Habanero

Another week, another impulse buy at the farmers market. What am I going to do with 20 habanero peppers? Who cares when they cost $3!

But seriously, what am I going to do with them... I suppose I could share with friends, so let me know if you want any.

So far I made some spicy baba ganoush.

As you might guess from the photo, I roasted both the eggplant and the habanero for this recipe. I figured it would tone down the intense spiciness of the habanero. I also had the foresight to deseed that hot little pepper.

That method seemed to work. So I did the same for this raw vegetable curry, which I served with brown rice and a fried egg. This "curry" was made from leftover gazpacho ingredients (i.e. tomatoes and bell peppers). It was so spicy that most people probably would not have been able to eat it. I, however, loved it.

Bahamian Macaroni

As I carefully maneuvered through snow and ice on my way home tonight, my mind wondered to a friend who is currently sailing across the Caribbean. She recently gifted me the neat turtle spoons (that you can see pictured above) and a few recipes. This is one of them.

Nea, I very much enjoyed your gift. Everyone should check out her awesome sailing blog! Everyone should also try a variation of this recipe, which is better than Wisconsin mac and cheese but can still be eaten with ketchup.

Ingredients:
Most of a box of elbow macaroni noodles (I used whole wheat)
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 habanero peppers , diced.
1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 Roma tomato, chopped coarsely
Salt to taste

Start by boiling the macaroni and sauteing all of the peppers and vegetables until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Combine strained macaroni and veggies in a greased baking dish. Add the butter before this cools and mix. Add the eggs, cheese, Worcestershire and salt. Mix and distribute evenly in dish. Pour the cream on evenly. Top with more grated cheese. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.



**A few notes about this recipe: First, I did not label this post "vegetarian," because there are so many animal products in this recipe. I also used a small amount of cream instead of the 2 cans of evaporated milk that the recipe lists. The tomato was totally my idea, and I used some fancy cheddar cheese I had sitting around. Finally, the recipe called for "hot sauce to taste," so I obviously used two habaneros.