Card Night

Most gatherings cause us to make more food then necessary, but we have learned to limit the dishes to a few items.

a recent card night brought out these dishes.

A nacho style shredded BBQ chicken dish from my daughter I dubbed “Taco Mountain”

Fruit and brownies

Smoked Salsa

Veggies with Serrano chilies that where smoked on the grill with mesquite and diced.

One tomato processed with a food processor and added for juice.

 

Friday Night food Fare

From a recent Friday night

maybe what you would get in a pub

Home brew beer, fresh salsa, cheese and hand rolled corn chips.

TGIF

 

smokey salsa

Don’t grab that jar of salsa from the supermarket shelve ! Most likely you already have the ingredients to make an original and kick ass mix in the pantry. Be creative !

  

Here’s what I have have from the market… You can probably do better going to a farm or farmers market.

Sliced tomatoes, sweet onions (salted and peppered), garlic, and  corn. The corn was barely passable, small kernels, not to tasty. This is because I don’t want to make multiple stops at different places when shopping usually.

 

Ok, we’re well into summer so don’t be tied to the stove I’m going to grille all the ingredients for the salsa, besides good time for a homebrew while the charcoal is starting.

The corn and garlic first, the garlic rack is a metal piece from a discarded toaster oven. Some wood chips over the coals periodically for smoke.

garlic roasted and corn charred.

A grille pan, a perforated metal pan makes grilling easy for veggies, Looks like there’s some  sliced turnip there too ! Mix the veggies with some olive oil prior to grilling.

onions are done.

tomatoes are next with the turnip, the turnip didn’t cook long enough with the onions.

.

mix everything together, add and/or  adjust seasoning preferences, if possible let stand to meld flavors.

Since chili peppers were not available, I used a combination of pepper flakes, smoked ancho, habernero, and jalapeno for heat and spice.

Most would serve this with corn chips, didn’t have any or the time to roll some out as I was hungry . Wrapped a small portion  of the salsa in romaine  lettuce leaves, probably better for me  than chips !

You probably associate salsa with a tomato based type from a jar, it can be any combination !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_%28sauce%29

Spanish Rice Casserole

Spanish rice casserole
Rice, two cups

——————————————–

Water
Tomato paste about 1/2 can
Several spoonfuls salsa
Chopped onion
Chopped garlic
3/4 habanero pepper (more or less depending on heat level preferred.)
1 red bell pepper
Total above  ingredients (less rice) should be about 4 cups.

Place in a casserole dish, cover with foil and bake at about 320 for 30-40 minutes, till liquid is absorbed.

remove and top with cheese if desired, return to the oven and broil till cheese is melted.

Summer 2014 Garden Salsa

Tomato and Poblano peppers from the garden

Add some grilled corn, a strip of bacon, runny eggs and toast, nourishment!