Damn Good Salsa

I love salsa! 

Recently we did a Salsa & Chips day at work and I brought in a couple of store bought kinds (no judging, it was a big group, LOL) and also a batch of my Chipotle Sour Cream. We had some other people bring some in and this one was so good I asked for the recipe.  They sent me a picture of a work email from 2007 where the recipe had been shared before.  It was so good and so easy, I wanted to make sure to blog this for posterity's sake!

It seems like a lot of spices with 1 tablespoon of each, but believe me, it makes it great! Heck, I even added more pepper and salt to make it just as good as my co-workers version! This is best if you make it a day or two before you need it, but it also tastes great right away.

Thank you for my neighbor, Chrissy, who had an extra chili powder when we didn't have chili powder at our vacation home.  I'm stunned I did not have chili powder at this place!

Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp of the following:

-Salt

-Black Pepper

-Cumin

-Paprika

-Chili Powder

1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1/2-3/4 cup diced white onion

1/4 cup green onions, diced

2 jalapenos, diced small

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

6oz spicy V-8 tomato juice

Juice of 1 lime

Mix and chill until ready for eating!  We pretty much put salsa on everything, so go for it!

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Fireball Whiskey Barbeque Chicken

Seems like everyone has a bottle of Fireball whiskey hanging around.  
If you haven't tried it, I would recommend you do.  
Delicious.
It got me thinking, what else could I do with this stuff?
Why not barbecue sauce?  It's sweet, its spicy... Fireball is perfect for it.
This is a simple throw together sauce, takes 5 minutes.  You could use minced fresh onions and garlic... but powdered is so easy in this recipe.

This sauce would be equally good on pork, especially Pulled Pork, or beef too.

Makes 4-6 servings (Makes about 1 cup of sauce)
Ingredients
 
4-6 chicken breasts
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup Fireball Whiskey
salt and pepper

In a saucepan, over medium heat, add the ketchup, the sugar, the vinegar and spices.  Cook for a couple minutes to thicken and combine flavors.  Add the Fireball and stir to combine.  It may be a bit thin for your liking, so you can continue to cook to thicken it back up a bit.

Cook your chicken to your liking on medium hot grill (or smoker).  Usually about 5 minutes per side, but it depends on the thickness of your chicken breasts.  You want to cook the chicken most of the way, but not completely.  You will finish cooking the chicken with the sauce on it.

Sorry about the bad pictures.... but it was cold and dark out.  We used a smoker, so there aren't any grill marks on the chicken.

Brush on the sauce and cook for another 1-2 minutes per side to "set" the sauce on the chicken.  Serve with a bit of sauce on the side.  This chicken is good cold as leftovers too.

 

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Dijon Mustard Cream Sauce

A super simple sauce to fix up a ho-hum dinner.
We had this on grilled pork tenderloin, sliced on the diagonal topped with sauce and a sprinkle of green onions. The sauce thickens up on it's own, and tastes yummy!

Besides pork, this sauce might also be good on chicken, turkey or veggies like cauliflower or broccoli.

Makes about 2/3 cup
Ingredients

1 tsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp green onions, Whites only, minced
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2/3 cup half and half, or whipping cream

Saute the garlic and onions in the butter over medium high heat.  Stir constantly to aovid burning, saute until softened about 2 minutes.  Add the dijon mustard and stir.  Using a little whisk, or a fork, beat in cream.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring, until it starts to thicken.

Packaged up some dinners "to go" for my Mom's freezer too!

Easy & Delicious Marinara Sauce

I am sure you have tried a simple, sublime tasting red sauce in a restaurant and wondered how to make it so delicious at home.  

Remember the KISS principle?  
....Keep It Simple Stupid.
The funny part for me is that I have always over complicated my sauces by overdoing it.  Too many additions, too many spices, too much other stuff.  
My recommendation?  
Keep it simple.  


This sauce recipes makes quite a bit, but it is nice to have leftover yummy sauce for other things.  I stashed my extra sauce in the freezer for later, but, by all means, feel free to halve the recipe if you don't want extras.  I've even used it as a pizza sauce by cooking a small amount a bit more to reduce the liquid.

Originally posted with Stuffed Baked Shells with Easy Marinara Sauce

Sauce Ingredients

1/2 onion, minced or 2-3 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp basil, fresh
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cans crushed tomatoes SIZE
Red pepper flakes, optional
Salt and Pepper, to taste


To make the sauce,  mince the onions, garlic and any fresh herbs you are using.  I find that a food processor makes short work of that!

Saute them over medium high heat in a couple tablespoons of olive oil for about 5-7 minutes, until they start to soften and turn translucent.  Add the cans of crushed tomatoes and the red pepper flakes (if using).  Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  You may need to keep a lid on the sauce, and it tends to splatter as it is rather thick.  If wanted, you can add a little water to keep it at the consistency you want. 

