Mustard Relish

 

When I was not long married, and learning to cook by experimenting on my long-suffering husband, my paternal grandmother gave me her recipe for Mustard Pickles.

My mother had a similar recipe that she called Piccalilli.  Between both recipes, and my own changes, I have now arrived at a recipe I call Mustard Relish.

Part of the reason for changing the name was that my husband and I preferred ours to be spreadable.  Neither of us were that keen on chunky pickles dolloped on our dinner plate.

We also had preferences when it came to the vegetables we used.  Over the years, after much testing and trialling, we settled on a mostly cauliflower relish, with onions and green beans.  It was what we liked the most.

The end result of all our experimentation was finely chopped vegetables in a mustard sauce that goes really well with tasty cheese on a cracker or in a sandwich.

Early one morning this last week, I utilised a large cauliflower from the greengrocer and made Mustard Relish for myself (son is not that keen on it).  It is only a small recipe, as there is only me to eat it!

Preparing vegetables for the Relish

Waiting two hours for the brining stage

The end result

MUSTARD RELISH

Total time taken: 3 hours 45 minutes      

Prepare the vegetables:  peel 2 large onions and cut into fine dice.  Top and tail 100g green beans and cut into ¼ inch slices.  Weigh them and make weight up to 1kg with cauliflower florets (about half a cauliflower).  Cut flower part off floret into small chunks and dice the stalk part.  Add to the onions and beans.  Making everything small helps the relish to be more spreadable, instead of being chunky.

Sprinkle with 2 tsp plain salt and mix well.  Lightly cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to sit on the bench for 2 hours (or overnight), before transferring the vegetables (do not rinse them) into a preserving saucepan.

Add 1 cup white sugar, 2 tsp mustard powder, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp ground turmeric, ½ tsp ground cloves, and ¼ tsp cayenne pepper.  Add enough white vinegar to just about cover the vegetables (about 4 cups).

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 hour, stirring often.

Mix about 2 Tbsp cornflour with a little extra vinegar and use it to thicken the mixture (use more or less cornflour to obtain the consistency desired). 

Remove from heat and spoon relish into hot sterile jars.  This recipe filled four 300ml jars.

Screw on the lid, if using pop-top lids, or else let the relish cool completely before covering it with melted paraffin wax and a lid.

Delicious on a Cheese Scone

Bon Appetit 😊

Margaret.