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Quick Pickling For Summer

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Quick Pickled Peppers
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1 lb peppers sliced
  • 1½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1½ cup water
  • 2 cloves of garlic peeled and mashed
  • 2-3 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper corns
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 bay leaf
Instructions
  1. Combine vinegar, help water, stuff sugar, salt, pepper corns, coriander seeds and bayleaf in sauce pan
  2. Heat on medium till salt and sugar dissolve
  3. Let liquid cool
  4. Put peppers and garlic in a jar
  5. Add liquid and put in fridge for 12-24 hours
  6. Peppers should last at least a week.

With summer in full swing the thought of canning seems like a huge chore, not to mention, who wants to heat up jars in a hot kitchen?  I have a solution that I’m quickly becoming obsessed with.   Quick pickling!  All the benefits of canning without using a stove for hours.   Not only is it easy, but you get to take advantage of the fresh produce available you can’t get in the fall or winter.  We have already pickled carrots, cipollini onions and are already planning much, much more!   This week it’s peppers, celery and garlic scapes.  Yum!

Final hot sauce is here!

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Wow! It’s the last hot sauce of  our hot sauce mania month! We can’t believe it.  So we accidentally took a couple weeks off and our month turned into six weeks.  We are human and needed to rest and enjoy the summer.  But now it is back to work.  And without further ado I give you:

 

Blossoming Tumescence

 

 

Blossoming Tumescence
Author: 
Recipe type: Condiment
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 8 Puya
  • 2 mulato
  • 2 japones
  • 2 New Mexico
  • 1 chipotle
  • 4 garlic
  • ¼ cup chili water
  • ¾ cup of vinegar
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
  1. Soak your peppers in hot water for 30 minutes
  2. Either in a bowl weighed down so chili's are submerged or in a ziplock bag
  3. When chili's are done pull off stems and discard
  4. Also discard any seed and veins that come with stems
  5. Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth
  6. Strain through a sieve and discard any solids
  7. Serve immediately, mind or put on your favorite bottle for later

 

Hot Sauce number 3. It’s a Cheap Trick!

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Here is the latest in our month long(.. A hum…6week) hot sauce mania.  Great for BBQed Meats!!!

 

Cheap Trick
Author: 
Recipe type: Condiments
 
Ingredients
  • 4 New Mexico chile
  • 6 Japones red chile
  • 3 Pulla chile
  • 5 birds eye chile
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • ½ cup vinegar
  • ¼ cup of Apple cider vinegar
  • Salt pepper
  • Splash of chili water
Instructions
  1. Soak your peppers in hot water for 30 minutes
  2. Either in a bowl weighed down so chili's are submerged or in a ziplock bag
  3. When chili's are done pull off stems and discard
  4. Also discard any seed and veins that come with stems
  5. Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth
  6. Serve immediately.

 

Hot Salsa? Yes Please

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Salsa

 

Our newest hot sauce is more of a salsa but not quite.  We added tomatoes so you can really sink your chips into it.

Also we don’t put this one threw a sieve but if you want a smoother sauce than you can.  With a heat most hot sauce lovers can handle this one will disappear fast!

 

 

Hot Suff
Author: 
Recipe type: Condiment
Prep time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 packages of grape tomatoes
  • 1 chipotle chile
  • 3 mulatto chili's
  • 1¾ habanero chili(deseeded and destemmed)
  • 4-5 garlic cloves
  • Small handful of cilantro
  • ½ cup vinegar
  • * Splash of chili water
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Soak your peppers in hot water for 30 minutes
  2. Either in a bowl weighed down so chili's are submerged or in a ziplock bag
  3. When chili's are done pull off stems and discard
  4. Also discard any seed and veins that come with stems
  5. Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth
  6. Serve immediately.
Notes
If your worried about it being too hot, generic add some lime juice and or decrease the amount of Habanero peppers.

* Chili water is the water you soaked the chili's in.

Hot Sauce Mania!

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Hot sauce of the week! We shared a new red pepper hot sauce last week and decided to feature a new one every week! We will start out with an easy one. It’s not spicy, link just smokey and delicious. Perfect for that person who can’t handle the heat but wants a great sauce for their tacos or eggs in the morning. Or if you just want to easy into the heat.

Chili's and hot sauce

Easy Lay
Author: 
Cuisine: Condiment
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 4 Dried Pasilla
  • 5 Dried Puya
  • 4 Dried Arbol
  • 1 Jalapeño
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • ½ cup of vinegar
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Soak dried peppers in a bowl of hot water for 30 minutes.
  2. Make sure peppers are completely submerged.
  3. I use a heavier smaller blow for this
  4. Or you can use a ziplock bag.
  5. Just make sure it is on a flat surface and you flip it half way through .
  6. Once peppers have soaked pull off stems and discard them.
  7. Some seeds and veins will come with the stems and that's fine.
  8. Not all your peppers will be completely soft, approved that is ok.
  9. Take the chili's, more about garlic, vinegar and blend, adding salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Once done put sauce through a sieve to remove excess solids
  11. Take sauce and put in your favorite jar or container.
  12. Discard leftover solids*
Notes
* if your anything like us chances are you don't like to waste things. As we kept making hot sauces, one thing was bothering us. What to do with the left over solids? We think we are coming up with some great ideas. And if you stay tuned we will share our discoveries.

