Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

My go-to recipe for football games, cookouts, TexMex dinner parties, random Thursdays, etc. is my Roasted Tomatillo Salsa. When I moved away from Texas and had serious salsa cravings, I learned just how easy it is to make at home as long as you have the following key items:

1. A food processor (or an immersion blender)
2. A grocery store that carries tomatillos (this isn't a given in New England -- when they do have them, I always baffle the poor checkout person who inevitably asks "what ARE these??")

Homemade salsa is roughly one million times better than jarred salsa, and it always "wows" guests.  So without further ado, here's my salsa recipe! (based loosely off of Homesick Texan's Tomatillo Salsa)

 

Ingredients

1 lb tomatillos, husked (if they're fairly large, I also cut them in half)

2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

2 serrano chiles

1/4 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1/2 lime, juiced

1/4 tsp ground cumin (optional)

salt to taste

Directions

Turn on broiler to High 

Place garlic cloves in a piece of foil, drizzle in a little olive oil, and wrap foil around the garlic

Place tomatillos, serranos, and foil-wrapped garlic cloves on a foil-lined baking sheet (this makes cleanup WAY easier)

Place under the broiler for 8-10 minutes, until tomatillos and peppers are blackened.

Flip tomatillos and peppers and broil for 8-10 minutes, to blacken the other side

Meanwhile, take chopped onion, cilantro, lime juice, and cumin  and toss them into the bowl of a large food processor

When tomatillos, garlic, and peppers are done, remove the peppers from the baking sheet and place in a ziplock bag (the steam in the bag will loosen the charred skin to facilitate peeling)

Scrape tomatillos and any juices on the baking sheet into the food processor along with the unwrapped, peeled garlic cloves

After a few minutes, remove the peppers from the plastic baggie, chop off the stems, peel off the skin, and remove seeds (if desired -- I usually leave them in for a spicier salsa). Add them to the food processor as well

Turn on food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and add salt to taste

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Note: I think the salsa is better on day #2, so I usually make it a day before I intend to serve it to anyone. If you notice that your salsa thickens up too much overnight, just add a bit of water to loosen it up before serving

Around Kendall Square

We have house-guests this week, so between hanging out with our guests, our anniversary, other friends visiting, and busy schedules, we've been going out to eat a lot more than we usually do. I miss cooking our nightly dinners, but at least I've gotten to try some cool new (to me, anyway) spots!

First, I happened upon a coffee shop called Voltage Coffee and Art. I arrived at Kendall Square about an hour before I was supposed to meet friends for dinner.  I saw that Voltage Coffee was on the way to the restaurant, so to kill some time, I stopped in for coffee. I didn't expect anything special, but something special was what I found. They serve espressos and pour-over coffee made with beans from local roasters. They have the most creative (and crazy) latte menu I've ever seen. They serve local loose leaf teas. And to top it all off, the colorful walls are lined with art and photography by nearby artists. This place is cool. Really cool.

I got a steaming mug of pourover coffee made with Ethiopian beans. I don't know what it is about this method of brewing that gives the coffee so much flavor and texture, but it's a tangible difference. I found an open table and happily spent the next hour with my nose in a book.

I eventually headed down the street for dinner at Helmand.  It was a lovely, cozy restaurant with a warm and welcoming staff. We scanned the unfamiliar menu items (we were all new to Afghan cuisine) as they brought us baskets of flat bread served with three sauces: a yogurt mint sauce, a hot pepper sauce, and a cilantro sauce. My favorite was the cilantro, which could make even the driest cardboard taste good. 

The waiter was patient, smiling as we stumbled through pronouncing our orders. I opted for the Showla, which is a spinach and cheese-stuffed poblano pepper served with a side of rice baked with mung beans, black eyed peas, tomato, and onion. It reminded me of a Chile Relleno, but with such unique flavors. The baked rice and beans were actually the highlight of the dish -- this must be what Afghan comfort food is like. I loved Helmand and can't wait to go back and try more.

