A tomato relish that can last months – unless you eat it all first

Kitchen Cabinet: Gareth Mullins’s preserve is perfect for barbecued meats and sandwiches

Sterilise your jars first to ensure your relish lasts months
Sterilise your jars first to ensure your relish lasts months

I have been cooking a lot at home since the lockdown and with the weather being so good, my family and I have been using the barbecue a lot. We enjoy eating outside.

This relish is the perfect accompaniment to meats, fish or grilled vegetables. It’s also good on sandwiches and is very adaptable and easy to make.

It will last up to three months in the fridge, if you sterilise the jars and seal them. But I guarantee it will not last that long; it’s so delicious you will be making some more before you know it.

Gareth Mullins is executive chef at the Marker Hotel in Dublin.

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Finely chop everything for the relish
Finely chop everything for the relish

TOMATO RELISH

Ingredients
1.5kg ripe plum tomatoes, diced
10 red chillies, deseeded and diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 red pepper, diced
5 shallots, diced
1 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp fennel seeds
Small bunches of basil, mint, parsley, chopped
60ml red wine vinegar
100g brown sugar
Olive oil
2 tbsp Worcestershire
Splash of Tabasco, to taste

Method
1
Sauté the shallots and garlic for three minutes in three tablespoons of olive oil on a medium heat in a large pot.

2 Add the peppers and spices and cook for three more minutes.

3 Season with salt and a good twist of pepper, to taste.

4 Add brown sugar and cook for five minutes to caramelise, then add the red wine vinegar.

5 Add the tomatoes and cook on a medium heat for 45 minutes until thick and the liquid has reduced.

6 Season the relish with the Worcestershire, Tabasco and taste for salt and pepper.

7 Add the chopped herbs.

8 Divide the relish into some sterilized jars and drizzle with good olive oil before sealing the jars.

Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome