The local growing season is winding down, and it’s time, before the first frost, to preserve your herb garden. I’m gonna start with basil.
Genovese Basil in my garden.
Every year I plant a lot of basil; “a lot’ is a relative term; it’s a lot for my personal use, usually in the range of a dozen plants. This year was no different. I planted 8 Genovese (Sweet Italian) Basil plants, 2 Thai Basil and 2 Piccolo Basil plants.
Throughout the growing season, I pick leaves and use them as needed. Genovese in salads, on pizza, sandwiches, and whatever Mediterranean-style recipe calling for fresh basil. The Thai basil gets used in, you guessed it, Thai dishes as well as other Asian style stir-fries, salads, or wraps I happen to make. The Piccolo, I mostly use for dried basil; I will probably write about this in another upcoming “Preserving the Season” blog about drying herbs.
Throughout the season, as the plants produce buds, I pull them off and place them in little bowls on a sunny windowsill in my kitchen to let them dry, before placing them in airtight containers for use throughout the year.
Basil buds drying on my windowsill.
The bulk of the basil that I grow goes into making pesto. Using the Genovese basil, toasted pine nuts, Parmigiano Reggiano, EVOO, garlic, and salt, I make big batches. After making the pesto, I separate it into 4-ounce cups and freeze it for later use. As of now, I have about 30 of these 4-ounce pesto cups in my freezer, ready to go.
We will be having a lot of pesto-based meals in the future; this is not a bad thing. Pasta with some veggies and pesto can be made in the time it takes to cook some high-quality dried Italian pasta. A delicious, inexpensive 20-minute dinner is at times just what is needed.
Don’t limit the pesto use to just pasta; it’s also great on chicken, pork, salmon, in sandwiches, with burrata, drizzled on a rustic soup, in potato or bean salads. It’s very versatile; just use a little bit of imagination and run with it. If you’re adding pesto to a dish, you’re bound to be making that dish better.
My go-to recipe uses pine nuts; you don’t have to, they tend to be expensive and sometimes hard to find. I have seen them at Costco, in bulk, 2-pound bags, at reasonable pricing. You can substitute other nuts with great results. I have made pesto with almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts in the past; all were great.
At EVOO, we always had big buckets full of dill pickles. At lunch, we served them as a side on our sandwich plates; we also used them in whatever recipes called for dill pickles, such as roasted pepper-pickle relish, which we sometimes served with grilled meats. I also remember an olive-pickle compote that paired very well with grilled striped bass. Another favorite is potato-pickle salad, which I still make regularly. Of course, we would use these delicious dills in tartar sauce. We would also serve them as an accompaniment to many of our homemade charcuterie items, such as smoked bluefish pate, country pate, and liver mousse.
I miss these pickles.
That’s why I decided it was about time to make them at home.
I figured if I bought about 8 lbs, that would be sufficient to get me through until next year’s harvest.
Once again, I headed off to my local farmers’ market; the Arlington Market is my go-to on Wednesdays. I picked through the bin of pickling cucumbers; I favor the small to medium-sized firm cucumbers. In my opinion, they make the best pickles. If they’re too big, they tend to be soft and seedy. I like to pick cucumbers all around the same size, so that they all pickle evenly.
The first thing that I did was to trim the blossom end off of the cucumbers. There are some enzymes in the blossom end that will soften the pickles; I like firm, crisp pickles.
Be sure to rinse the cucumbers thoroughly under cold water.
All the ingredients are divided into 2 each 8 quart containers. Well, almost all the ingredients are in there; I still need to add a couple of grape leaves to each container. The grape leaves are tannic and will also help keep the pickles crisp and firm.
The Pickles are all set to be placed in the back of my refrigerator for at least a month before I give them a try; this I am looking forward to.
