Abuela Rosa's Salsa Verde

When I lived in west Denver there was a family who ran the chili tent on the corner near my house.

I love roasted chiles and could hardly wait for late September each year just to ride around and smell them roasting.

One year I grew some tomatillos. I had no idea how prolific those little plants can be and had an over-abundance of them three years running. Working out a trade (a bushel of tommies for a bushel of roasted), I got to know the Marron family better over the years and managed a couple of recipes from them.

The following is from Abuela Rosa (grandmother Rose) who taught me to make it by 'feel', whatever feels right when you're making it is the right thing to put in it.

It can get pretty hot. *

This makes a lot of the green yummy stuff.

1/2 bushel tomatillos, husked, washed and diced
2 large sweet onions, sliced and roasted on the grill, then diced fine
1/2 cup olive oil
12 large poblano peppers, roasted, skinned and diced (you can substitute anaheim peppers and add a few jalapenos in to equal the heat, pasillo peppers are also excellent)
3 cloves garlic, roasted and minced
2 cups green herbs chopped coarsely (cilantro is usually the herb of choice, but I use a mixture of parsley, basil and thyme, depending on what's available in my herb garden at the time, or what I can find at the store)
1 to 3 tablespoons salt (I use much less, but I'm weird about salt)

Roast the peppers and place in a plastic bag while you ready the rest of the ingredients
Remove the husks from the tomatillos, wash and dice, set aside
Roast the onions and dice, cook to a light brown in olive oil - add the garlic when the onions have just started to turn brown and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes
Add the chopped herbs and cook down then add the tomatillos and salt
As this is cooking down remove the peppers from the plastic bag and slip the skins off, remove the stems and chop them up then add to pot.

Cook this for about an hour on a slow simmer, mashing it all up as you stir it.
If this is too chunky for you, you can run it through a food processor or a blender, which makes it easier to put up in jars for later use.

The last time I made this I put up 32 half-pints and still had a couple of quarts for immediate consumption.

* try an habanero or two...

Marsha's Oatmeal Raisin Banana Nut Cookies

Okay, you've all asked for the recipe, and this is easier than writing it out:

[nuts and raisins optional]

Oatmeal Raisin Banana Nut Cookies

1 tsp salt
3 cups sugar - 1/2 white, 1/2 dark brown
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 cups smashed bananas - I freeze mine if I don't have any soft enough, freezing overnight does the same thing as leaving them to sit for 3 days.
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup softened or melted butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Mix all together.

Slowly add in :
5 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups oatmeal - quick cooking, but not instant
1 to 2 cups raisins
1 to 2 cups chopped walnuts

Stir until all flour is incorporated.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop onto cookie sheet. Smash the scoops of dough down with your hand or a glass dipped in water - don't smash too far, you just want to spread them out a bit, these cookies don't spread like the ones with butter.
Bake at 375° for 10 to 13 minutes or until the cookies start to get brown around the edges.

Serve fresh from the oven with cold milk...

YUM

Goulash

Comfort foods are an individual thing, I like goulash, but it's not in my top 10 comfort foods list.

Goulash:

1 lb very lean ground beef
1 can [28 oz] petite diced tomatoes
3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped/diced onions - sauteed to light brown
1 tsp coarse black pepper
1 tsp basil [dried]


Brown ground beef, adding onions, pepper and basil when it's almost done.
When beef is fully browned and the onions are clear add the tomatoes with the juice - simmer while the macaroni is cooking.
Cook macaroni as directed on package, drain and add to the meat/tomato mixture.

Serve with freshly baked bread slathered in real butter.

Yum!

so, the dessert sushi

I'm thinking maybe jicama and...




mango with cloves [maybe nutmeg]




and the sushi mix will have condensed sweet milk






instead of the vinegar mixture







still pondering the wrap



Perhaps no wrap, p'raps it will be all rice and...




sweet and spice

Sushi

is one of the most delightful things I've ever made.

I'm already working on a concept for a dessert sushi...


More on that later :c)

Roasty, Toasty Salsa

I love tomatoes.

But I hate the skin.

I love peppers.

Hate the skin.

Thank goodness onions are easy to peel.

I roast them anyway because I prefer the flavor of a cooked onion.

So.

Roasty Toasty Salsa

2 medium tomatoes
2 good-sized Anaheim peppers
1 large poblano pepper
4 or 5 small red or yellow sweet peppers
1/4 cup diced onion

Wash the tomatoes and peppers, cut the tomatoes in half. Put the diced onion in foil with a bit of butter and place on the grill along with the peppers.
Turn the peppers often until you hear them pop, then place the tomatoes skin side down on the grill.

Once everything is done [about 5 - 10 minutes, depending on how hot your grill is] remove from the grill and wrap the peppers in a bag [paper or plastic? your choice, whatever's handy works] to sweat the skins off.

The tomato skin will slide off easily, once that's done chop them up and add to the onions in a large non-metallic bowl. Skin and chop the peppers, seed removal optional, add them to the bowl and toss all ingredients together.

For me that's done, no salt thank you, there's enough in the chips :c)

Depending on your taste you might throw in a pinch or two of cumin, a quick grind of black pepper or a splash of lime juice.

Serve, enjoy, bask in the awe of those too lazy to make it for themselves.

Servings? Oh, yeah - Serves 1 [me] - no really, that's about 2-3 cups, more or less, so about 6 servings, maybe.

So

I'll be posting here for a while, no updates for 7 months tells me that it's time...




for new




ideas