Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: T.O.M. on August 22, 2017, 07:43:33 PM
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Got a big crop of tomatoes and jalapenos coming in, and would love to make some salsa. Any recipes?
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http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/grilled-corn-salsa-recipe-1917091 (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/grilled-corn-salsa-recipe-1917091)
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I used to cheat making salsa.
SuperFresh had a store brand marinara sauce that was quite chunky and made a FANTASTIC salsa base.
You simply tarted it up with all of the other salsa stuff -- onions, peppers, herbs, and lime juice -- and it was very hard to tell that it wasn't completely homemade.
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Corn has no place in the salsa of any civilized chef.
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You're gonna can it? Let me find my recipe. It's a USDA recipe and it's pretty simple...
Chile Salsa
(from USDA bulletin 539) yield: 6 to 8 pints
5 pounds tomatoes
2 pounds chile peppers
1 pound onions, chopped
1 cup vinegar (5%)
3 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
Roast and peel peppers if they have tough skins (not necessary for jalapeños or serranos), remove seeds and stems, chop. Scald and peel tomatoes; chop. Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle into pint jars, leave 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
Notes: I generally use jalapeños, seeds and all, and I find that ½ cup bottled lemon juice plus ½ cup white vinegar tastes better than using all vinegar (or all lemon juice.)
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this has worked for me over the years.
Three large tomatoes, pureed
6 plum tomatoes, seeded, diced by hand
Process together
One large onion,
Serrano, Habanera, or jalapeno peppers, to taste
2 ounces V8 juice
Juice of two limes
Salt, white pepper to taste
Two Tbls. Olive oil
At least ¼ cup chopped fresh Cilantro
Mix all together, let sit overnight if possible.
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https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Complete-Book-Home-Preserving/dp/0778801314/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503709085&sr=8-2&keywords=ball+canning+book+canning+and+preserving+book
I've had much luck using the stock recipes in this, and riffing on them to taste.
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(https://media.giphy.com/media/pGDg4i5PfKDcs/giphy.gif)
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Corn has no place in the salsa of any civilized chef.
I agree.
Our salsa recipe doesn't differ from most here, except for the quality of the ingredients. I use fresh Roma tomatoes out of the garden, and for chile peppers I use the locally grown Pueblo (actually Mirasol) chiles. I can pick tomatoes, bring them in the house and Sandy starts processing them, while I drive to DiTomaso Farms, 1.5 miles up the road and order a bushel or two of roasted peppers. In 30 minutes, I'm back with the chiles, we process them on tables in the front yard (with a beer in one hand), and they are finished salsa in a couple of hours. Ours are canned or frozen. The canned ones are pressure cooked in pints. The frozen is slightly better because it hasn't been cooked quite as much, but the canned ones are ready to dump into a bowl and enjoy.
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Okay, here's what I did.
I put a dozen tomatoes, cut in half, in an aluminum pan on my charcoal Weber grill. Half a chimney of charcoal and a handful of mesquite chips. Let that smoke for around 45 minutes. Threw those in the food processor with:
a bunch of cilantro
a few leaves of spicy basil
lime juice from two limes
four cloves of garlic
sea salt
smoked pepper
a good dose of Frostbite (my preferred hot sauce for cooking... http://cajohns.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=104 )
Blended that pretty smooth. Then I stirred in by hand:
one big Vidallia onion, chopped pretty small
half a dozen Jalapenos from our garden
a couple of fresh tomatoes, chopped pretty small
Turned out really good. Next time, I'll probably not add the hot sauce and just do heat from the peppers. I liked the taste mix from the smoked tomatoes and the fresh all in the same bite. And, how can you ever go wrong with Vidallia onions?
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Notes: I generally use jalapeños, seeds and all, and I find that ½ cup bottled lemon juice plus ½ cup white vinegar tastes better than using all vinegar (or all lemon juice.)
The Da Bomb hot sauces, in spite of 200k+ Scoville ratings, have a noticeable citrus note due to using pineapple juice as the base rather than vinegar. I'm normally not a fan of pineapple other than alone or in combination with sweet things, but it's actually pretty good as a hot sauce base. I see no reason it wouldn't work as well in spicy salsa.
Also, I've made some insanely hot chili that turned out very edible due to the recipe calling for fresh mango chunks to be added about 5 minutes before serving. Surprisingly, the mango seemed to cut the heat a lot more than one might expect.
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"And, how can you ever go wrong with Vidallia onions?"
I've never much cared for sweet onions. I'd rather have the punch of a standard yellow onion.
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The Da Bomb hot sauces, in spite of 200k+ Scoville ratings, have a noticeable citrus note due to using pineapple juice as the base rather than vinegar. I'm normally not a fan of pineapple other than alone or in combination with sweet things, but it's actually pretty good as a hot sauce base. I see no reason it wouldn't work as well in spicy salsa.
Also, I've made some insanely hot chili that turned out very edible due to the recipe calling for fresh mango chunks to be added about 5 minutes before serving. Surprisingly, the mango seemed to cut the heat a lot more than one might expect.
Thanks, I will have to try Da Bomb.
That recipe calls for vinegar because it is needed for safe BWB canning. Bottled lemon juice (not fresh) is an acceptable substitute because it is adjusted to a standard acidity just slightly more than vinegar. And I've found that using half vinegar and half lemon juice tastes the best. Pineapple juice wouldn't work in that recipe unless you processed the jars in a pressure canner. I think fresh lime juice should be safe because limes are more acid than lemons.
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Gary at DiTomaso Farms discovered that he could use a chile roaster for Roma tomatoes. Sounds great (and easy). We're going to try a box or two in a week or so.
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Tried two boxes today (50 lbs). Amazingly easy, we had them in the freezer in about an hour. Getting some more tomorrow.