Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff

Crucial

I will try and revisit this thread soon Hooroo. On a break at Tolaga bay at present. Have a good recipe for a BBQ sauce (tomato based) using smoked chillis. Smoking and part drying your tomatoes and then freezing the result is awesome for stews and such during winter. Adds a good punch of flavor

Hooroo

Brilliant! Thanks, Crucial. I have another 4 or 5 annual ( The 50 planted are Perennial Manzano and last up to 15 years apparently) so I will still have plenty of chili this year to do that recipe

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MajorRage" data-cid="550929" data-time="1452042092">
I made a batch of mull for mulled wine this festive season and yeah I hear you on the sugar front. 1kg of sugar for 1.5 litres of water. not as bad as it sounds in that you only use 150ml for a bottle of wine - so around 20 teaspoons. Hence, if you have a glass, then you have around 4 teaspoons of sugar. 
Hmmm, ok it's bad. When did society become so sugar obsessed.</blockquote>
Gareth Morgans latest crusade is over sugar , by the time he jumps on a bandwagon it's usually peaked or no one but him gives a shit about it anyway.

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Hooroo" data-cid="550930" data-time="1452042237">
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Yeah, pretty chuffed wtih the harvest and True-loves plaiting of it.
 
I was hoping this thread would lead to decent relishes as we have looking at about million tomatoes this year.
 
Also have planted 50 perennial chilli plants (Rocoto) <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum_pubescens'>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum_pubescens</a> I have never had a chilli with so much flavour. Pack a real punch too. They are a year from maturing as we grew them from seeds which has been quite a process but every seed germinated, to our surprise. I cannot wait to make relishes and pickles with these bad boys.
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Yeah I'd like to get in on some chilli sauces and the like, they easy to grow? I got some capsicum growing at the moment, so chillis should be easy too?
 
but yeah I was hoping we might get some good recipes too as my trees and stuff mature and starts providing me natures goodness.

Hooroo

Very easy to grow and your environment (Northland) would be perfect for them. If you are passing by my neck of the woods on the way back to Whangarei let me know and I will give you one of these perrenial Chilis that grow into a bush for pretty much year round chilis.

Godder

Isn't pectin the main setting agent in jam? Or does that not really do anything?

reprobate

pectin is a standard jam setting agent, the amount in there naturally varies quite a bit by fruit though.

reprobate

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="550932" data-time="1452042679">
<div>
I will try and revisit this thread soon Hooroo. On a break at Tolaga bay at present. Have a good recipe for a BBQ sauce (tomato based) using smoked chillis. Smoking and part drying your tomatoes and then freezing the result is awesome for stews and such during winter. Adds a good punch of flavor
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</blockquote>
true, i haven't tried smoking them, that's on the list. oven semi-dried tomatoes with a few herbs are pretty sweet.

taniwharugby

yeah there was a few pages about the pectins and acids and it says sugar plays an important part of helping the pectins gel.

NTA

Now you pricks have me thinking about food.
 
I cooked dinner tonight (I'm on hols, Mrs TA back at work). Salad in a sort of greek style, but instead of fetta, use fried Haloumi Cheese (get it just brown on each side in a little bit of butter).
 
Its the shit, and would work well with the semi-dried tomatoes and/or some lightly fried pine nuts.

reprobate

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="551029" data-time="1452080820">
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Now you pricks have me thinking about food.
 
I cooked dinner tonight (I'm on hols, Mrs TA back at work). Salad in a sort of greek style, but instead of fetta, use fried Haloumi Cheese (get it just brown on each side in a little bit of butter).
 
Its the shit, and would work well with the semi-dried tomatoes and/or some lightly fried pine nuts.
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fuckin oath mate, get some pomegranate in there too, macadamias or pine nuts, figs avo and bacon - some salads you can make friends with.

taniwharugby

Haloumi is great on kebabs on the the BBQ

dogmeat

OK as no one has actually posted a recipe I will kick it off with an easy as tomato sauce for the glut of fresh toms in the garden
 
Tomato Sauce
 
500 gm tomatoes 
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and pressed or finely minced
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) honey
1/4 cup balsamic
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
 
1) Peel and core toms chop into Â½ cm cubes
2) Mix everything together in a pot and simmer for one hour with the lid off so it will reduce and thicken. Stir regularalrly to prevent sticking.
3) Force it through a strainer. Put it back on simmer, lid off, until it is thick. Taste it and adjust any seasonings to your taste. Bottle once cool. Keep refrigerated.
 