An added bonus to this recipe is that the onions and garlic are delicious pickles in their own right. At EVOO, we often batter and fry the pickled onion rings. I also recall making pickled garlic aioli that we used on several different dishes, including on a few versions of our “Burger of the Week” as well as an accompaniment to fried seafood. The pickled garlic is also great sliced thin and put on salads; the pickling takes the hot bite out of the garlic, leaving a nice crisp, flavorful garlic pickle.
I love poblanos! Their mild earthy bitter pepper flavor is something I look forward to every summer. Every so often you may find one that is quite spicy, however that is not the norm.
For many years, at the height of the season, late summer, I have bought several pounds of poblanos to process them for use throughout the year.
Red and green poblanos on the grill.
Here’s what I do: on my outdoor gas grill set to high heat, I char the peppers, blistering the skins, which loosens the skin so that I can peel them, as well as cooks the peppers. After charring them, I let them sit covered, at room temperature, this step steams them a bit, which also helps loosen the skin for easier peeling. I then peel, de-stem and de-seed the peppers. From there I separate them onto small ziplock bags and freeze them for later use.
Separated into small bags and frozen poblanos
They are quite versatile, and I use them in several ways; this year, I have already made a batch of corn-poblano chowder. Throughout the year, I will use them in salsas, on salads, as a topping for baked potatoes, in enchiladas, and in chili. I also pick the nicest, most intact ones to use for making rellenos; for this dish I leave the peppers whole, making a slit from the stem to the tip, so that I can remove the seeds. I then stuff the pepper with whatever filling I choose at the time; chicken, beef, roasted butternut squash, and cheese are some of my favorites.
A blast from the past, a dish that was on EVOO’s autumn menu back in 2021: Poblano Chili Relleno with creamed corn and fresh tomato salsa.
With not too much effort, poblanos can be a year round staple in your local kitchen too.
Once again, it’s that time of year; where did the summer go? It’s time to preserve the summer’s local bounty, starting with canning tomatoes.
Here is a pictorial of how I canned more than 2 cases, about 50 pounds of local tomatoes. 40 pounds came from Verrill Farm in Concord, MA; the remaining 10 pounds were from my backyard garden.
First, using a small sharp knife, I cut the core out and put a shallow X, just through the skin on the opposite side of each tomato. I then blanched the tomatoes, in several batches, in simmering water for not more than 30 seconds, then I placed them in an ice bath before removing and discarding the skins.A bucket full of peeled tomatoes.I then cut all the tomatoes in half along the equatorial line.I then gently squeezed out the seeds, reserving and straining them, pouring some of the strained liquid into the pot with the peeled and seeded tomatoes. I wanted to have some liquid in the pot for when I started to cook the tomatoes; this will cut down on the possibility of burning the tomatoes before they break down from the heat in the pan.50 pounds is a lot of tomatoes! This 4-gallon pot is almost full and all set to be cooked.The tomatoes are on the heat and are starting to break down.After about 45 minutes on medium-high heat, the tomatoes were fully cooked and mostly mushy. At this point, I ran them through the coarse die of a food mill.Hot milled tomatoes are ready to be placed in mason jars.All jarred up, in a simmering water bath for 15 minutes.50 pounds of tomatoes worked down to 13 quart jars.Jars are dated only with the year. I won’t be doing more tomatoes this year, so the year is the only date that I need.Put-up in the cellar for use throughout the following year.
Here is another post about the photos adorning the walls of Za. All photos were taken by me, all of which were taken by whatever Android phone I had at the time. I am an avid photo taker; if I see something that I think would be a good image, I take it. Because of sheer volume, I have ended up with some great photos, most of which provide me with some fantastic memories.
The photo for this post is actually 2 photos, taken about 10 minutes apart.
I was sailing- no surprise there; we were en route from Massachusetts to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and we needed to make a fuel stop in Charleston, South Carolina. As we left Charleston Harbor I noticed this shrimp boat, “Stormy Seas,” heading into port, presumably with a full load of Carolina White Shrimp iced down in its hold.
