Follow up - Piri Piri and Peppedews

After our little celebratory happy hour I realized that I had not taken the time to tell you about two of the peppers featured in the final MoFo 2010 post.

Final MoFo of 2010! Pepper Party!!

I want to thank you all for reading this month. It has been a long but fun food month. Every year at the end of MoFo I always have mixed emotions. I feel relieved that I can relax a bit and not try and come up with something worth reading for you every day. On the other hand I always feel like there is more I could have posted about. I really feel that way even more this year because I just think there are so many incredible ways to use chiles. We've gone from reviewing the fiery habanero to enjoying the almost sweet meatiness of the pasilla chile.  I have not even begun to tap into international cuisines and their uses of chiles. Celia and Gail...I have not forgotten your suggestions and have plans to bring it for you yet. So make sure to check in periodically. I totally want to get on the hot and sour soup and curry.

We decided to go out with a bang. A whole boat load of peppery chile thoughts were running through my head. All day long I kept thinking of all the things I could have done this month and what I could share on this last day of MoFo 2010. I'm pretty sure my mom and my sister think I'm a crazy cooking obsessed weirdo. But nonetheless they celebrated a fantastic day and a fantastic month of MoFo with me tonight. We covered a several peppers tonight: jalapenos, peppadews and piri piris. I tried to jam in chipotle, but my sis wasn't to excited about chipotle in her cosmo. Hee hee. I hope you had as much fun as I did this month. I am looking forward to sharing more with you so come back and visit often.

So here it is: the official MoFo Happiest of Happy Hours!

Here my mom (who is visiting from Illinois), my sister and I enjoyed a toast with Prickly Pear Cosmos and Dirty Martinis made with local Queen Creek Olive Company "Spanish Fly" dirty martini mix. Oh man so good...both of them...and yes I did drink both. MMMmmmm.

Here we have a nice shot of the fabulous ingredients of my dirty martini. Oh yeah, garnishing that bad boy with Jalapeno Mexican Lime stuffed olives (also from Queen Creek Olive Mill) and Peppedews! It was a local and truly special treat.

Check this out. Pepper/Chile Mania

The happy hour menu: 

Seared Tofu with Piri Piri Sauce, Jalapeno Wingettes, Artichoke-Peppedew Tepanade Bruschetta

Here's a closer shot of the tapas. The Piri Piri Sauce is in the white bowl. It is a Peruvian specialty.

Yet even more intimate shot of the seared 'fu with Piri Piri

I can't resist sharing this picture of multi-colored pepper action. So beautiful even in their simplest form.

MOFO - Day 29 - Anthony's Spices Arizona Jalapeno

There is a local dude here in AZ that makes some incredible spice mixes. I have to give some local peeps some attention. Anthony's Spices is based out of Phoenix. He makes some awesome spice blends using a variety of dried peppers. They vary from mild to an extremely hot habanero mixture. He kindly puts a heat scale (out of 10) on each bottle so you have an idea what you are in for. I'm a big fan of the jalapeno salt myself. Yesterday I decided to try another one of his jalapeno variations - Arizona Jalapeno. This one was rated 5/10. Personally, I thought it was on the mild side, but I'm not super heat sensitive. This mixture boasts jalapenos, rosemary, thyme and some secret spices.

My first test run for this flavor was a simple topping for popcorn. It had nice flavor and a nice little hint of heat. I'm looking forward to using this in many other dishes...I'm thinking about some nice BBQ sauce or tofu seared with a boat load of this on it. This stuff is awesome. It's a bit pricey at $4.99 a bottle, but I've spent a lot more on things I liked a lot less. If you live here locally, you can find this at the Guadalupe Market and Whole Foods for sure. You can also order online from their website.

Here is the magical mixture. Oh baby, a little bit of Earth Balance and a heathy sprinkling of Arizona Jalapeno and a good movie with my mommy. Great night.

MOFO - Day 28 - Pablano Vinaigrette from VegNews

We're getting mighty close to the end of MOFO. I'm not running out of inspiration, but I am running out of steam. Last night we did a soup night. Fred was roped in to making a salad dressing. I haven't used any pablanos this MoFo and it just so happens that last month's VegNews was featuring this mild chile. It originates from the city of Puebla, Mexico. Here in AZ they are sold by the name of pasilla. You may be familiar with them in their dried form - ancho.  Rumor has it you can find a hot one here and there, but all of the ones I have had the pleasure of meeting have been very mild.

The dressing featured in VegNews was a bit sweet for my taste, but if you like a sweeter dressing, this one may be up your alley. It had both orange juice and orange zest as it's main ingredients. We served it with a simple salad of romaine, tomatoes, avocado, red onion and spicy croutons. I thought it might make a nice marinade for tofu.

MOFO - Day 27 - Black Bean Chili

Just getting in under the wire. I tested a wonderful version of Black Bean Chili from Carla Kelly's upcoming "One Pot Wonder" book. It is smoky, mushroomy and black beany. You'll have to wait for a bit, but it will be worth it. Yummy for your tummy!!

MOFO - Day 26 - Product Review - Tofurkey Frozen Pizzas

The past couple of days have been jam packed full as I am sure they have been for everyone. I did not have even an hour to whip something up today, so I am going to do a product review of the new Tofurkey Pizza's. I bought 3 varieties and we have tried two of them so far: the cheese and the roasted vegetable. While I much rather make my own pizza's, these work pretty nicely in a pinch. I fed these to my mom and sister who are not vegetarian. Fred and I also tried them. While we all thought they were pretty tasty, my omnis didn't really think the cheese was very close to the real deal. I have to admit, on a cheese only pizza, Daiya is not nearly amazing as it is when it is used as more of an accent than a main attraction. We all very much liked the roasted veggie pizza. The veggies are chopped very small, I'd love to see them a bit larger so they are more distinctive. The sauce is a bit bland, but sprinkle of oregano and crushed red pepper livens it up quite a bit. We all agreed we'd eat the roasted veggie one again.

The cheese variety would need some doctoring to make it to the plate. All in all, I think these are a fine fall back when life gets really busy. It's nice to have a good vegan option in a frozen pizza. Tofurkey brand is the best vegan frozen pizza I've tried yet. I'll be keeping at least one on hand for those busy days.

Oh and so I don't stray from the chile theme, we topped half of the cheese pizza with jalapenos. Yum!

MOFO Day - 25 - Happy Thanksgiving

I had a wonderful time with friends and family today and I hope you all did too! I had a rough day in the kitchen and every where else today. But my mood stayed good because there are so many things to be thankful for. I was not in charge of the whole meal today.

I was in charge of appetizers and took it upon myself to make a couple of other dishes. The apps turned out great, but I've already posted about that this month.

What I planned on sharing with you was a fabulous new recipe for au gratin potatoes. This is where things go south. I painstakingly sliced my potatoes paper thin. They were beautiful. I made a flavorful Southwestern bachamel with chipotle and green chiles. Here is where I'm not entirely sure what happened. The potatoes and sauce were carefully layered in my French White Pyrex casserole. I baked these puppies for almost and hour and a half total. Still, the potatoes rebelled. They were still crunchy, so I had to concede defeat. I do think this dish has promise, and when the bloat from holiday eating wears off, I plan to perfect it. I think the problem is that there were too many layers. On the remake I will use a larger pan and layer them more thinly.