Second Only to Salsa

This time of year, I love salsa like it's a member of my family.  As soon as we start harvesting tomatoes, I start a routine of keeping a quart jar of salsa in the fridge at all times.  I just finished my daily bowl of chips and salsa a few minutes ago, in fact.

But my second favorite use for an abundance of fresh tomatoes is tomato soup.  I don't really care much for the stuff in the red and white can- never have.  It was okay to dip a grilled cheese in when I was a kid, I'm not interested in any canned tomato soup now.  I'm too snobby for that.

I much prefer a hot bowl of tomato soup made from my own garden tomatoes of all shapes, sizes and colors, pureed into the most flavorful tomato soup imaginable.  It's not flavorful because of exotic spices or anything- just pure tomato flavor!  I'm fairly certain that all I put in this soup is olive oil, a little onion, a little garlic, lots of skinned tomatoes, a pinch of allspice, sea salt and fresh basil on top.  It only needs to simmer until the tomatoes have given up their juices and the onions are tender.  Then you just buzz it in the blender until it's smooth.  If you have super fancy blender, like a Vitamix (hint, hint, family.  Christmas isn't that far away), you wouldn't even have to peel the tomatoes.

I still served it with some grilled cheese sandwiches, but we all agreed that the soup stole the show.

Mango Habanero Salsa

A few weeks ago my friend Joe brought over a really fantastic pineapple-habanero dish that we devoured with tortilla chips.  His mom is from Trinidad and he told us stories of eating this made with super fresh pineapples on the beach.  It tastes like pure sunshine.  Sweet, tart, hot and bright!  I decided to try to replicate this sweet-hot salsa/salad myself, but ended up changing it a bit out of necessity.  I planned on making this just as Joe did, but my pineapple wasn't ripe!  Luckily, I had a ripe mango and just threw that in instead.  Joe tells me that my adaptation stays true to the Trinidadian original.

PS- If you don't know how to cut a mango, you can see my buddies Joe and Nick teach you how!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj_JzLCYY2Y

Mango-Habanero Salsa/Salad 

It's a salsa/salad because it's good with chips, but you can eat it straight up, too.  (Like many of my favorite things)

2 ripe mangoes, cut in small cubes 

1/2 onion, minced

1 habanero chile, seeds removed, minced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 big handful cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Salt

Mix everything together.  Eat.

More Vegetables, Please

Continuing on the theme of eating lots of vegetables, here's what I have prepped for eating in the next couple of days:

Steamed Beets

Sure, not that exciting.  But I love beets like nothing else and can eat them steamed plain!  Maybe I'll make these into a salad for my lunch this week.

Beet Greens

This was a huge bunch of beet greens from the garden.  I sautéed a locally grown shallot in some Driftless Organic sunflower oil and then wilted the greens.  On top is some toasted locally grown sunflower seeds.  I like to toast the seeds in a cast iron skillet and then sprinkle with salt while they're still hot.  It gives the greens some crunch and brings tons of minerals and protein to the dish.

Salsa

Fresh corn is going in everything these days and salsa is no exception.  These are heirloom garden tomatoes with fresh (uncured) garlic, super hot chiles and corn.  Only the corn isn't from my garden- It's from Wheatfield Farm. Just a splash of vinegar and salt and it's a rockin' good salsa.


Lest you think I'm eating too healthily, here's a photo of that giant blackberry biscuit I made a couple days ago.  Just regular biscuit dough with fresh blackberries and sugar pressed into the top.

Dream Salsa

I have a love/hate relationship with canned salsas. I mean, mostly I love any salsa. But when it comes to stockpiling 17 pints in my cupboard, I want to REALLY love the salsa.

And because salsas need to be acidified with vinegar and/or lemon juice in order to be safe for boiling water bath canning, the recipes for canned salsas tend to be either very vinegary tasting or doused with sugar to counteract the vinegar. And you CAN'T just change the vinegar ratio in the recipe, so don't go getting any ideas!

But I've finally found 3 recipes that I really enjoy! The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is filled with tasty sounding salsa recipes, but I can now say for certain that the Tomatillo Salsa, Chipotle Roasted Tomato Salsa and Spicy Tomato Salsa are all stellar.

On the left is the chipotle salsa- it includes pureed dried chiles and roasted tomatoes, onions, peppers and garlic. The spicy tomato salsa is on the right. It has 3 layers of heat: pureed ancho chiles, fresh jalapenos and red chile flakes.