The scene was picturesque: sunshine, blue skies, flat seas, outriggers extended, nets hanging, seagulls swarming. It was a clear photo opportunity, and I took it. As “Stormy Seas” passed, I saw another opportunity: a photo of her stern. I thought it would be really cool if the photos came out well enough that I could enlarge them and hang them next to each other. It worked out well, they look great hanging next to each other on Za’s men’s room wall.
Wow. I am so far behind on my blog posts. I wrote this one back in February, soon after returning from the Bahamas. It’s now mid-June, and I am finally getting around to adding in some photos so that I can post this blog.
My lame-ass excuse for not posting it sooner is that I’ve been busy, which has only a bit of truth to it. Sure, I have been working at Za. I’ve done more than my share of yard work. I’ve even gone on another sailing trip, and I do have another one of my self-gratifying blogs in the works about that adventure as well. I do have to get my ass back in gear with these blogs. I often have ideas for blog posts about other things, not just sailing, and the only way I will get to them is by actually sitting down at my trusty Lenovo and writing them…
After 3 weeks in Arlington, I’m back in West Palm Beach sans Colleen. I will be sailing with my friends Tom and Mary from West Palm across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas on their Mason 44 sailboat.
Our original plan was to do this sail with Colleen a few weeks ago; however, battery charging issues delayed the trip. Now I was hoping to have Colleen with us to enjoy some beautiful sailing, weather, and the beaches the Bahamas are known for. It was all part of my ploy to get Colleen into the boating lifestyle. Well, I will have to keep trying. While I’m sailing, she will be working (somebody has to).
West Palm Beach Sailing Club.
I arrived in West Palm on a Tuesday afternoon, Ubered to the West Palm Beach Sailing Club where Tom met me on his dinghy to ferry me out to Glory. I stowed my gear and talked with Tom and Mary about the itinerary, the weather, and our routing for our expected departure the next morning.
After I was in the loop, we headed to the fancy-ass marina, Safe Harbor, and their restaurant, Lamarina for some Happy Hour cocktails and sushi. We met up with Wayne and Gwyn. Wayne is the person who ultimately helped Tom and Mary figure out what the issue was with Glory’s battery charging situation.
After a couple of drinks, we headed out to Wayne and Gwyn’s boat, Gwayne, a Lagoon 45, a big beautiful catamaran. I was curious and I love checking out other boats. This one is really like a condo on the water. After Wayne gave us a tour we sat around in the cockpit and playing a few round of some card game that I had never heard of before. It was all good fun, and soon we hopped back into the dinghy and headed to Glory for a good nights sleep.
The next morning, Wednesday, February 4th, we pulled up our anchor just after 8. The 155-mile trip across the Gulf Stream to Great Harbour in the Berries, a group of islands 45 miles north of Nassau, should take us about 24 hours. Our planned arrival time is mid-morning on Thursday, February 5th.
Our route from West Palm to Nassau.
Overall it was a very easy trip across, almost all of it was under sail. During the day the three of us hung in the cockpit, adjust the sails as needed, which wasn’t often, taking a nap and doing a bit of reading. It was a very pleasant day.
The sun is setting behind Tom as we work our way across the Gulf Stream.
Overnight, Tom and I traded off 3 hour shifts at the helm. Again, everything was quite benign, keeping track of other boats and a couple of cruise ships making the crossing at the same time as us.
Turquoise water sliding under Glory as we close in on Great Harbour.
On Thursday morning, just after sunrise, as planned, we were in sight of The Berries, the beautiful, yet shallow, turquoise waters that the Bahamas are known for were sliding under Glory’s hull. By 11am, we were tucked into a dock in the Great Harbor Marina.
A cool cut that we had to pass through to get to the Great Harbour Marina.
Clearing customs was definitely “on Bahamas time”, a process that should have taken just a few minutes, but dragged on for 3 hours. Eventually, we were cleared and could move around the island as desired.