Here's what I've been making:
One year ago: One Pan Pasta with Chicken & Hot Links
Two years ago: Singapore Fruits (a sort of travel post)
Three years ago: Pork Adobo

Chilled Prawns with Cilantro Sauce

About a year ago, we had individual chilled prawns served with a dab of cilantro sauce passed on a tray by servers at a cocktail hour wedding.  They were really good, but the sauce wasn't as zippy as I thought it should be, or maybe it was too little of the sauce.  It didn't seem right to chase down the servers and insist on more sauce.  
Obviously I've been thinking of this for a while... like I don't have other things that should be occupying my mind instead.  Oh well, I like to think about food; what I ate, what I want to eat, what I think others would like to eat, what I want to use up in my kitchen, what special holiday is coming up that people are going to eat at (duh, all of them).

So, for a friend's big ole' milestone birthday we had a Hawaiian theme party with pupus.  Okay, so I DO know that prawns with cilantro sauce is NOT essentially Hawaiian at all, but this seemed to be one of the most popular dishes of the night. 
Go figure?
I hadn't thought of blogging it while I was in the middle of "party central command center", so I whomped up another batch to show you all what I did, plus I wanted to eat some more of this too.  I've been using it for many, many other things, so check out the bottom of the blog for some more ideas, and pictures too.

 Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
 
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed
5 cloves of garlic
2 jalapenos, seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup sour cream, or yogurt

2 lb prawns,  cooked, peeled and chilled (or use pre-cooked peeled from Costco)

Place the cilantro, garlic and jalapenos into food processor and blend until finely chopped.

Add about a cup of sour cream and process again until smooth.  Add about 1/2 tsp salt and mix.  Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve or chill until ready to use.  This should last a couple days in the fridge.

Here's the things I did with this sauce besides just serving it with prawns:

Mini prawn Tacos- chip, sauce, tomato slice, avocado slice, prawn, cilantro sprig. OMG, these were good!!! In full disclosure, we ate these mini tacos with the prawn salad below.  Strangely, my husband didn't complain.... hahaha, like he would!

Cilantro Prawn Salad- Toss lettuce with a couple tablespoons of sauce, lime juice and olive oil.  Top with avocado, tomatoes and prawns

Potato Salad with Cilantro-  Haven't made this one yet, but working on it later today for the Fourth.  I will update this soon.

Also, why not use it with Chicken, on burgers, on regular tacos, enchiladas... need I go on?

Blue Cheese Dressing

I love blue cheese dressing for all its intenseness.

I want it to make me sit up and take notice.  This one has all the normal blue cheese intense flavors with plenty of lemon, pepper and other things to make it just right. 

This is so much better than anything you would buy already made, but probably not any cheaper when you account for having to buy the blue cheese crumbles. This is an easy thing to make, but I do understand usually just buying it.

Think of things you can do with homemade blue cheese dressing besides the obvious salad dressing:

• Dressing for BLT Sliders
• Dip for Spicy Boneless Chicken Tenders, or Hot Wings
• Dip for fresh cut veggies
• Side sauce for your grilled steak
• Mix with chopped broccoli, red onions, walnuts and any other veggies that appeal to you for a yummy crunchy salad.
• Baked chicken breasts; First, brown the chicken, place in a baking pan, top with a little (or a lot...) blue cheese dressing and bake at 350 until cooked through.  You could broil it quickly to get a bit of browness to the dressing.This would be great cut up and tossed in a salad too!

Makes about 2 1/2 cups of dressing (easily to halve for a smaller batch)

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup sour cream, if you want thick dressing)

1 teaspoon dried garlic powder

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1-2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

2 teaspoons sugar (optional)

4 ounces crumbled blue cheese

Mix the mayonnaise and the buttermilk (or sour cream) together, then adding in everything else, mixing well and adding the blue cheese crumbles last.  

This is even better on day TWO, so it's best to plan ahead, but I must admit I was perfectly happy with the flavors on the night I made it right before dinner.

Keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge... maybe more.

Chipotle Sour Cream

I use this stuff on everything. The whole family loves it, and makes sad faces when there isn't any in the fridge. Three ingredients, so easy that I almost didn't share it....


You will be glad I did.

Makes 1 pint
Serves a bunch


2-3 chipotle peppers with sauce

1-16oz tub of sour cream

1 tsp. salt, or to taste

Add the chipotle peppers in the bottom of the blender, add in the sour cream and salt.  Blend until it’s a nice soft peachy color.  I have noticed that some sour creams become runnier when you blend them, mostly the cheap store brands.  Buy a good sour cream!

Give it a taste test… if you like it hotter, go ahead and add another chipotle pepper. Best to warn others when serving this… as not every likes it spicy and this can really pack a punch.  So easy, we have this on hand in the fridge at most times.  Try this on your eggs, or even on your sandwich instead of mayonnaise!

Aioli- Sauce Variations & Ideas to Improve Almost Anything!

Aioli... people get that dreamy look on their faces when a dish is served with some fancy pants aioli. It's really just homemade mayonnaise with such awesome add ins that make it perfect for whatever you like.  Some of the recipes below were originally specific for certain dishes, but are great on lots of other things like sandwiches, egg dishes, steak, burgers and pork. Salads... how could I forget salads?  Really aioli is just like a salad dressing, just thicker- - so thin it with some water and use it up for that too if you like.

