As The Condiments Continue.......

There might be too much of a good thing. Might be. Like mustard seed. I bought 1 pound of yellow, one pound of brown and then another half pound at Whole Foods thinking I'd have enough for a couple batches.

Um. No. I have enough to feed a crowd at Lambeau Field on tailgating day.

So tonight I started Batch Three this time using Newcastle Brown Ale, and some change up in the spice mixture. Before you say "Oh no.......another mustard recipe......" just remember, a few months mellowing in a cupboard and it will be bratwurst on the grill time again !!!

Anyway....... it's kind of a joke at my house that I can take black pepper and an ice cube and make a three course meal- we call that MacGuyer Dinner (get it??  MacGuyver?? never mind........)  So I'm always tweaking recipes and reworking them and trying new combos. Give me a basic beer mustard recipe and I can't leave that alone !!! So therefore, I am calling this one MacGuyer Mustard.

Monica's MacGuyver Mustard


1 12 oz bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale
1 1/2 cups mustard seed- I used half yellow and half brown
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tb salt (I used sea salt, use whatever you have on hand)
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 TB dried minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 tsp ground dried ghost chile (as much as you dare)
1-2 tsp ground aji limon chile (again, as much as you dare)

** Note: I used the hot peppers grown in my garden, so if these exact kinds are not available you can substitute whatever you want- cayenne, jalapeno, habanero, Penzey's is a great source of peppers

The method is the same, mix all ingredients and allow to sit at room temp for 48 hours to bring out all the flavors. Buzz in the food processor to the consistency you like (I like mine fairly coarse). Then you're ready to jar it up and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes or store in fridge if you're not a canning kinda person. Mustard lasts in the fridge for a LONG time  without canning.

(Photo of Newcastle Brown Ale is courtesy of http://www.cookerati.com/new-castle-brown-ale-recipes/)

Chicken wings and football- what could be better ?

Opening Night of the NFL is always a big occasion for me, no matter what team is playing !! Tonight I'm cheering on the Saints (can't root for the Packers !! Noooooooo) and they're letting me down !! Anyway, since moving out to the lake football nights at the bar with a bunch of people and bar snacks is a thing of the past and we have to recreate that atmosphere for ourselves. How ?? Ice cold Bud and wings of course !!

Ok, clockwise from the top, The Chef's Buffalo Wings with ghost chile sauce, my blueberry jalapeno wings and pineapple garlic teriyaki wings.

Let's start with the buffalo style sauce- The Chef went traditional with his wing sauce- the traditional mix of real butter and Frank's Red Hot but he kicked it waaaaay up with about half a teaspoon of crushed ghost chile and some crushed dried habanero and served alongside bleu cheese dressing (no ranch in this wing-eating house !!)

My blueberry jalapeno wing sauce consisted of blueberry jam, minced/crushed jalapeno and a half teaspoon or so of crushed cayenne pepper and just a hit of lime juice to thin it out a little.

The pineapple garlic teriyaki wings started with a Pampered Chef Pineapple Rum sauce. I used about 1/4 cup of the bottled sauce, added 2 cloves of garlic super finely minced, a big dash of soy sauce and about 1/2 teaspoon of crushed Jamaican Yellow Mushroom pepper to add some fire.

We didn't fry the wings- instead baked them for about 3 hours at 215 degrees (loooow and slow) after rubbing them with our homemade meat rub mixture. Then each sauce was tossed with a pile of wings and back in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes til the sauce glazed and got all sticky and yummy.

The result........was absolutely delicious. Sweet heat in one bite and searing hot the next. Perfect football snack and I can't wait to make them again !!

Pico de Gallo with a KICK !!!!

As you know, the Chef and I are growing a number of very very very HOT peppers in the garden and experimenting with using them in foods. This is the first thing we've actually used a ghost chili in as a seasoning and WOW was it delicious !

To make this FIERY fresh pico.......
2 small Lemon Boy tomatoes, finely diced
2 Roma tomatoes, finely diced
3 tb finely diced onion
1-2 tb finely minced jalapeno peppers
2 thin slices GHOST CHILE, finely minced
big pinch minced chives
big pinch minced cilantro or parsley
salt
pepper
splash of lime juice (I used Rose's sweetened lime juice from the bar dept)
...............
Mix everything together and allow to blend flavors for about an hour. Serve
as desired, with chips or as a topping. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

We used this as a topping on tacos and nachos and ate every last bit of it ! The longer it sits, the more the heat diffuses throughout.  I used two VERY THIN slices of ghost chile and finely minced these into teeny tiny lieces. Didn't get any seeds in the dish and I decided to use the sweetened lime juice as opposed to regular lime juice thinking I could use the sweetness to counter balance the extreme heat of the ghost chile. It worked out great, but of course, you can use bottled or fresh lime juice if you prefer. Don't go buy a bottle of the other just for this- you can always add a teaspoon of sugar to soften the heat a little.