Chipotle Peppers

I'm always looking for a way to use up the jalapeños from my garden. This yields whole, dried chipotle peppers. You can grind them to a powder when ready to use or do a bunch and give as a gift. You can also make use them to produce chipotle in adobo if you like. As an added bonus your house will smell like chipotle peppers during the baking and a little beyond.

Dehydrating in the oven

 You will need...
About 20-30 jalapeños
Pecan, cherry, apple, or hickory wood for your smoker

1. Rinse and dry the jalapeños. 
2. Place jalapeños on smoker's rack(s). 
3. Smoke at about 200° F for 3 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 200° F. 
5. Transfer smoked jalapeños to a cooling rack and place directly on a rack in the oven. Place a baking sheet below to catch any liquids that might escape. 
6. Bake at 200° F for at least 10 hours. 

Chipotle Peppers

Moroccan Spiced Pork Roast

This is a Chef John / All Recipes dish I recently prepared at home. My first go at it produced a wonderful dish, but next time I'll make a few adjustments based on the results.
Recipe: Chef John's Video on YouTube / All Recipes ingredients and directions

My results yielded a less juicy pork roast and fewer pan drippings that in the video. It was not dry, but not juicy. Be patient when spreading the paste even if you dry the roast. It took a while to loosen up the paste so it to spread easily. Back of a spoon worked better than hands. I added a couple of parsnips to be veggie mix . I like parsnips.

Planned Changes

1. I will probably wet brine the pork roast in 1/4 cup table salt dissolved in 2 cups cold water for about 2 hours. Then butterfly and season with the paste. This in an effort to produce a juicier roast.  
2. Use a porcelain or other not-no-stick roasting vessel. Maybe a large cast iron skillet. The non-stick roasting pan I used left little fond.
3. My lack of pan drippings I will attempt to correct by adding some diced pork belly with the vegetables in hopes it will render and caramelize during roasting. The issue may have been with my very lean roast with very little fat cap.

The Moroccan spice paste was fantastic. It perfumed the entire roast and filled the house with pleasurable aromas.

Difficulty: Easy Peasy. Other than butterflying the pork roast, this requires no special skills or tools.
Cleanup: Minimal. A few bowls, measuring spoons / cup, the roasting pan, knives, cutting board, spoon and that's about it. Everything will be clean by the time you are done roasting. 

Ready for roasting

Final product was delicious!

Cocktails: You Know, That's Not Half Bad!

This is just my recipe list so I won't have to rely on my memory. First entry was the Vesper Cocktail (down at the bottom) which seems fitting. Use freshly squeezed juices for all citrus. Adjust amounts to your taste. Here is a link to the equipment I prefer (or equivalent if no longer available).  Use browser search function to find something specific below. Cheers!

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What the Dickens? 
1 oz Cognac or good brandy
1 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 1/2 oz tonic water
lemon peel for garnish

Add crushed ice 1/2 way up an old fashioned glass or rocks glass. Add the liquids, stir, and add more crushed ice to fill. Express oil from and garnish with lemon peel.

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Tom Collins
1 1/2 gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
3 oz club soda (or just top off)

Combine the first three ingredients in a glass of about 12 ounces. Add ice leaving room for soda. Add soda and garnish with lemon wheel. You can add a cherry if you so desire.

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Alexander
1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz creme de cacao
3/4 oz half and half or cream
Whole nutmeg for garnish

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Grate a little fresh nutmeg on top for garnish

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Gold Rush
2 oz bourbon
1 oz honey syrup*
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
Lemon twist for garnish

Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled rocks glass.
Garnish with lemon twist
*For honey syrup, combine 1 oz honey and 1 oz hot water, stir till combined. Makes enough for 2 drinks.

