Salsa Six Ways

Tomorrow is my birthday. Every year I make a bunch of different salsa recipes --  to go with an industrial size  box of corn tortilla chips. Yummy.

This year I made six different kinds, plus guacamole. Most of them are spicy. Here are some recipes:

Roja Sala:

produce bag full of Roma tomatoes

2 onions

10 serrano peppers (adjust to desired heat level)

8-10 cloves garlic

1-2 Tbsp salt (to taste)

1 bunch of cilantro (or to taste)

lemon juice (optional)

Halve the tomatoes, quarter the onions. Roast in the oven at 375 until peppers look charred, onions look translucent and tomatoes are soft. Blend with salt and cilantro. Makes 2 qts.

Fire Salsa:

1 onion, sliced

olive oil

32oz diced tomatoes

4 cloves roasted garlic (much less if raw)

½ cup cilantro

4 chipoltes in adobo

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 TBL salt

Saute onion in skillet until tender. Add ingredients to blender, puree. Makes about 1 qt.

(Fire Salsa original post)


Chuy's Salsa:

2 quarts water

½ lb tomatillos

5 oz serranos, whole

1 lb green chiles (or 3 cans)

⅓ cup cilantro

3 medium cloves garlic

1 onion, chopped

2 tbl salt

All ingredients except salt in large pot, boil 30 min. Strain, saving juice. Now add the salt. Blend solid ingredients, and add back ½ the strained out liquid. Makes nearly 2 qts. Hot!

Chipolte Tomatillo:

3 lbs tomatillos

3 cloves garlic

1 tbps salt

6 chipoltes en adobo

1 bunch of cilantro (or to taste)

7oz can of green chiles

lemon juice (optional)

Broil the tomatillos and the garlic until blackened. Drain most of the water. Place in blender with cilantro, salt, green chiles. Blend till smooth. Makes 1 qt.

Tomatillo Avocado:

1 lb tomatillos

1 avocado

1 serrano pepper

3/4 cup fresh cilantro

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp salt

All into blender, puree. Makes less than a qt.  Not spicy like the others, good for the kids.

Regular Salsa:

1/4 onion

large serrano pepper, sliced

dash garlic powder

salt

good squirt of lemon juice

handful of cilantro

32oz of diced tomatoes (2 cans)

All in blender, puree. This one is intentionally vague. Keep changing amounts until you get a feel for it. Slice the pepper, avoids large chunks. We make this one once or twice a week, and eat it on everything.

All the salsas in a row - left to right: Tomatillo Avocado, Fire, Regular, Chipolte, Roja, Chuys.

Smoked Brisket

Every now and then I get to contribute to the supper table; one of my favorite jobs is smoking brisket.



Here's how it works.


Start with a cow.

OK, let's skip ahead a little - meat is in the kitchen, night before:  Rub the meat with BBQ dry rub, all over both sides.

The rub I used is from the Grassfed Gourmet cookbook (recipe below).

Now the meat gets covered in plastic and put back in the fridge overnight.

Meanwhile, start some wood chips soaking. I filled it at the bathtub:

So the next morning, it's time to light the smoker up. I use a charcoal chimney, and homemade charcoal.

If there's no breeze, make one:

Soon enough, there's some smoke:

Add the coals to the firepan, and some of the wet wood. Fill the water-pan, and put the meat on the racks. Here's the redneck approved water-pan filler - not screwed together, just duck taped:

The tip fits between the bars of the meat rack, so I can fill it through the little door.

See the fire down there? One rack sits directly on the water pan, the other is right under the lid.

We're smokin'.

 Now the long part: Tend and wait. Not too much tending, but keep a close eye on it. Especially the temp gauge. It should stay on the low side of "ideal":

I decided to make some more charcoal, while I was stinking up the place. Note the difference in the smoke:

 The charcoal maker is producing some woodgas, along with normal blue smoke.

Elizabeth agreed to keep an eye on things for a minute.

The temps got a little higher than I wanted, and so I decided to check the meat with a thermometer.

Ack! Already at 152 degrees, and it's only 2pm. I found out later that the meat should have gone a bit longer, it was a bit underdone in the middle. Lower temps for longer are much better.

The first lift of the lid:

Yummy.....


Meat on the pan - it shrunk!

And covered in foil to keep warm till supper:

Hours later.  Finally time to slice into it:

Yummy.......

One brisket went into the freezer, and we ate the other one. It went so fast, I forgot to get a picture of it. You can imagine, it was good eating. Serve with Stubbs' barbecue sauce and garlic potatoes.



BBQ Rib Rub:


1c chili powder
1/4c sugar
1/3c coarse salt
1/3c black pepper
1/4c paprika
1/4c oregano


Combine all ingredients in quart jar, shake to mix. Apply liberally to meat before cooking.

Eating on the Road

Dad and I have done a fair bit of traveling together. For the past several years this has included taking our own food. We avoid eating out while we are traveling, because it is expensive and not particularly tasty. We can do at least that good on our own. Still, a week at Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia stretched our meal planning skills to the limits. Here's some of what we ate:

• Cheerios for breakfast, with store bought milk....which is better than no milk.
• Bread and butter. We go for the good stuff, and split one of Panera Bread Co.'s French baguettes.
• Sausage and cheese. This goes with the bread and butter, "rounding out" the meal. 
• Fried chicken from Walmart. One of the best deals going for ready-to-eat meat.
• Home made potato salad. Goes with the chicken, and I usually eat some by itself later.
• Pita bread. Maggie was kind enough to make this for us. Warms up nicely on a hot car roof...
• Tuna salad, to go in the pitas.
• Hummus, to go with the pitas. 
• Olives, for our pita/hummus meals and for general snacking.

