Category Archives: condiment

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Roasted Pepper Cheese Dip

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19

Maybe it’s already obvious, I don’t know,  but I’m not much of a sports fan. If it’s a “game day” of any sort, you just better know, I’m totes in it for the snacks. Wings, beers, brauts, and dips galore.

As an avid fan of dipping crunchy chips/crackers into gooey things, I find the ever-present queso dip to be dangerously alluring. From the jar, I basically feel like I am shoveling straight garbage into my face…delicious garbage, but trash nonetheless. Even most homemade versions turn to a block of processed, melty, orange “cheese”. I mean, yeah, it melts like a dream, but I really wanted to make a cheese dip sans Velveeta. Just once, at least.

Don’t get me wrong, this dip does not lack in cheese or calories. It’s made creamy by way of evaporated milk and a little cream cheese. Real cheesy flavor comes by way of sharp and medium cheddar–though you could really use what you want, anything that will melt with a little gentle heat. The spice is dialed up with a little habañero, some anaheims, and red jalapeños–roasting the mix of peppers adds heat and sweetness. While the end product looks almost identical–it doesn’t quite have the same sheen that the jarred stuff has–the flavor sets it apart and makes the little effort it takes to throw this dip together worth the work.

Roasted Pepper Cheese Dip

All of the peppers I purchased were red. I spotted them at the farmer’s market and they were too pretty to resist! Red peppers are not necessary, just use whatever ones you like, I’m sure the next time I make this, green jalapeños will make an appearance.  Dial back the heat by removing all the ribs and seeds post roasting, or nix the habañero if you want.

1 small habañero pepper

3 small anaheim chiles

2 jalapeños

5 cloves garlic, skins on

1 shallot, diced fine

8 ounces cheddar cheese (I used half sharp, half medium)

4 ounces cream cheese

1, 12-ounce can evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 375*F. Rinse and dry the peppers. Snip the root ends of the garlic cloves, leaving skins intact. Toss the peppers and garlic with a few teaspoons oil and roast in the oven until the pepper skins blister and garlic is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven, place peppers in a bowl and cover. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Remove the pepper skins, seeds, and ribs (I left a few in for heat). Chop peppers. Squeeze garlic cloves from their skins.

In a medium saucepan, sweat shallot in a teaspoon of olive oil, until tender and translucent.  Add the garlic and peppers. Add the evaporated milk and bring to a simmer, stir in the cheeses, in 3 batches, until everything is combined, smooth, and heated through. Serve warm with chips, crackers, or anything else that needs a cheese blanket.

Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 week. Reheat in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring, between each, or on the stovetop over gentle heat, stirring often.

 

 

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Recipe: Strawberry Balsamic Conserve

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Tiny strawberries are so enchanting, I can’t even resist them. I always go a little crazy for perfect summer berries at the farmer’s market…I just want to buy them all. They are perfect for snacking on out of hand, but since I do tend to go crazy, we can’t always get to them all.

I’m a big fan of berry pies and crumbles, jams and frozen treats, but since these particular berries were petite gems, I really wanted to preserve their shape. I came across this conserve–whole berries suspended in syrup. This conserve has a bit of balsamic in the syrup–making it not only an appropriate topper for yogurt or ice cream, but equally as welcome on  a cheese plate. Think about it, cracker + goat cheese + syrupy strawberry gems. I imagine it’s a perfect bite and one that is definitely in my future. It’s a preserve that goes sweet or savory, it’s ready to party…no discrimination here.

Strawberry Balsamic Conserve

adapted from Orangette

I adapted the recipe a bit, allowing one to make this stellar, fruity condiment in a little less time.

4 cups strawberries–stemmed, rinsed and halved if large

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons balsamic, divided

Fashion a double boiler, using a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. In the bowl, gently toss the berries with the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the balsamic. Set the bowl over the pan of water and cook for 20-30 minutes (check the pan and make sure there is still water about halfway through, add more water as needed), the berries will release all of their juices, become just soft, and combine with the sugar to create a syrup. Using a slotted spoon, spoon the berries into a jar. Pour the water out of the saucepan and pour in the syrup. Set the syrup pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, about 1-2 minutes to thicken slightly, stir in remaining vinegar and pour the syrup over the berries. Cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate for up to 1 month. You can also process the jars according to proper canning guidelines for longer shelf life.

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Recipe: Barbecue Sauce

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I think we all know refrigerator space is a precious commodity. I am always shifting containers around, trying to use up leftovers to free up space, and keeping chilled beverages to a minimum. The one thing that we always have room for is our crazy collection of condiments. We usually have a few kinds of mustard, some spicy horseradish, the requisite ketchup, ranch dressing, a few kinds of hot sauce, and any other number of specialized condiments in our refrigerator door…not to mention a variety of pickled things and yogurt. Sean’s a dipper and needs a lot of options, plus, I can never resist an interesting condiment at the store. One of our faves is BBQ sauce and it is one of the things that I rarely purchase these days.

My mom is a fan of doctoring up store bought bottles with a little sugar and spice. I often just go the fancy ketchup route, small batch style. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking of making barbecue sauce entirely from scratch.

So, this rainy weekend, I did, and it was so, so good.

I don’t know what I was waiting for.

The thing is, it is exactly to my taste. I know there are about a billion different specialty sauces I could buy, but I always find those are either missing tang, heat, or sweet, and I personally need a specific balance of all of those flavors. So, I set out to make my own, and guess what? It wasn’t even difficult.

