Courgette & Tomato Chutney

MikeyFox & I went to the allotment on Sunday to harvest our onion patch (I've spent years trying to grow onions, and been disappointed with the results. In March I handed MikeyFox a bag of onion sets & told him to try - we harvested boxes and boxes of huge, perfect onions. Jammy sod!) and plant some leeks. One of the committee members sidled up to me & shyly asked if I could donate some chutney to the open day at the end of the month (I seem to have got myself a reputation of the Chutney Maker. Can't imagine why).
So since I haven't posted a chutney recipe in a while, and they're a great way of using up excess courgettes, here's a recipe for a favourite of MikeyFox, King of the Alliums.

Courgette & Tomato Chutney

1 kg courgettes (the seedy middles removed if they're quite large), diced
1kg tomatoes (red, green or yellow, whatever you have an excess of!), chopped
500g onions, chopped
500g brown sugar (you might want to use white sugar if you're using yellow courgettes)
400ml white wine vinegar
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 red chillis (or green for green tomatoes etc), more for a hot relish, less for a mild one.
1 ts salt
1 tsp oregano

Put the sugar & vinegar in a large pan. Bring to a boil & stir until the sugar is dissolved. If you don't like tomatoes skins in your relish, place the tomatoes in a large bowl & cover with boiling water. Leave for 10 seconds, then drain & plunge into cold water. Slip the skins off, and chop as usual. Add the remaining ingredients & simmer, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, for 1 hour, or until thickened & glossy (this can take up to 2 hours, depending on how wet the courgettes & tomatoes are). Spoon into clean sterilised jars & leave for 1 month before opening (having said that, we opened one jar straight away and thought it was delicious!)

This chutney is actually more like a tomato relish. It's great on burgers, sausages & fried egg sandwiches. If you like it spicy, add some chopped pickled jalapenos to the recipe too!