Purple Jalapeño Hot Sauce

I've been meaning to pick these beautiful, dark purple jalapeños for a while but it's serendipitous that I didn't because now this hot sauce is flavorful with dissipating heat and a natural sweetness from purple jalapeños that ripened into red.

7 small-medium jalapeños, stemmed
2 scallions, rough chopped, also from the garden
1 huge garlic clove, peeled, from Schaner Farm
1/2 cup vinegar (I used champagne vinegar cuz that's what I had on hand)
juice of 1 small lime, from Good Taste Farm
1 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree a few minutes until smooth.

Homegrown Roasted Tomatillo-Tomato Salsa

My first time successfully growing tomatillos! Along with my homegrown tomatoes, garlic and cilantro, it's so satisfying to grow almost all the ingredients in this salsa! Now if I can just get my chile plants to produce...

1 1/2 pounds of tomatillos, peeled
several blue beauty tomatoes
1 large head garlic cloves, peeled
2 poblano chiles from Schaner Farm
1 bunch fresh cilantro, including stems
1/2 tsp sea salt, more or less to taste

Roast tomatillos, tomatoes, garlic and chiles on a baking sheet under a 400 degree broiler until blistered and soft (10-20 minutes), turning chiles as needed. Cool & peel tomatoes and chiles. Transfer to blender, including juice, and add cilantro and salt. Blend to a course puree.

Makes about 4 cups - if this is too much, freeze or can some of the puree for later.

This is a great sauce for enchiladas!

Honey Habanero Hot Sauce

There is a guy in our produce department that special orders chiles from one of our farmers.  He shared a handful of the chiles with me (3 anaheims, 2 orange habanero-looking, 2 red habanero-looking, 2 small green, and 1 small red).  The only thing I can think to do with them is turn them into hot sauce:

1 head garlic
1 1/4 cup carrot, roughly chopped
1 1/4 cup onion, roughly chopped
4 habanero-type chiles, stemmed
3 small mystery chiles, stemmed
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp honey

Note of caution:  I wear gloves when dealing with hot chiles - especially when I don't know exactly how hot they are - because I do not want them anywhere near my face or other sensitive body parts.  And if you've ever dealt with chiles and then touched your face, you know what I'm talking about!  If this by chance happens to you, soak your burning skin in milk to help take the fiery sting away.

Break garlic cloves apart and roast on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven until blackened in spots, turning occasionally until soft, about 15 minutes. Cool, peel, and set aside.

In a saucepan, combine the carrots, onion, chiles, salt, vinegar and 1 1/2 cups of filtered water. Cover partially and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the carrots are completely soft. (Careful not to inhale the steam!)

Blend all ingredients & their cooking liquid together until smooth.

Makes about 4 cups, which keeps for months in the fridge and makes great gifts.

My First - and Best - Hot Sauce: Chipotle

I've been wanting to make hot sauce for a while.  My spouse loves it but it's hard to find a really good one with wholesome & organic ingredients.  So when the deli put one out that I particularly enjoyed, I asked how they made it.

Based on Daniel's recipe at OB People's deli...

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 cup whole dried New Mexican chilis, stems removed
1/4 cup whole dried chipotle chilis, stems removed
4 fresh medium heirloom tomatoes
1 fresh anaheim chili
1 head garlic

Heat vinegar with equal parts filtered water, add salt and dried chiles and simmer until dried chilis are soft (this could take a few hours). 

Roast fresh chili, garlic and tomato at 400 degrees until soft and blistered; remove stems (and skin & seeds if desired). 

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Add more vinegar and/or water for desired consistency.  

My spouse was very excited when trying the sauce and immediately started listing the foods he would eat it on (vegetarian tacos, vegetable hash, poached eggs, hash browns, nachos...)

