salsa – The Constables Larder

Summertime salsa

In summertime, there are few things I like more than fresh salsa and a good beer. I make variations of this recipe, as evidenced in this blog’s history, and can never get enough of it. It goes great with chips, on toasted bread, on fish or hamburgers… or just straight up !

1 red pepper, finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced
1 to 2 jalapenos, depending on heat
4 plum tomatoes, finely diced
5 spring onions, finely diced
1 to 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
large bunch or cilantro, finely chopped
several limes
optional: niblets from 1 ear of corn
salt and pepper

Chop it all up, toss in a bowl, squeeze the juice from two limes on top and add a dash of red wine vinegar (maybe half a teaspoon’s worth). Taste for the level of lime, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa: if you can’t beat the heat, join it!

There’s an old saying, “if you can’t beat em, join em.” It applies quite aptly to summertime heat and a good, fresh salsa don’t you think?

My current favorite method of salsa making is about as simple as it gets, and just relies on fresh ingredients.

Fresh Salsa
6 medium tomatillos, diced
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
1 red onion, diced
5 or 6 spring onions, finely chopped (use all the green)
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 3 fresh jalapenos, minced (add heat to personal taste; can also use cayenne or serrano)
juice of 1 to 2 limes, to taste
large bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp rice vinegar (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Just chop everything up and combine in a bowl. Serve with some tortilla chips, or toast some bread with a little olive oil for a simple bruschetta, or serve as a garnish alongside a well-seasoned and grilled flank steak.

Don’t forget the beer. 🙂

Today Lisl had some friends from her choir over for lunch, and this went over quite well (we also had a hit with a black-eyed pea salad that was sort of a combination of this and this).

Below the fold, I’m attaching a few more photos from our recent trip up to the Catskills.

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An Early Taste of Summer

The peach blossoms are barely out, but weather’s whim delivered 80+ degree sunny days this weekend. It felt like a whiplash jolt into summer, and I had to keep on reminding my optimistic brain that the local produce was still some time away. Not that I am complaining — I fired up the grill and we ate like kings.

I had thought that the re-emergence of warm weather would put me in a vegetarian mood, harkening back to those wonderful Food Blogga salads from last year. That was before I made a stop into my favorite butcher, Fleishers. So much for being leaf-eaters. We devolved into fully fledged T-Rex.

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