Jalapeno Hot Sauce - or What to do with a Pound of Ripe Jalapenos

Yesterday I picked about 75 ripe jalapeno and cherry bomb peppers. There is no way I'm going to be able to use all those peppers fresh, and since I use hot sauce very regularly, I decided to make my own.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 – 1.5 lbs (about 60-70) fresh ripe jalapeno peppers, sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup minced onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups water
2 cups distilled white vinegar

Directions:

Prepare 1/2 pint canning jars per manufacturer's instructions.

Slice the peppers - wear gloves if desired.

In a non-reactive sauce pan over high heat, combine oil, peppers, garlic, onion and salt; saute for 5 minutes. Add the water and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often. You may wish to do this outdoors! Whew!


Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature.


Transfer the mixture to a food processor and puree until smooth.


Strain liquid through a sieve into a clean saucepan, discarding solids. It's a pretty color!

Whisk in vinegar.

Return to a boil. Turn off heat.


Ladle hot sauce into a sterilized jars and adjust two piece lids. Process in hot water bath 15 minutes.


Since these are 8oz jars, when ready to use, I'll decant into a squeeze bottle to keep in the fridge.

Alternatively, skip the hot water bath and store in refrigerator up to 4 months.

This will heat things up!



Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - @gastrogardener
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener
email: thegastronomicgardener at gmail dot com

Sweet Pickle Relish

As I mentioned I have a whole bunch of cucumbers to use up. And I just picked another 2.5 lbs!

This time I've made sweet relish.

Sweet Pickle Relish (from Balls Blue Book of Preserving)

Ingredients

1 quart cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 cups onions, peeled and chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup salt

3 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. celery seed
1 Tbsp. mustard seed


Directions:

I used my food processor  to process the vegetables very small, but you could also chop your vegetables by hand

Place vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix.

Cover with cold water and let stand 2 hours.

Drain, rinse and drain very well again.

Combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed and mustard seed in a non-reactive large pot. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar.

Add drained vegetables return to boil. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Pack hot relish into hot sterilized 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Place caps on and tighten.

Place in hot water bath and process for 10 minutes.

Makes eight 1/2 pint jars.

I can't wait to try this on a burger!

Until next time, Eat well and Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Giardiniera by the numbers

The link to this was sent to me by a reader,  it's super easy and very delicious. The article says it's a Chicago thing but anyone who wants a little spicy crunch on a sandwich or salad, this recipe is for you.

Here's the link from the Paupered Chef!

His pics are excellent as  are the instructions. Follow them, be amazed!

 After soaking the vegetables in salt water, rinse them and put them in sterile jars.

Add the oil vinegar mix, refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. Mine won't last that long!

Here's what I ended up with. Yes, I used his perspective because it was good.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Canned Apple Pie Filling

We got all those apples last week. We've done apple butter, now we'll do Apple Pie Filling.

This recipe is from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp  ground nutmeg
2 tsp salt
10 cups water
2 drops yellow food coloring (I skipped this)
3 tbs lemon juice
6 lbs apple
In a large pan combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add salt and water and mix,

Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly

Remove from heat, add lemon juice and food coloring.

Prepare canning jars, lids and bands.

Peel, core and slice apples, Pack the sliced apples into hot jars leaving a 1/2" headspace.

This thing makes peeling apples a breeze!



I soaked them for a bit in a diluted lemon juice.



Fill jars with hot syrup, and remove air bubbles with a knife (I recommend a plastic knife).

Adjust 2 piece lids and process in a watter bath canner for 20 minutes.

This should be good in pie, over ice cream, hmm how else can I enjoy this?

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Apple Butter - a taste of autumn preserved!

Yesterday the DW and I went out to an apple orchard to walk around, get some apples, and some apple cider donuts. The doughnuts were sublime, light, fluffy and warm, they almost melt in your mouth, but I digress.

We ended up with 1/2 a peck each of Jonagold and Honeycrisp. DW prefers the Jonogold, I like the Honeycrisp. That's about 20 lbs of apples.  It is unlikely we'll eat that many out of hand so I immediately started looking in my canning book for recipes. I decided to make some apple butter, if you are not familiar with it, it is like very thick and highly spiced applesauce - great on toast for breakfast instead of jam or jelly. I used the Honeycrisp for this  recipe.


Canned Apple Butter  - Makes 3 pints.

Ingredients:
4 lbs apples, peeled, cored and quartered.
2 cups water
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove

Honeycrisp are large heavy fruit - here is the 4 lbs!

Using the super peeler, (no I don't feel like I am cheating) all I have to turn the crank! This makes very short work of the apples. All peelings go right out to the compost pile.

To make the apple puree, put the prepped apples into a large pot with 2 cups of water. 

Simmer until soft.

Run the cooked apples through the food mill with the largest screen - you want a puree not liquid.

Return the puree to the pot, add the sugar and spices.

Cook over medium head until thickened and puree will round up on a spoon. That is, if you scoops some out, it has enough body to be a small mound on a spoon.

Prepare your jars for canning following manufacturers instructions. Here is my filling station.

Fill jars, remove any air bubbles, leave 1/4" head space, adjust 2 piece lids, and process in hot water canner for 10 minutes.

As I had the water canner  already setup and had all the ingredients on hand, I went ahead and  made another batch of the Eggplant Tomato Relish. - another 6 1/2 pints.

As you can see, by this point it was dark outside. I cleaned up and called it a night.


Until next time, Eat Well & Keep digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Eggplant tomato relish

I had eggplant, tomatoes, onions and basil from the garden. So I decide to make this relish.