Corn, Bean, Avo Salsa

I am very exctied that starting this summer, one of my favorite San Diego farmers, Suzie's Farm, is growing organic corn!  But I am still nostalgic for the most amazing corn I ever had (minutes from the field) from Reegers Farm, a family farm where I used to work in rural Pennsylvania.  What a gift to experience!   This farm made me real picky about my corn  - one of the farmers wouldn't eat the corn that was picked that morning for dinner that night; she could taste the difference.
I love fresh sweet corn and I'm so happy to get it fresh from the field again...

about a cup or 2 of beans of your choice (today I'm using an heirloom variety I picked up at the Hillcrest Farmers Market - anazasi is one of my favorites)
a couple ears of fresh corn, kernels cut of the cob (your chicken will love the fresh cob)
1 cup or so of mixed heirloom tomatoes - try green zebra and indigo rose (from the Schaners and Suzie's), chopped
1 avocado, chopped (from Schaner Farm)
a handfulof chopped cilantro (from Ripe North Park)
1/2 a red onion, diced (from the Schaners)
juice of 2 limes (also from the Schaners via the Little Italy farmers market)
drizzle of your favorite extra virgin olive oil (mine is from Ensenada)
2 or more cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced (from the Schaners)
1/2 jalapeño (from Suzie's), miced or another chile or chile powder, optional for a little heat
sea salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve up some summer in a bowl!

Eat with tortilla chips, as a tostada, in a burrito, on top for your favorite greens...

Another Tomatillo Salsa

Back in my college days, I worked in Fruitvale and there was this great Mexican restaurant we'd sometimes eat lunch at and they had a wonderful, smooth, avocado-tomatillo salsa. After picking up Farmers Market ingredients from Schaner Farm and Suzie's Farm, here's my attempt at recreating it:

4 large tomatillos, husk removed, rinsed well, quartered
1 medium avocado (or half of a Reed - my favorite variety)
1 jalepeño
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon lime juice or to taste
sea salt to taste
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped fine, leaves & stems

In a food processor, buzz all ingredients except cilantro until very smooth. Stir in cilantro.

Very simple. I served this at a party recently and it went over big!

Salsa Fresca

The tomatoes are so beautiful and bountiful right now. I made a very straight up, simple salsa last night (to put on top of a chile relleño casserole; more on that later):

4 tomatoes, medium sized, diced (whatever you've grown or is your favorite, 2 if they are big ones)
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
¼ cup onion (red, yellow, or green), finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ bunch cilantro chopped
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½-1 minced fresh chile, such as a jalepeño, serano or habinero

Combine all ingredients.  Makes about 2 cups.

Variations
Blend ingredients for a smooth salsa
Add other ingredients: black beans, corn kernels, diced avocado…
Diced canned tomatoes can be used when fresh tomatoes are out of season

Peach Salsa

4 peaches, diced
1 Tblsp freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (add zest too if you like)
¼ cup red onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
¼ bunch cilantro, chopped including stems
¼ tsp sea salt
1 (or more to taste) minced fresh chile, such as a jalepeño, serano or Suzie's padrons

Combine all ingredients. Makes about 2 cups

Try served with quesadillas with Spring Hill Monterey Jack! 

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Sage Mountain Farm had gorgeous tomatillos this week and they have some of the best garlic!

a pound of tomatillos, peeled
1 small head garlic cloves, skinned
a few of your favorite chiles (or more or less to taste) - this week: padrons from Suzie's Farm
a little olive oil
1 bunch fresh cilantro (from the Schaners), chopped, including stems
1 small onion, diced small
sea salt to taste

Kid's Day at Reeger's Farm

Toss tomatillos, garlic and chiles with a little drizzle of olive oil and roast on a baking sheet under a very hot broiler until blistered and soft (5-10 minutes), stirring occasionally. Cool; transfer to blender, including juice, and blend to a course puree. Add cilantro and onion and season with salt to taste.

Makes about 4 cups - if this is too much, freeze or can some of the puree (before adding cilantro and onion) for later.

Kitchen Tip: Peeling Garlic
Pull cloves apart. Using a wide chef’s knife, cut off tough base of clove. Place the side of the knife flat against the clove, parallel with the cutting board. Very carefully – don’t cut yourself - crush (lighly if you want to keep the cloves whole, with more force if you're going to be mincing) the clove between the cutting board and the flat side of the knife. The skin now can be easily removed.