Spicy Ketchup 1.0

This ketchup smells amazing while it is cooking. Aaaa....Maz...ing! I think I would make it for that reason alone. ;) The recipe is from Michael Symon and his book Live to Cook. I tinkered with the ingredients of course, changing out the peppers to suit my tastes....along with a few other things. I do skip running the final ketchup through a sieve at the end of the puree stage. The texture could be smoother, but I'm content without going to the extra effort.

I'm surprised it took me so long to try making my own ketchup actually. I'm even more surprised I haven't done my own BBQ sauce yet. Ehehehe. I am a BBQ hound and nothing makes me happier than Paul firing up the grill on the weekend.

I keep about half a cup on hand in the fridge and freeze the rest in half cup servings. I use a lot less ketchup than I used to. Freezing in ice cube trays would probably work nicely as well. So much less salt than bottled ketchup let me tell you. Watch what tomato paste you use though...most paste is very low in salt but a couple brands really do pack it in there.


Spicy Ketchup 1.0

1 onion, diced
2 banana peppers, diced
1 anaheim pepper, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
1.5 tbls diced garlic
1 tbls olive oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbls brown sugar
1 tsp cumin
1 cinnamon stick
6 oz can tomato paste
2 tbls apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cajun seasoning

Saute onion, garlic, peppers, and red pepper flakes in olive oil over medium high heat in skillet. Add brown sugar, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, cajun seasoning, tomato paste, and vinegar. Stir together and cook for a few minutes. Add 4 cups water to mixture and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for one hour. Remove cinnamon stick. Puree mixture and then chill. Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

Roasted Vegetable Spread

After I made the Tzatziki I realized a Greek yogurt base makes an awesome jumping off point for a dip or a sandwich spread. And lo' the experimentation has begun. My beloved hubby is of course my official taste tester....ehehehe. It's a tough job but he does the needful. ;)

Now you don't have to use Greek yogurt....you can use a standard plain yogurt if you need to. Your end result is going to be thinner. You could also drain off some of the whey from standard yogurt in a pinch to thicken it up...but I try to avoid those extra steps. Quick and easy is the way I like it.


Roasted Vegetable Spread

8 oz non fat plain Greek yogurt
2 Anaheim peppers
1/2 small zucchini
1/3 sweet onion
1 tbls diced garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbls lime juice
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp peppered bacon salt

Slice up the peppers, zucchini, and onion into smallish sections. Roast under the broiler for about 10 minutes or so until you are happy with the color. Toss the roasted vegetables into the food processor or blender with the garlic and blend until fairly smooth. Let the mixture cool. Mix together all the remaining ingredients. Stir in the cooled vegetable puree. You can use immediately, but it always better to chill for a couple hours if you can to let the flavors mesh together. Nom!


A couple pics of the process...
I should have cut the zucchini thinner actually to get a better roast....which I will do next time. I am not the most patient person so I declared them good enough. ;) If you are using cloves of garlic you can roast them along with the other vegetables. My garlic is already diced so that's a no go for me.


Roasted vegetable puree....it was fairly thick and smooth which is the texture you are looking for. Ehehehe.....just ignore the skerry green color. Reminds me off this meatloaf I made once with that green ketchup they had out back in the day. Talk about a dish you had to eat with your eyes closed. I have a sudden yen to watch the movie Better Off Dead now.

Hot Pepper Sauce

So very many hot pepper sauces and condiments are loaded with salt that I decided to try out my own quick hot pepper sauce. Salt content has really motivated a lot of experimentation in the last year....ehehehe. Anywho, this is a super fast and tasty recipe. Generally I don't keep it in the fridge beyond a week, but it rarely lasts that long. This recipe makes around half a cup give or take.

Hot Pepper Sauce

20 dried hot red peppers
2 tbls apple cider vinegar
1 slice sweet onion
1 tbls garlic
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp salt (or to taste)

Hydrate peppers in hot water for about an hour. De-stem and squeeze out excess water from the hydrated peppers as you toss them into a blender. Add in remaining ingredients and blend everything together until smooth. Pour container and chill. (You can also simmer the sauce after you blend everything together if you want to go a step further...sometimes I do this and sometimes I don't.)


Hydrating peppers the easy way...so much harder for me to keep all the peppers pressed under the water in a bowl rather than a mug. Do you have to use dried peppers in this sauce? Heck no. You could use fresh peppers, but the volume would be a problem if you are using larger peppers. I think you would end up with less heat in the end. I usually don't see fresh peppers in the cayenne style, but that could just be my grocery.



I love the little bullet blender type deal for this sauce. It's a relatively small amount of ingredients so I get a smoother blend.