Gooseberry rhubarb chutney with Indian Venison, both page 172

Fred here. Ann's sister Tracey gave our boys tickets to a dance performance in St. Louis, so we came to the city for the weekend. Like the last time we were there, Tracey encouraged us to stick with our program and make a Cooking Wild recipe while at her house. This time we opted for Indian.
While Ann and Tracey were out running errands, I took care of the marinade for the venison. I've optimistically spent many hours and ingredients making marinades before, and I'm usually disappointed with the results. The complex, magical list of ingredients often ends up not making much difference by the time I take the meat off the grill. And you can get good marinades off the self in the store, even though I might not be able to identify, or pronounce, some of the ingredients they contain.
This marinade was pretty straight forward, and it came together quickly. As soon as I had it together, I got started on the chutney.
My first experience with chutney was when I was dating Ann, and we were having dinner at her parents' house. Ann quietly said to me a "This is really expensive, don't take too much of it," as she passed me the chutney. I used the tiny spoon in the jar to take one tiny spoonful to have with the wonderful Indian dinner that Ann's mother had made. And I loved it.
Since then we've always kept a jar of Major Grey's Mango Chutney in the refrigerator. We've tried other kinds, but have never bested it - until now.
I'd never considered making chutney, but making this batch was a lot of fun. It wasn't too complicated, and it was exciting to see what would happen when you combine ingredients like gooseberries, rhubarb, raisins, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic, sugar and cardamon.
The result was a bright red chutney (red from the rhubarb) that was fantastic. The recipe says it will keep for months in the refrigerator, and I would be happy to always have a jar on hand.
Tracey made some excellent palak paneer to go with  the meal, and also had some naan and other flat breads to go with it. And she had purchased some bannana blossoms to serve it in. Ann made rice in Tracey's rice cooker, something new to us. The whole meal came together nicely.
I found the venison to be quite good. The effect of the marinade was subtle. If I make it again I might have the venison marinade longer, or make the marinade more intense.
This was another fun and tasty meal, another winner from Cooking Wild in Missouri.