Why does some Mexican food taste so much better when we have it dining out versus making the same dish at home? Part of the secret may be achiote oil.

Annatto seeds (achiote in Spanish) are deep red seeds with a great rich earthy/nutty taste. They make up the base of achiote pastes and sazón seasonings that give many Mexican dishes a wonderful depth. Cooking the annatto seeds in a hot neutral oil for a few minutes infuses it with all that wonderfulness and gives you and easy way to bump up the color and flavor of a dish.

1 tablespoon annatto seeds
1/2 cup peanut oil

Heat the oil and annatto seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat until the seeds just start to sizzle. Hold the sizzle, swirling the oil often, for 1 minute and then move off the heat and let it cool. Don’t cook the seed much longer than this or they will burn, turn bitter, and make the oil green (yuck).

Carefully strain the oil (annato is used as a food dye, so it will stain just about anything it touches) into a glass jar (I use an old hot sauce bottle).  Store on the counter top for up to 4 days and in the fridge for at up to a month.

Use a little achiote oil to  add a deep flavor and color to almost any dish. It’s traditional in yellow rice, but it’s also a nice base to sauté some garlic and onions in for veggie dishes, or I like to use it as part of a marinade for seafood.

The fine folks over at Cholula Hot Sauce were nice enough to send me a 4-pack of their sauces to try out. I’ve been a big fan of their original sauce for years. It doesn’t have much heat or vinegar, but it’s got a solid chili taste that works great on almost any Mexican dish.

There are now 3 new flavors of Cholula – Chili Garlic, Chili Lime, and Chipotle. Of the three, the Chili Lime caught my attention first. I thought it would be a great addition to my Shimp Ceviche recipe.

1 pound cooked medium (41-50) shrimp, shelled and deveined (get the freshest you can find)
Juice of 2 limes (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup cocktail sauce (Trader Joe’s in this case, but any sauce with some horseradish in it will work fine)
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tablespoons Cholula chili Lime hot sauce
16 – 24 pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 avocado, sliced the long way

In a large, non-reactive bowl, combine the shrimp, salt, and lime juice. Let this sit for about 5 minutes. Add the onion, cilantro, cocktail sauce, jalapeños, oil, Worcestershire, horseradish, hot sauce, and olives. Mix well and let sit in the fridge for about an hour so the flavors all get to know each other.

Arrange the avocado strips into a little nest on a small plate or bowl. Mound the ceviche in the center of the strips.  Serve with lime wedges, more hot sauce, and tortilla chips or (strangely, but traditional) saltine crackers.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
This dish just screams sand and surf. I really liked the addition of the last little tomatoes from our garden. They are so perfectly ripe and intense that they are just little flavor bombs.

The Cholula Chili Lime Hot Sauce really shines here – the base chili flavor isn’t too hot (more flavor than fire) and the zip of the lime brings out the freshness and sweetness of the shrimp. I think it’d be great with almost any seafood.

Next time I’d use a different size shrimp. I’d either go large/jumbo so you could pluck the shrimp out with a fork and scoop the remaining sauce up with a chip, or use little cocktail shrimp so you could just scoop the the whole works up.

I wanted to try a version of my Sticky Hog sauce using honey as the main sweetener.

1 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).

Bottle and store in the fridge.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
This is maybe an even better sauce than Sticky Hog. It has plenty of kick, but the honey gives it a rounder, more mellow taste. I think the addition of mustard and reduction in the amount of black pepper also helps round out the flavor. The allspice brings a nice warm sweetness to everything.

Notes for version 2.0 – maybe a little more allspice, maybe regular chili powder instead of ancho, and maybe try 50/50 brown sugar and honey.

Sometimes you need a little help. We had a friend visiting from out-of-town and I wanted to put together a nice meal on the Big Green Egg. We also had a lot of other things that we wanted to do, but was really feeling short on time.  Lucky for me, I hit these two two saviors while I was digging through our pantry.

SAN-J makes a lot of gluten-free sauces, but they are hard to find in our local grocery stores. Fortunately, I’d run into a bunch of them at an Asian market and grabbed a few to try.

Peanut Noodles
3/4 pound dried spaghetti (use corn or rice noodles to make it gluten-free)
1 (10-ounce) bottle SAN-J Gluten Free Thai Peanut Sauce
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips

Cook the pasta according to the direction on the package until al dente (if you are going to let this sit in the fridge, shorten the cooking time for a little firmer pasta). Drain into a colander and rinse with cold water.

Dump the pasta and veggies into a lidded container and pour about 2/3 cup of the peanut sauce over them.  Put the lid on and toss to combine. Store in the fridge until just before dinner, then remove and let warm up a bit before serving. Add more sauce and maybe a squirt of sriracha before serving if needed.

Sweet & Tangy Thighs
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 (10-ounce) bottle SAN-J Gluten Free Sweet & Tangy Glaze
4 flat, wooden skewers

Put the chicken in a zip-top bag and pour on enough of the glaze to cover them (about 2/3 cup). Toss to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours. Put the skewers in a pan of water to soak.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high (450°F) heat.

Thread the thighs onto the skewers (about 3 on each). Grill chicken about 10 minutes per side or until the internal temp hits at least 180°F. I like my thighs a little more done, so I went another 10 minutes until the meat started to get a good crispy char on it and the internal temp was 200°F.

Remove the skewers from the grill and let rest 10 minutes before serving over the noodles.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Where these as good as my usual Teriyaki Kabobs and Peanut Noodles? I didn’t think so, but the meal met with rave reviews (although that may have been the Cucumber Margaritas talking), so who am I to argue?

The thighs were indeed sweet and tangy with a good mix of savory umami and bright fruit flavors. The noodles were rich and peanutty and had a nice crunch from the veggies. I would have added a bit more garlic to the chicken and a little lime juice to lighten up the noodles,  but that’s more niggling than complaining. In the end, the trade off in taste was minor for the ease of putting this meal together.

Folks who know me know that I seldom follow a recipe exactly as written. But when fellow blogger Chris at Nibble Me This says that he had a winner of a pork chop recipe, I decided it was best to skip the improvisation and just to straight up copy it .

2 bone-in pork chops
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup dried cherries, diced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Set up your grill for a direct cook at 450°F.

Combine everything but the chops in a 9×13 flame-proof pan (disposable drip pans work great here).

When the grill is ready, set the pan on the grate and heat just until it is warmed through and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, but keep warm nearby.

Season the chops with a little salt and pepper on each side and toss on the grill. Cook for 2 minutes (these were some thinner chops) and flip. Let them go for another 2 minutes and then move them to the basting pan. Flip to coat both sides.

Cook for another 2 minutes a side. Move them back to the basting pan and flip to coat each side. Do this one more time, then move the pan (chops and all) to the grill and let everything bubble, flipping often, until the chops hit 135°F internal.

Remove from the heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes.  Serve with the glaze spooned over the top.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
Chris was right – he nailed it. I take zero credit for this dish (other than being smart enough to know a great recipe when I borrow one). Even though the chops were thin, the glaze kept them moist and added that wonderful sweet/tart flavor that goes so well with pork.

I’d make this again with no hesitation, but maybe with a little mustard… Yeah, that’d be nice. And maybe apples instead of cherries? Hmmmm… Maybe a little garlic? And more bourbon for the cook? Why not?

It was warm enough over the weekend that we could finally sit out on our deck. To celebrate, I made up these Mediterranean-ish kabobs. Marinating the meat overnight not only added a ton of flavor, but helped to keep it moist and tender despite the high grill temps and short cooking times.

Step 1 – Get Everything Marinating

Beef Kabobs

1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into large cubes
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1  teaspoon dried oregano (Turkish if you can get it)
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Put the garlic and salt in a food processor and give it a spin until the garlic is minced. Add the parsley, rosemary, oregano, oil, and lemon juice. Process until well-mixed.

