Kitchen Garden Journal

“Toasting” the ingredients either on a grill, hot dry skillet (comal) or under the broiler until the skin chars gives this salsa its special character. Raw, it’s great for dipping tortilla chips; cooked, it becomes the red sauce found in the red or green squeeze bottles at a California burrito bar, great for squirting on just about anything.

Ingredients:
2 lb tomatoes
1 lb smallish onions (extra surface area)
1 large head garlic
3-4 chilies
1 bunch cilantro
lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt

Method:
Toast the ingredients on a hot surface until the skins are blackened: tomatoes and chilies are left whole; onions are quartered; garlic is left unpeeled as individual cloves. After toasting, “sweat” the tomatoes and chilies in a covered bowl or container so the skins loosen. Leave until cool, then peel and discard the skins. Peel the onions and garlic and scrape off any excess char.

Squeeze as much liquid out of the peeled tomatoes as possible. Blend or puree tomatoes, onions, garlic and chilies together in a blender or food processor. Add lime juice, vinegar, sugar and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings so that it tastes good to you. Personally I think the secret to a delicious salsa is the added sugar and vinegar. It really heightens the sweet-sour flavor of the tomatoes. Remember, this is a condiment, after all.

When making a red salsa, it is important to use only red, orange or yellow colored chilies. If you use green chilies, they will turn your salsa an unappealing puce color if blended with red tomatoes. If all you have is green chilies, chop them by hand and add to the rest of the pureed ingredients. Same goes for the cilantro: always hand-chop it rather than blending it. It makes for a much nicer appearance.

At this point the raw salsa is done. If you wish to make cooked salsa, heat a few tablespoons of cooking oil in your tomato sauce pan and add the sauce. Simmer until reduced by about 1/3 and thickened. It becomes a completely different sauce when cooked, turning and orangey red and having the pronounced sweetness of cooked onions.

Keep it for winter:
You can make a huge batch of this and can it, as I’m doing today, raw or cooked. Sterilize your pint jars, bring the salsa to a slight simmer and hot-pack the jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. The high acid and sugar content of this salsa makes it pretty foolproof and easy to can.

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• 1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek)
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1 bunch Thai basil

Coat a large fry pan with about ¼ inch of oil and carefully fry the eggplant in batches until golden brown and melting.  Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)

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• 4 Tilapia fillets
• Flour for dusting
• 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1-3 small hot chilies, sliced
• 1 inch ginger root
• 2-3 scallions, in 1-inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce (optional)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp white or rice vinegar
• 4 Tbsp chopped cilantro 

This dish is prepared using a method commonly used in Chinese cooking.  Heat the oil in a fairly large skillet. Cut the fish fillets into 1 inch chunks. Put some flour on a small plate or saucer and roll the fish pieces in it before adding them to the hot oil. Fry briefly (only a minute or two per side) as the fish cooks fast and you don’t want it to crumble. Drain the fried fish on paper towels and set aside. Drain all but 2 Tbsp of the oil out of the pan. Meanwhile, cut the ginger root into matchsticks by slicing it very thinly and then chopping the slices into  narrow slivers. Add garlic, ginger, chilies, and scallions to the oil.  Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking or burning.  Combine the sauce ingredients and add to the pan, stir once, then return the fish to the pan, stirring gently to coat with the sauce, about 1 minute. Turn off heat and garnish with the cilantro.  Serve immediately with rice. 

Note: this dish can be made with any kind of meat, tofu or eggplant, but fish is good luck in China.

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Eggplant was introduced to Europe by the Moors and became a favorite vegetable in the places that they took over, like Sicily. The Moorish taste for sweet and sour also comes through in this dish.

• Lots and lots of olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 head garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes or fresh hot peppers, to taste
• 1 pound peppers, cut into large chunks
• 1 pound eggplant, cut into large chunks
• 1 or 2 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp capers
• 3 Tbsp chopped Kalamata olives
• Few sprigs chopped basil and parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat about 4 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven with a lid that can go in the oven. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the pepper flakes and peppers and sauté over medium heat 5-10 minutes.  Add eggplant and sauté another several minutes. You may want to add more oil to make sure everything is generously anointed.  Add the tomatoes.  Cover the pot and put it in the oven to bake for 20-30 minutes.  Everything should be very, very soft.  Season with salt, pepper and the other seasonings.  Adjust sweetness, salt and acidity to taste.  Serve it warm on fresh crusty bread or at room temperature the next day.  Makes a great pasta sauce, too. Freeze in quarts for a taste of summer in December.

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• 1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek)
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1 bunch Thai basil

Coat a large fry pan with about ¼ inch of oil and carefully fry the eggplant in batches, following the procedure described in Pasta alla Norma, above.  Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)

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• 1 pint cherry tomatoes (or 2 slicing tomatoes)
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 clove garlic
• Hot chilies, to taste
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp sugar, optional
• 1 Tbsp vinegar, optional

Chop everything to a fine dice and toss with the liquids. Allow to sit for 1/2 hour to meld the flavors. Eat with tortilla chips or quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, etc.

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