I've been making this salsa over and over and over again the last few weeks. We've just been plowing through it.
Ridiculously fast to make if you need something for guests or a party or late night munchies, which is generally our case. I'm having a hard time deciding if I like this salsa more? Or pico de gallo more? I think I must like them equally for different reasons.
I'm not sure why I didn't take better pictures of any of the batches I made. All I did was take a quick pick in a plastic storage container. We fancy. Next batch (which won't be long) I'll try for some better pics.
Here's a band from my home state, Illinois - Blue Meanies with "The Infidelity Song". -jen
RESTAURANT STYLE SALSA Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy Makes: 4 cups Need: Food processor or blender
2 cans (14oz each) diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 onion, rough chopped
1 jalapeño, rough chopped*
5 medium-sized garlic cloves
1/2 cup packed cilantro
juice of 1 lime (about 1-1.5 tbsp)
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
*For a medium spicy salsa, leave seeds in. For a mild salsa, remove seeds. For a hot salsa, add a second jalapeño.
No Cook Version: Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until desired consistency.
Cooked Version: I prefer to actually cook the canned tomatoes in a sauce pan over a medium-high heat for about 15-20 minutes, then let them cool about 10 minutes before placing in a food processor or blender with all the other ingredients and pulsing until desired consistency. Cooking them takes away some of the "tinny" taste from the can. I've made it both ways and they're both good! This is just my preference.
TheseChorizo and Jalapeño Deviled Eggs came out so freaking good! Generally, I'm not even a hard boiled egg fan, but I really wanted to dye eggs during the Giant Purple Bunny holiday, and since I don't have kids I can use an excuse, I had to use cooking as my excuse. We'd had a lot of Mexican food on the menu, so I was in that mindset and I really thought that chorizo and jalapeño deviled eggs was a completely original idea... but it wasn't. I see there are other recipes out there. However, I didn't even look at them because I didn't want my idea to be tainted by what they did! (Mmm, tainted eggs.) And in the end, these eggs were fantastic!!! I just ate a leftover one this morning while typing up this recipe and they're one of those foods that's even better the next day.
I'd just like to note that I had to go to four different stores on Easter Sunday in order to find an egg dying kit. Either the people were there at 7:00am to wipe out the store for candy, or the stores had already wiped out their own holiday displays to make way for summer barbecue crap! We put some time, energy and gasoline into these eggs, man!
I heard the holiday was about dead people rising, so Strung Out's "Exhumation of Virginia Madison" seemed to fit the bill for tunes! -jen
1/4 cup cooked Spanish-style (chunky) chorizo, minced
2 tablespoons green onion, minced
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, minced
2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Peel eggs and slice in half length-wise. Gently scoop out the yolks and place into a small bowl. Use a fork to break apart the cooked yolks and mash them. Add mayonnaise, sour cream, yellow mustard and lime juice - mix until smooth and combined. Stir in chorizo, green onion, jalapeño, and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste. (Some chorizo is more salty than others, that's why you have to taste it before you add salt!)
Evenly distribute the filling back into the egg whites using a spoon or piping bag. (I just used a quart-size zip bag like a piping bag, cutting off the corner.) Serve immediately or keep refrigerated.
How to Hard Boil Eggs: Place eggs in single layer in a sauce pan or stock pot. Cover with 1" of cold water. Bring to a boil. Then cover and remove from heat and set aside for 8 minutes. Drain and cool in very cold water/ice water. Hard boiled eggs can last for a week refrigerated if their peel is left on.
Last year around the holidays, I made homemade cheese spreads for the first time - a basic Cheddar Cheese Spread and then a fantastic nutty cheese spread that was inspired by French Onion soup and the store bought Swiss Almond spreads - my Swiss-Almond Cheese Spread with Caramelized Onions. We ate the hell out of them.
This year, I was thinking about a southern classic, Pimiento Cheese Spread...but traditionally, the spread is simply made with cheese, mayo and pimientos. I really like using cream cheese because I wanted it more like a cracker dip than a sandwich spread. I also wanted to boost it up a little with flavour, so I added a lot more than what the traditional spread has - garlic, Worcestershire, jalapeño, wine, etc. It's not hot or spicy at all... so even if you shy away from jalapeños, I say add 'em to this recipe. It just adds a little depth to the spread - more layers of flavour.
