Spiced Cherry & Tomato Chutney

I made chutney for the first time tonight. It sort of evolved when trying to decide what to make for dinner. This is how my thought process goes: What to make? Pork, not beef. With what? Hmm, we have asparagus. And we're overdue for beans. Oh. Chutney goes with pork. That'll zip things up. I relayed this to my mom and she thinks there's something wrong with me. Who makes chutney? Why bother with the hassle?

It was no hassle. It was easy, and I enjoyed it. She says this is the difference between me and her. More accurately, it's probably the difference between someone who enjoys to cook and someone who doesn't.

Anyway. I used one of Eating Well's recipes, and surprisingly didn't change anything. (I have a problem with following recipes and almost always change something. Or several somethings.) I can't be bothered with silly things like proper measurements, so my measurements were all eye-balled. Especially for the spices and herbs.

As for the pork, I didn't like any of the recipes I came across, so cooked it in line with the flavors of this recipe and baked it to my liking. In other words: salt, pepper, and a healthy dose of Provence herbs, covered with foil and baked for twenty-two-ish minutes at 450 degrees. It was a wee on the underdone side (and the pork lacked any appetizing color due to the foil, but purposefully used to maintain internal moisture), so it got popped back in (sans foil) for another twenty minutes at 380. And I did something I never do: added a couple of tablespoons of butter to those fuckers because if there's anything my family likes, it's denying they eat butter. On their meat. And natch, it was a hit. ("What are you talking about?? I don't put butter on meat!" Wanna bet? I've watched you. Repeatedly.)

As for the tomatoes, I know, I know. Sounds strange. But I read through the ingredients a few times, had everything on hand, and found it far more appealing than any of the cranberry and/or apple alternatives. Cherries impart a deep, rich, decadent flavor that's hard to match. And I figured the tomatoes would camouflage. Which is exactly what they did. They were basically filler, to help with the substance and the quantity, and keep the sweetness in check (the weight of the cherries doubled prolly would've been overkill). But they absorb the spices and the sweetness perfectly, and you'd never know you were eating tomatoes. Blew my dad's mind. "Tomatoes?!? Really??"

Give it a shot sometime. There's nothing to it. The hardest part is rounding up all the ingredients, although if you're anything like my family you've had that stuff salted away in the back of the freezer and pantry for years. (We don't believe in expiration dates. It probably explains a LOT about us.) Spicy, sweet, and the perfect complement to pork. Or so I hear. I stuck with the beans and asparagus and ridiculously juicy backyard tomato salad. Delish.

PS -- It makes a lot. Now I have to figure out what to do with chutney leftovers. Should be interesting.