Here they are! We had a bit of extra salsa from each batch that wouldn't fit into the jars- Darn! We were forced to have a salsa smorgasbord that night :)

I really want to share the Spicy Tomato Salsa recipe with you all. I think Ball won't mind since it will surely convince all of you to go out and buy this cookbook, but I'll take it down if they want me to.

Spicy Tomato Salsa from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

Makes 6 pint jars

9 dried chili peppers (I used Anchos)

Hot water

12 cups diced, cored, peeled tomatoes

3 cups chopped red onions

1 1/2 cup tightly packed finely chopped cilantro

15 cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 jalapenos, seeded and chopped

3/4 cup red wine vinegar (5% acidity)

1 Tbsp. salt

3/4 tsp. hot pepper flakes

1. Combine dried chili peppers with hot water to cover. Weigh chilies down to ensure they are submerged and soak about 15 min or until softened. Drain off 1/2 the water and puree in a blender or food processor.

2. Meanwhile, prepare boiling water bath canner, jars, and lids. (www.uga.com/nchfp is good for instructions)

3. In a saucepan combine chili puree, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, garlic, jalapenos, vinegar, salt, and hot pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat an boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 10 min.

4. Ladle hot salsa into hot, clean jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more hot salsa. Wipe rim of jars clean. Center warmed lid on jar and screw bad down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

5. Place jars in canner, ensuring hey are completely covered with water by at least 1 inch. Bring to a boil and process jars for 15 minutes. Remove caner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

It's ALIVE!

Liz and I had the task of sampling Zukay’s hot salsa today.  The deal here is that this stuff is highly fermented and raw.  I always wish that the products I am eating are organic, but when it comes to salsa I can meander.  The first disclaimer is that I was eating it with my favorite chip ever- Whole Grain Milling.  These organic corn chips are so good and produced in my Dad’s birthplace of Welcome, Minnesota.  Nearly anything tastes good on these.

The first thing to notice upon opening is that the salsa bubbles out of the jar, which I found awesome but disturbed Liz a little. I knew I was in for an adventure.  They call this a hot salsa but I would call it a medium.  I would, however, call it explosive as the fermentation feels like it is exploding in your mouth.  This was my favorite part of the experience.  It is the kind of food that makes you feel like you’re either going to die tomorrow or it will make you live forever (with more of the latter).  The heavy fermented sour flavor turned Liz off but I found it very enjoyable.  It helped to give the salsa a full body flavor.  I would have liked it to have more heat, though, as it was labeled a hot salsa.  Now that I have eaten most of the jar, I should have enough positive bacteria floating inside me to start a colony.  Adventurous food to say the least.  A solid 3 out of 4 stars.

Next up: Relish!

The Sauce

So here's the sauce from last night:
The recipe said it would make 9 quarts, but I got 5 1/2. That's probably a blessing, though, because the pot was about to overflow before it reduced!
I really need a bigger stockpot.


Here's the goods:
Pickles, Tomato Sauce, Salsa, and whole tomatoes (not in the picture)
The whole house smelled so good like tomato sauce last night. Mike was kinda bummed that I had canned it all and not saved him any to eat right away- oops!

On the brighter side...

I suppose not being able to smell isn't all bad. For example, when I go into the basement I can't smell the gross dank smell that usually hovers around the stairs. And I can't smell anyone's body odor, including my own (I'm pretty sure it's rank, though). And I can't smell the dog's cabbage farts or the stinky garbage!

I consider chips and salsa to be medicinal, both for emotional comfort and sinus-clearing capability. Today I ate about 16 oz. of homemade salsa that included 1/2 a raw onion, 6 jalapeños, and 4 cloves of garlic. I couldn't taste it, but I'm pretty sure it killed any germs in my body. I also picked up some rue and fennel eye drops that a co-worker recommended for my eyes. The pink eye that was in my left eye (and cleared up yesterday) has spread to my right eye now.
I know this post is already a far deviation from my usual subject of food. And I'm about to take it further. I really love gross stuff. Like I LOVE picking the cat's eye boogers, scratching dandruffy scalps, and picking scabs. So here's a photo for all who share my disgust/love.

I got these after 5 minutes of laying down with my eye shut and a warm compress applied. I can't wait to see how gross it'll be in the morning!