The dreaded red menace

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
3 Dried Habanero Chilies
1 tablespoon Grated Orange Zest
1 cup Raspberry Vinegar
1½ cup Unsweetened Raspberries Fresh Or Frozen
⅓ cup Fresh Orange Juice

Directions

First let me say that this is not my recipe. It was created by Jim Tarantino as a method of adding some red color to another of his unusual and exciting sauces, Yellow Hell Marinade, which is used in a dish he created called "Mango Shrimp from Hell." I made the Dreaded Red Menace some evenings ago and absolutely fell in love with it. I think it's a masterpiece of creativity and simplicity. My dinner companion, a young lady relatively inexperienced in the ways of cooking and spicy foods, felt that the Dreaded Red Menace was a little much. You be the judge, but definitely try it! There's a variation on this sauce called the "Smoky Red Menace" and it uses 3 - 4 dried chipotles instead of the habaneros. Here's what Jim Tarantino says about this sauce: "For Philadelphia's Book and the Cook event, I wanted to streak some red sauce paint through pools of Yellow Hell marinade for a dish called Mango Shrimp from Hell. Well, the red sauce never made it to the shrimp - it tasted so good that we marinated chicken breasts with it instead. People are initially fooled by the sweet raspberry flavor, but this marinade packs a fair amount of heat. We started referring to the marinade in the restaurant as the "Dreaded Red Menace." It's wonderful as a dipping sauce too." One of the reasons I made this sauce when I did was because, in the directions for the recipe, Tarantino mentions that one should use the plastic, or dough, blade in the Cuisinart when pureeing the raspberries. I wanted to see just how true his comment was, since there was some discussion of the issue on CIS. I pureed the berries in two batches, one with the steel blade and the other with the plastic blade. Jim Tarantino clearly speaks from experience. Use the plastic blade for raspberries and other similar berries.

Combine the chiles, orange zest, and vinegar in a heavy nonreactive pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the vinegar to ⅓ cup, strain, and discard the solids. Return the vinegar to the saucepan. Puree the raspberries in a food processor fitted with a plastic dough blade. (A steel blade will crush the seeds, which will lend a bitter taste to the food.) Then strain. Add the raspberry puree to the vinegar and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature and add the orange juice. The marinade will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight jar for 1 to 2 weeks.

Yield: 1½ cups

Marinate shrimp for 2 to 3 hours; chicken breasts 4 to 6 hours.

From the book "Marinades" by Jim Tarantino

Related recipes