You can leave the chutney for a couple of weeks in the sealed jars before using as the flavour will continue to mature and can store it for 6 months. Once open store it isn’t he fridge and use within a week.
