Starting the year well

If you are like us and adhering to the age-old tradition of making better lifestyle choices in January, you know how hard this can be. To give you some inspiration to power on and keep living well, we have compiled some of our favourite meat-free recipes, low-waste hacks, and tips for how to jazz up your soft drinks – in other words all you need for a comprehensive health is wealth approach to life. 

Our first recipe is an absolutely fabulous Balsamico & Basil pickled red onion chutney, brought to you by our resident chef extraordinaire, Jack. The combination of the deep and spiced notes with the bright tartness of the Balsamico & Basil makes this the perfect winter warmer. 

And now, before this turns into one of those horrible pieces where you have to scroll for days to arrive at the useful bit, here is the recipe:

Balsamico & Basil onion chutney

Makes enough to fill a 500ml jar to the absolute brim

Ingredients:

• 5 red onions (the bigger ones, not the diddy ones you get in bags)
• 2 jars Sylt Balsamico & Basil
• 250g sliced vine tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• sprinkle of chilli flakes, adjust quantity to meet your own heat handling ability
• 3 tbsp sugar
• pinch of salt

Prep (at least 24 hours in advance):

Pickle your onions. Slice them, pop them in a jar/bowl and pour over enough Sylt Balsamico & Basil to fully submerge them.

Chutney making method:

1. Gently crush and slice the garlic, toast alongside chilli flakes for a couple of minutes.
2. Strain off your pickled onions and add them to the pan (if you include the pickling liquid the chutney will become very acidic)
3. Add the tomatoes, sugar and salt, give it a good stir and let simmer until you reach desired gloopiness – at least for an hour or two. Top up with water throughout the process to keep it all nice and moist.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next segments of our good living guides to 2024 both here and on our socials, so you can soak it all up, much like a gherkin.

Happy pickling!