Saffron Tomato Relish

I love this stuff and buy jars and jars of it. It's expensive, so I was excited to find it in a new cookbook my DIL had been given recently. In her blurb on the recipe, Maggie suggests it would be great over couscous, on top of grilled poultry or fish, on crackers and cheese, and we especially love it with cold meats and on sandwiches. Tomatoes are easy to skin if you cut a shallow cross in their bottoms, place them in a bowl and pour boiling water over. Count to 30 then drain the water off them. Leave to cool for a few minutes. You should now be able to peel them from the cross.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Yields: 2 cups

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup caster sugar
• 700  ml  verjuice
• 1  pinch saffron thread
• 600  g roma tomatoes, skinned (see the intro)
• 2  teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1  onion, roughly chopped
• 2  garlic cloves, sliced
• 2  teaspoons sea salt
•  fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. Place sugar and verjuice in a stainless steel saucepan and stir over a low heat until sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil over high heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until reduced and syrupy. Remove from the heat, add the saffron threads and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook for ten minutes or until softened. Add the tomatoes, verjuice, saffron syrup and cook over low heat for 1 1/2 -2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the syrup has reduced and thickened. Season with the salt and pepper.
3. Immediately transfer to a sterilised 500ml jar and seal, then turn upside down to ensure lid is sterislised by the hot mixture. You might like to can this in a hot water bath, but I won't be doing that, so I can't advise how it's done.
4. Relish will keep in the refrigerator for a few months once opened or unopened in a cool place for up to a year.