Canning Cookbook- Jalapeno Hot Dog Relish

This summer at The Little Lake House we included several different hot pepper varieties in the garden. Not only do we love spicy foods but so do many of our friends and we love sharing our spicy goodies. Hot peppers have created some wonderful relishes, pickles and salsa around here, and a few experiments in mustard and hot sauce for chicken wings. 

Now while we do often grow many of the super hot peppers like ghost chilies and Trinidads, most of those are just too hot for the majority of our friends. Jalapenos and Serranos are very popular choices for spicy recipes that won't melt your face off quite as bad. Removing the seeds and webby membrane and you scale back the heat significantly, making jalapenos, especially, perfect for pickling, candying, adding to pickles and kicking up the impact of relish recipes.

While most peppers find their way into salsas I like to find creative ways to use them in recipes outside of the realm of spicy/hot/Mexican/salsa. Being a fairly new relish convert, just seemed natural to me that the peppers make their way into a relish recipe! This relish is really delicious and has loads of flavor- perfect for topping a grilled brat. Like most relishes, this recipe starts the night before, tossing the veggies with salt and chilling overnight to bring out the excess water. This step can be skipped if you are like me, and can't wait to get it in the jars.

Fresh from the garden cucumbers make the best relish

Spicy Pepper Pickle Relish

6 cups cucumber,  shredded or finely chopped

4 cups jalapeno, finely chopped*

4 red bell peppers, finely chopped

2 large red onions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons salt

2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 teaspoons celery seed

2 tablespoons mustard seed

2 tablespoons dried dill

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

* Remove seeds and membranes to keep the heat level down.

Toss the vegetables with the salt in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, rinse and drain thoroughly. Set aside.

In a large stockpot combine the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the rinsed and drained vegetables. Return to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pack the relish into hot canning jars to 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the rims and fix lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool overnight before checking seals.

If this recipe sounds familiar to you, it should! It's a very close variation of my all time favorite zucchini relish, with different vegetables. The cucumber stays a little cruncher than zucchini and if you chop it instead of shredding it, you retain even more texture. That crunchier texture is the perfect topping for burgers, dogs, brats, sandwiches of all kinds. The jalapeno gives it a nice heat without being too mouth-melting.

Eat The World- Shannon's Take on Spicy Asian Chicken

If you're a home food preserver like I am you are well aware that canning is not cooking, and generally speaking, you can foods that are ingredients, not composed dishes, right? There are a few exceptions, like soups and some stews, but for the most part I find myself canning a lot of vegetables, pickled foods, relish type foods, and the like. The reality is I prefer this way over a cupboard full of soups and ready to eat meals- they are not as versatile as a cupboard filled with ingredients!

With so many relish and pepper things canned many people wonder what in the world to do with these foods later. Pepper jellies are often poured over a block of cream cheese and served as a spread for crackers, or melted and uses as a baste or glaze for roasting meats. Relishes are added to sandwiches, dips and cheese plates. Hot pepper sauces and salsa add fire to all kinds of foods. Cowboy Candy, or candied jalapenos, is one of those foods so many people ask "Well, what am I supposed to do with this?"

Get the recipe for Cowboy Candy by clicking HERE.

Don't let "candy" fool you- there is a sweet note but these little jewels still pack a punch, especially the leftover juice when you've fished out all the pepper slices. This leftover liquid is an unexpected bonus- you get a slightly sticky, slightly sweet and nicely hot liquid to perk up all kinds of dishes. 

Picture from Paul Quick

So where do you get the leftover syrup? Well, a couple of ways. Often when you make a recipe like this for home canning you find you have excess brine (I always have leftover- especially when making pickles). You can pour the extra liquid from Cowboy Candy into extra canning jars and process along with the other jars for shelf stability or just pop in the fridge. Because the peppers get simmered in the brine for a few minutes before packing into jars it does have some of the heat infused already. You also will have leftover, and usually hotter, liquid left after you have fished out the sliced peppers and ate them. Save this as well! The flavor is incredible.

