Condiments and Preserves | Finding Feasts

Red Pepper (Capsicum) Sauce

Spicy Red Pepper Sauce — Click image for recipe

Red Pepper (Capsicum) Sauce… Bella and I both love to head to the bargain corner of the grocers hoping to get a great big stash of vegetables or fruit to make into a sauce, jam or some other condiment that takes our fancy. They are generally still firm and beautiful but get relegated to the back of the store after a week or so and sold off cheaply. Tomatoes, capsicum, passion fruits, leeks, cauliflower etc, it’s the grocery shop forage – you don’t now what you will get, if anything, but it’s the thrill of the hunt in the city.

So after a successful gathering session I came home with 10 big capsicums. I knew that I wanted something zingy and spicy with a big hit of heat, so I started looking through recipes online for the one that was going to be the perfect fit. A Roasted Red Pepper Sauce popped up and I knew straight away that this was the one. It’s from Bobby Flay’s Mesa Cookbook (this one will most definitely be added to my collection) and it’s just a stunning sauce! Bobby Flay apparently describes this sauce the ‘work horse’ of his restaurants, and I can see why as I have now used it to marinade chicken, eaten it as a dip and have basted fish on the BBQ with it!

Tonight I’m making Chicken Quesadilla’s with it… or maybe Mexican pizza’s?

Enjoy

Blondie

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Tomato Salsa

FinSki's_Salsa 1 — Click on image for full recipe

I don’t have an fantastic story behind this tomato salsa recipe. I made tacos the other night for dinner (chicken and beef) and I wanted to make my own salsa. I’ve made fresh salsa before from ripe tomatoes but I couldn’t find any in the supermarket so making it from canned organic tomatoes was the next best option.

Like majority of recipes there are plenty of variations of this on other cooking sites and blogs so chances are you will have come across something very similar. Best of all it takes about 15 minutes to prepare and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist either to guess the basic ingredients that will go in, you’ll most likely have these sitting in the pantry.

This basic recipe asks for canned tomatoes, coriander, salt, pepper, sweet paprika, chilli, cumin and lime juice. I love my limes and I love my tomato salsa to pack a ‘zinggy’ punch so I used the juice of one full lime. This makes the tomato salsa come out a little runny but it worked a treat on my soft tacos with gooey cheese.

One of two things happened when I made this…either I was very,very hungry or it was extremely delicious, because it’s almost gone!

How do you make your tomato salsa?

BellaLeave a comment

Smoked onion jam

This smoked onion jam is a gorgeous recipe which is simple to make and will have the crowds begging for more! There are no mystery steps in making this smoked onion jam and there are literally a thousand other similar recipes out there so don’t be afraid to give one a test drive! I guarantee you will be addicted!

Call me old fashioned but there is something very satisfying about making yourself a sandwich with crusty sourdough bread, some ham or turkey, cheese and slapping on a dollop of home made jam and this smoked onion jam goes with almost anything, burgers, hot dogs, cheese and crackers and the list goes on.

When I was growing up products like jam, chutney, relish and pickles conjured up images of little old ladies cooking up a storm in their kitchen for the weekend school fete. Purchasing these neither interested me nor did I have any desire to eat them! I actually ran a mile from such stalls. Fast forward a few years and Blondie will tell you how much I love to browse through market stalls, quirky country corner shops to see what I can come across!

Blondie and I have grand ambitions of having a stall at the local weekend markets this year and while we would love to just sell our wild picked mushrooms we think we need to diversify a little, plus up until the last few day the rain has been very sparse.

So why a smoked onion jam? Why not? I love onions, I love how they take on this amazing flavour when they are slow cooked and caramalised. As for adding a smoky falavour to them well that was a no-brainer! I think it is fair to say that if Blondie and I could come up with a smoked ice cream that tasted absolutely divine…we probably would!

Adding the smoked liquid gives this jam an earthy taste and when the onions melt in your mouth its like you are sitting on the side bench at a cold and miserable game of footy and someone hands you the most perfect tasting, mouth watering hot dog or burger.

I personally love the jam on crusty bread with some fresh ricotta. I dare you to try it!

The jam will keep in your fridge for about 3-4 weeks…if it lasts that long!

Bella

BellaLeave a comment

Homemade Hommus

Homemade Hommus… Continuing on with my year long challenge, here is Homemade Hommus from Jan-Feb 2014’s Nourish magazine.

Although a basic recipe it really is one that everyone should have under their belts as it’s great as a snack with flat bread or vegetable batons or used in a meal – like the one I will be making from the new Feast magazine… Can’t wait for that one! Hummus B’lahmeh (Israeli hummus with spiced lamb)

Blondie 🙂

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Smoked Sweet Chilli Sauce

So what can you do to improve on the pantry staple, sweet chilli sauce? Smoke it of course!

Smoked Sweet Chilli Sauce is an amazing accompaniment to all the dishes you have your standard with but with a unique smokey flavour… and you know how much Bella and I love things smoked.

Serve it with seafood or baste chicken kebabs or pour it over a big dollop of sour cream.

Hot and smokey… Blondie

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How to make Christmas turkey gravy

Jamie Oliver’s make ahead Christmas turkey gravy is simply the best! This will be my second year making it and as a gravy lover I have to say that it’s probably one of the best sauces I have tasted.

With only 10 days till Christmas, making this gravy now will save you loads of time and take the stress out of Christmas day. It’s dead easy to make and tastes delish!

Come Christmas day all you’ll need to do is take it out of the freezer, defrost it and warm it up!

Merry Christmas!

BellaLeave a comment

Finnish Mustard

This is a deliciously sweet and slightly hot Finnish Mustard that is a must with all the leftovers from Christmas dinner.

The recipe comes direct from Tess Kiros‘ beautiful cookbook Falling Cloudberries. I received this stunning book from a friend, Shoufay Derz years ago as a gift for doing some special/makeup effects on a video/sound art installation that she was doing with fellow artist Owen Leong titled Entanglement.

This is the mustard used in the Finnish Ham recipe so double the recipe if you would also like to give some as gifts.

Hyvää Joulua! (Merry Christmas)

Blondie

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