Dishing the Divine » salsa

restaurant style salsa

Paula — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:43:23 +0000

If you have not already done so, please find me at www.facebook.com/dishingthedivine!

This is the newest salsa recipe flying around the foodie blogosphere. It started with Pioneer Woman and then Brown Eyed Baker got her hands on it and then I got my hands on it and had to modify it according to which ingredients I had on hand. Now it’s been “Amanda approved,” which is apparently a *big* deal. My friend Amanda says she judges Mexican restaurants strictly on their salsa. If the salsa is good, she’ll return. If not, she won’t bother with a repeat visit. She took one bite of this salsa and said, “I’d come back to this restaurant! This is delicious!” And then I bought her and her boyfriend a costco sized bag of tortilla chips and they went to town and ate almost 3 cups of the stuff. In one sitting. That’s kind of disgusting, but like I said, this girl likes good salsa.

For those of you that think salsa is difficult to make, think again! This recipe took about 3 minutes to make, and that is no exaggeration!

restaurant style salsa
adapted from www.browneyedbaker.com

3 (14-ounce) cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 small onion onion
2-4 large cloves garlic, to taste (I preferred more )
1 jalepeño, halved (if you prefer a milder salsa, remove the seeds and membrane from the jalapeno before adding it to the food processor)
1 good sized handful of cilantro (roughly the equivalent of half a cup chopped)
Juice from 1-2 fresh limes
1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cumin

Add all ingredients to an 11-cup capacity food processor (this makes a lot of salsa!). Pulse until you get desired consistency. Taste and season with additional onion, cilantro, lime, or salt as desired. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. Store leftovers in the refrigerator, if there are any.

tortilla casserole

Paula — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:05:41 +0000

I went through my recipe binders yesterday in search of this recipe which, to my chagrin, I’ve made several times but have not yet posted here. I have a bunch of tortillas on hand, a jar of salsa that I opened a while ago, some pre-cooked chicken breasts in the freezer, and some cilantro leftover from the guacamole that I made the other day. All in all, the makings of a tortilla casserole.

So what is a tortilla casserole, you ask? Think Mexican lasagna, where all the noodles are replaced with tortillas, sauce is replaced with a pinto bean/salsa mixture, and the cheese is Cheddar instead of mozzarella. Sound delicious? That’s because it is. And not only is it tasty, but it also easily serves 6-8 people, so it’s a dish that could serve a small crowd or a meal with enough leftovers to tide my hubby and me over for several days. Additionally, like lasagna, it’s also versatile. Vegetarian? No problem – just omit the meat. Hate cilantro? That’s fine – just omit it.

You did buy these tortillas, right? In case you haven’t heard, they’re ahhhhhhmazing.

tortilla casserole
www.allrecipes.com

2 (15-oz) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup salsa, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 (15-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
7 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cups chopped cooked chicken, steak, and/or pork (optional)
additional salsa, sour cream, and guacamole for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mash pinto beans. Stir in 3/4 cup salsa and garlic.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup salsa, cilantro, black beans, and tomatoes.

Place 1 tortilla in an oven safe dish. Spread 3/4 cup pinto bean mixture over tortilla to within 1/2 inch of edge. Top with 1/4 cup cheese.

Add another tortilla. Spread with 2/3 cup black bean mixture and top with 1/4 cup cheese.

Repeat layering twice, adding meat to these layers if using.

Cover with remaining tortilla and top that with remaining pinto bean mixture and cheese.

Cover casserole with a lightly greased sheet of aluminum foil (the grease keeps the cheese from sticking to the foil). Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve with salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.

holy guacamole

Paula — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:20:28 +0000

I never really considered making my own guacamole, but the other day I bought too many limes to make this and then, completely forgetting about the avocados that were already in my fridge, I bought several more avocados and, well, you can see where this is going. Guacamole was the next logical step. I borrowed this recipe from Leslie Sarna’s food blog. Don’t go check it out. If you do, you may never return to mine. After all, she’s way cuter than I am. And she’ has great photos and tantalizing recipes. For your own health and my own insecurities, I highly recommend that you just avoid clicking on this link and stick to my blog and my blog only.

