It's Time To Make Serrano Pepper Hot SauceSalsa Picante Makes A Great Holiday Gift!

Turn those garden Serrano peppers into hot sauce.

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Fall Brings Peppers
Fall in Northern California is generally the time to pull out your summer crops and plant broccoli, kale, beets, lettuce, garlic, and other winter crops. The one plant that is still in the ground, however, and that's always late to produce is our pepper crop. 

But now it's time to pick them before the weather turns bad so I picked all the serrano peppers and most of the red pimento and poblano peppers. But what do you do with 3 pounds of serranos when only one is needed to flavor a dish? Well, let's make hot sauce!

I blogged a hot sauce recipe a few years ago using jalapeños and serranos but this year I'm using serrano peppers combined with a sweet red pimento pepper. It's still turned out super hot, but the sweet pepper cut the heat a little bit and gave it a nice flavor.

Sweet red pimento peppers cut the heat a bit and adds a lovely flavor to the hot sauce.

This recipe makes a lot of hot sauce (10 cups) so feel free to cut it down. Or, if you have lots of serranos and want to make this big a batch, fill some cute little bottles and give them away as holiday presents.

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Salsa Picante with Serrano Peppers
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 10 cups]

Requirements
High Speed Blender
5 quart or larger, enamel-coated Dutch oven 

Ingredients
3 pounds serrano peppers
1 pound sweet red peppers
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cups chopped onions
12 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
3 to 4 cups water
3 1/2 cups white distilled vinegar

Directions
Cut the tops off the serrano peppers. Then, cut them down the middle lengthwise. Set aside.
Remove the tops and the inner seeds from the sweet peppers. Dice and set aside. 

Heat the oil on medium heat and cook the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Stir in the serrano and red peppers along with the salt and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. 

Add the water and cook uncovered, on a medium boil, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are very soft and the water is greatly reduced but not completely dry. (I started with 4 cups of water and it took over an hour for it to cook down so maybe 3 cups of water would have been enough.) 

Add water and boil.

Cook until almost dry but not completely.

Unless you have a really big blender, you will have to blend in two batches.
Place half the cooked peppers and half the vinegar in a blender and process until smooth. Repeat with the rest of the peppers and vinegar.

Unless you have a 12 cup blender, you will have to process the peppers and vinegar in two batches.

Pour the hot sauce into jars and refrigerate. It will last for over a year!

Or pour into small bottles with a cute label and give them away as holiday gifts!

Salsa Picante makes a yummy holiday gift!

Flourless Plantain TortillasLow Calorie And Gluten Free

Green Plantains make delicious grain-free tortillas.
And, they are less than 40 calories!

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Gluten and Grain-Free Tortillas

Most people buy corn tortillas when they are trying to avoid gluten or products made from various gluten-free grains such as brown rice, amaranth, quinoa, millet, teff, and sorghum. But if you want to avoid grains completely, here's a brilliant alternative that my friend Margarite introduced me to - making tortillas from green plantains!

Make sure to buy green plantains, not ripe ones.

Plantains may look like bananas but they are starchy, not sweet. They are not eaten as a fruit and must be cooked. The biggest difference is that they are not as easy to peel! But I'll be showing you a trick to make that easier. 

Although most plantain tortilla recipes just use plantains, I've jazzed these up with seasonings, and herbs. And of course I added some freshly harvested garlic. For my herbs, I used the lemon basil from my garden, but you can use any of your favorite herbs. Cilantro works well. For the chili lime spice, I used Rancho Gordo but you can use Tajin. Here's the recipe!

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Green Plantain Tortillas

Vegan, Gluten Free

[makes 18 tortillas]

Requirements

Medium saucepan to boil plantains

Food processor

Non-stick or cast iron griddle

Tortilla press or two flat plates

1-Quart size Ziplock plastic bag

Ingredients

2 green plantains

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped lemon basil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon chili lime spice 

Zest of 1 lime

Directions

Cut the ends off the plantain and cut it horizontally in 4 pieces. Slice each chunk vertically along its seam. This will make peeling them a lot easier after they are cooked.

Place the chunks of plantain into a pot of boiling water and cook until they just soften, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove the skins and place the peeled plantains in a food processor with the remaining ingredients.

Process until the mixture turns into dough. Using your hands, turn the dough into 18 (1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch) balls.

Heat a griddle to medium high heat.

Place each ball in the center of a quart-sized plastic ziplock bag. Using a tortilla press or two flat plates, press the dough ball until it's a flat, 5-inch circle. You can buy a really nice Victoria 8 inch Cast Iron Tortilla Press for around $25 on Amazon.

Victoria 8 inch cast iron tortilla press.

Carefully peel off the plastic and place the tortilla on a heated grill. Cook for several minutes until the tortilla is slightly brown. Turn over and cook a bit longer, about a minute. Do one more quick flip, if needed, and you're done.

