Saturday, October 02, 2010

For years I have taken pride in my home made Mexican salsa. The original recipe came via my friend Robert Hijar who lives in Memphis. For his recipe I chop up a couple of serrano chiles, half a large bunch of cilantro. I then put the chiles and tomatoes (I almost fill a blender glass) and blend them for a short time. Into the mix I put in some lemon or lime juice and salt (Maldon Salt!) to taste. I then chop up the cilantro and mix it into the blend. I like this salsa on eggs (huevos rancheros) or with chips.


Back in June Rebecca and I traveled to Austin and then we stayed for a week at Michael East’s Santa Fe Ranch. His partner, Letty García is an excellent (and charming) cook. She taught Rebecca how to make corn flour tortillas. But it was her home-made salsa that blew me away.

Now every couple of days I have to make a fresh batch and I then I must buy the Sun Chips. If you have never tried Sun Chips I do recommend them. There is the added bonus that its packaging is surprisingly compostable and because of it the makers of the product warn in their package :

This bag is a little noisy because its made of compostable material.

It is so noisy that if I make it a point to squeeze the bag, both my cats will run out of the room!

I have modified Lety’s recipe (below) by increasing its heat content. I add more chilies.

9 to 10 small white pearl onions, finely chopped.

7 chiles serranos (this is my present escalation of the recipe) finely chopped
 If you want to make the salsa less picante remove the seeds and the white inside of the chilies. I suggest you rub you hands with lemon juice after and then wash your hands carefully several times. Avoid rubbing your eyes.
I fill a blender glass with tomatoes. Lately these have been the sweet Camparis.

1 teaspoon sugar and salt (Malden Salt, natch!) to taste.

I put all this in a pan and bring to boil. I simmer for about 15 minutes and then pour the salsa out into a plastic container and I refrigerate.



Rebecca loves this salsa and because of it she has been slowly increasing her tolerance for picante. The salsa is lovely with the Sun Chips and as huevos rancheros. My friendly Safeway cashier informed me today why the chips are called Sun Chips. On a TV food channel he found out that the company bakes the chips in an oven that is powered by electricity that comes from in-house solar panels.