Blackberry-Jalapeno hot sauce

One of my goals each summer (since last year anyway) is to prepare a batch of hot sauce. Of course, being an entropic chef, I can't just go with one of the tried-and-true recipes to be found online; nope, it's time to get creative!

This particular recipe started forming in my mind when I found the purple jalapeno plants in our garden were beginning to produce some moderate yields. The deep purple color just begged to be paired with a dark, flavorful fruit, so I picked up some blackberries to give the sauce its body. As I continued to form the sauce in my mind, I kept coming back to something dark, rich, and complex... maybe akin to a fruitier version of Pickapeppa. So, I thought: let's start with some onions and garlic, sauteed until well-browned, then blend in the peppers and berries, some balsamic, a toss of raisins, maybe a spoonful of cocoa, and finally some cardamom to keep things fresh.

Then I thought that maybe I oughta get the peppers nice and smoky by grilling them with some smoke pellets. That, as I will point out later, was probably a mistake.

Here's what I ended up using:

8 small purple jalapenos, skewered and grilled with smoke pellets
2 large red jalapenos, skewered and grilled with smoke pellets
1 poblano pepper, skewered and grilled with smoke pellets
1/2 pint blackberries
1 small white onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
~1 Tbsp grapeseed oil (any light oil will do)
~1/4-1/2 cup dark raisins
~3 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
~5 Tbsp white vinegar
~1 Tbsp cocoa powder
seeds of 5 cardamom pods, ground

I took care of the grilling first, keeping the grill closed to make a smoke chamber for ~10 minutes, then opening it up and putting the peppers closer to the coals to blacken the skins. Once cool, the peppers were peeled and set aside with seeds and ribs intact. Meanwhile, I sauteed the onions with the oil for ~10 minutes on medium-low, then added the garlic and continued cooking for about another 10 minutes until both garlic and onion were nice and brown. The onions and garlic went into the blender along with the peppers, blackberries, raisins, cocoa, and cardamom, until everything was just blended. Then I added the vinegars bit by bit, blending with the highest setting between additions, until the consistency was something like a thin BBQ sauce and the sauce tasted sufficiently acidic (a glass of milk was kept handy to cleanse my palate between tastings!) When the sauce was ready, I strained it to remove the seeds (pepper and blackberry) and put it into a sterilized pint jar, which it filled perfectly.

As I mentioned before, I'd probably skip the smoking step if I were to do it again. I severely underestimated the amount of smoke these peppers would absorb (my previous smoking experience has been with meats and potatoes). Probably just grilling them would have been enough, maybe a dab of liquid smoke later on depending on flavor. Apart from the overpowering smokiness, though, the sauce seems to have turned out pretty well. I'm letting it mellow in the fridge for a bit, hoping the flavors blend some more, so we'll see what it's like in a couple of weeks. At the very least, I should be able to salvage it by incorporating it into a large batch of BBQ sauce.

Smoked ginger-wasabi pork and stuffed yellow peppers

Ah, the weather is warm and that means it's grilling season! Tonight's meal: smoked pork cutlets and stuffed pepper (also smoked).

I started with three smallish, thin pork cutlets. First, I rubbed some ginger-wasabi spice mix/meat rub onto the cutlets. If you don't happen to have access to a World Market, a mix of the following will probably cut it pretty close:

-mustard powder
-brown sugar
-salt
-garlic powder
-ginger
-pepper
-wasabi powder

After the rub had been applied, I stuck the cutlets in a plastic bag and drizzled a teaspoon or two each of white wine vinegar, olive oil, and maple syrup and mooshed the bag around a little before sealing and setting aside.

For the pepper stuffing, I started with about 2 inches of old baguette, sliced into 1-cm cubes (yeah, yeah, mixed units, I know). Then, I added some dried herbs (sage, savory, and rosemary) and onion powder plus salt, black pepper, and some red pepper flakes. As a binder, I used a a mixture of melted butter, melted cream cheese, and milk. After stirring it up, it didn't seem quite wet enough, so I added a splash of vinegar and white wine, which I think made the whole thing come together nicely (some egg probably would have been suitable here as well, but I didn't have one on hand). After soaking for a half-hour or so, into the hollowed-out yellow pepper it went!

I fired up the grill using some hardwood charcoal and a packet of smoke pellets. Both the pepper and the porks went onto the upper rack so as not to get too much direct cooking, as I was going for the slower smoke treatment. I let it cook for about half an hour with the top vent on the grill closed so as to trap the smoke in the cooking chamber. The end result was smoke-darkened but still juicy pork, and a deliciously browned stuffed pepper!