bell pepper jack-o-lantern

Bell Pepper Jack-O-Lanterns

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Here’s a fun thing to grill this holiday: orange bell pepper Jack-O-Lanterns. You can fill ’em with all kinds of stuff but I use spiced up cream cheese (a) because it looks good in the pepper’s face and (b) practically melts into a hot dip you can use for chips and the sliced pepper after its grilled. It’s a very simple appetizer. Read the entire article on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

4 large orange bell peppers
3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
3 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons black pepper
3 teaspoons granulated onion
3 teaspoons minced garlic

Instructions

Start heating your grill or oven to 300 degrees F. Meanwhile, set the cream cheese out and let it warm up to room temperature. Gut the peppers while you wait, making sure to retain the tops. You not only want them as lids, they also hold the goo in place while the peppers cook. Cut whatever design you want into the peppers but don’t make the holes too big or the stuffing will leak out. That is, unless you want it to look like your project is crying cream cheese. Totally your call.

When the cheese is close to room temperature, mix in the spices with either an egg beater or a fork. Distribute the finished cheese evenly into each pepper and use a spoon or fork to press some of the cheese into Jack’s face.

Once the peppers are ready to go, gently press the lids into the cheese and grill them indirectly. I place them all right next to each other to keep them from falling over. Check them every ten minutes, turning them sideways so that all sides get even cooking. It should take about twenty minutes total to cook them.

asian style cayenne hot sauce

Asian-Style Cayenne Hot Sauce

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This year we used about a pound of LC Cayenne pods to cook up a sweet and spicy Thai sauce. Unlike “Louisiana Style” hot sauce, this one is thick, almost like ketchup, and is a lot less vinegary. It is great with grilled shrimp, over rice, for Asian cooking, and even as a dip.

Read Harald Zoschke’s entire article on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

1 pound red, ripe NuMex Las Cruces Cayenne chiles (or similar meaty cayenne peppers)
1/2 sweet red pepper (e.g. Gypsy or a small ripe bell pepper)
1 medium-sized onion, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound sugar
4 ounces rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil

2 ounces rice vinegar **
1 ounce maple syrup **
water (if necessary)  **

4-5 empty hot sauce bottles

** These ingredients are to be added after cooking and blending.

Instructions

Rinse the cayenne peppers, cut off the tops with the stems, and slit pods open lengthwise, discarding most but not all seeds. Cut pods into chunks. Also remove the stem and “innards” of the sweet pepper and cut the pod into chunks as well.

In a sauce pan sauté the onion in the oil until soft (2-3 minutes).

Add the garlic and simmer for an additional 2 minutes.

Add sugar and the 4 ounces of vinegar, stir well and bring to a boil.

Add chopped cayenne and sweet peppers, stir well and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes, until the peppers are soft.

Meanwhile, sterilize your hot sauce bottles in boiling water and let them drain upside down on a towel.

Blend the sauce in a blender, or in the sauce pan using a hand-held immersion blender until smooth. Using a whisk, blend in the maple syrup and the 2 ounces of vinegar. ***

The sauce should be smooth and thick now, with a consistency almost like ketchup. If the sauce appears to be too thick, carefully add a little water and whisk again. Bring sauce briefly to a boil again.

Using a funnel, fill the bottles with sauce and put on lids immediately.

Design a label and put it on your bottles. Enjoy! Store opened bottles in the refrigerator. Yield: about 20 oz. (i.e. four “Woozy” type 5oz./148 ml bottles). I bet now you’re glad you kept those emptied hot sauce bottles!

*** Since vinegar tends to lose acidity during cooking, we add some of it at the end. That way we’re getting a lower pH (= higher acidity), which is necessary for preservation. If you would produce such a sauce commercially, you would check the pH with a meter and keep it well below pH 4.2).

dark-chocolate-cheesecake-with-red-chile-ganache

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Red Chile Ganache

Dave DeWitt Cooking with Chiles at the Holidays, Recipes, Sweet Heat Leave a Comment

Mary Jane’s recipe is based on one by the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten), but the shoeless TV cook wouldn’t dare to use red chile powder! You will need a springform pan for this cake since it would be difficult to get it out of a regular cake pan in one piece. If desired, you can use semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet in the filling, and the cake will be slightly sweeter.

howlin hollar hot legs chicken drumsticks

Howlin’ Hollar Hot Legs Chicken Drumsticks

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Howlin’ Hollar is a sweet heat whose fire kicks in shortly after the sweet. Read Mark Masker’s article about making these spicy drumsticks on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

1 bottle Sizzlin’ Sauces Howlin Hollar Hot Sauce with Pumpkin
6-12 chicken drumsticks
Sea Salt
Fresh crushed black pepper

Instructions

While your grill heats up to 350 degrees F., remove the skin and veins from the drumsticks. Once that’s done and the grill is hot enough, salt and pepper the chicken to taste and place it on the grill for indirect cooking. Close the lid.

Ten to fifteen minutes later, check on the birdies. Pour a little of the sauce on each piece and use a grill brush to spread it evenly over each piece. Flip the chicken, close the lid, and wait eight more minutes. Then pour a little sauce on each piece and spread it to cover this half. Close the lid again, wait two to five more minutes before removing the drummies from the grill.

At this point, I let the drumsticks rest then brushed a little more sauce into the gaps and thin points I missed during grilling.

Pork-with-pumpkin-salsa-254x300

Slow-Cooked Pork with Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This recipe features Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa with Roasted Tomatillo, produced by Chef Rick Bayless’ Frontera Foods company. Serving the pulled pork over cooked spaghetti squash instead of on a bun makes this a low-carb meal. Read the entire article by Lois Manno on the Burn! Blog  here.

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin, 1.5-2 pounds
1 jar Frontera Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa with Roasted Tomatillo
1/3 cup water
cooked spaghetti squash

Instructions

Wash the tenderloin and pat dry. Season lightly with salt and pepper. If you’re using a small crock pot like I did, cut the tenderloin into two halves and place it in the crock pot. Pour the entire jar of salsa over the meat, along with the water. Make sure the salsa gets around and under the meat. Set the crock pot on low and cook for the amount of time recommended for your slow cooker. Because tenderloin is lean and a fairly small volume of meat, mine was done pretty quickly (in 4 hours). It’s done when you can pull it apart easily with a fork. Remove the tenderloin onto a plate and shred it.

Take the cooking juice out of the crock pot and place it into a saucepan. Simmer until it has reduced by about half.

Serve the cooked spaghetti squash with the pulled pork on top, and cover with the pumpkin sauce reduction. I enjoyed some sliced dill pickle with mine. Of course, if you want to make a traditional pulled pork sandwich, forget the squash and use bread.