Put the steak in a zip-top bag and cover with the marinade. Toss to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.

Chicken Kabobs

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into large cubes
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (full fat)
1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper (or 2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper plus 1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano (Turkish if you can get it)

In a small bowl, combine yogurt, Aleppo pepper, salt, black pepper, and oregano. Put the chicken in a zip-top bag and cover with the yogurt mixture. Toss to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.

Step 2 – Make the Tzatziki

Tzatziki

1 cup plain Greek yogurt (full fat)
2 tablespoons feta cheese (crumbled)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano (again, Turkish if you can get it)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons mint, finely chopped
1 small cucumber, peeled and grated

Combine every thing in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Step 3 – The Cook

Veggies (and Fruit)

3 bell peppers (red, yellow, and green), chopped into 1  1/2 inch pieces
8 ounces fresh mushrooms
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dried plums
1/2 dried cherries
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garam masala

When you are ready to grill, toss the veggies and dried fruit  together with the oil, vinegar, salt, and garam masala in a large bowl. Let sit while you bring the grill up to temperature.

You’ll need 8 to 10 bamboo skewers. Soak them in water for at least an hour.

Set the grill up for a direct cook over very hot (500°F +) heat.

Using a veggie basket, grill the veggies and fruit (stirring often) until the peppers soften and everything gets a little char on them, about 10 minutes. Remove the veggies to a bowl and keep warm.

Remove the meat from their respective marinades and thread onto skewers (the flat ones work great as they keep the meat from spinning around).  Grill the chicken about 6 minutes per side. Grill the beef for about 3 minutes per side. In both cases you’re looking for some crispy bits on the outside without overcooking the meat.

When the meat is done, remove from the grill and let rest for about 5 minutes. Then remove the meat from the skewers, toss with the veggies, and serve over a rice pilaf with a dollop of the tzatziki.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I really liked the way the flavors of these individual dishes complimented each other – juicy bites of charred-yet-succulent meat, sweet and savory veggies, tangy and refreshing tzatziki, and the rich blend of herbs and spices bringing it all together. It was a little United Nations on a stick.

When I first decided to cook ribs for the weekend, it was a balmy 19°F and I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. By Saturday an arctic airmass had dropped in. When I took the ribs off the Egg for dinner it was 2°F and I was wearing my barbecue gloves more to protect against freezing than flames.

But I was dying to try out my new Sticky Hog barbecue sauce,  so I turned the other frostbitten cheek to my wife’s concern, bundled up, and treated it as one of those “character building” experiences.

I set up my Big Green Egg for a direct cook at 225 to 250°F. I didn’t use a heat diffuser or drip pan, but I did set my grate on a Woo 2 to give me another 8 inches of clearance above the firebox. So the ribs wouldn’t get too crispy, filled my firebox about 3/4 of the way up and made sure I had a uniform layer of well- packed lump charcoal.

While the Egg was heating up, I seasoned the ribs with a generous coating of Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust into both sides.

Once the fire was well-established across the entire firebox – giving me a low, even heat – I added a couple of chunks of smoking wood (guava and apple this time) and adjusted the vents to bring the temperature at the grate down to 225°F.

I arranged the ribs bone side down on the grate, closed the lid, and let them smoke undisturbed for an hour. I flipped them meat side down. I let them cook for another hour. I flipped them again so they were meat side up and let them cook until they had been on 4-1/2 hours total.

I started checking for doneness. Doneness with ribs is determined more by feel than it is by time or temp. A slab of ribs that are done will “break” or almost fold in half and start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. The meat should also have pulled back from the bone at least half an inch from the end of the bones and tugging on a bone should show that it’s ready to come apart.

One of the racks was done at 4 1/2 hours, but the other two where lagging behind, so I slid the larger racks together, stacked the little one on top to protect it from the heat, and let them cook for another 30 minutes.

All of the racks where done at about 5 hours. I flipped them bone side up and brushed them with Sticky Hog barbecue sauce and let them cook for another 15 minutes. I flipped them meat side up sauced them again and let them cook for another 15 minutes. I gave them one last light coat of sauce, removed them from the smoker, and let them sit 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
My dear wife proclaimed these to be the best ribs I’ve ever made. I thought they were just a touch dry, but who am I to argue with her . Doing them raised over direct heat makes them more crisp than tender. They didn’t fall off the bone, but they did surrender gracefully to the bite.

The sauce was pretty remarkable on the meat as well. It stuck (froze?) right to the racks and tightened up into a nice glaze. The tangy sweetness really complimented the meat. This is definitely a keeper sauce.

I’ve been on a quest for a while for a really good barbecue sauce recipe. I’m partial to Kansas City-style sauces. Original Blues Hog Barbecue Sauce and Sticky Pig Barbecue Sauce are two of my favorite commercial sauces. Both feature a great sweet and spicy taste and a thick consistency that really sticks to the meat. I’m not into “clone” recipes, so when I created this one I wanted a fairly simple, gluten-free sauce that was similar to these two, but with its own joys and nuances.

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).

Sticky Pig on the left. Sticky Hog on the right.

Bottle and store in the fridge.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I called my dear wife over to help me taste test this sauce and knew I had a winner when (after a few little adjustments) she was eating it by the spoonful. The pomegranate molasses adds a great sweet/tart flavor and the teaspoon of balsamic vinegar is just enough to smooth the vinegar’s tang and round everything out.

The real test, though, will be this weekend when I try the sauce out on some racks of baby backs. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Remember that pint o’ napalm I brewed up a couple of months ago? Well, I decided to try bottling some of it up as “gifts” this Xmas.

I ordered a case of Woozy 5-ounce round glass bottles with caps and dripper inserts from Specialty Bottle and a pack of 2×4 Post It labels from 3M.

When I finally felt brave enough (after opening the kitchen window and turning on the exhaust fan), I took the original bottle out of the fridge, cracked open, and took a whiff - big mistake. This stuff hadn’t mellowed anymore than battery acid would have. I was surprised it hadn’t eaten clean through the bottle.

I tried to pour it into a sauce pan, but it wouldn’t budge out of the bottle. I added a little hot water and cautiously gave it a little shake to loosen it up. It grudgingly poured out like orange lava.

I rinsed out the bottle with a little more hot water and thinned the sauce with cider vinegar until it got to the consistency I wanted (about a quart of vinegar and a cup of hot water total).

Time to taste. I carefully stuck a toothpick in the sauce and was pleased when it didn’t ignite. I tasted the end of the toothpick – oh, it’s hot, but just hot with no other flavors really coming through at all.

All pain and no flavor makes for a dull hot sauce, so I decided to try boosting the taste. I added 3 tablespoons of kosher salt, a table spoon of brown sugar, and a few grinds of black pepper and gave it another taste – hot, but much better. I could just taste the onion and garlic. It was tangy, but still lacked the bite that the lime and orange juice were supposed to add.

I brought the mix to a simmer and added the juice of one lime and another tablespoon of salt – okay, still really hot, but there is enough other stuff going on taste-wise now to make the pain worth it.

It’s bottling time!

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars
We ended up with 10 bottles – just enough to share for the holidays. It’s a fun little gift to give, and initial reviews have been favorable, but when I try it side by side with Marie Sharp’s there is just no comparison – my sauce has the heat, and some decent flavor, but not nearly as much as it should.

I almost think this is a case where I’d want to make the base (veggies, spices, vinegar) and get it tasting good before I add the chiles.  Certainly worth a try next time.

Another thing I noticed is that the sauce separates pretty quickly, with the clear vinegar moving to the top. This is probably why a lot of hot sauces add a little xanthan gum to the mix.

I take my hot sauces pretty seriously and have amassed a respectable collection, limited only by my dear wife’s desire to have room in the fridge for actual food and my desire to remain happily married.

