Avanti Cafe Musings: pequin

Showing posts with label pequin. Show all posts

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Avanti HOT Lime Indian Pickle

Start w/ about 25 to 30 firm organic limes, your favorite variety. Quarter them length wise. If using key limes you’ll need about 50, cut in half.

The Seed Blend

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Prep Method
3	Tablespoons	Cumin seed
3	Tablespoons	Coriander seed
2	Tablespoons	Yellow mustard seed
2	Tablespoons	Brown mustard seed
2	Tablespoons	Fennel seed
1	Tablespoon	Allspice berries
1	Tablespoon	Anise seed

The Spice Blend

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Prep Method
½	Cup	Evoo
1 ½	Tablespoons	Avanti Golden Spice*
1	Teaspoon	Asafetida	Optional
5	Cloves	Garlic	Sliced or minced

Directions:

Turn the oven to 400 degrees. Put the seeds on a sheet pan. Put the oil, golden spice and garlic mix into a cast iron skillet or oven safe bowl. Put both the seeds and the oil mix into the oven and then turn the oven off. Set a timer for 10 mins. When the seeds are fragrant and popping a little they are done. Let the oil mix bubble and bloom for about 5 mins longer (total 15 mins).

Fill 4 wide mouth impeccably clean quart jars about 1/2 full w/ lime quarters. Divide the seeds and the oil mixture among the four jars.

To EACH jar ADD:

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Prep Method
3	Tablespoons	Avanti HOT Sauce*
2	Tablespoons	Sea salt
1	Tablespoon	Cider vinegar
1	Medium	Orange	Juice and zest

Cover well, leave out on the kitchen counter and shake upside down to distribute the spices and juices twice a day for 4 days. Then open the jars and use a spoon or very clean fingers to press the limes into the brine, releasing more of their juice. Wipe the jar rims and clean the lids well. Continue shaking for 4 more days. Wipe the rims and clean the lids well again, and place in the fridge. They are ready to eat, but the flavor and texture will continue to improve in the fridge for several more months.

*NOTE: You’ll find Avanti Golden Spice and Avanti Pequin HOT Sauce recipes here on the Avanti blog. Or, feel free to sub your favorite curry, 5 spice, chili powder or garam masala spice blends and your favorite HOT sauce as you wish.

Here's the world's easiest HOT Pickled Lime Egg Salad Supreme. It's one lime segment for each hard boiled organic egg. Both finely chopped & topped w/ some blue basil blossoms. Sublime!

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat, Live & Party Well

Blog post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County, CA.

Meaning 'forward' in Italian, Avanti Natural is a culinary philosophy that integrates the best of traditional European and Asian healthful eating with the latest nutritional information for optimum health.

At Avanti Natural, we believe that you don't have to sacrifice taste to eat healthy. You can Eat Well & Live Well. Follow us on social media to see what Avanti is up to now. We are Whole Foods Experts. Post photos of your versions of Avanti Natural recipes on our Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages. Check our blog on the website for how to recipe blogs. We’re excited to see and share your culinary creativity!

Avantinatural.com

https://www.pinterest.com/avantinatural/avanti-natural-lifestyle-media/

https://www.pinterest.com/avantinatural/mark-cleveland-creative/

https://www.pinterest.com/avantinatural/

Youtube

Avanti Natural

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Q6ljhrJ56QXRF3vR4snMQ

Avanti Café

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYaIGYey-BCf7gIh1-DcSQA

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/avanti.natural?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avanti-Natural/665626266871334?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avanti-Culinary-Consulting/166822256677277?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chefs-Mark-Cleveland-Tanya-Fuqua/296158060441737?ref=hl

Twitter

https://twitter.com/AvantiNatural

Instagram

https://instagram.com/avantinatural/

Avanti Natural Website & Blog

http://avantinatural.com

http://avantinatural.com/blog.html

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-cleveland/b9/a1/823

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Avanti Moroccan Preserved Limes :: Not a lemon in the bunch

Avanti Moroccan Preserved Limes :: Pickling Salt Blend 2015 ::

This is an open ended recipe. Not much measuring. It's more of a process.