Hungry Mother

For our anniversary dinner, we decided to go back to an old favorite: Hungry Mother. It's a special restaurant to us. It was really our first "fine dining" experience. Still fresh college graduates at the time, we were absolutely bowled over by the quality of the food, the atmosphere, the presentation, the service, you name it. A few years later, we're still impressed.  They serve southern-inspired food prepared with French technique, and the results are nothing short of amazing.

(image from Hungry Mother website)

Water is served in mason jars (maybe a bit cliche, but I still like it). Homemade bread and plenty of butter are provided as you browse the menu.  Ingredients that invoke fond memories of eating at my grandmother's table pop out at me all through the menu: catfish, collard greens, field peas, okra, grits, it's all there.  These are southern favorites for a reason -- they're delicious! Hungry Mother maintains a seasonal menu that is always changing, so I can't really point you toward a particular "can't miss" item, but I'm pretty certain that there are no bad choices here.

Last night, we ordered glasses of bubbly and then started with catfish fritters served over a bed of slaw. They were crunchy, perfectly fried, with a light, whipped center, a good counterpoint to the fresh, slightly tart slaw.  My husband got chicken with chicken sausage, greens, grits and red eye gravy, but I'm pretty sure that I won the unspoken battle of the entrees with my catfish a la meuniere served over rice pilau, pecans, field peas, and green beans. I'm a such a sucker for catfish (even if it isn't cornmeal battered and deep fried a la East Texas). We wrapped things up by sharing a piece of buttermilk pie.

If only every Tuesday night could be an anniversary dinner!

Two Wonderful Years

Happy second anniversary to my sweet husband.

How have two years already gone by?

Surrounded by family and friends, we began a wonderful journey together, and boy has it been fun so far.  I can't wait to see where God takes us in the years to come! 

(all photos by Jami Birdsong Photography)

Rainy Days and Mondays

It was a cool, drizzly weekend here in Boston, but we made the best of it!

Friday night, I made Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (adapted from the Pumpkin Apple Soup in How To Cook Everything) while my husband bottled his latest homebrew, a Pecan Porter.  I gingerly stepped over brewing equipment as I moved between my cutting board and the stove, but even when we're in each other's way, I love being in the kitchen together. I was as happy as a little clam. 

Saturday, we had friends arrive at our home who will be staying with us this week. That night, we had chips with queso and my roasted tomatillo salsa (I'll share this recipe in the near future) and homemade Carne Guisada before watching UT eek out a win over Oklahoma State.

Sunday, our friends took us to brunch at Temple Bar in Cambridge. We were seated in a cozy booth and brought a plate of the cutest little coffee cake squares and chocolate chip peanut butter muffins before ordering.  I couldn't pass up a mimosa and the Cowboy Omelette, stuffed with chorizo, roasted peppers, and onions. It was a bit onion heavy but still very good. My husband really picked the winner --a "Man-mosa" (Allagash White + OJ) and the Cinnamon Mascarpone-Stuffed French Toast with a Banana Rum Caramel Sauce. Yeah. I know. It was ridiculous. You should probably go check this place out.

That afternoon, I explored picturesque Winchester Center. My first stop was BookEnds, a little bookstore I had driven by a million times, always thinking "Man, I really need to go in there sometime."  I poked around for a while, in heaven surrounded by so many books. I managed to come home with only two: The Night Circus and The Little Women Letters.

We wrapped things up with a little dinner party on Sunday night. Seven of us crowded around a table meant for six and dug into plates of cheese ravioli with lemon parmesan cream sauce and garlic bread (from Dave's Fresh Pasta) along with wine and the best pear, pecan, cranberry, bacon, and feta chopped salad, made by my friend Mailee.  We adjourned to the living room, women with their wine and the men with glasses of scotch (how cliche, right?), and spent the rest of the evening watching some Sunday Night Football.