cook: chili sauce

I'm watching the most charming Swedish film, "Je m'appelle Agneta" which is about a dowdy 49-year-old housewife who gets fired from her job and impulsively answers ad for an au pair in Provence to care for a child named Einar, who is not a child but an eccentric old Swede, who is breaking (I'm guessing) out of her conventional straitjacket and blossom into the interesting, vivacious, bon vivant she's always dreamt of being. Today is my last Saturday before commencing back to school, and it's been a good summer. On that note, I bought these wines, for winter is coming, and I too fantasize about being a consummate hostess, bring diverse friends to entertain and be entertained by. 

I've also been bingeing on heirloom tomatoes for the past couple weeks, and as usual, I can't eat them all. Instead of putting the overripe tomatoes up as marinara, I decided to ask my sister-in-law for my mother-in-law's recipe for chili sauce.

Holy smokes! 2 pounds of brown sugar?!? Yep, confirmed my husband's family, and he fondly recalls eating the condiment with honey baked ham. Okay. Carry on. I bought 2 red bell peppers and 1 green bell pepper, and because they weren't higher up on the Scovill scale, I also processed in a few jalapeno and Fresno chili peppers along with the overripe heirloom tomatoes and a large onion as well as add 2 cans of diced tomatoes into pot. This won't be no Midwestern chili sauce, but rather a Californian one.

 

And of course, the 2 pound package of light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt and allspice.

Then you let the pot simmer for three to four hours or until reduced to a consistency you deem thick enough.

 

I had Patrick taste the chili sauce, and he said it was no longer his mom's chili sauce. Well then, I declared, this batch is Anna's chili sauce. Not only that, he said the chili sauce wasn't as sweet as he remembered and that the spiciness needed balancing. I was emptying the light brown sugar into the container, and added the overfill to the sauce pot. Why not?

I've got to remember to label these jars of chili sauce. Which are medium spicy. And run to the grocery store for 2 green bell peppers and 1 red bell pepper for Mom's chili sauce. And oh yeah don't forget the larger bag of light brown sugar.