Or not.

Your choice.

I altered Leslie’s recipe a bit to my suit my tastes. Feel free to do the same!

holy guacamole
www.lesliesarna.com

3 ripe avocados
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
a handful of cilantro, chopped (about 1/4 cup chopped)
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp salt (if you’re eating these with chips, check to see how salty the chips are before adding more salt)

Mash the avocado in a medium sized bowl with a fork. Add in the rest of the ingredients, stir, and then season to taste with additional salsa, cilantro, lime, or salt. Serve this with the avocado pits to keep your guacamole from browning.

shark!

Paula — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:51:45 +0000

We are getting skylights installed in our house, and for the past few days, there has been a massive hole in my ceiling while we try to come up with structural alternatives to having my roof potentially fall in. A huge hole in the ceiling means it’s pretty pointless for me to even try to heat our house as all the heat would rise right out of that hole anyway. Needless to say, I’ve been cold lately.

I was especially grateful when Dave invited us over for dinner this week as it meant getting out of my cold house and into his warm one. And we got a free homemade meal to boot!

Dave had told me in advance what he was making. I’m a picky eater and was not convinced that this was going to be a winner. He proved me wrong. It was one of the best meals he’s made for us. It gets five gold stars for aesthetics, too!

Dinner was shark (Dave will have to comment here to let us know specifically what kind – I forget!) wrapped in phyllo dough shaped, of course, like a shark. On the side was a balsamic reduction and pineapple slices topped with a pineapple salsa that was absolutely delicious with the fish.

Our salad was bitter greens with a citrus vinaigrette, cherry tomatoes, and macadamia nuts. In short, we had a little bit of Hawaii for dinner, which was a nice change from the 58 degree temps in my house!

This sure beats sitting at home huddled in a blankie trying to stay warm!

Here is a photo of our friend Amanda stabbing her shark! We were all a little hesitant to destroy Dave’s creation, but he told us that if we didn’t, he would be very mad because it was made to be eaten.

peach salsa

Paula — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:50:44 +0000

I had two trips planned for the latter part of July, with a 3 day break between them. Some anonymous kindhearted soul left a bag of peaches on my doorstep while I was gone on my first trip, knowing that I wouldn’t let them go to waste. I had 3 days to figure out how to use all these peaches while simultaneously planning (and cooking snacks!) for a 6 day trip to Mexico. Time was tight, but there was no way I was going to let these babies go to waste.

There aren’t many fun photos of the process. I simply didn’t have time. The results, however, are wonderful, so just pretend you were there chopping and dicing and stirring with me along the way!

peach salsa

6 cups chopped peaches (about 3 pounds)
3 large fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped red onions
4 medium jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid honey
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Sterilize 8 half pint (8-oz) canning jars and their lids. Fill the jars with the hot salsa to within a half inch. Seal well and place in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from water bath. If any of the jars does not seal (you’ll know because you’ll be able to hear a popping noise when you press in the center of the lid if the lid did not properly seal) then you’ll need to either eat that jar immediately or re-boil it with a new lid.

This goes well served on chips or a white fish. Dish up and enjoy!

breakfast burritos

Paula — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:27:18 +0000

True confessions of an amateur chef: Every day I eat cereal for breakfast. Boring, I know, but nothing is quite as satisfying for me as a huge bowl of Life cereal. Honey Bunches of Oats will work in a pinch, but Life cereal really is the best.

On the rare occasion that my husband and I have nowhere to go on a Saturday morning, I like to offer him something special. His favorite is breakfast burritos. This Saturday we chose to keep the calendar empty. You know what that means? Breakfast burritos, coming right up.

There is no recipe to breakfast burritos. You make them to your own tastes and can add in your own extra favorite ingredients if you so desire.

Start with a couple eggs. We used 3 eggs + one egg white. Whisk them using a fork.

Cook some Italian sausage and bacon. Break into little pieces.

On a tortilla, layer some eggs, bacon, and sausage. Add some cheese.

Lastly, put on some salsa. My husband used some Tostitos salsa, but I am not a fan, so I used some peach salsa instead. I really liked the sweeter taste and highly recommend it if you can find some!

Roll and eat!