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Prep Method
2	Cup	Fine salt
½	Cup	Coarse salt
1	Cup	Avanti Natural Pink Salt

I always use sea and mined salt. I’ve never been a fan of kosher salt. And the current research seems to back up the wisdom of my taste buds. Sea & mined salts are rich in trace minerals (that’s what makes them pink, grey or black), they are slow to dissolve and titillate the taste buds without flooding the mouth w/ a flash burst of sodium. Here’s the blend I crafted for the 2015 pickling season. I vary the ratio each year, after all cooking is chemistry and all cooks are chemists. Our Avanti pink salt blend is a mix of Hawaiian, Bolivian & Himalayan sea and mountain mined salt, never to be confused w/ the nefarious PINK SALT laced w/nitrates to keep meat from graying in the curing process. Avoid this chemical catastrophe always!

I started making these a couple of years ago when gifted with bushels of what turned out to be Bearss limes. When presented w/ large amounts of citrus in season, one naturally thinks of Moroccan salt cured lemons. Lemons or limes of several varieties work for this. What you want is a fruit w/ a rather thick skin, rather thin pith and good juice. I’ve not had success w/ Meyer lemons, the skin is too thin, and there is too much juice. But I’d love to hear from other foodies that have preserved a Meyer in this way.

Wash your fruit of choice and dry well. I wash them early, put them in a colander in a sunny place in the kitchen and let them air dry while I get everything else ready. This is an assembly line process. You’ll need clean, sterilized glass jars w/ tight fitting lids, plenty of citrus fruit and a good sea salt pickling blend. Other than that, all you need is a cutting board, paring knife and time.

Trim off the stem end and any blemishes and cut into quarters lengthwise. Remove any seeds. Push them firmly and w/ strength into the jars. Top each 6 quarters with 1 Tablespoon of the sea salt blend. Manhandle as many quarters as you can into each jar. You’ll be pressing out juice as you go. The salty juice will start the curing process. Add in a few hot chilies if you wish. This is not traditional, but since chilies and citrus often ripen at the same time, I like the added zing. I used a few Avanti garden pequins this year. Cover tightly and leave out in a cool place in the kitchen out of direct sunlight. I put them on a ceramic tray lined w/ a kitchen towel. Each day, morn and eve, invert the jars to bathe the quarters in the salty brine. After three days press in more quarters and salt. 6 quarters to 1 T sea salt blend, just as before. I do this in a mixing bowl, since you may overflow w/ briney juice. Once the jars can hold no more, return to the kitchen counter and repeat the inversion process twice a day for three more days.

Save any juice over flow for use as a salt substitute. It will be very salty, so just add a ½ teaspoon or so to your cooking over the next few days. It’s delish. When I have it, I mix a wee bit w/ some golden spice in a glass of soda water each morning as a quick ayurvedic turmeric tonic. Here's a video tutorial from Avanti Natural Lifestyle Media. Moroccan Preserved Lemons YouTube

After the final three days of turning the jars twice a day to distribute the salty juice & remove any air bubbles, put the jars in a cool dark place for a month or two. A lower kitchen or pantry cabinet, the basement or root cellar, even load them into a wine box and put them into a dark closet. They are done when the skins have become tender and the juice has become gelatinous. At this point you can put them in the fridge.

Here's the same video, in the blog itself:

Some people suggest washing off the saltiness or cutting out the pulp and only using the skin. I do not do this. I use them in their entirety. But remember that they are very salty, so use as you would olives or capers. These tangy preserved citrus add a ton of flavor to your dishes, and flavor the dish w/ mineral rich sea salt at the same time.

You’ll find them called for in many Moroccan and North African recipes, but once you have them around, you’ll find a myriad of ways to add their Mediterranean flavor flair to all sorts of culinary creations.

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat, Live & Party Well

Blog post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County, CA.

