Nuts in My Mouth (keepin' it sweet & spicy!)

Holy Christmas batman!

...oh, and hello!...

I've been catching up with all my blog reading and blog writing and photography editing and pinterest ogling and everything else that keeps my computer turned on and running 12 hours a day and I am floored by all the Christmas that has infiltrated my computer already!

It's only the first real week of November and already it's like Christmas has puked all over my computer. Luckily, Christmas is puke that I welcome with open arms. And an open mouth!

That's right. I love me some Christmas. And I hold no shame when I say I am pleased as a pickle in punch at a party to put my tree up the day after Halloween. 

It isn't about the gifts - though there is nothing better than sitting in the dark with the glow of the tree lights radiating off beautifully wrapped presents. It isn't about the Jesus - I'm no Christian, swear to god. And it's definitely not about the fruit cake - blech! It's about the feeling that comes with the season.

The warm sparkle that flurries inside me and pours out of the shops and garland and cookies and crafts and music. It's about warm fires, glitter and Garfield's Christmas Special. 

BTW - I haven't been able to catch that particular show the past couple of years - if anyone has a copy I'd kill for it. Or at the very least send you a brilliant thank you card. 

Yes. I love me some Christmas.

Which is why I'm throwing a holiday recipe at you at the beginning of November. Because while John won't let me put the tree up until December, I can still make holiday friendly food. 

Sweet & Spicy Nuts

(printable recipe) - serves 6.

Ingredients:

2 C Mixed Nuts - I like cashews, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans and walnuts.

1/2 C Brown Sugar.

1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper.

1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon.

1 Tsp Salt.

1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract.

1 Egg White.

1 Tbsp Water.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees F.

As your oven heats, gently beat the egg, water and vanilla together until lightly frothy.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, save for the nuts.

Dump the nuts into the egg wash and then add the dry stuff. Mix well.

Pour onto a baking sheet and spread out so the nuts are one layer.

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir. 

Allow to cool completely - stirring every once in a while to ensure even coating of the sugar/spice mixture.

 Eat.

Do you love Christmas? Loathe it? What about it? 

 Is it too early to start celebrating?

Pickled Fennel with Orange

 Good morning sugar pops!

There are some traditions we could stand to lose - witch burning, paying for medical care, exclusively heterosexual marriage... 

But then there are some that we need to fervently grab onto. 

One of these, is preserving food.

It's something many of our parents, their parents, and their parents before that have done for centuries but in a pro-mass produced, anti-think consumer culture it seems to have fallen by the way side. After all, why would we go to all that trouble to collect an abundance of one particular food stuff, process it ourselves and make space to keep it in when the big chain grocery store down the street has everything we could possibly ever want or need? 

For me there are three reasons.

First, it's a well known fact that Vancouver Island has only about 3 days worth of food available to us, should all shipments cease due to natural or man made disaster. That's not very long. And when people get hungry, they get scary. It only makes good food sense to make sure we have our own back ups in case of emergency. And if you don't believe me, ask the folks at Doomsday Preppers.

source

Second, all that handy-dandy-ready food at the grocery store? Most of it's filled with shit you don't wanna eat. From GMO corn and soy, to artificial "natural" flavors and colors, to preservatives, to who the ef knows what else. Every action has an opposite and equal reaction. In other words, everything you eat effects how you feel, look, and do. What do you think those additives, fillers, replacements, etc... affect you?

And third, it's fucking fun. And if it isn't, it should be. Preserving food - whether it's curing, canning, pickling or otherwise - is a fundamental knowledge to our survival as a species. That's pretty neat. And the more we embrace that, the more bourbon soaked cherries we'll have for the year. Now that's fun.

For this week's recipe from another blog, I decided to opt less for boozy fruit and more for citrusy fennel - if for no other reason than because I got a shit ton of fennel from our CSA over the past 2 weeks. ¡DPM! Does - a Brooklyn based duo creating recipes from Clara's Abuelita  in Argentina - make a damned good batch of pickled fennel. So I'm sharing it with you...

Pickled Fennel with Orange
(printable recipe) - makes 1 500ml Jar.

Ingredients:

4 Medium Sized Bulbs of fennel, very thinly sliced (a mandoline is useful here).

1 Tsp Fine Sea Salt.

1 Orange for zest cut into thin strips.

6 Tbsp white wine vinegar.

6 Tbsp orange juice.

2 Tbsp sugar.

4 Whole black peppercorns, cracked.
A Couple Sprigs of Fennel Tops (optional).


What to Do:

Toss the sliced fennel in a shallow bowl with the salt. Let them stand for one hour.

Meanwhile, sterilize your jar(s), lid(s), and ring(s). You can do this in a water bath canner if you have one or if you don't just use a very deep wide stock pot with one of those old fashioned metal steamers laid out in the bottom. This will keep the jars off the bottom of the pot so they don't break. Fill the pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Using a pair of tongs with rubber bands wrapped around the ends to prevent slippage, carefully place the jars, lids and rings in the water in batches so they fit comfortably with 1 to 2" of water above the jars and boil/sterilize for about 15 minutes. Carefully lift jars, lids and rings out of the water and set aside on a clean, dry surface. Sterilized!

If any brine exists in the bowl after this time, drain and toss the slices with the orange zest. Pack them into a sterilized pint jar, placing a fennel sprig or two against the side of the jar is using.

In a saucepan, heat the vinegar, orange juice, sugar and peppercorns over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Pour the hot liquid over the fennel, leaving 3/4" of head space at the top of the jar. 

Secure rims and lids on the jars and place back in the boiling water to ensure seal for 15 minutes. Carefully remove from the water and allow to set and cool to room temperature. You may hear a "ping" noise coming from the jars - this is an excellent sign. Once cool, check to make sure the rings have in fact sealed and refrigerate any that don't.

Those that are sealed can be stored for many weeks while any open jars should be used within a week or two.

Eat.

Do you know how to preserve food? How about small rodents? Do you think "preserving" this kind of knowledge is important?

 

This post is linked up with Cast Party Wednesday; Whole Foods Wednesday; Fresh Foods Blog Hop; Frugal Days Sustainable Ways; Full Plate Thursday; Keep It Real Thursday; Showcase Your Talent; Tastetastic Thursday; Wellness Weekends; Fresh Bites Friday; Foodie Friday; Carnival of Home Preserving.

Citrus-Habanero Hot Sauce

The Lowdown:

I just returned from a lovely trip with my family from the Dominican Republic. It was great; however, the trip lacked one thing (other than a direct flight home without a million hours of lay overs), and that was food with a kick to it. I often forget that when I don't cook for myself, I don't get what I want. I'm a very craving-based person. I guess you could say that I'm the male version of a pregnant lady. I want what I want, and I want it now. What I want now, is some freakin' spicy food. Not spicy like, "I put this shit on everything." Spicy like, "I just shit on everything." I want sweat to form under my eyes. If any of you are into spicy food, you know that when your eyes sweat it's the real deal. I understand that the scoville scale describes heat levels in a scientific manner, however the under eye sweats (UES) were around way before anyone fathomed that scale. The scale is below for those of you who'd like to readjust the spiciness of the hot sauce.

cookthink.com (2012)

I suppose my cravings for spicy food started with my father. Bless his heart. It's nice going into any variety of ethnic restaurants and saying, "bring it bitches, I got what it takes." When I was a child, my father prepared several meals loosely based on dishes from one of Chef Paul Prudhomme's cookbooks. Of course, I complained about the heat back then, like any child that was good at annoying the hell out of their parents would. That is, until the timer was put on. Oh yes, the timer. It was my arch nemesis for many a year. The rule was simple: finish what you served yourself. If you didn't, the consequence was simple: a timer was set to finish your food, and if you didn't do it in the allotted time your food was doubled. I'm sure they did this out of pure torture so they could laugh about it in future years. But, it worked. Oh did it ever work. To be honest, it may be one the sole reason that I'm much more adventurous with my food now. I digressed. The point was that I was exposed to UES from a very young age, and I'm now at the point where I need a good UES every so often.

One point to make! Cut the onions before you handle your peppers! I've had habanero in my eye before and it is about the same pain as getting your balls run over by Optimus Prime. If you'd feel safer, or are particularly injury prone please wear gloves and don't wear contacts. Shit, if you still have your chemistry safety goggles I suggest you wear those. Habaneros are nasty little things and you'll regret your life if you screw up.

 

This all started when I looked at the ingredients on the back of one of my hot sauces. There was literally six ingredients, two of which were words that clearly weren't natural. Instead, they were man-made crap. Well six ingredients soon turned into 13 to add some flavour, so that when this is all said and done, it should be about 25,000 - 50,000 scovilles. So here begins another culinary escapade.Without further ado, I'm going to make a UES worthy citrus - habanero - total - destruction - mouth - numbing - ass - burning - under - eye - sweating hot sauce. Take that timer, who's the bitch now?! Apparently revenge is best served... HOT!

The Playlist:

13 Habanero peppers, stems removed

6 Morita peppers (slightly smoked red jalapenos)**

1 Orange, zested and juiced

1 large Carrot, chopped

1 medium Red onion, chopped

3 cloves Garlic, chopped
2 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Spanish paprika (for colouring)**

1 1/4 cup Lime juice

1 cup Apple cider vinegar (unfermented)*

3/4 cup Champagne berry vinegar*

1/2 cup Canola/Vegetable oil

1 cup Water

* I chose to use these for their distinct flavours, but you can substitute for white vinegar.

** Optional ingredients. I chose the morita peppers to add a distinct smoky flavour and the paprika is solely to add a nice red colouring without adding any flavour.

The Skinny:

1. Add all ingredients into a sauce pan except for the oil, paprika, orange juice, and habanero peppers. Cover with a tight fitting lid and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and allow enough time to cool.
3. If you desire a liquid hot sauce like Frank's, then strain the liquid into a blender and add the whole habanero peppers, orange juice, oil, and paprika. Blend for 2-3 minutes until mixture is smooth with no chunks.
   
   If you desire a less spicy, but more flavourful hot sauce combined the contents of the pot with the remaining ingredients and blend all together. This will create a more viscous hot sauce. As previously stated, it is substantially less spicy, but more flavourful.
4. Put into glass jars and refrigerate. The sauce will become spicier over time, so be patient if it isn't quite up to snuff.

 Stay rad - h

Featured in: Mandy's Recipe Box 33 Shades of Green Chef in Training Food Renegade  Premeditated Leftovers