It’s Labor Day weekend, and there are Hatch Chiles for sale everywhere around here. (About Hatch Chiles) I ate another chile from my garden in this morning’s salsa eggs. And I have a few more gorgeous chiles growing, but they’re green yet. I’m generally a red chile person, but it was impossible to pass up the wonderful smell of the green Hatch chiles in the crates in the grocery store, or pass up the price. And as I’m having to harvest my yellow tomatoes quickly to try and keep them out of the squirrels hands. (Yes. They can pick up my beautiful fist-sized deep summer golden heirloom tomatoes in their grubby, Hanta-virus-infested little feral fists.) (Mark will not let me sic the cat on them. Bastards.)
So. Salsa. Obviously. Everybody has their own recipe here, and I don’t think I’ve really settled on one that I love so much that I would make gallons and can it for the year yet. I got this basic one from Mary Paddock a few years ago, and what I did with it today made a very mild….very….green and fresh-feeling chile. It might have been richer if I’d thrown in a tomatillo.
If there’s anyone out there reading, I’d love to know how you guys do your September salsas. I’m not big into mangoes…done that, didn’t dig it.
(Hey, there’s a thought. Maybe instead of growing zucchini next year, I’ll do some tomatillos and more peppers. Definitely more peppers.)
source: Mary Paddock
vegan, gluten –
- 2 medium ripe tomatoes (I used 3)
- 1/4 medium onion (I used a purple, because I love the snap of them)
- 4 sprigs cilantro (or parsley) (Mark is not a fan of cilantro, but I am, and I made it my way this time because likely I will eat most of it.)
- 2 cloves garlic (or 3)
- 1 tsp garlic salt (pinch of plain salt…who needs more salt in their diet?)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (I added half of this, and regretted it….unless it’s there to preserve color, it distracts from the taste of sunny things for me)
- 1 jalapeno (or a large chile. Lots of room to be creative here. )
Mix. Since I will probably be ladling this over my corn and bean salads that I’ve been eating at least every other day, I made this with me in mind, flavor-wise, but Mark’s tolerance heat-wise. He’ll probably have some. Because I will put it on his eggs in the morning, too.
It’s mild, but tastes like the sun, bright, gardeny. I think I want something deeper and redder, though. The yellow tomatoes are phenomenal, but when my garden chiles ripen to red, I will use those. Anybody roast their chiles before making them into salsa? I wonder what that would be like…
beets and petite syrah 