teacher by day - chef by night
We went to Easton’s Garlic Festival last weekend & enjoyed many tastings of local goodies. We enjoyed taking part of a tasting in which we enjoyed 8 different raw garlics (chopped up) in order to vote for our favorite (we both really like “Music” – a garlic …
We all have lots of things going on and life is busy, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t time to sit down for dinner. According to research, less than 10% of families eat together more than 2 times a week – that blows my …
I might have mentioned before that we had a lot of habeneros (and by “a lot” I mean we only planted 2 plants but even 1 of these plants would have given me ten times more than I needed, so with 2 plants you can only image the amount of hot peppers that are going to waste). After making my Red Pepper Flakes I figured how hard could hot sauce be…
There are TONS of different recipes for hot sauce out there (ok, maybe not tons – but at least tons of variations). I decided after careful review that I was going to base my sauce after one that I found on Chow & make it a lightly cooked hot-sauce (I know that cooking lessons the heat a bit and figured it might be more edible that way).
Now here is some interesting information as well as a story for you…
Remember when I made Red Pepper Flakes & I mentioned that the house felt a little spicy? Well, compared to this process the drying of the flakes smelled like roses and chocolate!!
After about 2 minutes of the peppers being in the boiling water I started to sneeze and didn’t really think anything of it. Then after maybe 5 minutes or so I could not stop sneezing and my nose and eyes were watering and burning. Rich asked me what was wrong and I said it must ‘just be a little spicy from the peppers’. A few minutes later and the coughing can’t stop. Rich comes out of his office and is immediately overtaken with fumes and tells me in a very assertive voice to “get outside and bring the dogs with me because their noses are even more sensitive”. Finally after feeling like I had created war-grade pepper spray that was filling the house, the boil time was over. I brought it outside to set for a while and once the house was clear (a few hours later) I finished the process.
This whole experience just might have scared me off from ever making my own hot sauce again. I even asked a local hot-sauce company their advice on the heat, they said “open windows” and “face masks” and “yeah, you kinda just have to deal with it”.
SO – if after all of this you still decide that the store-bought sauce isn’t good enough and you have the urge to make your own hot sauce, I have some suggestions. They are: use milder peppers, use a no-cook method, be sure to have lots of windows open with fans, or have a face mask ready to protect yourself from this (and let me know if you come up with a better method).
adapted from Chow.com & makes about 16 ounces
Take the stems off your hot peppers. Throw them with the carrots and garlic in a small pot & cover with water. Boil for about 15 minutes. Let set/cool. Drain off the liquid then place the peppers with the liquid & salt into a food processor. Process until smooth. Transfer to a container (I used an old Frank’s Hot Sauce container) & let set for a few days before using.
IMPORTANT WARNINGS: Wear gloves when cutting raw peppers, avoid touching your face/eyes during any step of this process, wash your hands well & often
Oh yeah, here are some other great sites I found online for Habanero Recipes (even if I didn’t use most of them): Habanero Recipes Blog, Habanero Madness, Chocolate Habanero Muffins which were tasty, & a recipe for Chocolate Habanero Ice Cream that I never made
And I leave you with this, Today’s Question of the Day… what food have you always wanted to try making but upon making it realized it wasn’t worth the process?
We had/have an over-abundance of hot-peppers (mostly habaneros – since I could actually find uses for the cayenne, but its hard to find many uses for more than 1 habanero at a time usually). Since I love store-bought red pepper flakes (on pizza, in soups, …
There are many ways to get inspired by food. Sometimes you are craving something. Or you could have an over-abundance of a certain ingredient and strive to use it. Other times you see a recipe or picture of something and know that you MUST make it …
“Rich – I made you a snack – it’s in the fridge next to the milk…” I think that if I said that phrase more often we might be engaged (just kidding honey, kinda)
But in all seriousness – Rich LOVES cookie dough, even though he tells people all the time (as he is shoveling mouthfuls of cookie dough) how consuming raw eggs is bad for you. I figured I would show appreciation for all his hard work & commuting & such and treat him to a batch of ‘raw’ cookie dough to help deal with the tough semester he is having.
I didn’t want to go fully “vegan/healthy/raw” on him just yet though. I am sure that he will enjoy those ‘healthier options’ when I do try them [soon], but I am trying to loose weight and didn’t want to be tempted by having something sitting around that I could pretend was healthy. This Egg-Free Cookie Dough I (quite obviously) know is not “healthy” even if they are egg free and won’t give us salmonella!
adapted from The Cupcake Project (using a whole stick of butter – no need to mess around with measuring a stick & a half… going for easy here)
Mix up all ingredients in a bowl (fork, spoon, spatula, whatever) & add in your mix-ins (e.g. 1/2 cup chocolate chips). DONE – we like chilled chocolate chip cookie dough, so this is now stored in a Tupperware in the fridge ready for danger.
And I leave you with this, today’s Question of the Day… What is your favorite Guilty Pleasure (food related or not)!? [mine is chocolate]