Hot Wellington Sauce

Sweet, sour, hot and sassy – just like Wellington herself!

Ingredients:

• 500 grams seeded tomatoes, chopped
• 1 kg cored cooking apples, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 medium lemon, roughly chopped
• 1 litre apple cider vinegar
• 1 litre water
• 1 + 1/2 cups (250 grams) raw sugar
• chillies to taste (I used 1 large rocoto largo for a not too hot sauce), seeded and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon chinese five spice powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients – 

Equipment:

• Large saucepan or preserving pan
• 4 to 6 one cup sauce bottles
• Narrow funnel and heatproof cup
• Stick blender

Directions:

We are basically going to chuck everything in a big old pot and cook it for ages until it’s well reduced and then puree it. Easy as. For the tomatoes and apples, put a bowl on the scale and chop into it so that you are weighing trimmed ingredients.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and scoop out most of the seeds and trim off the woody stem parts.

Core and roughly chop the apples. Don’t bother peeling unless you can be bothered – they’re going to be pureed so it won’t affect the texture.

trim off the tough stem end of the lemon then roughly chop the whole thing. Pick out any pips. Peel and chop the onion. Deseed and chop the chilli(es). I know I am repeating myself but don’t go mental with the chillies just yet.

Everything goes in a big pot.

Bring it to the boil and leave it to cook down until you have one third the original volume. As the fruit breaks down you will need to stir more and more often to make sure it isn’t sticking. Be careful – as it thickens it will spit a bit. You should have about a litre to 5 cups. At a steady boil this will take 1 to 1 and a half hours.

While the sauce is cooking, wash 5 to 6 one cup sauce bottles and rinse them thoroughly. Put the bottles into a 120C(250F) oven to sterilise. Pour boiling water over the lids.

Get out your handy stick blender. Turn the heat off so it won’t bubble as you blend. Give it a good zapping until it’s super smooth.

Put it back on the heat and cook it for a few minutes. Check that the sauce is coating the back of a spoon nicely and not splitting.

Taste it now. It may need a little more chilli. Add a little at a time, blending again if you need to break down extra fresh chillies. Turn of the heat.

Get your bottles out of the oven and place them on a folded towel. Using a heatproof cup and funnel, fill the bottles with hot sauce.

Clean the rims of the bottles and screw on the lids. Leave to cool to room temperature before wiping down any drips on the bottles and labelling.

Use whenever you need a spicy pick-me-up. So always.

Cook’s Notes:

• The heat of the sauce is up to you, be careful buying chillies so that you know how hot they are and add them sparingly at first – you can always add more later. If the sauce lacks heat early don’t worry, the volume will be reduced to a third of the original so it will get hotter.

 – Once bottled, this sauce will keep on the pantry shelf for six to twelve months – 

Adapted from The Goodhousekeeping Guide to Preserves.

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