I felt like a champ.

I, actually, still do.

You can too, with a few pantry items and a little time!

I made it sweet, spicy, tangy, with a little bitter edge from the instant espresso.

Guess what else?

You can totally adjust all of the elements and make this sauce your own.

Want more cumin or spice?

Less sweet, more tang?

Go for it!

It’s all you.

Your signature sauce….

Something all your own…

That, is a a beautiful thing my friends.

You can dip fries into your sauce, barbecue up some chicken, or slather it on a burger. You could even replace the tomato sauce on a pizza with some of this BBQ goodness and make it something really special.

Basically, do what you want with this sauce, whatever you see fit.

This is your signature sauce, after all.

BBQ Sauce

You can make this recipe beginning with 2 cups of ketchup instead of the tomatoes. Just reduce the cider vinegar, molasses, and maple syrup by half. You can use even less sweet stuff if you’d like, we like our BBQ sauce on the sweeter side with some spice for good measure. I used home-pickled jalapeños–which were super spicy. You can reduce or multiply jalapeños and sriracha to your taste. 

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños

1 can whole tomatoes, crushed with fingers

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, plus 3 tablespoons, divided

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 + teaspoons sriracha

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon instant espresso granules

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon each:

cinnamon

ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon each:

allspice

chinese 5 spice

nutmeg

cumin

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan saute onions until transluscent in a bit of olive oil. Add garlic and jalapeños, saute until garlic is fragrant. Add whole tomatoes, crushing with fingers, and simmer over medium for about 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and using either a blender or an immersion blender, puree tomato mixture. Press through a mesh sieve if desired, to remove seeds and any solid bits.

Return pan to medium heat and add 1/2 cup cider vinegar, lemon juice, molasses, maple syrup, sriracha, soy sauce, worcestershire, espresso granules, and all dry spices. Stir everything together until completely combined and continue to cook at a low simmer for about 1 hour, until sauce is reduced, thickened, and dark burgundy in color. Add remaining 3 tablespoons of cider vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes before ladling into jars. Allow jars to cool to room temperature before placing sauce in the refrigerator. Sauce will keep a few weeks properly stored.

 

 

 

 

 

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Pickled Jalapeños

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I love pickles.

I’m Korean, so my love for pickled-fermented vegetables is just inherent. Sean’s love of pickles has been a slow, gradual romance. He claimed for years that he didn’t like pickles–yet he would eat kimchi and nacho jalapenos. It wasn’t until I pointed out that, ahem, both of those are pickled things, that he became more open minded about pickles.

In the last year his appetite for pickles has become pretty voracious.

He devours pickles with voracity. It’s true.

Now that we both love pickles, we eat and purchase them with abandon. We both love a crunchy dill, a sweet + spicy bread and butter, and the best bar snack ever, deep fried pickles (OMG), kimchi of all sorts (my moms is our fave), but the pickled thing we eat most is the jalapeño. We make this pizza that has bacon, spinach, and pickled jalapeños.

It is simply delicious. Seriously, so so good. We always eat the whole pizza.

Bacon + spicy, pickley jalapenos were made to be friends.

We add spinach to the party so we can feel healthy about eating an entire pizza.

So, when I heard about the Pickling Party, I knew I needed to finally make my own pickled jalapeños.

We love them, we eat them all the time, it just made sense.

Pickled Jalapenos

I did a little research, browsed the internets for pickle recipes and I came up with my own with what I had on hand. Pretty much equal parts vinegar + water, plus seasonings and spices. Sean and I generally like a little sweet with our spicy, so I added a little more sugar than most of the brines called for. I think it turned out really well and I am interested to see what other spice and vinegar combinations I can come up with! This will make enough liquid for a quart jar that has been packed full of jalapeños, onions, and garlic. The jalapeños I found were gigantic. If you have regular sized ones, maybe use 20.

10-15 large jalapeños

1/4 of a large, red onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

2 small bay leaves

1 teaspoon whole, black peppercorns

1 teaspoon dried, mexican oregano

Using a mandoline, or sharp knife skills, slice jalapeños, onion, and garlic cloves. Fill jar with vegetables. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan bring vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and spices to a boil. Make sure that sugar and salt are dissolved and pour the hot liquid into the jar of sliced vegetables to cover.

Cover the jar with lid and allow to cool to room temperature on counter. Place jar in the refrigerator and let it hang out for at least 24 hours before eating.

 

 

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Candied Kumquats

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Okay, so, I love trying new foods. I love going to the grocery store and browsing the produce for what’s seasonal and what’s interesting. I’d seen kumquats before, but I had never eaten one. I did once have a cocktail containing kumquat infused vodka. It was good stuff, but not food. Their insides are sour and tart, and the outside is zesty and sweet. You can eat the entire fruit–peel, seeds, and all.

These candied kumquats are also good stuff. The tiny citrus are sliced in half, deseeded, and cooked with a sugar syrup until soft, translucent and candied. The chewy, little, jewels are all citrus–bright and delicious. I had some, with a little drizzle of the syrup, on greek yogurt. Yum. I have no doubt that these gems would be perfect in the bottom of a glass of bubbly, or even served as a condiment for both savory (think pork or poultry) and sweet (pound cake or ice cream) dishes. Regardless of how you will consume them, you should make them. With relatively few ingredients and a little time you can enjoy these candied delights as well…and impress your friends. Friends are impressed by candied citrus. Trust me.



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