Purple is the New Green

Trying new foods is one of my favorite things about participating in our CSA. Let’s be honest – how often do you buy the exact same things at the grocery store? Broccoli, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots. Lather, rinse, repeat. So, when tomatillos first showed up in our CSA, I was stumped. Especially since Andy doesn’t really “do” sauces. What was I going to do with them?

If my memory is correct, I ran them through the blender with some garlic and lime juice and called it salsa verde. And while I’m sure we ate it (probably at a taco night), we must not have loved it, or I wouldn’t have gone looking for another solution.

Thank goodness for the internet. And food bloggers who know their way around Tex-Mex. The next time tomatillos rolled around, I was prepared. I roasted the tomatillos along with some garlic and peppers (jalapenos or poblanos, depending on what came in our CSA, since hatch chiles aren’t plentiful in my neck of the woods). I gave it all a quick spin in the blender, and bam! I had the answer to all of my tomatillo problems, along with a fantastic batch of enchiladas for dinner.

The original recipe calls for Greek yogurt (which I sub for sour cream, nine times out of 10). I add the yogurt/sour cream when I’m making the enchiladas, but I skip it if I’m using the sauce in the crockpot or freezing it. (I’m not sure how well the sour cream would hold up to 10 hours in the crockpot.)

There’s just one problem – my salsa “verde” has never actually been green. It’s usually a rather unattractive tan, but when the latest batch turned a bright pinky-purple, I figured I’d try to get a picture to share with the world. (Of course, the lack of daylight at dinner time makes for not-so-hot pictures… details, right?) So there you have it. Purple is the new green, at least at our house.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Approximately 1 lb. tomatillos, rinsed, husked and sliced in half (Our CSA usually gives us between a pound and a pound and a quarter – I just use them all.) 
2-3 jalapeno or poblano peppers (I use two if they’re jalapenos; three if they’re the more mild poblano peppers.) 
3 garlic cloves, peeled
juice of 1 lime
2/3 cup sour cream, optional (it makes the salsa creamier and helps tone down the heat, if your peppers ended up giving you more than you bargained for.)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, then lightly brush the foil with olive oil. Place the tomatillos, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Arrange the peppers and garlic around the tomatillo halves. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Remove the pan from the oven.

Place the tomatillos and garlic cloves in a blender (or a large bowl, if you’re using an immersion blender). Let the peppers cool until you can handle them, then remove the seeds and skins. Place the peppers in the blender with the tomatillos and garlic, and then add the lime juice. Puree until smooth. Stir in the sour cream (if using) and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Use in your favorite tacos or enchiladas .Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Adapted from The Brewer and The Baker / Confections of a Foodie Bride

Click here for a printable version.

Sunshine in a Bowl

I’m almost afraid to say it, but I think spring may finally be making its way to Wisconsin! Just this morning, I discovered our daffodils poking up out of the ground, and it even looks like our garlic experiment is working out! (I will be thrilled if the garlic cloves we tucked into the garden last fall actually grow into full heads of their own!) I even went barefoot (in the driveway) today – something that hasn’t happened since, oh, probably September.

After months of snow and polar-vortex temperatures, any sign of spring is more than welcome. Even if that sign is just a bowl full of bright, happy mango chunks. I made this salsa a few weeks ago, when we were still covered in snow and feeling insanely jealous of everyone who was planning trips for spring break. It’s ridiculously easy – chop, mix, eat. We enjoyed it on our favorite pork chops, and it took our rice from average to “I’ll have some more of that.” And now that I think about it, I’m sure this would be equally tasty with grilled fish, shrimp or chicken as well. Things to keep in mind now that our grill isn’t covered by several feet of snow. 🙂

 

Editor’s Note: I’m guessing on the measurements here, since I made this up on the fly and didn’t bother getting out the measuring cups. Feel free to add more (or less) or something as it suits you! 

Simple Mango Salsa

1 mango, diced small
1/3 cup diced green pepper
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons finely minced jalapeno pepper, seeds removed if you don’t like too much heat
juice of one lime
small handful of cilantro, chopped
coarse salt

In a small bowl, combine the mango, green pepper, jalapeno and onions. Add the lime juice and stir until the ingredients are fully coated. Add the cilantro and season to taste with salt.

Serve over pork chops, chicken, fish or rice. Store leftover salsa in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

A Beth’s Blue Plate Original

Click here for a printable version.

Coming to a Taco Night Near You

I’ve talked about our taco nights before. It’s one of our favorite events. And yes, taco night is an event.

There’s the meat. The guac (my favorite!). The cheese. The refried beans. (Because without refried beans, you can’t create a massive double-decker, crunchy shell inside of a soft shell taco.) And of course, the company. Taco night is more than just good food; it’s an evening with some of our favorite people.

And now… there’s this salsa as well. It looks more like a fruit salad than any salsa I’ve ever seen (which explains why Andy enjoyed it), and the flavor, well, let’s just say that I polished off the leftovers all by myself. For dinner.

Ahem. Moving on.

This one comes together pretty quickly, depending on how good you are with a knife. (And whether or not you slice part of your finger while chopping the mango. Details.) It’s bright and fresh, and since it’s good for you, well, then you can feel better about the extra cheese and sour cream that you’ve piled on your double-decker taco. 😀

Mango Pineapple Salsa

1 cup fresh pineapple, diced small
2 cups fresh mango, diced small
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped (I eyeballed this.)
Pinch of salt, to taste

In a large bowl, stir together all of the ingredients except the salt. Taste the salsa, then season with salt as needed. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve with your favorite tortilla chips. (I’m thinking these would be a good chip choice.) 

From Brown Eyed Baker, who adapted it from Simply Recipes

Click here for a printable version.

Sweet Salsa

The more I cook, the more adventurous I get. Need proof? Look no further than here and here. Last week, I’d bought a mango (total impulse buy) without any real idea of what I was going to do with it. Well, a week had gone by, and this mango was at the peak of perfect. It needed using NOW. Not tomorrow, not sometime over the weekend, but NOW. Hmm. What was I going to do with the mango?

I didn’t have all of the stuff I needed for the mango salsa I normally make, and since we were having pork chops, I didn’t really think we needed another protein. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just wing it. Lucky for us, I managed to come up with a winner! (Like they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.) 

I would have added a little chopped jalapeno, but since I didn’t have one on hand, that didn’t happen. (Which Andy was A-OK with, by the way. He seems to think I’m out to see how much heat he can handle. No clue where he gets that idea.) If you have the pepper, go for it. Make it even if you don’t have a jalapeno. It’s that good.

Mango Blueberry Salsa

1 mango, diced into half-inch pieces
1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped (pick your favorite, I used yellow because that’s what I had!) 
1 teaspoon jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (if using)
Juice of half a lime
1/4 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed (used the ones from this week’s CSA!) 
pinch of sea salt
3-4 basil leaves, sliced into thin strips

In a small bowl, combine the mango, pepper and onion. Add the lime juice and stir to combine. Add salt to taste and gently stir in the blueberries and basil. Let sit for 15-30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

Serve over pork chops, chicken or fish. (Or, eat it straight from the bowl, like Andy did when I asked him to taste-test it.) Store leftover salsa in the fridge.