So if you're trying to come up with some appetizers to make and/or take to a New Year's party, this is a pretty easy and great one!
I think the Descendents said what we were all thinking. -jen
*I recommend at least half of your shredded cheese being sharp cheddar, and the other half could be any combination of Monterey Jack, Havarti, Gruyere, Gouda, Parmesan, etc. I used what I had, which was some Gouda, Havarti Dill, and Pecorino Romano.
Combine all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth and combined. Refrigerate (but I always have to eat some immediately. The flavours marry nicely if you give it a little time to refrigerate though.)
Serve with crackers or raw veggies, make a grilled cheese with some spread inside, use as a sandwich spread - eat it how you want! It'd probably be good mixed in with some pasta (though I've not tried that!)
This soup came out a little like a cross between tortilla soup and a Mexican minestrone... way tasty! I was pleased with it. Just enough heat to hit, but not enough that you break a sweat because your tongue is on fire. I made mine tonight with the beef broth leftover from our Slow Cooker Chile Colorado. But if you don't want to do two nights of awesomeness, well... I guess you can just add some store-bought beef broth. I did, however, also use the leftover chile sauce from that recipe... so really, why not just make the Chile Colorado first, freeze your broth, and make this soup when you run out of Colorado!?
I chose a little ska in Spanish for my recipe with Sublime singing "Chica Mi Tipo". -jen
*If you're trying to watch carbs, you can totally eliminate the masa harina and the soup will just less like a tortilla soup and more like a minestrone.
In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add diced onion, Anaheim, poblano, jalapeño, carrots, mushrooms and garlic. Cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender and onions are translucent. Add corn and tomatoes and cook another 2 minutes. Add the beef stock, beans, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, lime juice, chile sauce and cilantro. Bring to a boil.
While soup is heating to boil, mix masa herina and hot water in a medium-sized mixing bowl with a wire whisk until masa harina is fully incorporated. With the wire whisk, whisk into soup and bring back to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Mmm... even as I type this, it's been a few hours since we ate and I still have the awesome, awesome flavour of the chile sauce in my mouth. I was tired of chicken and ground beef in my tacos and enchiladas, we'd been eating a lot of pork lately and I didn't want that, so I thought I'd do something with a little more pop. Came out so good!
I woke up today with Nerf Herder's "Pantera Fans In Love" stuck in my head... no idea why! So it's what I'm using for the recipe tunes. -jen
12 oz beer of choice (I used PBR because that's what we had)
1 and 1/2 cups red chile sauce (see recipe below)
Trim excess fat from chuck roast. In a small dish, mix together salt, pepper, oregano and cumin. Sprinkle evenly over entire roast (bottom too!) Place roast in slow cooker and cover the top with the minced garlic. Add chiles and onion, making sure to cover the top of the roast with them. Pour lime juice over veggie-covered roast and then add the beer, pouring it on the side of the roast (not over it!)
Cook on high for 6-8 hours, until you can shred the roast easily using two forks. While roast is cooking, make your chile sauce and pico de gallo (see recipe below).
When roast is done and shredded, drain over a bowl and set broth aside. Put the beef back into the crock pot and add 1 and 1/2 cups red chile sauce, as well as 1/2 cup of the reserved broth. (You can refrigerate or freeze the broth to use later in a delicious soup, like Spicy Mexican Pepper Soup!) Turn slow cooker to low and cook another half hour.
Serve in tacos, tamales, burritos, enchiladas, over rice, on nachos, whatever!
1/4 pound dried guajillo chiles (if you like it hot, use 1/8# dried guajillo & 1/8# dried chipotle)
1 medium onion, chopped
9-10 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup packed cilantro
1 jalapeño (optional, for spiciness!)
juice of 1-2 limes
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon Caldo de Pollo (or 1 chicken bouillon cube)
2 cups hot water
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. If you want a hotter chile, tear off stems but leave seeds in dried chiles. If you want a mild one, tear off stems and empty out seeds. (I recommend at least keeping half the seeds.) Place seed pods on baking sheet and roast for 3-4 minutes at 375 degrees F.
