Pineapple chutney

I slow-cooked six rolled pork shoulders for my wedding. I recommend this to anyone who’s not a princess and looking for a thrifty way to serve dozens of guests. A DIY wedding buffet does somewhat eat into ones beautifying time, however. On the morning of my wedding I found myself hurriedly pulling pork rather than leisurely setting curls, only to later find myself diverted on route to the evening reception and missing the food!

Fortunately, I had employed help from Brighton’s supper club supremo Tina ‘Cantina’ Horvath, who served up and improved my pulled pork in sourdough baps with the addition of her féted pineapple chutney, which all our guests enjoyed to the point there was none left for me to taste. 'Did you make the amazing chutney?' They asked, to which I humbly, or bitterly, replied, 'No, Tina made the chutney'.

I hope Tina won’t mind me sharing that pineapple chutney is perfect for your summer party armoury. I’ll give three reasons. One: it’s cheap. For my birthday I cooked a vat of coconutty ‘pull-apart-y beef’ rendang, rice, daal, salads, and pineapple chutney. The pineapples were 59p each and two make a one-litre Kilner jar, plenty for at least 20 guests.

Two: it’s easy. Chop it, bung it in a pot with a load of spices, leave it for one-and-a-half to two hours and then scoop it into a sterilised jar. Serve the next day or keep in the fridge on standby for that inadvertently popular bank holiday barbecue or a Ploughman’s lunch. (Although do let the chutney return to room temperature before serving. I find the texture of pineapple does not take kindly to refrigeration.)

Three: it’s perky. The sweet acidity of pineapple withstands the addition of plenty spices, and from my tests, the more savoury you make pineapple chutney, the more surprising and better it is.

Tina’s recipe is based on one in Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess and I too have used this as inspiration.

This recipe makes enough chutney to fill one 500g Kilner jar. To sterilise the jar, remove rubber seal, wash well in soapy water and then dry in a low oven (about 160ºC/gas mark 3) for 20–30 minutes. Sterilise the rubber seal separately in Milton solution. Fill and seal the jar while still hot.