Yeah, more about salsa. Not a recipe or a tutorial though, but just some thoughts about having fun trying things. If you got time on your hands, there are worse things you can do with it, after all.
I completed my “salsa trilogy”: tomato and green Hatch, tomatillo and green Hatch, and tomato and red Hatch (which were probably Anaheims). The tomato and red Hatch/Anaheim, I didn’t document that; I just did the same thing as I did here, but used the red Hatch/Anaheim.
And here are the resulting salsas. This was fun, and interesting, to me:
First thing you might ask: which is best? And the answer is, whichever one you happen to be dipping a chip into at the moment! I’ve tried picking one; I just can’t. Every bite, I think, “That’s the one.” Until I try the next one. It’s the combination of garlic, lime, cilantro, salt, and onion, with tomatoes, or tomatillos, and peppers; mix that stuff up however you want, and it’s going to be fantastic!
Second thing you might ask: what the HELL are you going to do with all that salsa, Mosca? Well… it freezes. It freezes well. Make a lid (you remember what a lid is, don’t you? 3 fingers) of salsa in a ziplock sandwich bag. Lay it flat on the counter, and, with the top unzipped, roll all the air out of it. Then seal it, put it in a vacuum bag, and seal that. Repeat until it’s all sealed in bags, freeze, and…. Voila! You now have enough salsa to get through the Super Bowl!
Third: but wasn’t that a lot of work? No, not really. It’s time consuming if you’ve never roasted peppers*, and don’t have any handy in the freezer, but there is no learning curve at all. You cut stuff, you grill/roast stuff, you blend stuff, you have salsa. There are no opportunities for anything to go sideways, at all. Ratios are just suggestions; you can be short on one thing, or another, or not have any peppers at all, and it will still come out amazing, because garlic, onion, lime, cilantro, salt on any ratio of tomato, or tomatillo, and peppers will taste great! It will be different, obviously. But you just can’t make it bad. I mean, people make it with mangoes. Or pineapple. Or peaches. And it’s AMAZING. Every time.
*Do this, if you have access to peppers. You can also do it with bell peppers, at least the yellow, red, and orange ones. It’s simple: burn them. Blacken the skins, either over the fire or under the broiler. Put them in a bag, let them cool, and slide the skins off. If it looks like you screwed it up, you did it exactly right.
I completed my “salsa trilogy”: tomato and green Hatch, tomatillo and green Hatch, and tomato and red Hatch (which were probably Anaheims). The tomato and red Hatch/Anaheim, I didn’t document that; I just did the same thing as I did here, but used the red Hatch/Anaheim.
And here are the resulting salsas. This was fun, and interesting, to me:
First thing you might ask: which is best? And the answer is, whichever one you happen to be dipping a chip into at the moment! I’ve tried picking one; I just can’t. Every bite, I think, “That’s the one.” Until I try the next one. It’s the combination of garlic, lime, cilantro, salt, and onion, with tomatoes, or tomatillos, and peppers; mix that stuff up however you want, and it’s going to be fantastic!
Second thing you might ask: what the HELL are you going to do with all that salsa, Mosca? Well… it freezes. It freezes well. Make a lid (you remember what a lid is, don’t you? 3 fingers) of salsa in a ziplock sandwich bag. Lay it flat on the counter, and, with the top unzipped, roll all the air out of it. Then seal it, put it in a vacuum bag, and seal that. Repeat until it’s all sealed in bags, freeze, and…. Voila! You now have enough salsa to get through the Super Bowl!
Third: but wasn’t that a lot of work? No, not really. It’s time consuming if you’ve never roasted peppers*, and don’t have any handy in the freezer, but there is no learning curve at all. You cut stuff, you grill/roast stuff, you blend stuff, you have salsa. There are no opportunities for anything to go sideways, at all. Ratios are just suggestions; you can be short on one thing, or another, or not have any peppers at all, and it will still come out amazing, because garlic, onion, lime, cilantro, salt on any ratio of tomato, or tomatillo, and peppers will taste great! It will be different, obviously. But you just can’t make it bad. I mean, people make it with mangoes. Or pineapple. Or peaches. And it’s AMAZING. Every time.
*Do this, if you have access to peppers. You can also do it with bell peppers, at least the yellow, red, and orange ones. It’s simple: burn them. Blacken the skins, either over the fire or under the broiler. Put them in a bag, let them cool, and slide the skins off. If it looks like you screwed it up, you did it exactly right.
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