Avocado Crema

I know it's an oxymoron and I try not to do it but I just made a wonderfully healthy tequila avocado crema that works well in so many applications.
So what's the oxymoron in that statement?

Well, my crema is a margarita crema made with tequila and cointreau and those two ingredients with the word healthy makes it an oxymoron.
You could take out the Cointreau (or triple sec) and use orange zest but I don't think there is a substitute for tequila. On the bright side, did you know tequila has the least amount of carbs of all the liquors out there?

I am not going to change a thing. You shouldn't either. This is great on anything you would use sour cream and avocado on, like tacos, burritos, enchiladas, dips and a garnish for any southern style soup. It would make a hamburger sing and a steak whistle at the baked potato.
Plus it's a lovely shade of green.

Tequila Avocado Crema (make this and use it on everything):
makes 1 cup

Puree in a blender
* 1/2 ripe avocado
* 1/4 cup cottage cheese
* 2 tablespoons sweet and sour mix
* 1 tablespoon each Cointreau and Tequila
* Salt & pepper
* Dash milk to thin

No Cook Mustard BBQ Sauce

This wonderful no cook BBQ sauce is courtesy of Bobby Flay's Grill It! Food Network Show. This would work well on a hot dog, corn dog, chicken fingers and pulled pork sandwiches.

Mustard Barbecue Sauce
makes 4 servings

* 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
* 1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar
* 1/4 cup ketchup
* 1/4 cup molasses
* 1/4 cup honey
* 2 tablespoons maple syrup
* 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
* salt and pepper to taste
* hot sauce (optional)

Whisk together the ingredients and let it sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Shasha Sauce

For the first 3 months of the spring/summer the weather was so inconsistent that my pepper population was three. Three poblano and NO yellow Hungarian peppers.

As the summer wore on into August the pepper count was still poblanos 3, Hungarians 0.

The first week of August was the best weather of the whole summer and I looked out on my deck and there was, no kidding, 20 yellow peppers!!

Where the hell did they come from? I had just about given up on getting those hot little babies. Bad things about yellow peppers, they don't start out as green, like the bells do, they start out a light yellow, so how do I know they are ripe?

I waited until I saw a slight reddish hue along one side and snipped that pepper as fast as I could.

Oh baby, these were hot, hot, hot. Little Serrano's in yellow clothes. The first pepper ended up in a pasta dish while I seriously surfed the web.

I am getting addicted to hot, spicy sauces but The Nudge has been slow to join me. Are we understanding where I am going with this......

What do I do with 20 very hot peppers that will all be ripe at the same time?
Ahhhhhh, now you get it.

Like so many dishes that end up on this blog, the majority are due to ingredients that were on sale at the market, product that was in season, an overage of leftovers, a craving and just plain necessity.

The minority are ones that seem to plop right into my lab, usually from a cooking show of one kind or another, that catches my attention long enough to look up from one screen to another.

I have never watched The Chew. I knew it was there, I even tried to secure tickets, but I am not fond of the programming on ABC lately so my favs are not programmed to include it.

Last week (and I am not kidding) I was looking for something to watch while I did some paperwork, and actually on purpose clicked on ABC. There was Michael Symon making a breakfast sandwich in what I gathered was their "5 ingredient dish in 5 minutes" themed show. I like Michael Symon so I gave him 5 minutes of my time.

The best part of his dish was this Shasha Sauce he squirted on the fried egg in the sandwich. Everyone raved about the sauce and the sandwich? well, I think it's 5 minutes of fame were up.

But that sauce......was made with, hold on now, have I got your attention?
Can you guess? Come on, I know you know this........

No less then 10 hot yellow peppers!!!!
OMG, am I not, like, an episode of Twilight Zone?

I have to say that I agreed with the audience, this sauce is better than Tabasco Sauce. I could, if I had one of those bottles, shake some of this goodness on everything I eat. Can be made as hot or sweet or tart as you want, can be made in any season of the year, takes up all of 1 hour of your time (mostly unattended time) and if you don't have a bush of yellow Hungarian hot peppers on your deck, you can use a jar of hot banana peppers.

Ya ya. It is that good. Keep a squirt bottle in your fridge (it lasts forever) and use it generously. You will never buy a bottle of Tabasco sauce again.

Plus, it's yellow. It's pretty and cool looking on your food.

I used it on my turkey burgers yesterday and plan on using it on everything.

Shasha Sauce
From the kitchen of Pass the Sauce with inspiration from Michael Symon

* 12 fresh Hungarian peppers or a jar of banana peppers
* 4 cloves garlic
* 1 cup yellow ballpark mustard
* 1 cup white wine vinegar
* 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (optional)

Process peppers with the garlic, mustard and vinegar until pureed.
Add puree to a hot saucepan and add in sugar.
Simmer 30 minutes.
Add a slurry of flour and water to thicken if desired. (Mine did not need to be thickened.)
Once it cooled, I ran it through my hand blender one more time, added some salt to taste and poured it into a squirt bottle.

Balsamic Ketchup

This sauce rocks.

Yes, ketchup is a sauce and with our focus on vinegar-based sauces this first week, it fits right in.

You need a good Balsamic Vinegar, preferably the glaze. It's naturally sweeter so it tames the acidity of the roasted tomatoes, a perfect pair.

Not all that hard to do, you need two very important things.

Three hours and really ripe tomatoes, about 1".

I used Campari tomatoes but if you can get good, meaty small Romas, use them.

Cut 2 pounds of tomatoes into quarters and on a wire rack set into a sheet pan, place the tomato quarters and bake for three hours in a 325° oven.



Mine were done in two hours because I used smaller tomatoes then what was called for.




Run them through a processor with the herbs and seasonings and press through a fine sieve. Makes enough ketchup for 4 burgers.

I know that the next time I do this I will make 3 batches, it's that good.

We used this on our Buffalo Parmesan Hamburgers, recipe here.



Balsamic Ketchup
makes 16 tablespoons

* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 3/8 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
* 2 pounds small tomatoes, quartered
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Combine oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and tomatoes in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Arrange tomatoes, skin side down, on a wire rack set inside a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 325° for 3 hours. Cool slightly; peel. Discard peels.
3. Combine tomatoes, remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, basil, and remaining ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth.