Backyard Harvest Season Hot Sauce with Garlic, Cucumbers, and a Medley of Peppers

As the nights turn crisp and the whisper of a frost threatens in NYC today, it is time to harvest the last stragglers. For many of us backyard gardeners, this means grabbing the last few hot peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

This recipe was inspired by my cooking buddy, the creative pepper genius David Zheutlin, who is co-founder and sauce master at Trop Flavor Co, as well as a middle school history teacher and official garden master of an amazing community garden and teaching space at The Brooklyn Youth Sports Club garden in New Lots.

This recipe calls for cucumbers, hot peppers, and tomatoes. It also calls for a nice handful of garlic to round out those Oaxacan/Mediterranean flavors and a good red wine vinegar.

If you’re in NYC, a great place to get hot peppers is the Union Square Greenmarket. Out of season and for tropical fruits my favorite is Calderon Produce Market in Bushwick.

 WARNING: always use latex gloves when handling hot peppers and hot sauce. These babies can BURN your skin!!

This recipe makes about 3x 5-oz bottles of hot sauce. You can use old alcohol bottles or jam jars too.

INGREDIENTS

8 red-colored hot peppers, like scotch bonnet, jalapeno, or Thai hot peppers
2 tomatoes
4 garlic cloves
2 cucumbers
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lime juice (about 1 limes worth)
1 tablespoon salt

DIRECTIONS

  1. Turn the oven on to a high broil, and on a sheet tray, lay out the first 3 ingredients: peppers, tomatoes, and garlic.

  2. Broil for about 10 minutes or until they’re all slightly blistered and soft, and peppers are bursting and juicy, turning halfway through.

  3. Transfer contents to a blender and add the rest of the ingredients: cucumber, lime juice, vinegar, water, salt, and pulse until desired texture is reached.

  4. Fill bottles or jars with a funnel and cap.

  5. Refrigerate when cool.

  6. It will last in your fridge for at least 6-months.

Laena McCarthy