Throw in whatever else takes your fancy. I often use smoked paprika or any sort of ras el hanout, harrissa that I have spare. Chuck in your favourite herb. Smoked chilli's will add nice heat. I grow and smoke my own but Moreno brand chipotles in the international section of all the major supermarkets are good.

Hooroo

Out of curiosity, why dried thyme? (I only ask as I have alot of it growing round the place)

taniwharugby

how much does that make DM?
 
Sounds great!

dogmeat

Hooroo
 
Variety of reasons - most people don't have a lot of thyme growing. You'd need 8 tsps. of fresh. Its a pain in the arse picking 8 tsps. of fresh time coz you def don't want the stalks. You tend to add fresh thyme at the end of a dish because too much cooking will destroy the flavonoids. But if you've got fresh thyme and want to use it then do just add it towards the end of the process. Its definitely a superior flavour as with all things fresh.
 
OK another easy as recipe for adding instant heat to a sauce or as a rub.
 
1 red capsicum
50 grams dried ancho chillis (I just use a handful and adjust to taste later)
50 grams dried chipotle chillis
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
1 teaspoon seasalt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
 
Boil some water - cut the stems off chillis and remove seeds if you're a wuss. Rehydrate the dried chillis in water for about 30 mins until soft. Cut into 1/4 cm cubes
 
Roast the capsicum on the bbq or over gas flame or in oven until really black. Place in plastic bag and leave for 10 mins. Then peel skin remove stem and seeds and cut into 1 cm cubes
toast the spices in a pan until fragrant and then grind in a pestle to a powder. Grind garlic and salt to paste 
Blitz everything in processor. Add more oil if too dry for your liking. Adjust seasoning to taste
 
Use according to how hot it is to your personal taste. As a rub of to give a kick to a sauce. It'll make a couple of cups. Keep in fridge.
 
TR - It'll make about 250 mls of tom sce

Hooroo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="dogmeat" data-cid="551063" data-time="1452113483">
<div>
Hooroo
 
Variety of reasons - most people don't have a lot of thyme growing. You'd need 8 tsps. of fresh. Its a pain in the arse picking 8 tsps. of fresh time coz you def don't want the stalks. You tend to add fresh thyme at the end of a dish because too much cooking will destroy the flavonoids. But if you've got fresh thyme and want to use it then do just add it towards the end of the process. Its definitely a superior flavour as with all things fresh.
 
OK another easy as recipe for adding instant heat to a sauce or as a rub.
 
1 red capsicum
50 grams dried ancho chillis (I just use a handful and adjust to taste later)
50 grams dried chipotle chillis
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
1 teaspoon seasalt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
 
Boil some water - cut the stems off chillis and remove seeds if you're a wuss. Rehydrate the dried chillis in water for about 30 mins until soft. Cut into 1/4 cm cubes
 
Roast the capsicum on the bbq or over gas flame or in oven until really black. Place in plastic bag and leave for 10 mins. Then peel skin remove stem and seeds and cut into 1 cm cubes
toast the spices in a pan until fragrant and then grind in a pestle to a powder. Grind garlic and salt to paste 
Blitz everything in processor. Add more oil if too dry for your liking. Adjust seasoning to taste
 
Use according to how hot it is to your personal taste. As a rub of to give a kick to a sauce.
 
TR - It'll make about 250 mls
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Just Yum!!!
 
I'm going to make that. We only have fresh chillis at the moment but I guess I can also roast them over the bbq too.
 
That rub will be on my next bbq's chicken

taniwharugby

drying chillis, tomatoes etc, how do you guys do it?
 
I tried and failed miserably a few years back.

Hooroo

For my chillis, I just put them on a rack inside and the dried out enough that I could store them in a jar. Lasted nearly 11 months before I got through them.
 
Chillis are amazing. When I first met true-love, she could barely tolerate a capsicum.... Now she asks for more heat. Nearly every time I under do it worried it will be too much. They other day, she out tolerated me with a spicy we number.
 
Amazing how the tolerance builds if you do it slowly. Then it becomes an addiction! and we all love an addiction!

dogmeat

Thin chillis will dry on a window sill, but with toms and chillis I use an oven 
 
I slice the toms and season Chillis cut in half - roast overnight in a low oven (80 degrees C) with door slightly open. You want to dry them not cook them.
 
Same Hooroo with the smokinmg of the chillis. I have a cold smoker so its easy but you need to smoke over a low heat as low as you can manage

The Silver Fern

Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff