Trick or Heat Halloween Relish

Trick or Heat Relish

A Hot and Sweet Treat for Halloween

Perfect on Brats/Sausages/Hot dogs

Great Dinner

Brats/Sausages with Trick or Heat Relish

and Roasted Bell Peppers with Onions

Broccoli Slaw, Sweet Potato Fries

and

A Spooky Brew

How about a unique garnish for your beer?

Chorizo Sausage, Poblano Peppers (fresh or dried)

Perfect for the Occasion

—————————–

Trick or Heat Relish

(This would also be lovely for Easter. You don’t have to make it hot.)

——————————–

TIP: Whenever you are handling very hot peppers, or any food that can irritate your skin, try using cooking gloves. It’s not only more sanitary, but it’s easier on your hands.

——————————–

Carve a Little Bell Pepper into a Lovely Lantern

Gordon was chopping up some bell peppers for our brats/sausages, when I got the idea for him to carve out the remaining green bell pepper into a lantern.

Just cut off the top, remove everything inside, then use a paring knife to cut out some eyes, a nose and a mouth.

Be sure to eat the parts you don’t use. 🙂

Now just add a safe battery tea light, and you have a cute jack-o-lantern for your table.

——————————–

Ingredients:

12 Hot Banana Peppers sliced into rings

2 Cups Carrots sliced thin

1 Cup of sliced bell peppers (Red, Yellow, Green, Orange)

1/2 Medium Vidalia Onion sliced thin

1 Tbsp Mustard Seeds

1 Tbsp Ground Mustard

1 Tbsp Whole Red Peppercorns (also called Pink or Rose)

1 tsp Turmeric

2 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 Cup White Vinegar

1 Cup Water

Makes about 9 small jars of relish.

———————————

This is a Pepper/Carrot Relish

Spicy Hot and Delicious!

Here are our Ingredients

We wanted to slice the peppers into rings, but we didn’t want all the seeds as they are really HOT!

Gordon devised a trick to removing the seeds while leaving the pepper intact.

Simply slice off the top, roll the pepper with your hands and just squeeze the seeds out of the pepper.

Comes out fairly clean.

———————————–

Adding the carrots to a tall pot on your stove.

Chopping Your Ingredients

Chop Your Peppers into Rings

Now you add to the pot all the chopped ingredients.

Onion

Try chopping your onion into half moons.

Combine in your pot.

You want to chop your bell peppers into small chunks for this relish recipe.

Next comes all the spice ingredients.

Adding the Red Pepper Corns

Add the Spices

Adding the Sugar, Vinegar, and Water

Now you want to bring it to a boil.

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cook until the carrots are slightly tender. Taste the relish and add more sugar/vinegar/water etc… to taste. Be sure to cover the pot while cooking, so there is enough liquid in the pot to cover the relish. This will ensure the relish in your jars will be covered and stay moist when canned.

It is now ready!

————————————

Canning Your Trick or Heat Relish

To can/jar your relish boil your jars or place in a dishwasher on sterilize setting. If you don’t have a sterilize setting, use the pot setting and keep the jars in the dishwasher until ready to jar your relish. Sterilize the lids in a pot just below a boil for 15 min. Use tongs to get them out when ready.

Place your cooled relish in your jar using a funnel. Leave 1/2 of space from the top of the jar to allow for suction. Wipe the top of the jar with a moist paper towel to remove any food particles or liquid. Place a lid on top of the jar and slightly tighten down with the band. When you have enough done, submerge them in a pot of boiling water using canning tongs and boil for at least 15 min. You will see bubbles stream out of the jars… its a good sign the air is being extracted and the jars are sealing. When done, use the tongs to extract the jars and place on a clean dry surface. The jars will be extremely hot, so handle them with care. You should hear the jars seal (POP) shortly after you removed them from the boiling water. That POP means the jars sealed properly. If a jar doesn’t seal, you will have to re-do the canning procedure all over again with a new jar and lid. Lids can only be used once.

TIP: When cool enough to touch, remove the band and wipe away any excess moisture from the jar and band. Doing this will ensure the items don’t rust over time.

Note: The bands are only there to ensure the sealed lid doesn’t accidentally get pulled up when stored. If you ever find a lid in the up position on any jarred food, discard it as bacteria is in the food. This is also true with all store bought jarred items.

———————————

How To Eat Trick -or-Heat

Gordon Turning on the Grill

Our Trick or Heat relish goes very well with hot dogs/brats/ sausages.

Especially when they are cooked on the grill.

Pumpkin UFO Beer and Skull Hot Sauce

Brats and Sausages

I absolutely adore these chicken apple sausages, while Gordon loves the spicy, hot brats.

To make the brats, simply cook them in a mixture of water and beer for about 10 min. as shown below at a temperature just below boiling.

When cooked, remove the brats and brown them on the grill to finish the cooking process. You will then also add the sausages to the grill and cook them until well browned.

——————————-

Sauteing some Colorful Bell Peppers for your Brats

Simply slice them lengthwise at ~1/4 inch width.

Slice an onion in half and then slice it thinly creating long strips.

Place them all in a saute pan with a little olive oil or butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook them over medium heat until the onions are translucent and the bell peppers are tender.

TIP: You could also add chopped/minced garlic a few minutes after you started the cooking process. This will ensure the garlic doesn’t burn.

Have a Halloween Brew with Your Meal

(The skull is full of hot sauce!)

————————————-

In addition to our grilled meal, Gordon also made some broccoli slaw. You can buy broccoli or regular coleslaw already prepared at your grocery stores. You then add a mayo based sauce to it. But here, Gordon topped our slaw with an already prepared sweet seaweed mixture from the Asian supermarket. We think it makes an interesting garnish.

Heat and Heat and Heat, go Well Together