Easy Homemade Mediterranean Relish

Do you know what I really love about late summer? It is its richness of fruits and vegetable that nature offers to us. I have a garden and I can’t wait for my blueberries, redcurrants, chokeberries, tomatoes, courgettes, and apples to be ready for harvesting. I love tomatoes and courgettes. Yesterday I could earn the last courgette in my garden.

Of course it is a thing to eat the vegetables and fruits as fresh as possible, but sometimes the harvest is so rich that you can’t eat all of the fruits or vegetables. In this case it is good to know how to cure food. One easy way of curing food is to preserve it.

Preservation is just one reason why I prepare the Easy Homemade Mediterranean Relish. Another one is that I want to save at least a bit of summer. It is always good for my mood to open a jar of it e. g. on a grey and rainy November and to simply enjoy it. It goes well with pasta, potatoes, Vienna sausage, a steak, or a slice of bread.

As I use red wine to prepare the Easy Homemade Mediterranean Relish I think it goes without saying that it cannot be served to children unless you subtititude e. g. grape juice for the red wine. Now I would like to make a remark on the oil Iuse in this recipe. I us a two tablespoons of a flavoured oil, that is the rosmary oil. If this is not available, take 2 tablespoons of extra virgin oil and season it with rosmary.

Incidentally this recipe is also available in German. Just click here.

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Mediterranean Relish

Servings

Ingredients

• 500 g tomatoes
• 1 courgette medium-sized
• 3 red onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 tbsp rosmary oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp tomatoe paste
• 100 ml red wine
• 1 handfull basil fresh
• 2-3 tsp salt quantity might vary to taste
• to taste black pepper I use fresh black pepper
• 150 g brown sugar

Servings Ingredients 500 g tomatoes 1 courgette medium-sized 3 red onions 2 garlic cloves 2 red bell peppers 2 tbsp rosmary oil 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp tomatoe paste 100 ml red wine 1 handfull basil fresh 2-3 tsp salt quantity might vary to taste to taste black pepper I use fresh black pepper 150 g brown sugar

Instructions

Preparation

1. Wash and sterilize your jars.
2. Boil water to skin the tomatoes.

1. In the meantime wash the vegetables.
2. Make cross cuts in the tomato bases and place them in the boiling water for a few minutes.
3. Skin the tomatoes, remove the stalk, quarter and dice them.
4. Peel and chop the onions and the garlic cloves.
5. Skin the red bell peppers so that they are better tolerated. A peeler is useful to do this. After that remove the seed pods, slice the flesh and cut them into dice.
6. Halve the courgette length ways, remove the seeds (easily done with a tablespoon) and cut them into pieces. I use an organic courgette so that I don't have to peel it.

   
7. Wash the basil and chop it finely.

Method

1. Heat the oil in the cooking pot.
2. Add the onions and the garlic and fry them until they are soft.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and deglaze it with the red wine.
4. Add the tomatoes, the courgette and the red bell peppers. Mix it well and bring for about 10 minutes to boil.
5. Add the Balsamic vinegar and the basil. Season it with sugar, salt and the black pepper.
6. Let it simmer for 20 to 25 minutes (it should be consistency of jam).
7. Fill the Mediterranean Relish into the jars until it reaches 3/8 inch at top and close the jars.
8. Place the jars for at least minutes upside down on a towel and finally place them upright to cool completely.
9. Wishing you bon appétit.