Peachy Habanero Hot Sauce →

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021

My brother-in-law sent me a bag of Habanero and Carolina Reaper peppers from his garden in Georgia. Most of us are familiar with Jalapeño peppers which are rated at 2,500-8,000 Scoville heat units. By way of comparison, the Habanero pepper is rated at 100,000-350,000 Scoville units and the Carolina Reaper comes in at a whopping 1,400,000-2,200,000 Scoville units making it one of the hottest peppers in the world and 560 times hotter than the common Jalapeño and not a pepper to be taken lightly! This hot-sauce recipe was inspired by the Papaya hot-sauce made by Flavor Pirate. Compared to most store-bought hot-sauces, if the Flavor Pirate hot sauce is a moderately hot sauce, this Peachy-Habanero sauce is a hot hot-sauce. Fruit and acid mitigate the heat of hot peppers and along with spices add complexity to hot-sauce. For this recipe, fresh local peaches add an extra delicious fruitiness to the sauce. To moderate the heat of the sauce, you can omit the Carolina Reapers and a couple of the Habaneros. If you like hot-sauces and you’re looking for something new, give this recipe a try.

Peachy-Habanero Hot Sauce
makes about 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 10-12 Habanero peppers (use rubber gloves to seed the peppers or suffer the painful capsaicin consequences)

• 2 Carolina Reaper peppers seeded

• 4-6 carrots chopped

• ½ onion chopped

• 4-5 roasted garlic cloves

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar

• water

• juice from ½ lemon

• 1 bay leaf

• ¼ teaspoon each of allspice, cumin, and coriander

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt to taste

• 2-3 ripe, medium peaches skinned, pitted, and chopped (ripe peaches will add more flavor to the sauce)

• 1 tablespoon honey

Preparation:

1. Roast the garlic until soft and set aside (a cast iron skillet on your stovetop works well)

2. In a covered saucepan, over medium heat, sauté the carrots, onion, peaches, peppers, cider vinegar, lemon juice, spices, and bay leaf until the carrots are fork-tender. (Add water as necessary if the pan starts to become dry. Don’t scorch the veggies.)

3. Remove the bay leaf and put everything including the peeled roasted garlic into the blender.

4. Add the salt and honey to taste.

5. Blend until smooth, add enough water to make the consistency you want.

6. Pour into a small saucepan and bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

7. Allow the sauce to cool and bottle. 

To bottle:
1. Put your bottles into boiling water for ten minutes.
2. Remove from hot water and cool.
3. Fill with sauce and cap.
4. Keeps refrigerated up to a year. 

https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-make-quick-roasted-garlic-article
https://preparedcooks.com/freeze-hot-sauce/

Chinese Style Duck Sauce

There are many Chinese Duck Sauce recipes online and in cookbooks; many of them include an equal amount of Chinese Plum Sauce to the fruit jam. This version omits the plum sauce and suits my taste: complex, fruity, and tangy with a hint of heat, but without the weird artificial coloring you get in the packets of take-out Chinese duck sauce. Play with this basic recipe until you have the version you like. It makes a great dipping sauce for chicken wings, fried spring rolls, or egg rolls. Mix it 50/50 with Bourbon Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce for a terrific basting sauce for barbecue ribs. Give it a try.

Homemade Chinese Style Duck Sauce

Ingredients:
• ¾ cup apricot jam (or peach jam)
• 4 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger (or grated)
• a pinch of cayenne powder (optional, to taste)

Preparation:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small food processor and pulse a few times until you have the consistency you desire.
2. Allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving so the flavors can meld.
3. Bring to room temperature 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
4. Will keep in an airtight glass container in your refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Green Apple-Ginger Chutney →

Photo: foodblogchef 2021

I developed this recipe specifically for
Québec Pork Pie. Either pear or apple will work for the chutney. The sweet-and-tangy, savory condiment is a perfect complement to the richness of the meat pie. It is also excellent paired with grilled meat or poultry. If you prefer a smoother condiment, process the chutney in a Magic Bullet or blender until smooth for fruit ketchup. Enjoy!

Green Apple-Ginger Chutney
Yield: 1 cup chutney

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons packed light-brown or turbinado sugar (I use turbinado.)

• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

• 1 1/2 teaspoon seeded and minced fresh jalapeño (can use minced jar jalapeños.)

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 whole clove

• 1+ cup of green apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

• 1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion

• 1 tablespoon dried cranberries (Craisins)

• 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

• Kosher salt

Preparation:

1. Combine the sugar, vinegar, jalapeño, cinnamon, and clove in a heavy-duty saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Stir in the apple, onion, cranberries, mustard seeds, fresh ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

3. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is soft and the liquid has reduced somewhat about 30-40 minutes.

4. Uncover and continue to simmer until the liquid has almost evaporated, about 10 minutes more. (You want to leave a small amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan.)

Adapted from: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/pear-ginger-chutney

Rhubarb Chutney →

Mid-Spring to early Summer is rhubarb season here in the Connecticut Valley. Widely grown in the cooler climes of North America and Europe, anyone who grows rhubarb is already aware of the culinary delights of the brightly colored, tart, and slightly bitter fibrous rhubarb stalks as well as the toxicity of rhubarb leaves. Here in New England, I grew up eating sweet-tart custardy rhubarb desserts and strawberry rhubarb pie. Delicious! This recipe has been a project to expand my use of rhubarb from strictly desserts into the realm of a savory-fruity condiment to pair with meats, especially Spring lamb or pork. After trying multiple recipes for Rhubarb Chutney, Florence Fabricant’s recipe in the food section of the New York Times came closest to what I was looking for and provided the starting point for what became the finished recipe. Like many chutneys, it’s easy to make and will keep for several weeks in the fridge. Give it a try the next time you cook lamb or pork. I hope you enjoy it.

Yield about 1 ½ cups
Ingredients:

• 2 cups coarsely diced rhubarb (about 1/2-3/4 inch length)

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion

• 1 1/2 cups demerara sugar (or light brown sugar)

• 1/4 cup lemon juice + zest of ½ lemon minced

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar

• 1/2 tart green apple, peeled and diced to about 1/4 inch

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, or half a 3 inch cinnamon stick

• 5 black peppercorns

• 4 whole cloves

Preparation:

1. Place freshly cut rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer and add the remaining ingredients. (Note: Previously frozen fresh rhubarb loses its crunchiness, so you can add all the ingredients at the same time if using thawed frozen rhubarb.)

2. Continue to simmer 15-20 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender and the mixture has thickened.

3. The chutney will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Adapted from: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7308-rhubarb-chutney
@FlorenceFabricant

Pickled Asian Pear →

Sweet, tangy, savory, crunchy Pickled Asian Pears make a good addition to salads or pureed root vegetables. Don’t overcook them or you’ll lose the “crunch”. Try them diced as a garnish on bleu cheese or brie spread on crackers. Lots of options open to your imagination!

Ingredients:

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2020

• 1 Asian Pear

• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pickling spice from market

• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest

• a few red pepper flakes (optional)

Preparation:

1. Peel, quarter and core the apple, then cut each quarter lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices.

2. Boil vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pickling spice, ginger, lemon zest, and red pepper flakes in a saucepan, stirring, until sugar is dissolved.

3. Add the pear and remove from heat.

4. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool. Chill, uncovered, until cold, about 1 hour.

Serve with a crisp, crunchy salad dressed with Japanese Salad Dressing.

Adapted from: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pickled-Asian-Pears-with-Lemon/