Ghost pepper pumpkins salsa. Early Christmas present from the SIL. It’s not stupid not, but it’s close.
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I bet you can’t eat that with a slice of ginger!
Joking of course. Root heat + pepper heat is like atom splitting dangerous and can torn the recipient into a fast zombie.
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Went to an outlet store in myrtle beach a few years ago. They only sold rare salsas and hot sauces. We bought one as a gag that took signing a release called “death by salsa”. It had ghost pepper extract/concentrate and was the consistency of canned tomatoe paste. It was enough to blister the tongue. Dad and I had to dilute it with diced tomatoes just to eat it, worst diarrhea ever. That’s my line for “stupid hot”.
My mom told me about a recipe her dad used to cook. It’s a vegetable soup basically, and I’ve been told it’s popular in Naples, although living in Northern Italy I hadn’t heard of it yet. It’s called Ciambotta, and I attempted a modified version.
Starting ingredients:
End result
Man this was delicious! A fuck ton of veggies, very low additional calories, satiating, and tasty.
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That looks amazing! I always wished I lived or was born in Italy. So many amazing dishes.
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Broiled seafood platter. My toes were in the sand. Live music. Sunset. 
Best fruit in the world: passion fruit.
Favorite drink:
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I looked at the ingredients you used and kinda winged it. I sliced eggplant and zucchini and squash and grilled them. Got the garlic a white onion and two green peppers going in a pan with olive oil. Then chopped up the grilled veg added them and some cherry tomatoes to the pan with a small can of tomato paste and some chicken stock and some capers. Then let it cook down for a while. Awesome side for like 3-4 days!
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Definitely close to what I did and happy you liked it! If I happen to prepare any other Italian recipes I’ll keep you posted.
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Made soup from the Thanksgiving bird.
Did the stock for about 6 hours.
Plucked off all the meat I could find, which was a surprising amount (I think it was a 20-pound bird). Next time I’ll have to remember to measure how much I get off a carcass.
Threw it together pretty simple with with diced onion and a spinach/kale mix. Tossed a little rice in the bowl at serving time.
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Made ground chicken based pizza… It was actually pretty decent.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGGdS0hak5/
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I made an open hearth from blocks and bricks I had in the back yard.
I made beef roast over coals. Chuck and shortrib:
Also, more bread:
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Looks amazing! Makes me hungry lol
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How long did this take? I’d love trying to do something like this
That bread looks heavenly!
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It took about 20 mins to build. It’s dry-stacked; no mortar.
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Any reason to use the open hearth vs a grill?
Absolutely. I built it to facilitate braising and pot-roasting in a cast-iron Dutch oven, as well as direct-coal cooking. I have a gas grill (for convenience), but I had no way of safely using coals in my cooking. The advantage of using hot coals placed on and around the cooking vessel is huge compared to cooking the same thing in an oven… The coals heat up the walls and lid of the Dutch oven and create infrared radiation, which browns and caramelizes the food while it is cooking (Sort of like broiling it), while the tight fitting lid keeps the interior of the vessel at or near 100% humidity. As a result, I am able to use much less liquid for the braise, since very little is lost to evaporation, which translates to a much more concentrated jus at the finish. Another added benefit is the creation of 2nd generation Maillard molecules. When you brown food, you are creating Maillard molecules (the tasty, very volatile, smells and flavors that you associate with “complex” food). These molecules are great on their own, but when they are sealed in a vessel and interact together at high temp, they combine and create even more complex molecules, which your tastebuds interpret as more interesting/exciting. (In chemistry terms I am running a reflux reaction, as opposed to a linear/single-run reaction; this means that the reaction keeps going with little loss to the outside environment.)
Modern recipes that are trying to recreate authentic pot-roasted dishes usually begin by searing the meat, in an attempt to mimic the intense infrared of a coal-heated pot. This step is unnecessary when making it in the traditional style. The cooked photo is taken 3 hours after putting the raw version in the coals. Nothing was added; no stirring; just raw meat in, amazingly crusted/seared/tender meat out. The modern workarounds leave much to be desired, as the Maillard molecules are readily soluble in water, meaning they quickly leave the meat and flavor the cooking liquid. This cooking liquid is usually boiled at the finish in an effort to concentrate the flavors. The volatile molecules wind up making the kitchen smell wonderful, but if it’s in the air, it’s not making it to the plate. And a more diluted cooking liquid means that first-gen Maillard molecules are less likely to interact and combine, and more likely to volatise with evaporating cooking liquid.
This was done as a proof-of-concept, and it worked better than I could have possibly imagined. My family, who is rather picky, all had thirds and agreed that it was the best roast they had ever had. I will be experimenting further. My other goal, besides mastering hearth-cooking in general, is to get comfortable cooking in our fireplace. These are, unfortunately, lost arts, and I intend to do my part to preserve them. I believe that there is something in the modern tech that can be added to these techniques (i.e. Combining sous vide or pressure cooking with coals). I’m also very interested in pit cooking… Now that I have a safe place to build fire, I will be digging and burying. I will, of course, share the results.
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Thanks for the explanation! I have a charcoal grill and might give this a shot.
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