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Sidecar
1.5 - 2 oz cognac
1 oz Cointreau (or triple sec in a pinch)
1/2 oz lemon juice
Lemon twist for garnish

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with lemon twist

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Oriental Cocktail

1.5 - 2 oz rye or bourbon
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
3/4 oz triple sec
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

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Sazerac
1 oz cognac or good quality brandy
1 oz bourbon
1/4 oz simple syrup
2-3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
Lemon peel or twist for garnish

Add to liquids to a mixing glass with ice and stir until very cold.
Strain into a chilled martini glass. Express oil from lemon peel, run around inside of glass, and drop in or discard peel.

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Vesper Cocktail
2 oz gin (usually Beefeater or Bombay Sapphire at our home)
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz Cocci Americano
Lemon peel or twist for garnish

Add to liquids to a mixing glass with ice and stir until very cold.
Strain into a chilled martini glass. Express oil from lemon peel, run around inside of glass, and drop in or discard peel.

Pickled Jalapeños and Carrots (aka Escabeche)

Always on the lookout for something to do with all the jalapeños from my garden, this may well be the answer. Quick pickling the jalapeños with onions and carrots (cauliflower can be used as well) with various seasonings produces a delicious side relish. Once made they are fine in the fridge for about 4-5 weeks, or you could can them for longer storage. There are loads of recipes out there, so use this or make up one of your own.  I had a Fresno pepper on hand so I added it to this batch. Be sure to wipe up any vinegar spills from your granite counter top if you have one. Acids can pit the granite.

Ingredients

• 8-10 jalapenos sliced into 1/4 inch coins
  -you can cut away the flesh from about 1/2 of them lengthwise if you want a less intense product; discard seeds and ribs
• 3-4 carrots peeled and cut into 1/4 inch coins on a bias
• 1 onion peeled, halved and sliced top to bottom rather than along equator
• 4-5 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
• olive oil
• 1.5 cups white vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• About a dozen peppercorns cracked under a pan
• 1-2 bay leaves

Lightly saute the vegetables with spices

• Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil on medium low. Take care not to let the garlic burn.
• Add the jalapeños, carrots and spices. Continue to saute for a minute or two. 
• Add the vinegar, water, and salt. If using a stainless steel pan dissolve the salt first before adding to avoid pitting your pan. 
• Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes. When jalapeños turn olive drab, they are ready. 
• Let them cool in the pan for a bit then spoon into a thoroughly clean, a single quart mason jar or two pint jars. Top pour enough of the liquid in to just about fill. You may have some vegetables left over. Gobble them up if you are so inclined. 
• Screw on the lid and transfer to the refrigerator. They're ready the next day. 

Pickled jalapeños and carrots

Difficulty: Easy peasy. This is as easy as it gets. 

Cleanup: Minimal. Cutting board, knife, measuring spoons, measuring cup, large spoon, fry pan or skillet, 

P.S.

Always wash your hands after handling hot peppers or use food prep gloves. Avoid touching your face, eyes, or other sensitive bits before washing or removing the gloves. 

Ham and Split Pea Soup

It is only fitting the first item I post is the first Chef John dish I made. This recipe is very easy thanks to the video. You can sense this is an early recipe from Chef John -- no cayenne and you can barely detect the cadence that will become his signature. I made this again yesterday using a smoked ham shank (store was out of ham steak).
Here is the link to Ham and Split Pea Soup on All Recipes.
Here is the link to Ham and Spit Pea Soup on FoodWishes blog. This post from 2008 uses Adobe Flash which is probably not supported for most.

My changes

• Add 1 to 1 1/2 tsp toasted caraway seeds when adding the split peas.
• Use 6 1/2 cups of water and about 3 tsp Better than Bouillon chicken base instead of the broth+water
• A pinch of cayenne
• Ham steak or one those smallish boneless hams works great. Ham shank was a good substitution.

Degree of Difficulty: Easy. This should present no difficulty for anyone who watches the video. Being patient to let the split peas soften is probably the only step to watch for. Taste a pea as the estimated time passes.
Cleanup: Minimal. One pot, spoon, ladle, cutting board, knife, small skillet

Ingredients

Sweating aromatics

Meat pulled from ham shank with bone

Serve with crackers