In their application, I tend to take the terroir approach – sauces from a given region goes best with foods from that region. So Louisiana-style sauces (Crystal, Frank’s, Trappey’s) go with southern cooking like jambalaya or biscuits and gravy, and Mexican sauces (Cholula, Valentina, Búfalo) go with tacos, enchiladas, etc… I do a little mixy matchy (Valentina with a little mayo is killer on sushi), but have yet to find a single hot sauce that really works to compliment a wide variety of foods.

That said – I take my hat off to Suck Creek WFR Hot Sauce.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars

This sauce complements everything I’ve tried it on. So far, I’ve had it on eggs, in my cherished biscuits and gravy, and as a way to brighten up some beef stew. I’ve used it to add some heat to my wing sauce, tacos, and ranch dressing. It has a nice, tangy base of warmth that’s wrapped with black pepper and herbs, and then finished off with a straight up habanero heat.  It’s not as vinegary as Crystal, nor as hot as Marie Sharp’s. The heat is considerable, but not overwhelming. It does, however, build and linger for a while. It may be a bit much for some folks, but’s that’s their own fault. I can see it as my “go-to” heat source for barbecue sauces and marinades.

The versatility of the sauce means that a bottle of WFR now sits on our dining table right next to the salt and pepper. My only wish is that it came in a bigger bottle .

This recipe is a pure product of the internet. It started off as an email from my dear wife asking if scallops sounded good for dinner. Sure thing. I figured I’d just grill them up on skewers, but I wanted a new recipe for a side dish.

Googled grilled scallops – 291,000 results. On about the third page of search results I hit a scallops with roasted red pepper sauce recipe. Looks good, but  not quite it. Wait a minute, didn’t one of the food bloggers I read do a red pepper sauce that had cheese in it?

Google Reader to the rescue – Nibble Me This: Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Sauce for Pasta. Now that’s the ticket. Do I have all the ingredients it calls for? No, but I’m sure Chris won’t mind if I improvise a little .

Red Pepper Pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 medium red bell peppers, cut in half, cored and seeded
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
8 ounces spaghetti noodles (gluten-free in this case)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high (500°F) heat.

Put the peppers on the grill skin side down and roast until most of the skin has blackened (about 5 minutes). Flip and roast the other side until the flesh start to soften (about 3 minutes). Remove the peppers to a large zip-top bag and seal. Let them steam in the bag and cool while you get the rest of the ingredients cooking. Leave the grill up and running because you’ll do the scallops on it after the sauce is ready.

Start the water boiling for the pasta. Heat the oil in a 3 or 4 quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook until they start to soften (about 3 minutes). Remove from the heat and set aside.

Remove the peppers from the bag and peel off the charred skin. Give the peppers a rough chop and add to the onions and garlic. Add the stock, salt, pepper, and paprika and bring the stock to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and, using an immersion blender or food processor, blend everything until it’s pureed. Return puree to the stove and bring to a simmer. Add the cheese and stir to combine. It should form a thick sauce, but feel free to add more stock to thin it or let it simmer for a bit to thicken.

When the sauce is to the right consistency, put a lid on it and turn the heat to low just to keep it warm.

Your pasta water should be boiling by now. Add the spaghetti and prepare according to the directions on the package.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the scallops.

Scallop Skewers

1 1/2 pounds sea scallops
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
6-8 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes

Rinse off the scallops and pat dry.  In a medium bowl, combine the scallops, oil, salt, and paprika. Mix well to coat.

Thread the scallops on the skewers, making sure to leave some space between them.

When the pasta is ready, put the scallops on grill. Cook on high heat for about 2 minutes. flip and cook for another 2 minutes, or just until they turn opaque. Scallops get tough if you over cook them, so pull them off a little early and let them finish cooking on the plate.

I served the scallops with the pasta covered in the red pepper sauce and a side of brussels sprouts.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
The scallops were pretty much perfect – just a little browned on the outside and still very tender. The minimal seasoning really enhanced the flavor.

