A Home Run and a Foul Ball

I needed a three day weekend. The nature of my temporary position filling in for my old job requires full time work - no vacations, no sick leave - welcome to the real world! It makes me appreciate what I used to try not to take for granted and appreciate it even more in hindsight.

In spite of having a three day weekend I've been as cranky as a sow grizzly with a sore tooth. I'm coming out of it now, but I couldn't stand being around myself most of the weekend I was so crabby.

I've been trying to be productive and addressing the lengthy list of long neglected chores.

I fixed the lawn mower and mowed. The lawn was only mildly horrendous - the lack of water had slowed the growth of the lawn and only the weeds needed to be topped.

Got caught up on laundry, washed all the damned dishes and did a couple of plumbing repairs.

The plumbing repairs were minor but aggravating; a leaky faucet and a bad toilet fill valve. The faucet repair went smoothly; the toilet valve not so much - my fault really, I wasn't paying attention and left out a washer. It wouldn't have been an issue if I'd been paying attention. Always, Always, Always! Check your connections right after you turn on the water! Don't get distracted selecting a bottle of wine to enjoy as a reward for finally getting off your ass and doing something. Fifteen minutes later when I finally made it upstairs to open the bottle of wine and Oh Yeah, check the plumbing repairs, I was faced with a minor flood. It wasn't biblical and certainly the bathroom floor needed to be mopped.

I decided that I'd make a couple of items I'd bought ingredients for when I'd hit up the Hollywood and Montavilla Farmer's Markets. A homemade version of Chinese Plum Sauce and a homemade version of Sriracha Sauce.

I'm not a big fan of plum sauce, but I don't hate it either - it's just not something I use. The recipe sounded good, the comments section was positive and plums are in season - what could go wrong? Not an epic fail, but Heavens to Betsy, did any of these people actually make the recipe? The stuff was distinctly not thick - thin and watery. All is not lost though; the flavor is good and hopefully it won't taste nasty when I reduce it down. It's simmering away right now. It does smell really good.

The Sriracha Sauce got started last night. Chop up some red pepper and garlic, soak overnight in some vinegar and salt, cook it up with a bit of sugar and blend away! Booyah! This stuff rocks!


Homemade Sriracha (Rooster Sauce) from Food52.com

Makes about 2 cups

• 1/2 pound red fresno chiles, coarsely chopped - I used red jalapenos
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar - no I didn't have palm sugar in the house - I had to go out and buy it

1. Place all the ingredients except the sugar in a jar and let sit overnight to mellow the heat of the peppers. I guess one could consider this a brine.
2. Place the mixture and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Transfer to a blender and puree for about 5 minutes, until a smooth, orange-red mixture forms. Run through a fine strainer and smush out as much juice as possible. 

This was the first time I've used palm sugar. It's got and interesting flavor, almost like sweetened condensed milk - a bit of a caramel flavor. They say you can substitute light brown sugar, but I thing I'd just use white sugar.

Read more: http://www.food52.com/recipes/6441_fresh_sriracha_aka_home_made_rooster#ixzz0yn2XBilq

 

Good Stuff - I'll be making more of this soon