Great Harbour Marina
We hopped on some marina let bikes. We were in search of a beachfront bar, a couple of cold beers, some island snacks, and a great view. Didn’t happen quite that way, though. Looking online before we got up on the bikes, we eyed a place 2 kilometers away, a short ride on a bike. The website showed us a big porch on a beach; it looked promising. When we arrived, sure, there was a big porch, and a whole lot of sand, no beach, it was on the side of what in the Bahamas would be considered a main road.
Back to the internet we went, another place also looked great, 3 kilometers in the other direction. Off we went, pedaling right on past the marina on our quest. This place was on a bluff overlooking the west side of the island; the view was spectacular. However, of course, there is a “however”; they didn’t serve alcohol. After 5 kilometers of biking, we were parched. Strike 2.
Turquoise bikes overlooking turquoise water.
Yup, we continued our quest, another search, another half kilometer back towards the marina. We found a bar, no beach, no view, just a few locals, most of whom probably have permanent stools at the bar. Tom and I ordered beers, and a gin and tonic for Mary. We headed outside to enjoy our hard-earned beverages on the side of the road just as it started to rain. We ended up standing under an overhang along the side of the building until the rain slowed enough for us to make the short bike ride back to the marina.
We hung around the marina for the rest of the night. We needed to figure out the rest of our plan. I needed to be in Nassau by late Saturday for an early Sunday morning flight back home. We still had about 75 miles to sail and a forecast of high winds and waves to deal with.
After much deliberation, it was decided that we would go for it the following morning, Friday. The first 10 miles of our sail would be into 25 knot winds with predicted seas of 6 to 8 feet close together. After those first 10 miles, we would make a turn to starboard and have to take those seas on our broadside for just about a mile; this would be the most uncomfortable portion of our sail. We would then be rewarded with a downwind, comfortable run to our planned anchorage tucked just south of Hoffman Cay, between Fowl and Saddle Back Cays, where we would be protected from the wind and waves for the night before making our final 35-mile sail to Nasua on Saturday.
Glory’s bow splashing down into bouncy head-on seas.
Our plan worked flawlessly, with a bit of bouncing and slamming into a couple of large waves, water shooting over our bow, we plowed forward. Followed by a few minutes of sloshing side to side, and then a smooth ride with the seas pushing us to our anchorage. Glory was in her element.
We were the only ones in the anchorage, not a soul to be seen on land either, the islands were deserted.
Mary on the bow, enjoying the sunset.
The winds stayed heavy throughout the night. Glory’s oversized ground tackle (anchor and chain) kept us in position, enabling us to get a restful night’s sleep.
In the morning, we pulled anchor and headed out of our well-protected anchorage towards Nassau. Once again, the sailing was magnificent, the winds were at our starboard aft quarter running in the high teens, low twenties. Seas were moderate, 6-ish feet. It was so pleasant that I decided I would try trolling for fish. After an unsuccessful try with a small metal lure that kept surfacing on me, I tried a larger wooden bullet-shaped lure weighted down to keep it from surfacing. It worked; within a few minutes, the reel was screeching, and we had a fish on the line.
Co-captain Mary.
With some effort, I was able to reel the fish in and get it on board. To our delight, we caught a small, about 10-pound, yellowfin tuna. I dispatched the fish quickly, settling into bucket in the cockpit. I needed to wait until the seas calmed down enough for me to fillet it.
Me and my tuna.
By this time, it was mid-afternoon, and we were closing on Nassau. The seas had picked up a bit; some of them were pushing the 10-foot mark. With the wind and seas pushing us, it was still quite comfortable.
I was not able to fillet the tuna until we were inside the breakwater in Nassau Harbour. I did so on the foredeck, where there is a saltwater wash-down hose that I could use for easy clean up. When I was about halfway done cleaning the fish Mary pointed out that there was a harbor police boat passing close by. Since we didn’t have a fishing license, I stopped what I was doing and tried to make it look like I was just cleaning the bow. They quickly passed us by without a second glance, and I finished my task of filleting the tuna.
