Friday, 1 March 2013

Smoke me a (pepper) I’ll be back for breakfast

Anyone a fan of Red Dwarf? Space pilot and all round cool guy Ace Rimmer always says “Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast.” Which annoys the other Rimmer because a cooler version of  himself has just dimension jumped into his universe making him look like a bit of a wanker. But to be fair, he still looked like that even without the uber-cool Ace Rimmer. When he tried to use the catch phrase it came out like “Stoke me a clipper, I’ll be back for Christmas.”

What does this have to do with *anything* I hear you cry? Well, not much if I’m honest. It is a rather (tenuous) link to the fact that we bought a tin of chipotle peppers in  adobe sauce at Whole Foods the last time we were in London. This was a real treat because I can’t find these smoky peppers locally.

 But you only use a bit a time, so what’s a thrifty spider to do with what’s left? Freeze them, of course!



I poured the whole tin of whole peppers and spicy sauce into my food processor and WHAM! Pureed it up into a lovely, smoky, spicy gloop. Then I carefully spooned it into ice cube trays. I was shocked because it made 23 cubes which more than makes up for spending £3 and a bit on the tin.


Then I froze them for 24 hours, popped them out of the ice trays (washed the trays well to get rid of the smoky smell) and plonked those babies in a ziplock freezer bag. Oh, yeah.


Now when I want one all I do is pull one out and after the onion has cooked down a bit and started to caramelise I chuck a cube (or 2) in the hot and pot and it melts and coats the onions before I add all the other ingredients and the end product is a smoky, spicy treat.

 I am so thrilled I did this and it doesn’t take up much space in our tiny freezer but it sure makes a difference in the taste of the meal.

Mmmmmm……now go and do it yourself!    

1 comment: