Sweet onion relish

In the last week or so with the good weather, we have been having a fair number of barbecues. I'd already concocted this sweet relish as a filling for a chicken pitta, but it works equally well in other bread-meat combinations such as hotdogs and hamburgers.

I haven't grown onions or peppers this year, but I would certainly make use of them in this way... with my usually small yields it's good to have some recipes for things which don't need much content!

Ingredients:

1 large onion
1/2 red pepper (or whole ramiro pepper)
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp honey (optional, to taste)

First of all, cut the onion in half and then slice into half centimetre widths. Add it to a saucepan with the sugar and oil. Give the onions a quick stir to coat them in the sugar and oil, and then heat gently so that they soften.

Tip here (as seen recently on an episode of River Cottage) - for a better flavour don't stir the onions too much; just let them simmer away... apparently if you move them around a lot they shed their water content, plus leaving them to sit gives them those nice brown edges.

After a few minutes, add the paprika and nutmeg, and (very gently!) stir in. The next time you go to turn the onions, add one of the tablespoons of ketchup at the same time.

Once the onions are soft, slice up your half red pepper and add it to the pan (you can use a ramiro pepper - you will need a whole ramiro though as it tends to be less bulky than a bell pepper). Again, keep turning the mixture sparingly, until the pepper is softening too.

Then add the rest of the ketchup, and again move the contents of the pan around every so often, so that the onions and peppers char a little.

Almost done - however, get a bit of onion and pepper on a spoon and taste the relish. I like mine quite tangy and sweet - if the flavour isn't quite there for you, I've found adding a teaspoon of honey gives it that extra body and rounded flavour. Remember - it's an accompaniment to other food, so it's OK if it is a little too sweet on its own.

You're then good to go - serve it up as a filling for a pitta or burger, or even have it as a condiment... I suspect it would work well as part of a ploughmans type meal, although I haven't tried that yet...!