Tom had arranged a dock for us for the night. I had an early flight, and being on the dock would make it a lot easier for my morning departure. As we closed in on the marina, Tom communicated with the dockmaster, giving him all of the pertinent information, length, width, and most importantly, draft (how deep Glory is in the water), so that the dockmaster could direct us to the appropriate slip. Unfortunately, the dockmaster directed us to a slip that was too shallow to allow for Glory’s 6-plus-foot draft. 30 feet away from the dock, we gently struck bottom. Not doing any damage, just making it near impossible for us to maneuver Glory back into deeper water. At this point, we were well inside the confines of the marina with little room for us to move around, especially because whenever we were able to turn a bit we would once again hit bottom. Ultimately, with the help of another mariner using their dinghy to help push us into deeper water, we were able to get into deeper water and find our way to a more appropriate slip.
Glory safely on a slip in Nassau.
After settling in, getting Glory and ourselves cleaned up and organized, we went up to the marina, where I was able to schedule a taxi to get me to the airport at the ungodly hour of 5am. We then proceed to the bar for a few sundowners; beers on a terrace overlooking the marina.
As always, drinking local beer.
The tuna, our dinner, was delicious, seared rare, served with some rice and veggies. There were even some leftovers for Tom and Mary to enjoy.
Clean plate club. I forgot to take photos of the tuna before we ate it.
I made it to the taxi and my flight on time ending my time in the Bahamas.
This winter was tough on our old worn out awnings.
Worn and torn.
In 2004, the year we opened for business, we had the original awnings installed, in 2006 a truck backed into the awning on Milton Street, requiring us to replace that awning and to place a planter on the sidewalk to prevent future truck mishaps.
An older photo showing the original awnings
The awning on Milton Street, gets the most sun and wind and had the most damage done to it this winter. It was completely torn apart. The other awnings had various amounts of wear and tear happening, none of them seemed like they would be able to withstand another rough winter, so we decided it was time to replace them all.
After a few unanswered calls and emails to the company that originally manufactured and installed the awnings, I figured the awnings lasted 20 plus years, the company did a good job and deserved my long awaited repeat business. However, their lack of follow up led me to the internet in search of a highly reputed awning company. A very quick search led me to the Google 5 star rated local company Lafuente Sign and Awning. I emailed them and Andrew, the owner called, me back within an hour. He came by later the same day did some measurements and sent me a quote the next day.
We were quickly put on their schedule, his crew came by and removed the old awnings and took them to their shop where they would clean, seal and paint the frames before adding the new fabric and graphics.
Pre-painting.
I took advantage of the awnings being down by painting the exterior walls behind where the awnings would hang, I also rewired and repositioned our outdoor speakers, which hadn’t worked in a couple of years.
Post-painting.
All and all it was a quick seamless process with good communication from Andrew and his crew. A couple of weeks after the awnings were removed the new ones were put in place and are looking better than ever.
In January, my wife Colleen and I, joined our friends Tom and Mary Mitri in West Palm Beach Florida. Our plan was to sail their boat Glory, a Mason 44, east from West Palm across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.
The plan was to sail with the Salty Dawgs, a group comprised of like minded sailors doing ocean passages while taking advantage of safety in numbers as well as some well documented comradery.
Our plans fell through, we were waiting for a good weather window, the planned departure time was looking a bit tight, early morning cast off, a fairly calm 30 hour sail followed by some high winds and rough seas soon after our hopeful arrival time. Tom and Mary decided that we would wait for the next, hopefully better, weather option that looked promising for us to cross the gulf stream to the Berries, a group of cays in the Bahamas, in 2 days time.
Super yachts docked in West Palm.
While waiting out the weather it was decided to take Glory for a cruise in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Glory had been having a battery charging issue. The “house” batteries where not charging. So our trek along the ICW was 2-fold, sightseeing and to see if battery charging through the engine’s alternator charging system was working properly.
The trip was only half a success, we saw some sights. We motored along the ICW from West Palm north to Riviera beach and out into the Atlantic through the Lake Worth inlet. After a quick jaunt in the open ocean we turned back through the inlet, heading south along the ICW to our original anchorage directly across the channel from the Palm Beach Sailing Club.
However, the batteries didn’t charge. This is a major problem, especially when the plan is to travel throughout the sparsely populated, expensive to do any kind of boat repair area like the Bahamas. On a trip like this, where the Mitri’s are planning on spending the next 2 plus months traveling throughout the islands of the Bahamas. The “house” batteries are the designated energy source for all of the “house” needs; pretty much everything except starting the engine, which has its own designated start battery. Lights, refrigeration, navigational equipment, coffee maker, phone chargers etc. all run off the house batteries.
Heading to the Bahamas with “house” batteries that are not charging could be a frustrating and costly mistake.
We spent the next couple of days trying to figure out what the issue was. We checked all of the battery and charging systems electrical connections, tightening up a few loose-ish connections, found a blown fuse; these minor adjustments were not the culprit.
With the help of another mechanically inclined member of the Salty Dawg group we replaced the alternator. Being in Florida, on the coast, it was easy to find a new alternator. Tom found one within a few miles and was able to catch an Uber and pick it up with no hassles. Glory’s engine is not easily accessible, it’s located under the cabin sole (floor), which for reasons such as weight distribution is great, however, for ease of doing any kind of maintenance is a royal pain. With a bit of effort that only included a few cuss words the exchange was made. Unfortunately the alternator was not the culprit, the batteries were still not charging. Looking at the bright side of things, now the Mitri’s had a spare alternator.
At this point, Colleen and I were aboard Glory for the better part of a week and our time was running out, we had to get back home; work and kids were waiting for us.
When we weren’t trying to fix the charging system we took advantage of our time hanging with the Mitri’s, we checked out the surrounding area, having lunch from a taco truck, checking out the very large famers’ market in downtown West Palm, libations overlooking the harbor and dinner at a nice Italian restaurant helped make the stressful not-sure-what-the-problem-with-the-boat issue more enjoyable. One of the best characteristics of a great sailor is their ability to to run with the punches, being outwardly pissed off doesn’t help.
Me, Mary, Colleen and Tom making the best of our time in West Palm Beach.
The batteries were still an issue when Colleen and I headed home. Tom had a few leads on getting a fix, a local mechanic was scheduled to come by, daily phone calls with a mechanic who, this past winter, in the Chesapeake, had done some extensive work on Glory, as well as Wayne, another sailor whose boat Gwayne, a 44′ Lagoon catamaran, was anchored a few boats away from Glory. Wayne and his wife Gwen have a YouTube channel chronicling their adventures from the Great Lakes to the Bahamas and beyond.
While back in Arlington, shoveling snow, I was getting updates from Tom. The progress was slow, it took a couple of more weeks and several attempts to figure out what the problem was. Ultimately with the help of Wayne the problem was figured out; a grounding wire that attached to the engine block was internally corroded. It looked fine, was secured tightly and in no way seemed to be the problem. However, once the grounding bolt was removed, cleaned and re-attached, all was good.
The Mitri’s spent hundreds off dollars on various parts and a mechanic, to in the end, find the fix at of no cost. So often that’s how the cookie crumbles.
Now it’s time to get to the Bahamas.
Glory at anchor in West Palm Beach.
Three weeks after Colleen and I arrived in West Palm for a sail to the Bahamas that didn’t happen, I headed back, sans Colleen, to make the trip. Hopefully…
At Za we have always made our own desserts. We almost always have some sort of cheesecake on our menu; our most recent version is this salted caramel one. Salted caramel seems to be everywhere these days- candies, cookies, sauce, coffee flavoring, I’ve even seen it as a whiskey flavor; there is a simple reason for that…It’s delicious.
Cheesecake is easy to make, it just takes a bit of time. You have to have the correct pan, a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. And you need to plan ahead, you can’t decide at 4pm that your going to make a cheesecake for that nights dinner party. This cheesecake recipe calls for you to bake it for an hour and a half and then it needs to set, preferably overnight, before it can be cut and enjoyed.
