Homemade Salsa Bar

As some of you may have read either here on this blog,
facebook, or even twitter, I had an incredible week with my mom, sister, and 3
½ year old niece while they were visiting. It’s always sad, and even emotional to see family leave. But whenever I miss my mom, I try to cook some of her famous recipes, and it always brings me back home.

I promised you in my salsa post that I would try to get as many recipes out of my mom as possible to put on the blog, but I quickly realized that’s a lost cause. The woman just doesn’t use recipes, she uses whatever ingredients are at hand, and it changes constantly! I found myself following her around with a notepad trying to take diligent notes, but the second I turned my head she changed things up on me. So I gave up note taking and just enjoyed her company and simply tried to pay attention to her techniques instead.

I did, however, find out one of her biggest cooking secrets and managed to get her to reveal two more salsa recipes that I am posting here. The secret to, well, probably all of her recipes is simple… bouillon cubes!
Yes, I am very serious. The woman puts bouillon into almost everything (soups, meat rubs, boiling water, if she’s cooking, there’s likely bouillon in it)! Admittedly I did not stock any bouillon in
my house before she came to visit, and now I have over a years supply thanks to mom. Yes, my mom wouldn’t leave until I was sufficiently supplied with enough bouillon to feed an army. So now that you know her secret, now let’s move on to the salsas.

Yolanda’s Salsa Bar (why Yolanda? Well because that’s my
mom’s name)

Our family’s standard salsa is posted here, but these other two are becoming regulars and are requested by friends anytime my mom visits.

Revenge Salsa … otherwise known as Chipotle Garlic Salsa
(this was cleverly named by my sister and by reading the ingredients it’s not hard to understand why)

Ingredients:

The cloves of 1 entire garlic bulb (yes the entire thing), skin removed, smashed but dicing is
not necessary
1 whole bunch of cilantro (or 1 large handful)
½ can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (about 4 peppers),
recommended brand Embasa, (7 oz can)*
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
1 ½ (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
1 bouillon cube
Juice of ½ lime
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients into the blender and pulse until the salsa looks
like a paste. Pour into serving dish and eat at your own risk.
*If you want the salsa more mild, use less chipotle peppers. If you are up for the challenge try using the whole can of chipotles. We used 4 peppers in this recipe.

My sister named the salsa revenge… well… you can pretty much
figure it out. I mean, look at how much garlic and chipotle are in the recipe! The scary thing is that it is addictively good, and not as spicy as it looks. Plus, if you have leftovers it makes for an excellent marinade for chicken (and no the chicken does not come out spicy).

Tomatillo and Rosted Green Chile Salsa

Ingredients:

10 tomatillos
½ bouillon cube
Juice of ½ a lime
1 handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
1 bunch of green onion (all of the white part and 1 inch of
the green part), chopped
1 small handful roasted green chiles (about ½ cup)
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon good sea salt or finishing salt
Pepper to taste
1 avocado, chopped

Directions: Boil the tomatillos in water with the bouillon cube for about 25 minutes, or until soft. Let tomatillos cool enough to peel the husk/skin off, and discard the skin. Add tomatillos to a blender along with remaining ingredients (except the avocado). Pulse until blended together, but not pureed like a soup (you still want a few chunks).
Pour into serving dish and add the chunks of avocado and mix into the salsa.

There’s nothing spicy about this salsa so it is a nice cooling alternative to the revenge salsa.

There you have it. My mom’s standard salsa bar. My sisters and I joke that someday we will get enough recipes out of our mother to make a cookbook… but until then, these blog posts will have to
do. I love you mama!