The red sauce was another story. It was good – sweet and smoky and robust, but it lacked zing. The goat cheese gave it a nice rich taste, but Chris’s recipe called for feta and I think that would have been a better pick.

BTW – brussels sprouts covered in red pepper sauce are almost edible!

The bounty of peppers continues at my office. This time it’s a mixed bunch of habaneros. Good thing, because my last precious bottle of Marie Sharp’s is almost empty and I don’t have another trip to Belize to pick up more scheduled for anytime soon.

For this recipe, I’m looking for a good amount of heat. The orange habaneros run about 350,000 Scoville units, and the red savina will go to a whopping 580,000. But it’s not all about the heat – the veggies and fruit juice are there to tone down the burn and help round out the flavor.

NOTE: Before you even think about making this sauce, turn on your stove’s exhaust vent, open your windows, and don a pair of latex gloves. These peppers will give you a burn that keeps on giving, and you don’t want that near your eyes or any other sensitive parts, if you get where I’ve drifted.

18-20 Habanero chiles, roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/2 c cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
Juice of 1 orange (about 4 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon kosher salt

In a small stock pot, saute the onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add the carrots with a 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until carrots are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the vinegar, lime juice, orange juice, and peppers. Cover pot pot with a lid and cook until peppers are soft, about 10 minutes.

Let mixture cool. Place mixture in blender and puree until smooth. Add more vinegar if the mixture is too thick. Pour into a bottle and store in the fridge.

The Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Oh, sweet baby Jebus, please make the burning stop!!! This stuff is HOT! What the hell was I thinking? A bushel of freaking carrots and a tree full of limes wouldn’t knock the heat outta this stuff. Okay, whew, relax, it’s not face melting/mind-numbing hot, but it’s a WHOLE LOT HOTTER than I thought it would turn out.

I’m going to stick this pint o’ napalm way in the back of the fridge for a bit and see if it mellows any. Failing that, I might just bottle this up into little jars and give it away to “special” people on my Xmas list .

I’m a huge fan of Huy Fong’s Sriracha Chili Sauce (a.k.a Rooster Sauce). I use it to make a spicy mayo spread for sandwiches, to warm up store-bought ketchup, or to add the spice to my Spicy Orange Wings.

I’ve been fortunate lately that folks in my office have been giving away a lot of peppers. So I snagged enough of these lovely red and yellow Thai chilies to make a batch of sauce.

25-30 assorted Thai chilies
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon fish sauce (I like Squid Brand)
1 tablespoon coconut oil

In a small saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Snip the stems off the chiles, but leave the green crown attached. Roughly chop the chilies and the garlic. Put them in the pan and cook until the garlic begins to soften (about 5 minutes).

Add the water and vinegar, put the lid on the pan, and cook until the peppers have softened (about 10 minutes).  Remove from heat and let mixture cool.

When cool, place mixture in blender with the salt, sugar, and fish sauce and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add more vinegar if the mixture is too thick. Pour into a bottle and store in the fridge.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
The yellow chilies gave this a bright/green taste and light color. I like it, just not as much as my beloved sriracha. It has moderate heat that is nicely offset by the sugar and fish sauce. I’m letting the it mellow in the fridge for a bit and am looking forward to using it to bump up my next batch of satay or coconut stew.

I make a version of this chicken and veggie recipe about once a week while we’re getting nice, fresh veggies out of the garden. Once you get it set up on the grill, the components of this dish all work together really well – the chicken juices flavor the veggies while the veggie pan protects the chicken from direct heat.

To make this dish even more conevenient for the summer, I like to do 2 birds at a time. It’s not really much more work, and you end up with plenty of leftovers for no-cook lunches. This time I also bumped up the spice by saucing the birds with Suck Creek’s Original Hot Wing Sauce at the end of the cook.

The Veggies
6 small Yukon gold potatoes, quartered
1 small yellow squash, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh ground back pepper to taste

Lightly oil a 9×13 baking pan. Add the veggies, drizzle with olive oil, season with the salt and a couple of grinds of pepper.

