Smokin Hot Sauce!

Believe it or not, I cannot stand anything that's very spicy. My husband is another matter, he likes things as spicy as he can find them. A few weeks ago at the farmers market, I purchased a pound of cayenne peppers.

 Usually, when I get fresh cayenne peppers, I will make either hot chili oil or dry them for the crushed red pepper flakes. This time I decided I would try something a little different!

With the fresh cayenne peppers, I decided to make it my own hot sauce. The inspiration for this hot sauce came from Frank's red-hot and Srirach hot chili sauce.

 I have to be very honest with you; I think Srirachi has met its match. This hot sauce is not for the faint of heart. I took a tiny taste of it and my tongue literally felt like it was sizzling for 5 minutes.

To make the hot sauce:

1 pound fresh cayenne peppers

2 cups white vinegar

Directions:

Wash and rinse your peppers. If you have rubber gloves, I would suggest that you wear them.

Cut off the tops of the peppers and place peppers into a medium saucepan.

Add vinegar to the peppers simmer on medium heat until the peppers are soft.

Remove from heat, cover and let set for 10 minutes.

Place peppers and vinegar mixture into a food processor or blender.

Run your machine until all the peppers are liquefied.

The next step can be a little tricky; you need to remove the pepper seeds from your hot sauce. You want to make sure you use a strainer that has holes that are small enough the seeds won't go through. I tried two different items; the first was a mesh tea strainer. Since the tea strainer is very small, it took a very long time. With a spoon, I pushed the liquid through the strainer.

 After fussing with this way for a while, I decided to use my flour sifter, this actually worked quite well. I was able to place the liquefied mixture in the sifter then use the sifting blade to move the liquid from around the seeds. If I was to try this again, I think what I might do is get some cheesecloth and double or triple it, to gently squeeze sauce from the seeds.

Once you have removed the liquid, do not throw away what is left over. I took what was left over and put it into a mason jar. I then added extra virgin olive oil. You want to stir the olive oil to make sure you're getting it down into the seeds. Make sure the olive oil covers the seeds; place a lid on the jar. Store in the refrigerator, use these any time you have a recipe that you need add crushed red peppers.

Place the hot pepper sauce in a jar. I had a glass maple syrup jar I put mine into. You can use a canning jar, left over salsa jar, spaghetti jar anything that is glass. Store the sauce in the refrigerator and use as needed.

If you like buffalo wings, in our house we do buffalo chicken breasts. This sauce will be perfect for it. I would add to a small saucepan, a cup of the hot sauce that we just made, one stick of butter, half a cup of rice vinegar, and quarter cup of honey. Heat on medium low until the butter is melted, stir making sure the ingredients are well blended. Pour over your chicken and serve.

The Get Together...

The potluck, tailgate, block party, or family large family gathering all require one thing, food.

Have you ever noticed that the same people always put out the same effort?

 You have the busy parent flying in from work, wrangling six kids and still manages to produce something fantastic. The (I fall into this) I have too much time on my hands, so let us make everything from scratch person. The person who either because they didn’t get the memo or didn’t care, sliding in with nothing in their hands. The person who on their way home from work, found out they are suppose to be bringing SOMETHING, stop by the store for either a baked treat or bread.

I have decided to use three recipes that would be great for a large get together. Some recipes are very simple and take just a few minutes to the more involved, Block Party Beans, Cornbread Salad, and a Bean and Corn Succotash.

Block Party Beans:

My Father-in-law passed this recipe to me. It came from Cook’s Country magazine and was written by Diane Unger. The best way to describe this dish is Boston Baked Beans meets Sloppy Joes.

Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds of lean ground beef

1 onion, chopped fine

4 mince garlic cloves

4 15 ounce cans of beans drained and rinsed (suggest one can of each: Kidney, Black, Pinto and Cannellini Beans)

2 28 ounce cans tomato sauce

½ cup barbecue sauce

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup of cider vinegar

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

12 ounces fresh green beans cut into ½ inch pieces

1 10 ounce package of frozen lima beans

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat oven to 350°F

In Dutch oven brown the ground beef, drain in a colander, return to pot.

Stir in onion, cook until softened

Add garlic, stir in canned beans, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, sugar, vinegar, red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon of sale and1/2 teaspoon of pepper bring to a boil.

Transfer pot to oven, bake covered for 30 minutes.

Stir in green beans lima beans, continue to cook covered for an additional 30 minutes.

Season with additional salt and pepper before serving, if needed.  

Cornbread Salad:

This is dish is so yummy, why? Three reasons: corn bread, ranch dressing and bacon, need I say more? I have to refer you to Southern Plate, for the original recipe of this dish. I have tried several cornbread salad recipes, and Christy’s is the best.

 The recipe, below is the extra additions suggested by Christy, I have also cut the amount of bacon. I know you can never have too much bacon, so do not even start that argument. I found it a bit salty and with adding the bacon grease, you can cut the amount of bacon in half. If you add two hard-boiled eggs, you almost have a complete and perfect meal. If you like this dish, please make sure you drop Christy a note on her page, she would greatly appreciate it!

Ingredients:

1 pan cornbread

Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix packet

1 Tablespoon bacon grease

1 cup diced onions

1 bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 cup diced tomatoes

15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 pound bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled

2-3 cups mayonnaise (I used two)

Directions:

 Crumble cornbread and place in large bowl.

 Mix in onions, bell pepper, diced tomatoes, corn, and bacon.

In a separate bowl, blend mayo and ranch mix and bacon grease.  

Add mayonnaise mixture to salad and stir until fully mixed.

 Cover and refrigerate at least two hours before serving, the longer this sits the better it gets.

Bean and Corn Succotash:

The original recipe came from the Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook. I have tinkered a bit with it and changed it to our liking. My daughter begs for this dish a few times a year. Do not get put off about the hominy. Yes, grits come from hominy. The first time I was a bit put off, because I had never had hominy… grits, yes. You need the hominy, I would suggest actually using half can of yellow and half can of white. If you need to make this vegetarian, omit the bacon grease and use vegetable oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:

¼ cup unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons of bacon grease

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small green pepper, diced

½ cup frozen green peas

1 15 ounce can of each, rinsed: hominy, corn, lima beans, black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas (garbanzo)

Salt, black pepper and crushed red pepper to taste

Directions:

Defrost green peas at room temperature

In large pan (suggest a soup pot) melt butter and bacon grease.

Add onion cook until translucent, about five minutes.

Add hominy and green peas allowing to cook for another a five minutes.

Add the drained and rinsed canned beans, season with salt and black pepper, cover and cook over low heat until warm, about eight to ten minutes.

Add crushed red pepper to taste, (can be omitted)