Mulatto Thyme Oil --Totally Burned by My Own Hubris

Lila trims out only the choicest Thyme for our oil.

We finished off a small bottle of balsamic vinegar last night. It was nuts. When the dust cleared we decided to use the bottle to make another oil. Lila was in charge, and she decided to go with some of those dried mulatto peppers I mentioned last week and some fresh thyme we picked up around the corner.

I cut up the dried mulattos for her, but other than that she did it all, and she did it well. All I had to do was heat it up in the pan and we would be home free, but I think I thought because I have this blog or something I can just heat oil as long as I want and as hot as I want, and I found out that I was wrong. Dead wrong. I think I left this on the stove for close to twenty minutes, and the water came pretty darn close to a boil once or twice.

The photo here is fuzzy, but you still get an idea of how cloudy my oil turned. It still tastes great sure, but I can't serve it to anyone, not all cloudy like that. I'd be laughed out of Washington Heights!

The combo of dried peppers and thyme though was amazing. The aroma was incredibly rich and a little earthy. If you cant find dried mulattos, I think dried anchos will give you something pretty close. I think I'll use my muddy looking oil tonight for red snapper tacos.