Avantinatural.com

https://www.pinterest.com/avantinatural/avanti-natural-lifestyle-media/

https://www.pinterest.com/avantinatural/mark-cleveland-creative/

https://www.pinterest.com/avantinatural/

Youtube

Avanti Natural

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Q6ljhrJ56QXRF3vR4snMQ

Avanti Café

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYaIGYey-BCf7gIh1-DcSQA

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/avanti.natural?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avanti-Natural/665626266871334?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avanti-Culinary-Consulting/166822256677277?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chefs-Mark-Cleveland-Tanya-Fuqua/296158060441737?ref=hl

Twitter

https://twitter.com/AvantiNatural

Instagram

https://instagram.com/avantinatural/

Avanti Natural Website & Blog

http://avantinatural.com

http://avantinatural.com/blog.html

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-cleveland/b9/a1/823

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Avanti 2015 Garden Chili Fermented HOT Sauce

Avanti garden chilies:
Pequins in the bowl. On the plate from left, Aji dulce, fatalii, Australian lantern, tabasco

The summer of 2015 was a banner year for HOT chili peppers in the Avanti Natural Garden. What we used to refer to as Veronica’s grandpappy’s Guadalajara chili was identified by a chef bud as the mighty pequin. If you fancy growing chilies in your garden, make sure to add at least one of these marvels. They grow to stellar heights, over 6 or 7 feet, produce hundreds of chilies and live for years. They are a HOT power chili shrub. The habaneros, cayenne & Tabasco chilies I ordered from Cross Country Nurseries this year all produced w/ abandon. I fell in love w/ the golden fatalii. That plant produced at least 40 chilies over the season. I only order plants indicated ‘prolific’ and some are, and some not so much. This fatalii delivered big time.

I have a gigantor 7 foot tall Bangladeshi eggplant that has produced at least 100 flowers, but is completely sterile and 100% fruitless. But that is a separate story

A beautiful specimen plant, but so far it's shooting blanks

As we all know, fermented foods are coming into their own scientifically. Health-Foodies for Centuries have touted the fermented veg as something to eat daily for optimum health. Finally Science has caught up w/ instinctive human wisdom. So, get HOT >> Ferment >> Live Long & Perspire ::]

Avanti 2015 Garden Chili Fermented HOT Sauce

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Prep Method
8	Ounces	Fresh garden chilies*	Smaller preferable
2	Tablespoons	Sea salt	Avanti pickling salt
2	Cups	Herbal broth**
3	Tablespoons	Avanti Ginger Puree
1	Tablespoon	Miso
2/3	Cup	Champagne vinegar	Or Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3	Cup	Red wine vinegar
6	Cloves	Garlic

Pick through and wash the chilies. Allow to drain until mostly dry.

Chilis ready for hot sauce. Pequins in one batch, a mix in the other

Place all into a sturdy blender and grind until smooth. Don’t overdo it. Remember the vinegar, ginger puree & miso are living organisms.

Ready to grind in the blender jar

Don’t allow the heat of friction to kill the beneficial probiotics. Let sit in the blender for several hours or over night. Blend again. This will tenderize, the chili pulp skins and seeds for a smoother sauce. Divide into clean glass jars. Cover w/ a tea towel and allow to ferment at room temperature for 3 to 5 days. Shake well twice a day. Refrigerate.

Dagger pods in w/ the mix

* A Note On Chilies <::> Smaller chilies are naturally more dense so they will produce a thicker sauce. If you use larger chilies such as those from the habanero family, add ½ cup or so of hemp or sesame seeds to the blender to thicken the final sauce. You can add a tablespoon of flax or chia too, but don’t over do those as they make the sauce sticky. Adding the seeds increases the nutrition, protein and fiber content of the finished sauce.

** A Note On Herbal Broth <::> This is a great place to create the nutritional alchemy you’d like to include in your daily diet. As you learn about micro nutrients, teas & herbs that respond to the health issues you would personally like to address, add those components to your herbal broth. I add a mixture of somes of these: Jamaica, rooibos, cinnamon, nopales, reishi, shiitake, maitake, matcha, red pine bark, cacao, turmeric, ginger, fenugreek, coriander, galangal and more. I peruse the spice rack and choose for flavor, color & health benefits. Then I add garden herbs such as basil, lemon grass, oregano, mint, lemon balm, pineapple sage, lemon verbena, rosemary, etc. as the whim strikes me.

Australian lanterns, they are smaller and redder than the Aji dulce

This summer I made three variations of this sauce

Variation #1 :: 100% pequin chilies

Variation #2 :: Garden chili mix: Fatalii, Australian lantern, dagger pod, aji dulce, Tabasco. I added a ¼ cup hemp seeds to the mix. It’s a bit thin.

Variation #3 :: 2 parts pequin to 1 part garden chili mix