I’ve been following a lot of blogs lately. I seem to have a had a bit of a obsession with Charles’s chutney (of Five Euro Food, check out his blog, great appetite appeal), and then there was Rufus’s peach and cherry bruschetta! Darn you…two, I had to ‘create’!
It’s peach season in Ontario, and on Sunday we drove down to the Niagara region (about 2 hours from our house in Toronto); fertile farms, gorgeous vineyards and lots of farmers markets!
We bought peaches. Unfortunately, our cherries were long gone, so I had to revise my plan. I decided to make a simple peach chutney – delicate peach flavour, tart and sweet balsamic pairs perfectly with creamy cheeses ! I had some Canadian Brie on hand – got it on sale, not great taste, but with a little chutney, it would be wonderful and indeed it was!
Ok, now we need a baguette. Yes, normal people would say, let’s stop at one of our bakeries and get one, but, wait for it… I decided to make it myself! Now having said that, I just saw Manu’s kitchen referencing Not Quite Nigella‘s blog and a 60 minute baguette. Perfect. I used to make pretty good bread, until my hubby usurped my title of chief bread maker, I won’t get into it here, but let me say, I haven’t made bread in about 3 years! But 60 Minute baguette? I could do it, for sure. Or not. The flavour was definitively there, but the baguette, such a failure! I don’t think I kneaded it long enough, even though I it running in my kitchenaid with the bread hook for the allotted time. Well, and it also could have been that I substituted 1/2 the flour for whole wheat which doesn’t have as much gluten in it. At any rate, the baguette was more of a bread roll…each roll remaining independent of the previous (I probably couldn’t achieve this on purpose if I had tried!). But the chutney was the star. Sorry about the baguette photos, they really are an insult. I will try again…soon.
My Peach Chutney
Makes about 1 cup of chutney
Ingredients:
- 3 Ontario fresh peaches (really, peaches from anywhere will do!), skinned, stone removed and coarsely chopped
- 1/2 Vidallia onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- splash of olive oil
- Sea salt to taste
Directions:
- In a splash of olive oil, sauté the onions until translucent, add the peaches.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon on top and sauté until you smell it.
- Add the balsamic and the molasses. Cook this down until the balsamic reduces to a syrup. I like a stiffer chutney, so I reduced it right down.
- Season to taste. Serve over room temperature Brie on lightly BBQ’d baguette (I took Rufus’s suggestion and BBQ the baguette WITH the brie to slightly melting). Top with your home made chutney and enjoy.
What a shame! Although it doesn’t look like an epic fail to me. I think underkneading it used to be my issue when I did it by hand 😦
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Thanks Lorraine. I’m going to try it again. We’ve got a surprise benchmark birthday party to go to this weekend and I need to take an appi!
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Not a fail in my book as long as it’s edible and good. 🙂 Charles’ chutney still has me thinking too. It looked so good. And really – is there a bad bruschetta?!
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I don;t think it was an epci fail! I think the chutney looks amazing and beautiful and if it tastes good then I am all for it
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Thanks Jessica. The chutney really rocked!
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I love the idea of molasses, just genius. Thanks for the shout out too!
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Thanks Rufus. I needed a touch more sweetness and thought the molasses would add a bit of earthiness.
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Thanks for the shout-out Eva – glad I could inspire! Your chutney looks delicious… so rich and syrupy and omnomnom, and served atop brie too?! Wonderful! The baguette looks great, no hint of fail!
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Thanks Charles. The chutney is wonderful – glad I made enough to jar (albeit, just one small jar).
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Doesn’t completely sound like an Epic Fail to me! As long as it tasted pretty good, I count it as a win!
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Thanks Erin. I guess you’re right. The bread will be good got crumbs or the squirrels!
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If it tasted good…it worked! I’m sorry you weren’t pleased with the results, but I bet it was WAY better than a store bought baguette! With brie and chutney on top…be still my beating heart!
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Thanks Ann. It was pretty tasty!
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