Monday, March 15, 2010

Red Onion & Pineapple Relish - I can, you can, we all can!

I was never one to relish Relish. However, it's the little things that can make an ordinary dish something amazing and a little bit of this spicy/sweet/tangy relish does exactly that. Imagine a spoon of this beside your scrambled eggs, or dabbed beside a chicken breast. Saute a simple piece of fish, then add a dollop of this and now you've got layers of flavor on flavor.
Red Onion & Pineapple Relish
The ways to use this relish are unending: on a baked potato, mixed in with cooked carrots, add zing to pork tenderloin or can you even imagine how great it would taste on a hamburger? If you don't usually "can" stuff, then just make this and put it in a cute container (or just a bowl), wrap it up and keep it in the refrigerator. It's good for a couple weeks.

This month the item for the TigressCanJam event is Alliums: onions, ramps, leeks, garlic, etc.
I still have a bag of Farmer's Market onions and 2 giant stalks of fennel because I had planned on using them for my "can-can-canning" this month. Then, I came across a recipe that mixed a pungent ruby red onion with one of my favorite fruits, sweet juicy pineapple, and I was in love.
This is a fragrant couple of hours in the kitchen, folks, but when it's done you'll have a hard time not eating little spoonfuls of it all by itself (not that I did that or anything.)
Quote from ME: "This works, yeah, this definitely works. I better "can" this before there's none left."
I hope you make this, and then come back and tell me your ideas of other ways to use it, ok?
Red Onion & Pineapple Relish
(adapted from Jellies, Jams & Chutneys - Thane Prince)


1/2 Pineapple, trimmed and roughly chopped

2 Med. Red Onions, chopped

3 small red chiles, chopped fine (can be seeded, but the kick is nice)

2 garlic cloves chopped fine

1 Tbls. fresh thyme leaves

5 oz. sugar

1 cup white wine vinegar

dash of salt


Put all ingredients into a large pot (not aluminum), and bring to boil. Stir often to dissolve sugar. Simmer the relish over med. heat for about 20 minutes until it's thickened. Ladle the relish into hot sterilized jars, cover and precede to water bath canning for 10 minutes.
(Or ladle into clean bowl/containers - cover and keep in refrigerator for 2 weeks).

10 comments:

Julia said...

This sounds great. My kind of sweet and savory! Gosh, I bet it's good on a bunch of stuff, but right now I'm thinking of a sandwich. Grilled peasant bread, some sharp cheese. Mmm!

Anonymous said...

This sounds fantastic. I LOVE pineapple.

Lauren said...

I've never done any canning, but you make it sound so simple!

Khali//Bandit and the Scene Stealers said...

I love what julie said about the bread and sharp cheese. I was already hungry for it but I am going to the store tonight to get my canning on.

showfoodchef said...

Julia, a sandwich is a great idea.

Ap269, I agree, pineapple makes the diff here.

Lauren, I thought it was hard, too, but now I'm obsessed.

Boots - Let me know how your canning goes, ok?

oneordinaryday said...

This sounds absolutely wonderful. I love the idea of having a jar in the fridge for putting out during grilling season.

Alisa-foodista said...

Have you tried this with (ripe & green) mangoes? It's just as good :)You did great with this one!

Tom said...

Dude, crackers, goat cheese, and your jar makes a great no-heat, no-cook snack/meal on those killer hot days! I can also see this used like a chuteny with naan, or to help cool some Indian curry.

showfoodchef said...

one ordinary day - Thx! Good idea about the grilling season, perfect.

Alisa - Love the idea of mangoes! Will def try.

Tom - great ideas - your writing sold me on my own stuff :D

Mallycat said...

I look forward to trying this with my canning club. How much does one recipe make?