Re: [CH] Good chile-snacks
Hobby Farmer (hobbyfarmer@t-one.net)
Sat, 19 Nov 2005 14:21:42 -0500
Keegan Smith wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm having a mead-making party tomorrow night, and need to make some
> snacks..
I'm partial to peach habanero ice cream. I halve 8-10 orange
habaneros, remove the seeds leaving as much of the ribs intact as I
can. I freeze the habs on a cookie sheet. This is to soften them
and break down the cell walls to release juice. While they are
still frozen, I run them through a hand-crank meat grinder using my
fine plate. I catch the ground habs and their juice in a small pan,
and bring them to a simmer, covered, to further soften them.
Set the peppers aside to cool. Dump a gallon of peach ice cream in
a very large bowl. As it softens around the edges, start stirring
and mixing it. If you just let it soften unmolested, it will loose
its air and be ruined. After a bit, you will have a very thick, but
stirable bowl of ice cream. Stir in your habaneros. I use a half
cup per gallon of ice cream, but you might want to adjust this down
by half or so for your guests, and quickly return it to the
container and put it back into the freezer.
The habanero and peach flavors go well together. As long as you are
eating the ice cream, there is little heat. When that last spoonful
is gone, you suddenly want - make that NEED - more of the ice cream.
Another favorite of ours is habanero brownies. Seed a couple of
those habs, jalapenos or serranos and cayennes, toss 'em in the oven
on low till crunchy, then grind to a powder. Get a quality box of
brownie mix. Make it according to the directions, except add 1/8
tsp hab powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne powder, and 1/4 tsp jalapeno or
serrano powder. We use smoked habs and serranos, but you are shrt
on lead time.
Use the same proportions as for brownies, only make rice crispy
treats. Add the powders just before the marshmellows.
In all of these, the sweetness masks the heat a bit, and the burn is
sort of mellow.
Do you use honey in your mead? Grind some fresh habs and cayennes
and heat them up in some honey. Add a pinch of sea salt and a touch
of lime juice. Strain out any solids and use it in the mead. Pour
it on icecream. Thin it with water and baste shrimp or pork loin
or chicken. Sweeten coffee with it.
Have a good party!
Hobby Farmer
Buried in a foot of new snow in Michigan