Condiments
Grilled Salsa
by NICHOLAS AMMATURO on May 2nd, 2010
What is the most popular condiment in the United States? You would first assume its ketchup or mustard, but apparently over the last few years, salsa has been taking over the pantry. I heard this fact a few years ago and I can’t seem to find any current statistics that prove it, but for our purposes, lets assume its #1.
I enjoy the taste of jarred salsa, but nothing compares to fresh. It reminds me of going to a Mexican restaurant, sitting down and instead of bread at the table, there are chips & salsa. It’s their own unique blend, its their signature. Here is a chance to make your own. You can easily do this in the oven, but the grill creates a great charred flavor that the oven lacks.
Ingredients
- 3lbs Roma tomatoes
- 8 peeled garlic cloves
- 1-2 peppers (serrano chile peppers or jalapenos)
- 1 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 TBLS white vinegar
- Kosher salt to taste
Preheat the grill to high or your oven to high broil. If you are grilling these, then place the garlic cloves in aluminum foil and wrap tight. If you are using the oven, line a rimed baking sheet with foil and place tomatoes, peppers and garlic directly on the pan. For broiling, you are going to broil them for 5-10 minutes on 1 side, making sure to brown them slightly. Flip everything over and then continue broiling for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven to let cool.
For the people that are grilling, place the tomatoes, peppers & garlic (wrapped in foil), directly on the grill.
Close the grill and grill for 5-10 minutes until charred black. You will start to notice the skin is peeling off the tomatoes. Flip them over to continue grilling the other side. They should look like below.
Remove them from the grill and let cool completely. Once cooled, peel the tomatoes. Cut off the tomato top to remove the core and make peeling easier. These tomatoes are juicy and will make a mess, I do them on a cutting board and make sure there are plenty of paper towels to soak up the juice. Sometimes I do these in a strainer to drain some of the juice, but its up to you. Peel the peppers and cut off the stem.
Next, place the garlic, cilantro, peppers (seeds & all), sugar & white vinegar into a food processor. Finely chop everything up.
If you don’t have a food processor you can just mince up everything finely and you will have a chunkier salsa then one made with a food processor. Once these base ingredients are finely chopped, add the peeled tomatoes and few handfuls of kosher salt and pulse everything together. I like to just pulse a few times, so that its chunky. You can mix it as much as you want if you prefer something more liquid.
Make sure to taste for flavor and add salt as needed. Place the salsa in a container and then store in the fridge until ready to serve. You can serve immediately or store for up to 5 days.
After you taste this salsa, you may see why American’s voted salsa #1.
Fresh Dill Pickles
by NICK AMMATURO on April 24th 2010
Recipe courtesy of, “Quick Pickles” by Chris Schlesinger
This book was introduced to me by one of my co-workers whose into cooking even more than I am. He makes batches of pickles and distributes them to everyone in his team. Just as soon as he hands them out, people are already asking for more. It’s always nice to learn more about the people you work with everyday, it adds a whole new depth to them and I have a new found respect for someone I am just getting to know. I would have never thought that I would be making my own pickles, it was a realm that I never thought of exploring. Now that I have started, I can’t stop. I am having the best time learning about what spices to use, what herbs to experiment with and how something can be so tasty from just a few ingredients.
I am introducing you to the first pickle that I tried from the book, the Fresh Dill Cucumber Pickle, its been one of my favorites so far. I will make sure to share as I go through and try some others out.
Ingredients
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5-6 pounds of pickling cucumbers (less than 5” long)
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1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled and minced
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Bunch of Fresh Dill
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1/4 Cup pickling spices (see note below)
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3 cups red wine vinegar
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6 cups water
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1/2 cup kosher or other coarse salt
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3 small chilies (optional), slit in half
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2/3 cup peeled, finely grated horseradish (optional)
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Grape Leaves (optional)
Pickling Spices*:
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1 TBLS coriander seed
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1 TBLS mustard seed
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2 tsp celery seed
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2 tsp whole black peppercorns
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2 whole cloves
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4 crumbled bay leaves
*For the pickling spices, I would place these all in a dry sauté pan over medium heat and toast. Moving frequently, just a few minutes until you start to smell them. Remove from heat, to avoid burning them.
Time to tickle your….
First trim and discard the ends of the cucumbers. This is to speed up the absorption of the brine into the cucumbers. You can keep them whole, halve them, quarter them, or slice them into 1/4” rounds. I have made them everyway and I prefer to quarter some and to slice them into 1/4” rounds (I use a simple mandolin that literally cost me $11.00 at a hardware store).
Next, you’re going to pack all the ingredients into the jar, crock, or bowl. I start with some dill, garlic and a grape leaf on the bottom. Then I start adding the cucumbers, savings the smaller ones for the top. I divide the pickling spice among how many jars I have and I begin to sprinkle it in as I am filling it with the cucumbers.
In a nonreactive pot, bring the vinegar, water, and salt to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the salt. Pour the hot mixture over the cucumbers, covering as much as you can. Allow to cool at room temperature, then cover, refrigerate, and in just a day or 2, the pickles will be ready to eat.
These pickles will keep, covered and refrigerated for at least 2 months.
