Ketchup and Eggs

Ketchup...

OMG! this is the best stuff I have ever had... Do you have a spoon? A chip? A piece of bread I can dip into it?

Homemade ketchup. In my opinion ketchup, in general, is not just a condiment but a comfort food. And as my dear friend Holly would say, "Steak is just a vehicle for eating ketchup!"

I have to agree with her.

This stuff, that bubbles on the stove for over 3 hours is simply amazing, and by experience I have found the longer it sits after being put into canning jars, the better it gets.

The recipe that I found in the New York Times magazine section is the one that I swear by. And it's funny how life sometimes throws you a curve but, with determination and perseverance, one can prevail.

My story: I was searching for the pages torn from the magazine containing the recipe. One day, I finally found them and here's where it goes awry: I lit a small votive candle and left it on the table with the recipes, including this one, that I was sorting through. I've lived on Maui 3 years now and one would think I have learned a few things during that time but apparently not. Mark forgot about the trade winds that blow through every day starting about 1:30 PM and tend to cause papers and small, light objects to gust about. So burning candle, wind blows, makes recipes take flight, ketchup recipe lands on candle... small fire -- no panic, douse it quickly -- and all I am left with just charred and tattered remains of the recipe with singed edge and dashed hopes.

Quick! Google search... a few minutes I found it! Relief...

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/8571/Spicy-Tomato-Ketchup.html

So today I'm concocting a new batch... with pics, of course!

Here's a plate of spices and condiments that are added to the tomatoes with red wine vinegar. A few included above are charred onion, garlic, tomato paste, brown sugar, raw honey, capers, cardamon pods, cumin, black pepper and allspice berries.

All the ingredients in the pot prior to cooking and reducing for 3 hours.

The simmering ketchup after approximately an hour-and-a-half. Notice how the color is getting deeper and darker as it reduces.

A jar of the finished ketchup.

Angus burgers on the cast iron charcoal grill to be served with oven fries and onion rings and a side of homemade cole slaw. And lots and lots of ketchup!

Eggs...

Here in Upcountry, and perhaps all of Maui - all islands too? - there is a problem with feral chickens. One measure to curb the chickens from making nests, laying eggs and raising broods in the wild is to mark the nests and return weekly to remove the most recently laid clutch of eggs.

These eggs are smaller than what I think of for a chicken egg. Here's one showing the very orange-colored yolk and was later used for onion rings which accompany the burgers and ketchup. Honestly these eggs do taste differently from store bought eggs.

Deviled eggs made from the wild eggs with black sesame seeds.