Yesterday, we pulled out some shrimp, thinking that we were going to drop in on our Koumbari, and take a little shrimp with us, and hope they had some cocktail sauce for us. But, we did not go to see them, so we have some shrimp on hand. We also do not have cocktail sauce on hand. Usually, we will make a quick cocktail sauce with ketchup, horseradish, and lemon juice. However, we did not even have the ingredients on hand. Really, our house has no ketchup right now! So, we had to find another dip to serve with our shrimp. Well, we resorted to our collection of saved recipes from various friends and family to find the right dipping sauce for our shrimp. The criteria were to have the ingredients on hand, to take little time, to be easy to make. And, sure enough, we found it!
Today's honey dipping sauce may sound gross when you think about honey and shrimp. But, there are other flavours in this that really shine, and the honey seems to bring those flavours together. This took about 20 minutes to make, which includes chopping the ingredients, cooking time, and some cooling time. And, we can assure you those 20 minutes are well worth waiting!
For this recipe, you will need the following:
1 TBSP sriracha sauce (or hot sauce of your choice)**
1/2 onion
1 tomato
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup honey
**If you like less spicy, add less hot sauce, or more sauce for more spicy.
Begin by chopping the onion, tomato, and garlic. They do not have to look too nice, so a rough chop is fine. We often care that the pieces are the same size or look nice, but this is going to the food processor for a spin, so it really doesn't matter what the pieces look like. You want to chop the onion, tomato, and garlic, though, to really extract those flavours into the sauce.
Put the chopped onion, chopped tomato, and chopped garlic in a saucepan with the water. Add the sriracha hot sauce and the salt. Mix this well and put the pot on the stove.
You want to heat this up to a boil, allow it to boil for about 2 minutes, then turn down the heat to a medium-low to low temperature so the mixture will hold at a simmer. Put a lid on the pot and allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes of simmering, all the ingredients should be very soft and cooked. Now it is time to process! We used an immersion blender for this step. Some people will want to use the food processor. You could even use a blender. You want to be able to puree the pieces of onion, tomato, and garlic to liquid, and so the sauce is smooth. Whichever device will do that for you, use that one.
Blend the ingredients to make a smooth sauce. While it is still warm, add the honey and the red wine vinegar. Mix it all together and return the pan to the heat for five more minutes. This will cook down the sauce a little and make it thicker. If you want a thin sauce, cook it less time. For a thick, ketchup like consistency, cook it for 10 minutes.
Then, allow the sauce to cool. To cool quickly, we put our pot in the freezer for 5 minutes. That brought the temperature of the sauce to a few degrees below body temperature. It was not cold, but it was no longer warm. Our shrimp was cold, so the warmer sauce seemed to balance the cold shrimp. Serve cold or room temperature to get the best flavours. This combination is spicy, so if you don't like it hot, don't use as much hot sauce as we did! But, please note that as the sauce sits, the flavour changes, the level of spiciness will change, too, so keep tasting!
"Everything we do, our every objective, must be undertaken for the sake of... purity of heart... we must practice the reading of the Scripture, together with all the other virtuous activities... to hold our hearts free of the harm of every dangerous passion and in order to rise step by step to the high point of love."
From St. John Cassian (Conferences, Conf. One sect. 7; Paulist Press pg. 41)
Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html
Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html
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