I got this recipe from the Wednesday July 28, 2010 Chicago Tribune, Good Eating section. Originally, it comes from the Williams-Sonoma "The Art of Preserving" by Rick Fields and Rebecca Courchesne with Lisa Atwood.

It is an updated version of caponata, a Sicilian antipasto. Serve with crusty bread or stirred into linguine or spaghetti.

Ingredients:
2 lbs eggplant sliced 3/4 thick
1/4 cup salt
1.75 lbs tomatoes, peeled, cored, cut in 3/4" dice
4 tbs olive oil
1 onion cut in a rough dice
2 cloves garlic minced
1/3 cup Kalamata Olives
3 tbs lightly toasted pine nuts (these are ridiculously expensive, so much so, that I consider them optional)
2 tbs capers
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup finely sliced basil
salt and pepper to taste

Put eggplant in a colander, sprinkle with the salt, allow to drain for 1 hour. Rinse under cold water, cut into 3/4 inch dice.

Heat 3 tbs oil in large sauce pan. Cook eggplant in batches, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes, transfer to plate.

Add remaining oil to pot, reduce heat to medium low, add onion and cook until tender - about 10 minutes.

Add garlic, cooking stirring often for 2 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, olives, pine nuts, capers, and vinegar.

Raise heat to high and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, gently stir in eggplant and basil, simmer until heated through.

Season with pepper (salt if needed, but olives and capers provide salt)

Ladle hot relish into  sterilized jars leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims clean and adjust two piece lids.

Process jar in boiling water canner 20 minutes for 1/2 pints, 25 minutes for pints.

Cool jars, test seals, store. If seal fails, refrigerate that jar for up to two weeks.

I got 2 pints and 1 half-pint from this recipe, plus a little left over. It was delicious with pasta.

Use it up!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!.


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com//
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Bread and Butter Pickles

I went to the French Market yesterday in Wheaton, Illinois to see what I could see.  Two rows of vendors plying their wares. I did find a farm stand that did not have outrageous prices. So I purchased some pickling cucumbers. When I made the early in the  year the flavor was fine but the texture was a bit disappointing. Reader Brian said to ice the cukes before pickling them I hope it turns out better this time.

Ingredients:
 4 lbs 4-6 inch cucumber cut into slices
2 lbs onions thinly sliced
1/3 cup pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1 tbs mustard seed
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp celery seed ( I substituted fennel)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
3 cups vinegar

Wash cucumbers.

Slice the cucumbers and combine with onion slices in a large bowl layering with salt.

Cover with ice and let sit 1.5 - 2 hours.

Drain, rinse and drain again.

Combine remaining ingredients in large pot, bring to a boil.

Add drained cucumbers and oinions, return to a boil.

Pack hot pickles and hot liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.
Remove from canner and place in cool spot away from drafts or temperature fluctuations.

When cool, check seal and label.

Allow 4 to 6 weeks  for pickles to develop full flavor.


Can't Wait!

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Canning Chicken Stock

I've been looking forward to using my pressure canner for the first time. I had some frozen chicken carcasses so I simmered them for a few hours with bay leaf and peppercorns. Into the fridge to set the fat to be skimmed.

Bringing the stock and water that will go into the canner to a boil.

Ladeling the stock into quart jars.

Into the canner. It's big, 23 quarts! Those 4 little quarts look a bit lonely.

25 minutes at 11lbs pressure.

All done and cooling. Another staple for the winter.

Not quite as bad as watching paint dry, but just as rewarding. Perhaps more important than the stock is the expereince and confidence I now have in using the pressure canner.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Canned Tomato Sauce - Summer in a Jar!

I have a good pile of tomatoes that I'm never going to be able to eat while fresh so I decided to can some up for the cold winter nights. I can already taste some delicious pasta made from the summer's harvest.

I started with a big bag (2 gallon) of tomatoes quartered.

Put them in a big pot with some garlic, dried oregano and basil, and a little bit of olive oil. The exact recipe in in the Balls  Blue book - guide to canning and preserving.

Cook them down until quite soft.- about 20-30 minutes.

I have a new gadget, a food mill. This will make it easy to remove the skins and seeds. It's wet because I just washed it prior to using it the first time.

Run the cooked tomatoes through the mill.

Cook down the tomato sauce until the volume is reduced by half.

Then can as normal - adding 1 TBS on lemon juice to each jar prior to filling with sauce.

I processed them for 35 minutes per the instructions for pint jars. And voila! Summer in a jar!

Until next time, Eat well and keep digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Canning some salsa

Since I have so many tomatoes, I decided to make some salsa.

The recipe is based on one from a colleague of mine. His salsa is always a hit in the office.

Tomato Salsa (Spicy)


Yield – 4 pints

5 cups chopped peeled seed tomatoes
1 ½ cups roasted seeded long green chiles
½ cup finely chopped roasted jalapenos seeded and skinned (per taste)
3 chopped roasted Serrano peppers seeded and skinned (per taste)
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Here are the ingredients

Did you catch whta I forgot to lay out? That's right, the onions.

Roast the peppers  till they are charred. Place in a paper bag to steam and further loosen the skins.

While the peppers are charring, bring a pot of water to boil to blanch the tomatoes. Plunge the tomatoes a few at a time until the skins loosen, remove from pot and put in colandar. Repeat until done.

Peel, and seed the tomatoes and peppers. Chop them up. Put all ingredients into a large pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into pint jars , leaving 1/2" headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15  minutes. (at 0-1000 foot altitude). Adjust for your altitude.

After canning stage - allow to rest 5 minutes before removing jars and placing in a dry place.  Follow cooling  and  storage instructions.

We'll see how it is later.

Keep digging and eat well!


The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt