Thursday, August 19, 2010

¡Fire Roasted Salsa Verde!



I have a fantasy of opening my pantry to find 52 jars of plain diced tomatoes, one per week for a whole year. Since finding out store-bought tomatoes contain high levels of BPA due to the acidity of the contents, we have sworn off canned tomatoes- a former staple of our pantry. Fresh tomatoes have replaced them, but won't be in season forever. It was my intention to do this project for the can-jam, but local Florida tomato prices are still a bit high, so I've decided to put off the larger venture until fall when tomatoes are both juicier and less expensive..
So, for this month's Click for tigress can jam food blog challenge here is a fun version of Salsa Verde, and because we were already grilling corn, we threw the chiles on, too, for some extra fire roasted flavor. My only regret is not doubling the recipe!

3 1/2 pint jars, lids and rings, sterilized
5 tomatillos
segments of 1 giant lime (or 3 small ones)
1/2 large white onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 poblano chile
3 jalapeno chiles
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (optional, depending on sweetness/sourness of your tomatillos)
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

Grill or broil chiles until charred, steam in a bag and remove skin; dice with membranes for hot salsa, remove membranes for mild salsa. Puree 3 tomatillos and lime segments in a blender then push through a sieve, reserving juices. In a medium pot reduce juice to about 1/4 cup. Dice remaining 2 tomatillos and add to juice with onion, garlic, chiles and spices. Bring to a low simmer (just enough to cook out a bit of the rawness) and stir in cilantro. Ladle salsa into sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Pregnancy Pickles: Round 2


After opening the previous batch of pickles Joe and I realized that maybe we had gone a bit overboard in the spice department (the horseradish pickles could cure a toothache). So I went easy on these ones and made a very simple pickling spice mix. I also lowered the amount of salt, as the previous pickles were just a little salty for our taste, though the vinegar was perfect. So here is my revised version of pregnancy pickles, which, as you can see, may be used for more than just cucumbers.

Plain Ol' Pregnancy Pickles
4 cups vinegar
3 cups water
3 Tbsp canning salt
3 tsp sugar

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp black peppercorns
1 Tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried dill leaf

Sanitize jars, lids and rings. Divide spice mix among jars and fill with product and brine. Wipe rims, attach lids and rings and process small jars for 5 minutes, large jars for 10 minutes.