Salsa Roja!

I'm pretty sure this is the kind of salsa I was looking for. The recipe doesn't call for tomatoes at all! The red is purely from the chiles. What a revelation.

SALSA ROJA
==========
Ingredients:
------------
3 dried New Mexico, pasilla, guajillo, or ancho chiles
3 dried serrano, chile arbol, or Thai bird chiles
3 medium cloves of garlic, separated from the head but skins left on
Boiling water
Salt to taste

Instructions:
-------------
Heat a large flat griddle or skillet over high heat. Place the chiles on the dry skillet, along with the garlic. Check them every few minutes, looking for brown spots as they toast on the dry griddle; turn both the chiles and the garlic cloves, keeping an eye on the color and more importantly on the aroma. When the scent changes and takes on a toasty, rich character, they're done. Remove them from heat and let them cool for a few seconds.

When cool enough to handle (the peppers cool more quickly than the garlic, which in turn takes longer to cook), pull out the stems, veins,seeds and placentas from the chiles. Tear the skins into medium-sized chunks and place them in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over them just to cover, then place a smaller bowl or saucer over the peppers to keep them immersed in the water. Set your timer for at least 30 minutes before continuing.

After the peppers have had time to soak well, pour the peppers and water into a blender. Peel the skins off the garlic cloves (which should smell sweet, smoky and wonderful in their own right) and drop them into the blender as well. Puree thoroughly. The sauce will be chunky; if appearance is important, you can strain it through a wire strainer to get the larger pieces of the skin out of the mixture. (I begrudge the amount of sauce that clings to the mesh myself...) Taste it; add salt and serve immediately.

Many thanks to the author of this recipe, whoever he or she is. I found copies of it in a recipe archive at Carnegie Mellon, as well as on this New Orleans-related site.

Off I go to run errands and pick up some dried chiles!

My Spanish es malo

Here's the Google translation of what I mistakenly thought was going to be a great salsa recipe:

Ingredients: 2 chopped onions. 3 pickled gherkins. 50 gr. of butter. 4 tablespoons of vinegar. 4 tablespoons white wine. 6 tablespoons of tomato sauce. 1 minced cayenne. Parsley. Sal

Preparation: Put the chopped onion in a saucepan with vinegar and white wine. Cook over low heat until the liquid is consumed by half. Add chopped pickles, tomato sauce, the cayenne and salt. Let bake 10 minutes more. Add the parsley and butter, stir. Served to accompany grilled meats or grilled.

First of all, Google translations are icky. Secondly, darn. I don't think this is what I'm after.

On the upside, after surfing some more, I have found out that what I'm seeking is probably salsa roja. As opposed to salsa cruda or fresca or salsa verde.

Wikipedia says salsa roja is made with cooked tomatoes, chiles, onion, garlic, and cilantro. But elsewhere, I am reading that salsa roja is made by toasting dried red chiles, then putting them through a blender with garlic.

The quest to learn how to make salsa roja (if that is indeed the yummy stuff served by taco trucks) continues...

On a quest to make real Mexican salsa

I love hot salsa, not the chunky mild stuff, but the kind that is dark red and smooth and spicy. I've only gotten the good stuff out of big jugs at taco stands or served with chips in hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants.*

My new mission is to learn to make this simple, proletarian (read: no mangos) kind of salsa for myself. Sadly, I can't figure it out just by taste. I do know it's not just chopped-up tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, cilantro, and lemon juice -- those are the ingredients in your standard Internet recipes for salsa, but you will just end up with pico de gallo.

A Google search in Spanish (after looking up the word for recipe, receta), has led me to a recipe that looks pretty promising. My Spanish is not good, but I can tell that this recipe involves vinegar and cooking the salsa.

The recipe is pasted below, in case some kind person would like to translate it for me. Otherwise, my next post will be my attempt at a translation, with a dictionary's help, and maybe a report on my attempt to make this salsa.

Ingredientes:

2 cebollas picadas.
3 pepinillos en vinagre.
50 gr. de mantequilla.
4 cucharadas de vinagre.
4 cucharadas de vino blanco.
6 cucharadas de salsa de tomate.
1 cayena picada.
Perejil.
Sal.

Preparación:

Poner la cebolla picada en un cazo junto con el vinagre y el vino blanco.
Cocer a fuego lento hasta que se consuma el líquido a la mitad.
Añadir los pepinillos picados, la salsa de tomate, la cayena y la sal. Dejar
cocer 10 minutos más.
Agregar el perejil y la mantequilla, remover.
Sirve para acompañar carnes asadas o a la brasa.

Link to the recipe

* The Chinese equivalent of is that homemade, oily chili brew in the tabletop condiment jar of your local Chinese eatery.

1,000 calories in little bites

Eaten at a leisurely pace, over the course of 3 hours, not thinking it was much food at all --

• 1 whole milk yogurt: 230 calories
• 1 chunk of crusty bread: 140 calories
• 3 slices salami: 100 calories
• olive oil & balsamic vinegar
• 1 glass red wine: 120 calories
• 1 artichoke: 65 calories
• vinaigrette, to dip: 130 calories
• 1 more glass red wine: 120 calories

Total count: 1035 calories

Hmph. I might as well have gone for an In-N-Out cheeseburger (480 calories) and fries (400 calories).