Throat Punch: Roasted Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce

 This season I got a lot of scotch bonnet peppers in my farm share. Scotch bonnet peppers are super hot, and I have not learned quite how to use them in cooking yet. I am kind of afraid to just "Throw one in the soup." the way my West-Indian friends advise, but I figured that if I made a hot sauce and it was too hot, it would only ruin the sauce and not dinner. 

Such a pretty color!

I decided to roast the peppers with some other seasonal veggies and see what happened. It ended up being magical! The sauce is creamy, savory smooth, and then it punches you in the back of the throat on the way down...hence the name. It is really tasty, I will totally do it again. We used it on fish, chicken and sandwiches, and then we ran out. I am excited to try it again next year. This sauce needs to be stored in the refrigerator.

Throat Punch

Ingredients:

12-15 Scotch Bonnet Peppers

1 large onion

3 carrots

2 medium zucchini

4 cloves garlic (keep in the skin)

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

2-3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

Dorections:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While the oven heats, half the peppers and chop all vegetables. Add all veggies to a large baking pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Roast the veggies for 30-45 minutes until they are soft and slightly browned.

3.Transfer all the veggies and all pan juices into a blender or food processor. *Be sure to remove the garlic cloves and squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins into the blender or food processor*

4. Blend until smooth. Add more olive oil or water to get the consistency you desire. Add 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar at the end to taste. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste. Store in a jar in the refrigerator.

Homemade French Onion Dip

 I came across an Alton Brown recipe for homemade french onion dip. It was just before Super Bowl weekend so I figured I would try it out. My family are fans of store bought french onion dip, and I grew up with my mom stirring the freeze-dried and powdered french onion soup mix into sour cream, but I had never tried making it from scratch with actual onions. Alton made it look pretty simple, so we made it for our game night snack. 

The first try came out pretty great. We loved the fresh onion taste, and the method of deglazing with the vinegar added the perfect tang, but my boys felt it was just a little bit too rich. So I made some tweaks and came up with this version that we now enjoy very much. We substituted non-fat Greek yogurt in place of sour cream and mayonaise. It is still rich and creamy but not overwhelmingly rich. For us, a great change. 

French Onion Dip

Ingredients:

4 Large Onions

1/5 teaspoon plus one pinch Baking Soda

1 tablespoon Salt

1 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Olive Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar for deglazing

1 tablespoon Blasamic Vinegar

2 cups non-fat Greek Yogurt

1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

Directions:

1. Thinly slice the onions and put them in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. 

Remember that cutting onions with glasses on is a bad idea

Sprinkle the onions with baking soda, salt & brown sugar. Stir the onions to break them up and evenly distribute the salt, soda and sugar. Cover the pot and let the onions rest for 10 minutes.

2. After the onions have rested, uncover the pot, and place over high heat. Drizzle with olive oil and cook, stirring often until the onions are reduced by 75% and are a light golden color. 

3. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking approximately 15 minutes, stirring often.

4.When the onions begin to brown, deglaze the ban with a splash of apple cider vinegar. I did this three times before the onions were the desired dark brown. 

When the onions have reduced to about 1 1/2 cups in volume, deglaze one last time with the balsamic vinegar, stir a few times then remove from heat and let cool.

5. When the onions are cool, stir them into the 2 cups of yogurt. Add the garlic powder and pepper. Cover the dip and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. It is best when it sits overnight. 

I had just the right amount of yogurt left in my container so I just mixed the onions and seasoning right in. :)