Cool a minute so that they are pliable and enjoy. To save and reheat, place a piece of wax paper between the leftover tortillas, place in a Ziplock bag and refrigerate. They will last several days. 

Nutrition:

Per tortilla: 36 calories, 4 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 54 mg omega-3 and 379 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 1 g protein, 35 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 244 mg sodium*.

*Sodium with vary with the brand of chili-lime seasoning.

It's Easy To Make Your Own TortillasWhole Wheat Black Bean Tortilla Recipe

Black beans add fiber and protein to these whole grain tortillas.

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So Simple to Make
Home-made tortillas, hot off the grill, are a great addition to any meal. And they are surprisingly easy to make. To add some nutritional goodness to today's recipe, I use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat flour and organic black beans. Each tortilla provides 3 grams of dietary fiber and 4 grams of protein.

Let's get started!

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Whole Wheat Black Bean Tortillas
Vegan, Dairy Free
[makes Eight (7 1/2-inch) tortillas or a dozen (5-inch) tortillas]

Ingredients
1/2 cup canned organic black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 1/2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or organic canola oil)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water

Directions
Place the black beans, flour, salt, and oil in a food processor. Pulse to blend.

With the food processor running, add water slowly through the shoot until the dough forms a ball.

Remove the dough and roll into 8 balls. If you want smaller tortillas, roll into 12 smaller balls. 

Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

Heat a non-stick pan. 
Roll out each ball to the desired size. I use a rolling pin on a a Tupperware Pastry mat. I don't think they sell those anymore but there are quite a few silicone pastry mats available.  Or, if you have a tortilla press, you can use that.

Place each tortilla in the heated pan and cook until the tortilla bubbles, about 1 minute.

Turn over and cook until both sides are brown, another minute.

One of my favorite possessions is my cloth tortilla warmer, a gift I received from my nephew Dave many years ago. NOTHING keeps tortillas warmer than this. Place your tortillas in the warmer as they come off the grill. If you don't have a warmer, wrap the tortillas in aluminum foil to keep warm.

Tortilla warmers can keep tortillas warm as they come off the grill or can be used to heat them back up in the microwave.

Black bean tortillas can be served as your whole grain starch with any meal or use them to make quesadillas or fajitas. Our favorite way to eat them is spread with vegan cream cheese.  

Nutritional Information
Per serving (8): 164 calories, 9 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 84 mg omega-3 and 1,003 mg omega-6 essential fatty acids, 4 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 74 mg sodium.

Per serving (12): 109 calories, 6 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 56 mg omega-3 and 669 mg omega-6 essential fatty acids, 3 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, and 49 mg sodium.

Quick And Easy Poblano RajasNo Need To Peel Poblanos!

Poblano rajas is a great topping for scrambles, tacos and more.

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Poblano Peppers
This year, I went a little crazy growing so many different peppers in my garden - peppers that I had never before prepared. Poblano peppers, for example. They grew easily and plentifully. I know they are used to make chile rellenos but since I don't eat cheese, I didn't know what else to do with them.

Poblano peppers originated in the state of Puebla, Mexico. They are very mild but once in a while you may get one that has a bit of heat. If you let them ripen, they will turn dark red and become quite spicy and flavorful. Dried, they become "chile ancho" and you can grind them up and use them to flavor dishes. 

I looked around for recipe ideas for my poblano peppers but just about every single one of them required removing their skin as you would do for roasted red peppers. But that's a bit tedious considering how many peppers my plant was putting out. Luckily my daughter was visiting and showed me how she makes poblano rajas without having to do that extra step. So at least for this recipe, you do not have to peel the poblanos.

You can use poblano rajas as a condiment for tofu scramble or eggs, tacos, burritos, beans, potatoes and more. 

My friend gave me a plant called Cuban Oregano (also known as Spanish Thyme). It's a great little herb and it goes well in this dish. But Mexican oregano and thyme are much easier to find and work very well in this recipe too.  

Cuban Oregano or Spanish Thyme

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Easy Poblano Rajas
Vegan, Gluten and Dairy Free
[makes 1 1/2 cups]

Ingredients
2 large or 3 medium poblanos
1 tablespoon (or more) extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups sliced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh oregano or thyme ( or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
Salt to taste

Directions
Prepare the poblanos. Cut them in half vertically, remove their seeds and thinly slice.

Heat a frying pan with the oil. If you use a non-stick or enamel coated pan,1 tablespoon is probably enough. A stainless steel pan may take a bit more.

Add the sliced poblanos and cook on medium heat until they blister and soften, about 10 minutes. 

Add poblanos to the heated pan.

Cook until they blister.

Add the onions and cook until the onions soften and begin to brown. Stir in the garlic, salt and herbs and cook another minute or two. 

Serve warm and enjoy!