Now the Side of Hot Sauce

Did I mention I have a metric ton of habaneros staring at me every time I open my crisper? Seriously, I said 50, but I think that was WAY understating it. I used ten in the previous post, two in my homemade jerk sauce, and now 12 in this recipe and I still think I have 50 or so, and I pull about 4 or 5 off each day. Everyone should garden, it is quite a ride. (Psss... next year, I am going to plant a ghost chile plant, but don't tell my wife). So, for this sauce? 12 habaneros, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 a white onion, 1/2 cup chopped carrots, olive oil (about a Tbsp.; I don't measure that), 1/2 cup distilled vinegar and 1/4 cup lime juice. Saute the onions and garlic with the olive oil (see why you don't have to measure?) until soft. Throw in the carrots with enough water to almost cover, and bring that sucker to a boil. Once the carrots soften (my advice is to cut the carrots very tiny, or to use shredded so it won't take forever), boil out most of the liquid.


Pour into a blender with the cut up habaneros, blend it all up, add the lime juice and the vinegar, blend that, too, and then throw it back into your saute vessel to stew for about 5 minutes. Now, my customary warnings when cooking with hot shit: Don't create the pepper gas as I have done, open a window, and once again, gloves, wipe down and, for god's sake, sit down to pee. After that, can her up (usual canning rules apply) and get her sealed. This one is sweet and hot.

I call it Orange Death:


And here is a video of my two-year-old trying the sauce . . . very funny, indeed:



Just kidding; what type of father do you think I am?!

Today's dish: Habanero Jelly and a side of hot sauce!

So, browsing a friend's blog, I see that she has herself a cooking section. I decide that this is, indeed, a fabulous idea, and being a cooking fanatic myself, decided to add my own entries. Maybe I can link to hers somehow and we can trade secrets. But, before that, on to the cooking. First off, habanero jelly. These habaneros are grown straight out of my own garden. I bought these plants as an afterthought several months ago; I think I got six plants for around $2, so I could not pass them up. Maybe I got 50 habaneros off these plants, so it is 50 habaneros for the low low price off $2. What a deal. Let me make a quick note about the picture on the right. This is the most important thing I have in my kitchen, I take it with me always forever. This is my in-house compost bin, that I empty into my outdoor compost bin. If you have a garden, compost. It is only smart. Anyway, the main players:







That is 3 orange bell peppers and 10 habaneros. Add 7 cups of sugar, 1.5 cups of white vinegar and a pack of pectin and you've got yourself a party, my friend.











Here we pick it up, mid-action. This is after the peppers have been pureed with the vinegar, I tossed them in this pot with the sugar and brought it to a boil. Let it go for twenty minutes, then strain through a cheesecloth (ok, I confess, I have no idea what a cheesecloth is, so I substituted with the cloth that has the loosest weave but that will still block large chunks. I actually saved the large chunks and made sort of an intriguing habanero candy). Add the pectin, bring to a boil, and Franky V., you got some habanero jelly.

One word about habaneros, if you are brave enough to try this at home, is that they hurt. For hours. Use gloves, wipe down meticulously, and for god's sake, sit down to pee. I am serious about this one. You'll thank me.

Another parting word: If you want to try it on wimp stuff, try jalapenos with green bells, or even cayennes with red bells. You are just attempting to match colors to give more volume without having to use 50 hot ass peppers. See the nice orange color there? That is the intent.