Let chiles cool to touch before packing them into a large blender. Add the onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeño, lime juice, cumin, oregano, Caldo and carefully pour the hot water over everything. Blend until completely pureed.
PICO DE GALLO Time: 5 minutes Difficulty: Easy Makes: about 2 cups
1 large tomato
1/2 medium onion
1 jalapeño
1/4 cup packed cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon salt
In a food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until desired consistency (I like mine like a relish). If you don't have a food processor, just dice everything small.
We'd gotten all the ingredients for Mexican dinner tonight - taco and/or enchilada stuff, ingredients for fresh guacamole, fryin' up some corn tortillas for fresh chips. But lunch time rolled around, we'd skipped breakfast, and I decided to make 3-bean salad for lunch. Looking in the fridge, I was staring at all the tasty Mexican ingredients and decided to do a spin on my salad. It rocked! I think we're going to use some of it in our tacos or enchiladas tonight! Way better than refried beans!
Just learned about this band and kind of digging their sound - think
I'll check out more. Latterman singing "We Work the Night Shift". -jen
1/2 cup chopped green onions (about 4 medium sized)
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (about 1/2 a pepper)
1/2 cup chopped green olives (or black if you prefer)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño (fresh or canned)
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
Combine all four cans of beans in a colander. Rinse, then set aside to drain.
In a large mixing bowl, combine lime juice, vinegar, and mustard. While whisking, slowly drizzle the olive oil in until combined. Whisk in oregano, cumin, celery seed, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Add the drained beans to the dressing. Add green onions, bell pepper, olives, cilantro, jalapeño and garlic. Toss to coat. Serve at room temp.
This is Part 2 of our Tall Cans recipes. The first recipe, Tall Can Mexican Black Beans, was actually made with a whole tall can of Tecate. Between the enchiladas and salsa verde here, it's really only 2/3 of a tall can of Tecate, but that just leaves the extra 1/3 for you to finish off. I really liked the beer flavour in the salsa verde. I don't usually use beer when I make it, so this was a first, and I think I'll make it with beer from now on!
Much like the black bean recipe, these recipes were inspired by the
Transplants' song, "Tall Cans In The Air." But since I used that song
for the bean recipe, I think it's fitting that I use a different
Transplants song. Justin and I always joke about their song, "Gangsters
and Thugs", because living in Humboldt County, we can relate to the
chorus, "...some of my friends sell records, some of my friends sell
drugs." It's a good sing-a-long, kiddies. -jen
ENCHILADAS DE POLLO (Chicken Enchiladas) Difficulty: Medium Prep Time: 30-45 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes (not including the chicken baking) Makes: 15-20, depending on the size of your chicken thighs
6 baked chicken thighs
vegetable oil
1 medium onion, julienned
2 red bell peppers, julienned
2 jalapeños (de-seed for less heat), julienned
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup Tecate beer
1 can (4oz) diced green chiles
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper
corn tortillas (15-20)
salsa verde (see recipe below)
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
*I seasoned the thighs under the skin with salt and pepper, but left the skins on to bake. Baked at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over a medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and jalapeños. Sautee for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, Tecate, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Continue cooking until all of the liquid has disappeared and vegetables are soft. Remove from heat to cool.
Discard the chicken skin and shred the chicken meat from the bone into a large mixing bowl. Add the cooked vegetables, green chiles, cilantro and cumin to the chicken, mixing. Taste and add additional salt and pepper to taste.
"Wet" tortillas, fried and dipped in salsa
Place 1/2 a cup of the salsa verde into a shallow dish (I like to use a pie plate) and have an additional plate available to hold the "wet" tortillas.
In a small skillet that will fit a single corn tortilla, heat enough oil just to cover the entire bottom of
the skillet over a medium-high heat, and keep the oil nearby for refills. Using tongs, place a corn tortilla
into the hot oil for 5 seconds, then flip and cook 5 seconds on the other side. Let the excess oil drip into your pan and place the tortilla right into the salsa, just to coat. Remove from salsa, letting excess salsa drip back into pie plate and set the wet tortilla onto your extra plate. Repeat, stacking the wet tortillas on top of each other on the plate until finished. Add oil to your skillet and salsa to your pie plate as needed.