We had to supplement some meals, so we got: 

• Little Caesar's pizza (split)
• Walmart french bread, roast beef, and potato chips

That last is one of my favorites. Here's the roast beef sandwiches we made:

Very simple and cheap, and delicious. 

Sometimes we find places outside the car to eat. One of the spots we ate:

Elkins City Park. A nice shady area, with plenty of picnic tables.

Of course the laptop is a big help on the road as well. We fortunately had wireless access just about everywhere we went.

At the campground in the dark:

At the library (after closing time):

At the student lounge after lunch:

Fajitas

One more post today. I mentioned earlier that we were having fajitas for the birthday girl's supper; here are the mouthwatering pictures.

The spread. Fajitas, tortillas, pico de gallo. black beans, chips with salsa and guacamole.

Birthday Cake

Maggie is 20 years old now. Her birthday was yesterday, but she waited to have the celebration until today because we were gone all day.Around here, on your birthday you get to choose a meal (or sometimes two). Maggie picked fajitas, with pico de gallo and guacamole. That's supper. For lunch we had BLT sandwiches, grilled potato salad, Kettle chips (a rare treat) and of course, birthday cake. Here's the cake at various stages.

Ready to serve:

Maggie blows out the candles, with Peter's help:

Jerry gets a piece:

Chris gets a piece:

We only made it through half the cake (all nine of us):

Strawberries

Things are picking up around the farm - grass is growing very fast, and the weather has been hot for a few days. The garden has been scaled back this year, but we still have some of the essentials. Strawberries are here to stay, which is good because they are a treat. We are discovering lots of ways to fix strawberries. Here are some of our favorites:

Strawberries with whipped cream

Serve chilled, hulled strawberries topped with real whipped cream (from the store...).

Strawberries with sour cream

A variation on the whipped cream idea. Add sugar to the sour cream, and some cinnamon if you like.

Strawberry Banana Smoothies

A cool summer treat. No added sugar, just frozen bananas, frozen strawberries and milk.

Strawberry Shortbread

You will have to ask Maggie for the shortbread recipe, it is delicious. Strawberries halved and sweetened, with whipped cream on top.

Strawberries on Pound cake

Again, Maggie has her own version of the pound cake using fresh ground whole wheat. More halved strawberries, and whipped cream. Best cake you ever ate. Of course, I'll eat about any cake I am served...

And....

Chocolate dipped Strawberries!

A special treat, extra work on Maggie's part, but we appreciate it..... finally a photo.

Pita Bread Sandwiches with Hummus

I know, I know; this is not a food blog. But I keep eating all these great meals and I feel like sharing them. Seeing pictures is not nearly as good as eating the food. It looks so good, I am getting hungry right now. Someone may be inspired to make it themselves. Yet another post with Pioneer Woman style pictures.

This is a Mediterranean style lunch - pita bread sandwiches and hummus. We don't claim to be Mediterraneans, or that the food here is 100% authentic, we just like eating pita bread and hummus.

So here we go...

Start with the dough for the pita bread. I think Maggie doubles or triples the recipe from the cookbook. Mix up the ingredients and knead the dough, either by hand or using a fancy Bosch mixer. Let the dough sit awhile. It will start rising. The expansion that follows may get out of hand....

Take the dough out and divide it into balls. Maggie is rolling them into flat circles. Don't roll them too thin, they are not going to rise much more. 

Here is the dough in the pan.

While Maggie is doing that, let's get the hummus ready. Start with some chickpeas, either from a can or from dried peas. These were dry peas and have been boiled.

Put them in a food processor with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Blend until smooth, then serve in a pretty bowl with parsley on top. Add more oil on top if so desired. As you can see, we like our olive oil.

Mix up some tuna salad. No recipe is given because I figure most folks can do this, and you know how you like it. 

Back with the pita bread. It has to cook at 500 degrees, and the quickest way to do that is on a grill. Dad is the grill-master, so he gets to help out here.

The pitas are supposed to puff up and create an air pocket. They never do for us -  so we just slice open a pocket. It's all about the taste anyway, who cares how the pocket got there?

Doesn't this look delicious? My stomach is rumbling.....

Now we are ready to eat. Put some tuna in the pocket, and get some hummus quick, before it's all gone.

That hummus is good stuff....Every bit gets licked up, scraped the bowl, cleaned the plates...

                           Whole Wheat Pita Pockets

1 ¼ c       warm water                                            1 tbl        oil

1 tsp       salt                                                          2 tsp       sugar

2 ¾ c       soft whole wheat flour                               1/3 c        wheat gluten

1 ½ tsp   dry yeast                              

In large bowl, combine water, oil, salt and sugar.  Add the gluten and 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix.  Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough.  Add additional flour if necessary.

Put dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until almost double (about an hour). Punch down dough and turn onto a lightly floured surface.  Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6-7 inch circle.  Do not let it get too thin!

As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for about 30 minutes, until slightly puffy. 

Preheat grill to 500 degrees. Grill  for 4-5 minutes, until puffy and just slightly browned.  Remove immediately and wrap/layer in a damp towel.  Continue to grill the other rounds.  Makes 8 pita pocket rounds.

Hummus

32 oz       chick peas                             ½  c         liquid drained from can of chickpeas

½ c          lemon juice                            ¼ c          tahini

1 tsp       sea salt                                   4              cloves garlic, crushed

¼ c          olive oil

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can.  Combine remaining ingredients in food processor.  Add ½ c of liquid from chickpeas.  Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.  Place in serving bowl, create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.  Add a small amount of olive oil in the well.  Garnish with parsley.  Serve immediately with fresh, warm pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.