 

It’s Getting Hot in Here

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It’s hot sauce mania here at The Lab.  We have been obsessed you could say.  It all started with Christmas and has spilled over.  Our latest sauces have been gobbled up by everyone and it seems there is not stopping us or them.  I can’t believe it started with just wanting to make something nice for Christmas that wouldn’t break my bank account.  We are really honing our skills, patient and what we want out of the sauces.  From mild and smokey, order to oh my god get me a bucket of water!  Our latest is a smoked red pepper hot sauce that has that sweetness of peppers and heat from some red Jalapeño’s.   It was inspired by a restaurant in LA that makes the most amazing yellow pepper dipping sauce.   One day I will crack that recipe!  Here is one of the new ones, enjoy!  Oh and don’t forget the homemade corn chips!!!

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Red Hot Red Pepper Sauce
Author: 
Recipe type: Sauces
Prep time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 6 red peppers
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 red Jalapeño
  • ¼ white onion
  • Small handful of cilantro
Instructions
  1. Slice peppers in half lengthwise.
  2. Place on shallow pan in broiler, skin side up.
  3. Or line bottom of broiler with foil.
  4. Cook peppers til skin is black on most of the pepper.
  5. Check regularly so as not to burn peppers or housed down!
  6. When peppers are done place on plate to cool.
  7. In the meantime, Chop onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro and put in blender or food processor.
  8. Peel skin off peppers and put them with the rest of the ingredients.
  9. Blend till smooth
  10. Salt and pepper to taste.
  11. Serve warm or cold.
Notes
You can also roast peppers directly on stove tops open flame, but this is only for experienced cooks.

 

Christmas Hot Sauce

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This year we decided to make hot sauces for Christmas.  To say it has been an experiment is a bit of an understatement.  You’d think easy, hospital right? We’ll not so easy. It’s sort of like a martini.  There may only be a couple ingredients, pilule but if they aren’t in the right proportions you’re screwed.  Or like us, visit this site running out of the kitchen, opening all your windows and gasping for air. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving! We practically drank a whole gallon of milk and consumed almost a whole bag of chips.  But we kept going and I think we came up with some compelling sauces.  Just don’t ask us to remake them! Of course we do have a couple that can be remade and here is one that is sure to please even the most sensitive pallet.

Chili's and hot sauce

 

2 Pasilla dried peppers

2 Ancho dried peppers

1 Chipotle dried pepper

1 garlic clove

1 cup of vinegar

salt and pepper

 

Soak peppers in  warm water till they are soft.   Pull off stems and discard.  Some of the inside guts will come with the stem, that’s fine.   Save chile water.  Put chiles in blender and add garlic, vinegar and a little salt and pepper.  Blend till mixed.  You can also use food processor.   If you want a chunky sauce then you are done.   If you want a thinner sauce, then use a sieve the get all the chunks out. If it is still too thick then add some of the chile water to get the consistency you want.

Goodbye City Life! At Least For The Weekend Anyway

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We began our adventure in a car we rented for the weekend, buy information pills driving 14 hours each way. I’m talking about our recent adventure to Tennessee, symptoms where we hoped to soak up nature and live as one with the land.  As much as one can get staying in a cabin.     Of course we were roughing it, so to speak. The shower was outdoors, the stove was of the a camping variety, our water came from large jugs, the bathroom was an out house, the light was kerosene lamps and it was heated by a wood burning stove.  What else do you want from a cabin in the woods?  As it turned out, nothing.  It was perfect, peaceful and quiet.  Mother Nature graced us with wonderful warm weather.  It may have been November but it could easily had been late September.  We walked the land, marveled at streams that when it rains become dangerous rivers, chopped wood, went to bed early and rose with the sunrise, saw old friends and made some new ones, all while preparing and eating some amazing food.  We even drove into town to the local Piggly Wiggly to get supplies.

There’s something amazing about the mountains in Tennessee.  I grew up in a few different environments, one of them was the mountains in California and to this day, I don’t get the same feeling of peace as I do when I’m here.   It’s a place that you want to sit back take it slow do some chores and cook till you have filled your pantry with goodies and your belly with food.  Lucky for us we arrived just in time for a late lunch and a stroll around the property.  Our guide led us around and showed us some old homestead from early settlers and gave us a history lesson on who would have lived there before and what they would have farmed.  To me seeing history is always more fascinating then reading it.  When we were done getting the tour we took in the incredible sunset on top of the tool shed, and then it was back to the cabin to burn some wood and get cracking on dinner.   Grilled corn with sausages and a warm salad with a honey vinegar dressing.

The next day we were left to our own devices.  With our guide driving back to his home in Colorado we started the morning with breakfast  and a leisurely stroll.  We visited friends who lived nearby, catching up on their latest projects, chopped wood and  traveled into town for more supplies.  That night we slow cooked some beans on the wood stove, drank whiskey, listened to the radio and played cards.  Not bad for a Saturday night!!

Our last day we started it off with left over beans and eggs steamed over grilled onions and of course bacon.  After our hearty breakfast we took one last stroll said our goodbyes to the neighbors and headed back to NYC and our city lives.