The Birds

2 3-5 pound roasting chickens
4  tablespoons olive oil
2 to 4  tablespoons of your favorite barbecue rub (I used John Henry’s Pecan Rub)
1/2 cup Suck Creek’s Original Hot Wing Sauce

Spatchcocking is easier than it sounds – place the bird in front of you, breast side down. Butterfly the bird by cutting up through the backbone with either a pair of kitchen shears or a sharp chef’s knife. You can repeat this to remove the entire backbone, but I generally don’t.

Spread the bird open like a book and locate the keel bone that sits between the breasts. Nick it with a knife to get it to open up, but don’t cut all the way through. Flip the bird over and press down on the center of the bird until it lies flat.

Clean and rinse the chicken, then pat it dry. Rub both sides of the bird with olive oil and season with the rub, making sure to work some under the skin.

The Cook

Set your grill up for an indirect cook over medium heat (350°F). On the Big Green Egg I use the plate setter to diffuse the heat and set the pan of veggies on top of that. Then put the grill grate on top of the pan and put the chickens, skin side up, on the grate.

Close the lid and cook the chicken and veggies for 30 minutes. Give the veggies a stir and flip the birds over.  Cook for another 30 minutes, then start checking to see if everything is done. The veggies are done when they are tender. The chicken is done when the juices run clear and the the temperature has reached 160°F in the breast and 180°F in the thigh.

The veggies will most likely be done before the birds. Pull them if they finish first and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm. When the chicken is just about done, baste both sides with the sauce. Cook 15 more minutes, and baste again. Cook until the birds are done (about 1 1/2 hours total cooking time) and baste one last time before removing from the grill.

Remove the birds to a cutting board and let them rest for about 10 minutes. Quarter the birds for serving.

I had such luck with the Cherry-Glazed Chicken that I thought I would continue with the meat-meets-sweet-spicy-and-savory theme. The noodle dish is a great complement to the chops and is quick and easy to make.

Apricot-Glazed Pork Chops

6 boneless pork chops
1 (10 ounce) jar apricot jam
2 apricots, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce or gluten-free Bragg’s Aminos
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger

Mix the jam, soy sauce, vinegar,  sweet chili sauce, garlic, and ginger in a sauce pan over medium heat until blended (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.

Put the chops in a zip-top bag and cover with the marinade.  Toss to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.

Set up your grill for a direct cook over medium (350°F) heat.

Remove the chops from the marinade. Save the marinade into a small saucepan. Add the apricots and and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil for about 3 minutes, until the marinade has thickened to the point that it will coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Pour off 1/2 cup of the marinade to use for basting the chops. Save the rest to pour over the chops when they are done.

Season the chops on both sides with a little salt and pepper.

Grill the chops 10 minutes on one side, flip and grill another 5 minutes on the second side. Brush with marinade and grill for 5 more minutes. Flip, brush, and grill another 5 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork hits 140°F.

Remove the chops from the grill and let rest 5 minutes. Drizzle with the reserved marinade before serving.

Peanut Noodles

You can put it together in advance and stash it in the fridge. Just take it out early so that it comes to room temperature for serving.

2/3 cup peanut butter (natural if possible)
1/4 cup soy sauce or gluten-free Bragg’s Aminos
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons honey
1 – 2 teaspoons sriracha sauce
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

3/4 pound dried spaghetti (use corn or rice noodles to make it gluten-free)
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips
1/2 cup snow peas
3 tablespoons sesame seeds

In a blender, combine peanut butter, soy sauce, water, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, honey, pepper flakes, and ginger. Blend until smooth (about a minute) then pour into a large bowl.

Cook the pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente (if you are going to let this sit in the fridge, shorten the cooking time for a little firmer pasta). Drain into a colander and rinse with cold water.

Add the pasta, veggies, and sesame seeds to the dressing. Toss to combine.