Roasted Lemon Chutney

I have so many photos to share with you I'm not quite sure where to start. AND I have more film to pick up today. Can't wait. Anyhow, I'm thinking that whatever I share needs to somehow circle back to the roasted lemon chutney I've been slathering on everything this week. I made it from a gem of a recipe tucked deep in the back of this book. The book was part of the stack of magazines, novels, and cookbooks I brought to read last weekend when we popped up the coast for a couple nights on the Mendocino coast.

Let me tell you a bit about the trip. The drive was pretty wild. We decided to cut over to the coast on a different road than normal. Wow - one of those decisions I'm glad we made, but probably won't repeat. A few of the things we experienced: plenty of single-lane hairpin turns, one pair of wild turkeys, end-of-day sunlight streaking through the redwoods and ferns, and(!) a huge buck leaping in front of the car in a blur of massive antlers. The road opens up to a sweet little general store on the coast where you can hear the seals and/or cows bellowing in the distance. You'd think it'd be easy to tell which is which, but not so much.

In the mornings, I'd sit in our little cottage, coffee in hand, and read with the front door open. Top of my pile was Molly's new book - All About Roasting. Molly is a friend, and this follow-up to her much-loved All About Braising, was eagerly anticipated by yours truly (and many of you, I'm sure). Her Roaste! d Apple Sauce jumped out at me immediately, and I was all set to make it.

Now, I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I kept glancing at the Roasted Lemon Chutney recipe, which lives a few pages back from the applesauce - and here we are. No applesauce, chutney instead, no regrets whatsoever.

I slathered the chutney on thick slabs of toasted bread with a good amount of whipped goat cheese - that's what you see in the photos. But really, there are so many other things you can do with it. A couple ideas: a dollop stirred into brown rice, chopped sauteed spinach, topped with a fried/poached egg and a touch of soy sauce. Or incorporated into a hot pasta bowl. Or, inside a savory crepe. Or, tossed with hot roasted potatoes, or baked potatoes. You get the idea. It's super versatile, and I hope you like it as much as I did - thank you Molly :)!

More pics to come, hopefully from the film I'm picking up tonight. Fingers crossed. -h

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