So, if you have a springform pan and the time to prepare this recipe, you wont be disappointed.
At Za we serve this cheesecake with some homemade chocolate sauce, freshly whipped cream and cashew – coconut crunch.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the time, or desire, to make it for yourself, we will be happy to make it for you.
This recipe is not my best, nor my favorite, it’s not even a recipe that I have ever used at any restaurant that I’ve owned or worked in.
It’s my #1 because it’s the one that I have made and still make the most, almost every week, sometimes twice a week. There is never a long period of time in which I go without making this recipe and I eat at least 80% of it myself. My daughter tells me that I am addicted, I am not denying her.
This recipe is based on a recipe that I got from my good friend and brother-in-law Dan. I have adapted it into my own, trying different variations, liking most of them. However, I have settled on the variation I like best.
Dan found this recipe online about 25 years ago, it is called “Restaurant Style Salsa”. It is very simple to make, as is my version, really just chop a bunch of ingredients in a food processer for less than a minute and your done.
A photo of the “Restaurant Style Salsa” recipe that Dan passed along to me.
I’ve tried substituting canned fire roasted tomatoes for the canned whole peeled tomatoes, which totally changed the salsa, giving it a strong roasted somewhat smoky flavor, which is nice for a change. I’ve even done half fire roasted and half not, also good.
Another time or two I have substituted chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce) for the jalapeno; the chipotles added some nice leathery smoke. If used in a batch that also contained the fire roasted tomatoes the chipotles brought the salsa to another level; very good, but still not my favorite variation.
In addition to those substitutions, I have, at times tried adding grilled/roasted peppers, roasted garlic and/or grilled/caramelized onions to this recipe and it’s top-notch. However, the recipe goes from whirling some stuff in a food processor to having to grill, roast and caramelize. Which can be time consuming endeavors. However, if I were to have one or more of these ingredients ready to go in my fridge, I’d add some, though I probably wouldn’t prep them specifically for this salsa recipe.
The brand of tomatoes also makes a difference, be sure not to use tomatoes packed with basil or San Marzano tomatoes; some brands are packed with heavy puree, don’t use these either, the results are too tomatoey and too thick. One of my favorite brands, especially because it’s local, is Pastene, I don’t use it for my salsa though, it falls under the too tomatoey and too thick category. I do, however, use Pastene for Italian style tomato sauces. I’ve found that the cheap store brands of whole peeled tomatoes, organic or not, are usually best for this recipe.
For me I want to be able to make, and clean up after making this recipe in less than 10 minutes. This is more than doable, I’ve done it in less than 7, and yes I have timed myself.
My “go to” version of this recipe is the recipe that Dan gave me all pumped up. I double the amount of onion and garlic called for in the original recipe. I’ve also at least quadrupled the amounts of all of the spices. And I’ve also added a few ingredients to my version including a very generous amount of freshly ground black pepper, some finely grated carrot, which I love in this recipe, it adds color, texture, sweetness and earthy carrot-ness. On top of that I’ve also added smoked paprika, this adds some deep background smokiness without overpowering the other ingredients.
My pumped-up salsa recipe.
Whether you follow Dan’s “Restaurant Style” or my pumped-up version, the end result will be far superior to any store bought national brand salsa. I find most of them to be too sweet, too cooked, too starchy, too mushy, too cloying and lacking in texture as well as depth of flavor. Overall I think they kind of suck.
Don’t limit your taste enjoyment of this salsa to just a dip for corn chips. It also is great baked with flakey white fish such as cod, haddock, hake or pollack. All you have to do is generously slather the fish with the salsa and bake in a 375 degree oven until the fish is cooked through; depending on the thickness of the fish it could be as quick as 5 minutes or as long as 15 minutes.
It’s also great as a sauce for grilled chicken or pork; I have been known to spoon on top of cooked white rice. It’s a delicious, easy to make addition to anyone’s culinary repertoire.