It's so useful. You can cook it to reduce it and get a syrupy sweet and hot drizzle or dipping sauce, a great way to jazz up purchased salad dressings. It makes a great marinade, an add-in to barbeque sauce, a great way to perk up fridge pickles or store bought pickles, and turns Asian style foods into something extra wonderful.

This is where Shannon comes in. Shannon Goudy lives in Florida and enjoys home food preserving as much as I do. She is a regular contributor in a Facebook canning group we both belong to and often posts recipes, loads of pictures and great hints- including her take on a sweet hot Asian chicken dish that you are going to LOVE. Shannon came up with this recipe and called it Triple "S" Threat Chicken- sticky, spicy and sweet- and I agree!! 

Shannon's Triple "S" Threat Chicken

Sauce:

1 1/2 cups Cowboy Candy Syrup

1 teaspoon ginger

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/4 cup cold water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Chicken:

4 large chicken breasts

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

4 large eggs

Oil for frying (Shannon prefers peanut oil)

To make the sauce, combine the Cowboy Candy syrup, ginger and soy sauce in a medium saucepan. Mix the cold water and cornstarch together until the cornstarch is fully dissolved then add to the syrup mixture. Whisk together and cook over medium heat until thickened. Set aside.

For the chicken, start by beating the eggs in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, ginger, garlic and salt. Set aside.

Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes. Working on small batches, dip the chicken in the egg to coat, then in the flour mixture. Fry in the hot oil until golden brown and cooked through. Drain on paper towels and keep warm until all chicken has been fried.

Toss the chicken with some of the sauce- just enough to coat, and serve over jasmine, basmati or long grain rice, and sprinkle with some Cowboy Candy. Serves 4 to 6.

Doesn't this sound KILLER? I am definitely making this as soon as I restock my Cowboy Candy stash. A side of stir fried veggies and this is better than any takeout I can imagine. 

Shannon gets her cooking chops from her hobbies- like me, she is a cookbook reader. Yep, cover to cover just like me. She, also just like me, watches cooking shows like some people watch sports, with Food Network personalities Robert Irvine, from Restaurant Impossible, Dinner Impossible, and more,  and Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, among her favorites. She gets some professional kitchen experience working for her uncle- she prepares lunch every day for the entire staff of her uncle's business, about twenty people, including all the planning, shopping and budgeting.

The country lifestyle in northwest Florida is something Shannon really thrives in- stopping at farm stands for produce and local dairy products, and I'm sure all that beautiful produce is featured i many dishes from her kitchen. She really loves all things Asian- Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and those veggies are vital to amazing Asian foods. 

Besides cooking, Shannon is a big animal lover, and loves spending time wherever there is water, be it the beach, river, spring or pool!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Canning Cookbook- Giddyup lil peppers !!

Canners everywhere have some recipes they are especially attached to. And they have recipes they love to share. Last summer a canning buddy shared a recipe with me and I LOVE it.

Canners always talk about Cowboy Candy. As a fan of hot peppers and hot pepper jellies, this recipe intrigued me and I knew I had to make it. I wish I could have gotten a mix of red and green jalapenos but I didn't this time around. I've used Cowboy Candy to add a sweet hot element to other dishes- stir fries, sauces (the syrup in delicious), as a snack with cream cheese like pepper jellies, and as an accompaniment to chili even. It's delicious on sandwiches and pizza as well. I hope you will give it a shot. It's unlike any commercially canned peppers I have ever tried.

Cowboy Candy

• 3 lb firm, fresh jalapeno peppers
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 6 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 3 tsp granulated garlic (I had to sub 2 cloves super minced fresh)
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Wearing gloves, remove stem end from peppers and slice into uniform 1/4 inch thick slices. Set aside.

In a large pot bring remaining ingredients to boil. Reduce heat, simmer five minutes, then add pepper slices and simmer 4 more minutes. Using a slotted spoon, pack peppers into hot sterile canning jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Bring heat back up under the pot and boil the syrup at a full rolling boil for 6 minutes.

Ladle syrup over peppers. Remove air bubbles, fix lids and rims and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool, age peppers for at least two weeks.

*Note- if you want to skip the canning step, just divide the peppers and syrup among jars or freezer containers and store in the fridge. They are a pickled product so they will last a while.