Create an assembly line with your stack of wet tortillas, shredded chicken mixture, shredded cheese, and a large, rectangular baking dish. Place a thin layer of salsa verde on the bottom of your baking dish. Set a wet tortilla into the baking dish, fill with shredded chicken mixture and shredded cheese, and roll, placing the enchilada seam-side down. Continue until your baking dish is full. Spoon the remainder of your salsa (about 1/2 a cup) over the enchiladas, as well as the remainder of your shredded Jack cheese (also about 1/2 a cup).
1 can (28oz) tomatillos, drained (or 7-8 fresh, large tomatillos, roasted)
1 can (4oz) diced green chiles
1 cup Tecate beer
1 teaspoon chicken base (or 1 chicken bouillon cube)
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
salt & pepper to taste
In a medium sauce pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes until translucent and tender. Add all remaining ingredients except salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to simmer for 25 minutes. Pour into a blender to puree (but don't fill your blender more than half-way or it could explode hot salsa all over you! Ouch! Work carefully in batches... or use a stick blender and avoid that whole mess.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
I love when a recipe is actually inspired by a song, rather than coming up with a recipe and then searching for a song to go with it! I'd been in a Tim Armstrong mood the other day (when aren't I?), but wasn't feeling like Rancid, so I pulled out both albums by the Transplants. As soon as I heard the song "Tall Cans In The Air", I knew I had to do a beer recipe with tall cans! I brainstormed a lot of ideas (and will still do more), but in the end, I decided going with a Mexican theme. The black beans are Part 1 of my Tecate dinner, and they came out great! I'm not even a big fan of beans, but seasoned with all these great flavours, I couldn't help but love 'em.
Justin and I actually were discussing whether or not we could taste the beer in the beans... 3 cups in a recipe is a hell of a lot of beer. However, it didn't really seem to stand out. There wasn't a super distinct beer flavour, but I'm sure after simmering for hours with a load of other flavours, it's just going to blend in with the rest. I wouldn't change the recipe at all... though I might be inclined to try a darker beer next time, perhaps a Negro Modelo?
And so I present to you the Transplants (whom I've been listening to all week), doing "Tall Cans In The Air"... lemme see 'em! -jen
TALL CAN MEXICAN BLACK BEANS Difficulty: Medium Prep Time: Overnight soaking Cook Time: 3-4 hours Serves: 6-8
1 pound dried black beans
8 cups water
5 cups chicken broth
1 tall can (24oz) Tecate beer (separated)
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapeños, chopped (de-seed for less heat)
3 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
1 can (4oz) diced green chiles
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon salt
few dashes of Green Tabasco
Sort through dried beans to check for small pebbles. Soak in 8 cups of water overnight.
Using a colander, drain soaking water from beans. Place beans in a large stock pot with 5 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of the Teacate beer. Bring to a boil. Cover and turn heat down to simmer for 1.5 hours.
Add tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, jalapeños, garlic, green chiles, cilantro, lime juice, bay leaves, cumin, coriander, oregano, salt, Tabasco, and remaining 1 cup of Tecate. Continue simmering with the lid off for another 1.5-2 hours. Part way through the second simmer, using a masher, mash up some of the beans to help thicken the sauce. Cook down until desired consistency. Sauce should be slightly thickened, but they shouldn't be soupy.
I'm stoked about this recipe, not so much because they were good (and they were!), but because I feel like this has gotten me one step closer to a different recipe! We grew up outside of Chicago and there's a renaissance fair that's just over the Wisconsin border called the Bristol Renaissance Faire. They serve the regular ren-fair food, but there's always been a stand there that serves beer and cheese fritters. These cheese fritters have got to be on my Top 5 Best Things I Ever Ate list. My aunt has had a booth up there for years and I even tried to get my cousin to get the recipe from the guys there, but no such luck. These hushpuppies were way good... and now I have a little bit more of an idea on how to go about making those ultimate cheese fritters.
