A restaurant's inspiration: Roasted Bell Pepper & Corn Chutney

Good Morning everyone! I hope all of my foodies are well. Last week me and my girlfriend made our second round to what might be one of our favorite restaurants downtown. Carmen’s is a great little Spanish restaurant that does tapas style food on Queen West. After we did our trip to Spain, we were having tapas withdrawals and finally, we found a restaurant to give us our fix when we needed a little Spain in our life! We knew exactly what we were having along with a few new additional items to try. There was one specific dish that made me smile, the Tomate Verde Frito con Queso Feta, Maiz y Pimientos (breaded green tomatoes, feta, roasted red peppers and corn chutney). The Chutney was so good, and being a cook I instantly wanted to try recreating it myself. So that weekend I decided that I was going to experiment. It didn’t matter whether or not I knew how to make a jam or chutney. In the end, I took it as an opportunity to be able to practice something and maybe when I am done I might think of a new idea or dish.

Here it is, my recipe for a Roasted Pepper & Corn Chutney

1 Roasted red bell pepper(rough dice)

1 Small onion (diced)

2 cups corn

½ Cup sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Coriander

½ tsp Cumin

¼ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Lemon Zest

Season your bell pepper with salt, pepper and oil. You want to roast it evenly in the oven. I roasted mine at 450 F for fifteen minutes on each side. The point of this is so that skin can come off. So if you notice the skin starts separating from the pepper, you're doing the right thing. Once your pepper is finished, get it in a bowl and cling wrap it. 

The steam will help continue any separation that needs to be done. Get all of your other ingredients together. Once you’ve done that then peel the pepper and give it a rough dice. Combine all the ingredients in a pot, covered on a low heat until the liquid is almost dehydrated. Its not going to be extremely sticky like that of a jam. Taste it periodically, get an idea of the textures and flavors as it cooks, understand what happens as you leave it on longer. Sure this is something that you just leave to sit but watch it every fifteen minutes, see what you can learn from it.

In the end I was very happy with the taste, I think next time I might put more peppers. Mine came out a little bit more orange looking and wasn’t as red as Carmen’s own but nevertheless it was yummy and is now in my fridge waiting to be used on a new dish.