16 August 2012


It's reveal day for the Improv Challenge.  The premise of this challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it.



This month's assigned ingredients were tomatoes and peppers.  I was a little apprehensive about this one because, while I love tomatoes, I really dislike peppers.  Red bell peppers, green bell peppers, jalapenos: no thanks.  It's not the heat that bothers me; I have a strong aversion to the flavor, especially the bell peppers.  I can tolerate jalapenos in salsa, but don't ever add them to anything else.  But there is one exception to my pepper avoidance: chipotles.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I do love me some chipotle!  I don't know what it is about chipotles, but they don't bother me like other peppers and I love their smoked flavor.  They are smoked jalapenos, but the flavor is completely different than regular jalapenos.  They come in little bitty cans, packed in a flavorful sauce called adobo. 


I decided to try making a homemade chipotle ketchup.  I googled "chipotle ketchup recipe" and 99% of the results called for ketchup as an ingredient.  I wanted to make it from scratch.  So I kept digging and I finally found a homemade chipotle ketchup recipe from scratch at Homesick Texan.  Here's my slight adaptation.

Homemade Chipotle Ketchup

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
28 oz. can whole tomatoes
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground celery seeds
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced, plus 2 tbsp adobo sauce
Salt to taste

Method:
On medium-low heat, cook the diced onion in the olive oil in a medium-sized pot just until the onions start to brown a bit on the ends.

Add the tomatoes and their juice to the pot, crushing the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally.

After an hour, puree the mixture, and then continue to cook on low heat until it reaches your desired thickness.




Now, if mine looks a tad watery, it's because I didn't follow the directions exactly.  I went shopping that day, and by the time I got home and got the groceries unloaded and put away, I didn't have time to simmer the sauce for an hour.  Oops! So I kept it at a full boil for like half an hour.  Yes, it made a humongous mess on my stovetop, but it got the job (mostly) done in half the time.  (And yeah, my potato wedges got a little "done", but oh well! They were still good and the ketchup covered it up well! :)

 Homemade ketchup will never be as smooth as store-bought, but it doesn't matter.  It tastes awesome.  I only used one chipotle because we are kind of wimps when it comes to heat, so if you like things hot, use more.  At least two.



I served this on some burgers that I created, which I'm calling Southwestern Burgers.  Ground beef patties with black beans and corn mixed in seasoned with cumin and chili powder.  I'll post that recipe tomorrow.  Topped with pepperjack cheese and the chipotle ketchup, it was one sassy burger!

Check out all the other great tomato and pepper recipes below and come back here tomorrow for the Southwestern Burger recipe.



Tagged: ,

17 comments:

  1. OH MY! This is most def getting into my condiments recipe box! We love our potato wedges on the grill with our burgers, but usually just resort to mixing hot sauce into Hunt's® Ketchup.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, that's fabulous! I've always wanted to make my own ketchup (have had a bacon ketchup recipe bookmarked for years now) but always wondered if it was really worth the effort. I will definitely have to give it a try!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bacon ketchup sounds amazing! Let me know if you try it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This sounds delicious and like the perfect condiment. 

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the twist on the classic ketchup!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is making my mouth water!

    ReplyDelete
  7. homemade ketchup: what a great idea! love your recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kudos to you for doing it all from scratch! I love this recipe and I bet ketchup from scratch was absolutely divine.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, you go, girl!!! What an excellent twist on ketchup :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderful way to use the ingredients and your ketchup sounds amazing.


    Thanks too for checking out my Improv Cooking Challenge entry: French Fries Hash Browns.


    Lisa~~Cook Lisa Cook

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are a homemade ketchup genius! I lived in Southeast Asia for 10 years and learned to eat chilli sauce on everything. I think this has got to be even better!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very Nice!! I think your burgers with that homemade ketchup are awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow, thanks Stacy! "Genius" may be a bit of a stretch, but I'm glad you think so! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Made this with double the chipoltle (we're Texan!) and served it with sweet potato fries! It was incredible! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Awesome! So glad you liked it. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know you tried it!

    ReplyDelete