apricots... oh, yes... apricots

What's to be done with three pounds of apricots?

Well, you could eat apricots until you never care to see another apricot again. There's also salads, crisps, tarts, jams, pickles and purées, of course.

But what of chutney? Sweet, savory, spicy and simple. You really can't go wrong with a few pints of chutney stacked in storage. Fantastic straight up on lamb, chicken, pork, salmon or duck, you can thin it a bit for a glaze or a fruit salad drizzle, mix up a tablespoon with a bit of canola oil and cider vinegar for a first-rate vinaigrette. It'd be fun on vanilla ice cream. And oh... paired with cheese. A blue, perhaps? A friendly goat?

Here's my recipe:

Apricot-Ginger Chutney

3 T mustard oil
1.5 T canola oil
1 pasilla chili, torn in half
2 sticks cinnamon
5 star anise
6 oz sweet onion, minced
6 oz fresh ginger, minced
2 cups sake
3 lbs fresh apricots, pitted & quartered
1.5 T ground, dried ginger
1.5 T ground black pepper
1/4 c rice vinegar (or to taste)
3 T brown sugar (or to taste)
0.5 T salt (or to taste)

1. Heat mustard oil in a heavy-bottomed pot until it smokes.
2. Mix in the canola oil to cool it slightly and bloom the chili, cinnamon and star anise (no more than 1-2 minutes).
3. Add in the onion and sweat for 2-3 minutes.
Add in the ginger and sweat 2-3 minutes more.
4. Pour in the sake and add the apricot slices. Simmer until the apricots are tender. (Simmer a bit less if you like a chunkier chutney.) Blend in the pepper and dried ginger.
5. Strain the mixture through a colander, reserving juices. Pick out the spices and discard. Transfer reserved juices back to the pot and reduce, stirring occasionally, until thick and bubbly (about 15-20 minutes).
6. Taste the thickened chutney liquid, adjusting the acid-sweetness-salt balance with rice vinegar, sugar and salt.
7. Incorporate the apricot pulp in the colander into the liquid in the pot. Transfer to sterilized jars (if you're canning), or cool mixture and transfer to prepared pint containers (for short-term refrigeration or longer-term freezing).

Makes enough to fill three pint containers. Takes around an hour from start to finish.