broccoli salad

In May there was a birthday party for my daughter Nikole's 30 birthday.  Colleen and Tom brought this broccoli salad and it was really good.  Colleen agreed to share the recipe.  The dressing is made the day before and refrigerated.  The bacon and seeds are added a few hours before serving and the only last minute task is to stir all the ingredients together.  Colleen said that she doubled it for the party.

broccoli salad

2 bunches broccoli, cut into florettes
1/2 cup raisins
1/2  medium red onion, diced
1 pound bacon, cooked, drained and cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (without shells)


Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp salad vinegar

Make the dressing the day before and keep in the refrigerator.  A few hour before serving add the bacon and seeds to the vegetables and right before serving stir in the dressing.

raspberry, onion, jalapeno chutney

I saw this recipe on the internet and I just happened to have some fresh raspberries from the garden so I decided to give it a try.  It is a chutney and Wikipedia describes a chutney as a condiment often associated with South Asian cuisine, a combination of vegetables, spices, herbs and fruits.  This chutney recipe has onion as its base vegetable, both red and sweet onions.  It also has a jalapeno pepper.  It has two kinds of sugar, white and brown and two kinds of vinegar, cider and balsamic.  Craisins and orange zest are part of the fruit component.  Add a little salt and this is cooked up on the stove with the raspberries added for the last few minutes of cooking.  I really liked the flavor.  I was concerned that it would be hotter than I would like so I used the jalapeno but not the seeds and there was really no heat.  I think that it would be good accompaniment for meat and also on a panini sandwich.  I think that it would be a great appetizer topping some cream cheese on a cracker or bruschetta 

I used a water bath canner and processed it in small 4 ounce jelly jars for 15 minutes..  I think that it will be just the right amount for a meal.  I ended up getting 12 small jars with a little for tasting that didn't quite fit into the jars.  My raspberries are a black raspberries so my chutney ended up a beautiful dark purple color.

onions and jalapeno

sugars, craisins, zest and vinegars

starting to cook down

raspberries in and ready for the jars

cooling jars

Raspberry onion jalapeno chutney

2 large sweet onions, diced
1 large red onion, diced
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 medium jalapeno, minced
1 Tbsp grated orange peel (zest)
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)

prepare the jars, lids and rings by sterilizing them and leaving them in the hot water.  Start heating water in the canner and keep it at a simmer.

Place all ingredients except the raspberries in a large heavy pot.  The original instructions say to cook at a simmer for approximately 25-30 minutes or until it mounds on a spoon.  After 25 minutes mine was still very liquidy so I cooked it  longer.  I maybe should have had a little hotter heat on the burner.  When the liquid was starting to thicken I added the raspberries and cooked it for 5 minutes longer.  I then used a ladle and canning funnel to fill my hot jars leaving a 1/2 inch headspace and added the hot lids and bands and hand tightened.  I placed each jar in the canner and added hot water to cover by at least an inch.  I brought the water to a boil and boiled them for 15 minutes.  I turned off the heat allowed them to stand in the canner for a couple of minutes and then carefully set them on a towel to cool. 

source:  the original recipe can be found here.