Barbeque sauce

This particular recipe for barbeque sauce is an real belter of a recipe. In fact it is more like a preserve rather than what you would have as a sauce. You can have it hot on the barbeque or cold with some cheese it’s just as good with both. And you can keep if for a long time as well so make a big pan and give it out as presents as well.

You will need

30ml/2tdsp olive oil
1 large onion
1 large garlic clove
1 fresh red chilli
1 large carrot
2 sticks of celery
1 large cooking apple
450g/1ld very ripe tomatoes
3g/¼tsp ground ginger
150ml/¼pt malt vinegar
1 dry bay leaf
4 or 5 cloves
4 or 5 black peppercorns
50g/20z soft brown sugar
10ml/2tsp mustard
Salt to taste

Now to make this properly you need to cook it for a long time over a low slow heat. But as most of us do not have the time for that the best thing to do is cut every thing up as finely as possible. Another thing you need to do is decide how rustic you like it and how hot. If you do not mind the odd lump then it will not take as long. And if you do not like too much heat de seed the chilli before you add it to the pot.

First dice the onions, celery, carrot and cooking apples all in to roughly the same sized pieces. Then add the oil to a heavy bottomed pan and cook the onions till they are soft. Then add the celery, apples and carrot stir them together till the apple just starts to break down.

Now add the crushed garlic, chilli, ground ginger and vinegar. Allow this to warm threw and keep stirring. Once every thing is cooking add the tomatoes. You can chop them to help in the speed of the cooking or whole it is up to you and how long you have to do the cooking.

Now if you have one you can put all your spices in a muslin cloth or cheese cloth. This way latter after cooking you can just fish it out. Or you can just add them and leave them in. Then add the sugar and the mustard and bring the whole mix up to the boil. The turn the heat down as low as you can put a tight fitting lid on the pot and simmer for about an hour.

When it has been coking for about an hour you can either take a hand blender and pure it in the pan taking out any bay leaf or ant hard things that might have survived. Or you can take a sieve and press every thing through that. What ever way you decide as long as you end up with a smooth sauce at the end it will be fine. Adjust at the end with any extra seasoning that you might think it needs and then allow to cool.

You can keep this in a fridge for about two months or you can place it in sterilised jars and seal the lid like home made chutney. It does make a different and interesting present with that added extra difference that you have made it .