I heard the Riverdales the other day and hadn't thought of them in a LONG time. I had a friend in college who loved these guys... hometown boys from Chicago! What does "Prince of Space" have to do with hushpuppies? Absolutely nothing. But it does make me think that's exactly what Lumpy Space Princess needs. It makes Justin think of MST3K. As you can see, we lead very uninteresting lives. -jen
1/2 cup corn flour (or grind cornmeal in food processor)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon KFC copycat seasoning (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 green onions, finely diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon jalapeños, diced fine
1/2 cup fresh sweet corn
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add green onions, garlic, jalapeños, and corn. Mix in beaten eggs until combined.
In a small sauce pan, bring milk and butter just to a boil, remove from heat. Mix the milk into the dry ingredients, half at a time. Add shredded cheese and refrigerate for one hour.
Preheat deep fryer or 4" of vegetable oil in a skillet to 350 degrees. In heaping tablespoons increments, drop refrigerated dough carefully into heated oil. Cook for 2.5 minutes, turning once to cook evenly. Serve hot. We dipped ours in tzatziki, which was a nice refreshing dip that went well with the slightly spicy hushpuppies!
Note: I thought I might like a little sweetness to the batter, so with the leftover batter that I didn't use (maybe about 1/2 the batter), I put a heaping tablespoon of honey in. It lent just a touch of sweetness and I think I'd probably use it in my next batch... or maybe a tablespoon of sugar.
A couple of days ago, I was messaging online with my older brother Chris, and he was telling me how he was going to make homemade jalapeño poppers on the grill whilst camping. We started throwing a ton of ideas back and forth and it just made me crave poppers! Since we're trying to eat a little more low-carb (but still make some good grub), we thought these would be great to incorporate into the weekly menu. I took the list that my brother and I had come up with, wrote them all down, then Justin and I added some more ideas. So we're on a popper kick and thought they'd be fun to share as we made them.
They were way good. Surprisingly cheap, fast, and easy... three very awesome things to find all at once in a good food! I highly recommend using gloves while you hollow out the jalapeños. Sometimes I like to think I'm tough and don't need gloves, and then I take my contacts out with my oil-coated fingers. When I go to put them back on my eyeballs the next morning, I end up looking like a stoned Popeye as my sockets burst into flames and have muscle seizures. So gloves are good, that's all I'm sayin'.
Listening to a little Youth Brigade performing "Violence" Warning - stage diving runs rampant. -jen
CREAMY CHORIZO POPPERS Time: 15 minutes prep, 15-20 minutes cook time Difficulty: Super Mega Kinka Easy (but dangerous without gloves, ooooh danger!) Makes: 30 poppers
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack or sharp Cheddar (I used a smokehouse onion cheddar!)
5 ounces chorizo (Mexican sausage)
15 large jalapeños
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or olive oil.
In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese and shredded cheese.
In a small skillet, over medium-high heat, cook chorizo for about 5 minutes, or until done. Using a slotted spoon so that the grease drains from it, transfer chorizo into cream cheese mix and combine.
Slice jalapeños in half length-wise to make "boats" and remove membrane and seeds. Fill with creamy chorizo mixture just until it reaches the edges. Do not mound. Place onto greased baking sheet.
In a small dish, toss the panko in the melted butter until evenly coated. Sprinkle a generous layer over the tops of the peppers. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until panko is golden brown on top.
PEPPERONI WITH MOZZARELLA POPPERS Time: 12 minutes prep, 15-20 minutes cook time Difficulty: Still Super Mega Kinka Easy Makes: 30 poppers
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
15 large jalapeños
1/4 cup finely diced pepperoni
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or olive oil.
Toss Italian seasoning with shredded mozzarella. Slice jalapeños in half length-wise to make "boats" and remove membrane and seeds. Sprinkle half of the pepperoni into the jalapeño halves. Grab about 2 tablespoons of the cheese and form into a quenelle (like a long football-shape) with your palm and the quenelles should sit right in the jalapeño boat on top of the pepperoni. Sprinkle the remaining pepperoni across the tops. Place on greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and peppers are cooked.
I've been making this salsa over and over and over again the last few weeks. We've just been plowing through it. 
