Experiments in my New World Kitchen and Garden

The blog system was down yesterday so I didn’t get a chance to do something new but with tomate verde showing up in the garden and the market, it’s a good time to revist this salsa. These purple tomatillos are called Milpero and they’ve naturalized here in Napa. You may find them at your farmers market.  – Steve

You could easily heat this salsa up and poach a nice fish or thin it out with a little wine or stock and cook a chicken breast.

Take these ingredients and place them on a medium high
comal or skillet: 2 slices of red onion, 2 cloves of unpeeled garlic, 2
serrano chiles and some tomatillos in their husks.

Allow them to roast and get soft. The onions will start to
caramelize. Flip the onions when they’re done and move the other
ingredients around to cook evenly.

As the ingredients finish, place them in a bowl to cool down and to
collect any juices that may run. The tomatillos will start to get soft
and hiss as they finish.
As the vegetables cool, peel the
tomatillo and garlic skins. You can pull off any excess skin from the
chiles but don’t waste a lot of energy on it.

Chop the onions fine and set aside. You can grind the onions with
the rest of the ingredients but I like to add them in the end for a
more interesting texture. Chop the chiles and the halve the tomatillos.

You can mix the salsa in a food processor but here I’m using my
molcajete. Starting with just the garlic, chopped chiles and salt,
grind the ingredients to a paste.

Add the tomatillos and start grinding until they mixture is somewhat
smooth. This is a real pleasure. Grinding in the molcajete feels great
and provides a texture you just can’t get from a food processor.

When you get a texture you like, add the juice of a key lime (or
small Persian lime). Add about a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin. If you
are like me, you will add more because more is better. Right? Wrong! It
shouldn’t taste like cumin in the final dish. Just this pinch adds a
beautiful rich nuance and any more is too much. Try it my way and add
more later if I am wrong. You can also add cilantro but I didn’t feel
like it so I didn’t. Add the chopped onions and then mix well. You may
need to add some salt. You are finished and I am hungry.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the way I cook. I get frustrated when I don’t have access to avocado leaves to make Oaxacan black beans or Tarbais beans for a French cassoulet or some other exotic ingredient. But what is easy to forget is the bounty I do have and how easy it is to incorporate these ingredients into what I eat daily.

Cactus remains an obsession but what about venison? I know lots of hunters, there are too many deer and the meat is good. Why not explore this meat a little more?

Joan, who is Our Lady of Operations here at Rancho Gordo, and her brother are both hunters. I’d rather drink muddy water than spend a long, boring day going after animals with a gun but it takes all kinds. I’ll volunteer to cook! Anyway, Joan gave me a venison chop, which I pounded and then seared quickly. It was done in minutes, if not less. I put the venison on top of a previously grilled cactus paddle and then smothered the whole thing in guajillo chile sauce, topped with a small handful of cotija cheese. For good measure, I splashed some of my pineapple vinegar on as well.

This was great and I especially like that it was virtually free with all the ingredients coming from the nearby land. And it’s got me thinking. How many things am I overlooking? Maybe a deer stew with purslane? Cactus salads with miners lettuce? I find the whole concept romantic and so much more appealing than shopping at a traditional grocery store where the meat has a diaper and a plastic body bag.

A lot of my gardening friends find themselves overwhelmed with summer squash but I manage to eat all the zucchini and calabacitas that come my way. For me, the bounty problem comes to a head with cucumbers. I like a nice cucumber salad  but it would be all I eat if I used every last cucumber that comes my way.

Here’s a refreshing twist that will remind you a bit of a watermelon agua fresca. Peel cucumbers and add them to a blender with some sugar and lime. Fill with water and blend well. Adjust the flavor by adding a little more water if you need to. It’s that easy and one less cucumber goes to the compost pile!

I’ve always loved chilaca chiles and I grab them whenever I find them fresh. They’re long and skinny and rather thin skinned but you still want to roast and peel them before using them. When dried, they’re called pasillas, and the dried form is equally delicious, just completely different.

Diana Kennedy, in her book My Mexico, has a good snack using the fresh chiles.  After roasting them, you clean them and shred them with your hands. Toss the chiles with some raw, chopped onion, some cotija cheese and a bit of lime juice. It’s makes a great taco filling but you could also serve as a garnish for any grilled steaks.

If you have trouble finding the chile, try shopping in stores that cater to expats of Michoacan and you’ll probably have better luck. Kennedy suggests substituting poblanos, which you’ll need cut with a knife rather than shred, and they’re just as good, but different. With poblanos, I like to add some chopped epazote to give it a little edge.

I can only say that I think everyone should try this. I think you’ll get a kick out of it and the liquid it produces is very handy!

I had a very mild vinegar after 7 days. I strained the liquid into bottles and then refilled the glass barrel with water and left it to try again. Using the apple cider method, there is no apple flavor at all. I also did a batch without the cider and it smells good but still hasn’t turned to vinegar. That’s allright as I have plenty to use in the meantime.

Of course the obvious use is in salads but I used it to thin a chile sauce I had made. Normally, I’d do this with chicken stock or water, but the mild vinegar is a perfect mix with the chiles and the results are great.

And what better dish than eggs poached in chile sauce? I’m sure I don’t know!

The original post on how to make pineapple vinegar is here.

I’ve had emails asking me for a description of piloncillo. They’re simply unprocessed sugar that is poured wet into molds and allowed to harden.

Brown sugar is always an OK substitute but I think the piloncillo cones are a little more intense. They keep forever so grab a handful when you find them if you don’t have regular access.

Beyond the Chia Pet, chia seeds have a place in your home.

Apparently, the gelatinous drink made from soaking the seeds in water for about 30 minutes, contains Omega 3 and other nutritive things we need. I know nothing of health or nutrition but I do know once you get past the texture, a fresh glass of chia is refreshing and welcome.

A lot of Mexican recipes call for a light, fruity vinegar and commercially here in the states, about our only option is rice vinegar. It works in a pinch but I’ve been thinking about trying a batch of pineapple vinegar for years. I just have never been able to get it together, until recently.

It couldn’t be easier.  You cut up a pineapple into 1 inch rings, add water and a spoonful or so of piloncillo or brown sugar. and wait a week or so after leaving the brew in a somewhat warm spot. Daniel Hoyer in his book, Culinary Mexico, suggests speeding up the process by adding a cup of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. I’m only on Day Two but already I can tell this is going to be a regular thing around my house.