Condiments!: Chutneys, Relishes, and Table Sauces

There's more to this collection than the title suggests: Solomon's first cookbook offers an inventive selection of homemade sauces and relishes and showcases them with a respectable collection of main dishes. The pleasing champagne honey mustard, for instance, becomes an ingredient in baked haddock with mustard as well as in Solomon's version of steak au poivre. But best of all, an abundance of easily prepared condiment recipes can enliven a cook's own repertoire: pecan-banana relish complements the mild flavor of pork or chicken, while tangerine-fig relish can garnish a serving of plain steamed vegetables; sun-dried tomato catsup will pleasantly surprise readers who think catsup grows in bottles. A number of items reflect the author's fondness for hot dishes, but cooks can tone them down by going light on the spices. Those who want to test their endurance can whip up a batch of fiery tomato and apple chutney; made with jalapenos, hot sauce and three kinds of ground pepper, it is described by Solomon as ``an incendiary chutney from hell.'' Solomon is chef and owner of Jay's Clinton Hall Cafe in Ithaca, N.Y. (Dec.)