The aroma of buttermilk-soaked Texas 1015 onion rings and hand-cut sweet potato fries bubbling in the dutch ovens of hot oil was too much for even the high-rollers from Boston to resist.
The high-faluting guests were supposed to be impressed by the views of Lake Austin.
Instead they clustered around the prep tables where catering pro Libby was putting the final touches on an army of gussied-up high brow hamburgers (custom ground and hand shaped that afternoon). They watched with surprising intent the onion rings and sweet potato fries browning away before me. (I was just a helper.)
The burgers were outrageous (of course grilled medium rare); the fries and rings ambrosial when scooped hot from the oil, drained carefully, and dusted with sea salt laced with a touch of cumin and and sweet paprika.
But as irresistible as all that food sounds, hands down the most requested food (and recipe) was Libby’s Rustic Chipotle Ketchup.
Packed with tomato goodness (and good-for-you lycopenes, but don’t hold that against us), hints of garlic, wisps of three different sweeteners and just enough chipotle heat to get your attention – this ain’t your mama’s store bought condiment.
People slathered their hamburgers with it, drowned onion rings and sweet potato fries in it; they even put it on potato salad and I swear one lady was just nibbling at it with a spoon.
It’s really that good.
We have no idea how long it will keep because it never last very long around our camp. Use this and you’ll never go back to plain Jane, commercially produced ketchup again. Use whenever and wherever you previously used plain Jane ketchup (except on hot dogs – you can’t eat ketchup on hot dogs…)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped medium
2 heaping tbsp. fresh garlic, chopped fine
3.5 lb. Roma tomatoes, scrubbed and quartered
4 ounces chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. good blackstrap molasses
Sauté time. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat; sauté the onion and garlic for 7-10 minutes until the onion has begun to brown and caramelize.
Make a sauce. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer and , stirring now and again, simmer for about an hour until the tomatoes have broken down and the mixture is beginning to thicken. Remove from the heat and cool for 15 minutes.
Make a ketchup. Carefully coarsely puree (the mixture is still hot) in a food processor. You can return it to the saucepan and simmer further if you’d like to thicken the puree; it will thicken a bit more as it cools.
Store covered in the fridge.
Get those onion rings and sweet potato fries going and get to it.
Enjoy.