 I love the way my kids open the fridge and look into small bowls covered in plastic wrap and immediately feel the urge to create some fantastic sandwich-like creation from what's in there. They probably just dip a finger in and start thinking...   The last batch of Roasted Red Pepper Aioli was gone before I knew it because it was "discovered" and liberated by my son.

Now,  aioli is made with egg yolks that are not cooked, so if you have little kids, health compromised adults or elderly people... you can use store bought mayo and blend with the same ingredients to get a mixture safer for them.  Salmonella is a risk from uncooked eggs... but I don't worry about it too much.  You can if you want, but I'm not going to.

Most of the recipes below call for a mixture of vegetable oil and olive oil, because olive oil on it's own can be very strong. You may even prefer all vegetable or canola oil. It really is a personal opinion on what tastes best, and maybe the combination of oils changes with what you are making?

Lemon Aioli (lime or orange too!)
Makes about 1 cup
1 egg yolk
1 lemon, juiced (or lime or orange)

1/2  tsp salt (and to taste)

3/4 cup oil (mixture of olive and vegetable oil is best)

In a blender, combine the egg yolk, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Slowly pour in the oil mixture and blend until smooth.

Garlic Aioli
Same as above, just add 2-3 cloves of garlic... or more!

Sun dried Tomato Aioli
Makes about 1 cup
1 egg yolk

2 or 3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2  tsp salt (and to taste)

3/4 cup oil (mixture of olive and vegetable oil is best)

In a blender, combine the egg yolk, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Slowly pour in the oil mixture and blend until smooth.

Cilantro Aioli
Makes about 1 cup
1 egg yolk

2 or 3 cloves garlic, peeled

3/4 cup cilantro, rough chopped

1 lime, juiced

1/2  tsp salt (and to taste)

3/4 cup oil (mixture of olive and vegetable oil is best)

In a blender, combine the egg yolk, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Slowly pour in the oil mixture and blend until smooth.

Some ideas for using it up...

• (Pictured) Great served as a dipping sauce for flank steak that has been marinated in lime, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Slathered onto chicken breasts, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and baked.
• Served with fish tacos

Roasted Red Pepper and Paprika Aioli

Makes about 1 cup
1 egg yolk

2 or 3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 of a large roasted red pepper

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2  tsp salt (and to taste)

1/2  tsp smoked Spanish paprika

3/4 cup oil (mixture of olive and vegetable oil is best)

In a blender, combine the egg yolk, garlic, red pepper, lemon juice, salt and paprika. Slowly pour in the oil mixture and blend until smooth.  

Great served on Easy Catalan Fish Stew, but also great on lots of other things like sandwiches, egg dishes, steak, burgers and pork.

Other Ideas for Aioli... use your imagination, with 1 egg yolk, 3/4 cup oil, a little acid (lemon or vinegar), YOUR flavoring component (whatever sounds good to you...) and some seasoning, you can invent any kind of aioli to suit your meal:

• Black Pepper Aioli
• Wasabi Aioli
• Basil Garlic (Pesto) Aioli
• Carmelized Onion Aioli
• Chipotle Aioli
• Sriracha Aioli

Hollandaise Sauce- Easy Blender version

Hollandaise sauce is one thing I love when it's homemade, BUT if it's from a mix... well, just keep it.  I can't stand the mixes.... yuck, what's in there anyway???

Now I know that this is not a traditional French Hollandaise, but it's so easy and so good, once you know how to make this, you'll be able to whip it up in no time flat.  You can microwave some broccoli or cauliflower, make some hollandaise, and everyone will think you made a gourmet meal, they will be so blinded by your abilities with this sauce!

Don't forget Hollandaise is also great on fish or Eggs Benedict, just think of the possibilities here!  My favorite Eggs Benedict is not Benedict at all, but is egg, english muffin, smoked salmon, sliced tomato and Hollandaise.... I ate that every morning on a cruise once, and yes, I did gain 10 lbs!!!

Also, Bernaise Sauce is just a basic Hollandaise (without lemon) but added herbs, mainly tarragon and chevril, and sherry vinegar, so it would work too.  I just don't care for tarragon, so I'm not going to make it!

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg yolk
1/2 lemon, juiced

I used salted butter for this and don't add any salt, as I like it just like it comes out.  If the flavors are too strong for you, use unsalted butter and less lemon juice.  I actually use a whole lemon juiced, but I like the sauce very tangy.

Get all your stuff ready ahead of time... like this:

1. Melt butter in the microwave, ideally in the pitcher that you are going to serve it in.  (That way is will be pre-warmed and keep your sauce hot).  When I started this recipe, the butter was about 140 degrees on my instant thermometer.  It works if the butter is cooler, but then your sauce is not hot enough!!
2. Separate your egg yolk from the white.  Retain the white for another use, like breakfast tomorrow.
3. Juice your lemon

Add the yolk and the lemon juice to the blender, and blend it up.  With the blender running, pour the butter into the yolk mixture in a thin, constant stream. 

Once you are done, you should have about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of sauce.  You can microwave it on low for 15 seconds at a time to re-heat, but sometimes it can "cook up" or scrambled, so if you need to keep it warm, then place the pitcher in a pot of simmering water to keep it water.  Stir it occasionally until ready to serve.