Dips & sauces

Fresh salsa

Being away for two months, I've forgotten how much I have to keep up with my produce.  It really is nice to feel like there's always food in the house, but I hate having to toss a gorgeous tomato that's gone bad because I didn't get to it in time.  I'd almost completely forgotten about my plans to make salsa fresca.  It's one of my favorites to make, especially when I'm in Russia and want something exotic.  Finding tortilla chips in Russia isn't difficult, but a good dip is hard to come by.  My favorite part about this dip: add avocado and you have guacamole!

Salsa Fresca

2-3 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion (I prefer red, but white is traditional)

1-2 jalapenos

1-2 cloves garlic

Minced cilantro, to taste

Freshly-squeezed lime juice, to taste

Chop the tomatoes finely.  Mince the onion, garlic & jalapeno.  (Be careful when handling any hot pepper: the oils get into your skin and can transfer to your eyes & face if you touch them after touching the pepper. You can wear gloves to avoid this.)  Place everything into a large bowl, and mix in the cilantro & lime juice.  If you want to make it guacamole, stir in a couple very ripe avocados, scooped from their skin.

While I was making lunch today, I came across my stash of hot peppers, and an eggplant, and I remembered my plans for these guys.  I'd wanted to make baba ghanoush with the eggplant, but don't have tahini and can't be bothered to drive around in post-hurricane roads an extra time.  Instead, I made this dip, since I had some walnuts on hand.  Instead of lemon juice, I used a little apple cider vinegar for acid.  Of course, now I will have to go out and get some good crackers for this.

Roasted eggplant & peppers

Eggplan & walnut dip

Fresh peppers & carrot, ready to be boiled

Finally, I made a batch of hot sauce.  A friend gave me some scotch bonnets back in June, which I blended into some really tasty sauce before I left.  I gave it away, since I don't know how long this stuff keeps, and my roommate doesn't do spicy.  When I saw all the hot peppers in this week's farmshare, I knew exactly what to do with them.  I followed this recipe, but just used the peppers from Griggstown.  I have a juicer attachment on my food processor, so I got enough juice from one orange and three limes.  I love my little food processor, but I think it might be time to upgrade to a larger one.  Anyhow, it does the job, and the sauce turned out amazing.  With all the peppers I put in, it came out to nearly a quart!  Now I need to find some good uses for hot sauce...

Freshly pureed hot sauce