All-Purpose Curry Sauce

     Let me preface this recipe by stating that it is not truly "all-purpose." While it would go great on eggs, I'd probably think twice before putting it on your ice cream. I do admit to dipping a pancake in this sauce and it was not bad in a French-fries-in-a-McDonald's-chocolate-shake sort of way. The sauce was pulled from a recipe for fish in a curry sauce. I wasn't really keen on the idea of curried fish at the time, so I wound up using this to cover some chicken tenders. This is a really tasty sauce. I used a sweet curry, so the more delicate eaters should have no complaint. If you want heat, use hot curry powder or throw in some cayenne. All I want is for you to be happy. Is that so much to ask? As always, notes are in blue.

All-Purpose Curry Sauce
via Madhur Jafrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups milk
• 4 tablespoons butter (as usual, we went with margarine)
• 1/4 cup good curry powder (our good curry powder was a sweet curry powder from The Spice House)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro (our garden is chugging right along, so we actually had fresh on hand!)
• 2-3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (no fresh on hand, I used the lemons to make limoncello. I had to use bottled)

Directions

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add curry powder, stir for a minute to incorporate. Add flour, stir for 2 more minutes (fundamentally, you're making a roux here. Don't let it get too hot or it will burn and then you're screwed and have to start over).
2. Using a whisk, beat in the milk. Bring the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. When the mixture hits the boil, add the cilantro and lemon juice. Lower the heat so the mixture comes off the boil. Stir for a couple more minutes and then remove from the heat. The sauce should be creamy.

Good times!

Fruit Punch Hot Sauce

     Some time ago I held a little contest to determine the name of a hot sauce I had created. I picked a winner and then subsequently forgot all about it. I even managed to misplace the recipe. Having finally located the recipe, I am finally posting it! This is a cayenne sauce with a strong citrus base. It's excellent on seafood and chicken. I haven't tried it on anything else, but fully intend to. As far as heat, on a scale of 1 being no real heat to 10 being "Oh God, eventually this has to come out my anus," I'd give this a 4-5. As always, any notes are in blue.

Fruit Punch Hot Sauce

Ingredients

• 5 ounces cayenne peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
• 10 ounces red banana peppers, seeded and roughly chopped (not sure where you're going to find these; these peppers were mutants out of our garden)
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 medium tomato, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cider vinegar

Directions

1. Throw everything into a blender and blend the living shit out of it.
2. Pour the blended mixture into a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes.
3. Strain mixture into bottles/cans (This will make a little over a pint of sauce)
4. If you are intending to store long term, process canning jars in a boiling water bath for 12 minutes for 1/2-pints and 15 minutes for pints (as always, please refer to the National Center for Home Food Preservation for detailed instructions and tips for giving everyone dysentery) 

Good times!

Wife's Choice Bloody Mary Mix

     The Wife isn't a big drinker, but she does enjoy a Bloody Mary something fierce. This is fortuitous considering the vast overstock of tomatoes we are enjoying right now. We've long considered juicing the tomatoes, but I felt that was a fairly boring way to use up produce. Once we decided on a format that worked well with booze, my opinion changed. This particular mix has just enough of a kick without being overly spicy. It pairs wonderfully well with bison grass vodka, but feel free to use your vodka of choice. A pepper or bacon vodka would probably be great here as well. As always, any notes will be in blue.

Wife's Choice Bloody Mary Mix

Ingredients

• Around 6-7 pounds of tomatoes (enough to make 2-3 quarts of juice)
• 2-1/2 teaspoons dill weed
• 2-1/2 teaspoons celery seed
• 1-1/4 teaspoons fresh cracked black pepper
• 2-1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1-1/4 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• Lemon juice
• Salt

Directions

1. Run tomatoes through a mill to juice them. Run the pulp through the mill a second time to get all possible juice from the tomatoes (if you have a juicer, even better. We used the food mill attachment for the Kitchenaid)
2. Pour the juice into a large non-reactive pot. Bring to a low boil and reduce to a simmer; add all the seasonings and stir well (feel free to adjust seasonings to taste. You're not going to hurt my feelings)
3. Using quart jars, put 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt in each jar. Fill jar with Bloody Mary mix to within 1/2" of top. 
4. Seal jars and process in boiling water bath for 45 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool and wait for the rewarding "thunk" noise when they seal up for good. (As always, if you're not familiar or comfortable with canning, you should head over to the National Center for Home Food Preservation and read up on canning. Remember: if you poison yourself, it's totally not my fault)

BONUS RECIPE:

Bison Grass Bloody Mary

1. In a pint glass filled about 1/4 with ice, add 1-1/2 ounces of Sobieski Bison Grass Vodka (unflavored vodka will obviously work, but the bison grass adds a nice earthy and herbal flavor that works perfectly with the Bloody Mary mix)
2. Top glass with Bloody Mary mix; stir
3. Garnish with a piece of celery

Good times!

Recipe: Pistachio-Basil Pesto (via Rachael Ray)

     You can never go wrong with pesto. It goes with just about anything. I've used it with pasta, chicken, fish and beef. It's just incredibly versatile. I found this particular recipe in my good friend Rachael Ray's magazine. I was drawn to it because it used pistachios instead of pine nuts. I don't normally keep pine nuts in the house. I do, however, keep pistachios by the pound. We also had a huge supply of basil from the garden, so we made a lot of this.
     We did find that this is cannable! We doubled the amount of lemon juice when making the recipe for canning. We then loaded it to about 1/4" shy of the top in a half-pint jar. Process in a boiling water canner for about 15 minutes. We haven't gotten sick from it yet, even using pesto that was about a year old! Granted, if you can it and manage to get sick, obviously I never recommended canning in the first place and you probably did something wrong, so I can't be held responsible.

Pistachio-Basil Pesto
(via Rachael Ray)

Ingredients 

• 2 garlic cloves 
• ½ cup shelled pistachios 
• 2 cups loosely packed basil 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
• ¼ cup Parmigiano/Romano cheese 

Directions

1. Pulse garlic in food processor until chopped 
2. Add pistachios, basil, lemon juice and salt. Pulse until nuts are finely chopped 
3. Add olive oil gradually through food chute and process until well combined 
4. Add cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times 

Makes about 1 cup.
Per tablespoon: 70 calories, 7g fat

Good times!