OH MY SALSA!

See that guy on the left there? His name is “Fire-Roasted Red Peppers & Tomato.” The kid on the right – the anti-southpaw – coming at your taste buds straight-rough-rugged-and raw . . . yeah – his name is pretty simple – it is “Mister Tomatillo!”

Today – is salsa day.
[Before I forget – again – these recipes seem to hinge pretty heavily on grilling the ingredients . . . but what – oh what are you to do if you don’t happen to have a grill?! Throw it all in your oven’s broiler – yum!]

Fire-Roasted Red Peppers & Tomato (Now with Roasted Corn!)

This is the stuff that you will be needing (in no particular order):

• Red Pepper (1)
• Orange Pepper (1)
• Green Pepper (1)
• Poblano Pepper (1)
• Jalapeño Peppers (2)
• Chipotle Peppers (in Adobo Sauce) (2 of the peppers – but watch out – this stuff is serious)
• tomatoes (4)
• Ears of Corn (3)
• onion (red) (1/2 cup or so)
• garlic (fresh minced) (4 cloves)
• cilantro (yes)
• olive oil (enough)
• lime (of course)
• salt (not too much)
• pepper (is there ever enough?!)

Alright. Here is the drill – as I run it.

1. Cut everything into manageable strips and toss them into some olive oil.
2. While you are cutting everything – husk, de-silk and boil the ears of corn (for about 15 minutes – or so).
3. Seed and scoop the tomatoes – you aren’t going to need all of that junk where we are going.
4. Lovingly place everything – seriously – everything on a hot hot hot grill – over hot hot heat. Bring some tongs and a spatula – because those tomatoes hate to sit on a fiery grill – they would swear to you that they weren’t raised to be in such atrociously searing conditions.
5. Keep an eye on stuff – and revel in it getting charred – but no too charred – we aren’t making briquette salsa.
6. Take everything off of the grill – and while you are gathering your olive oil, salt, pepper, cilantro and lime – let all of that junk cool down for a bit.
7. Scrape the corn off of the ears [look at this great tool made just for this job].
8. Dump it all into a Cuisinart and pulse pulse pulse until properly mixed – stopping every so often to taste for perfectness.

Mister Tomatillo!

This is the stuff that you will be needing (in no particular order):

• Tomatillos (10)
• Poblano Pepper (1)
• Jalapeño Peppers (2)
• Chipotle Peppers (in Adobo Sauce) (just a smidge – for the heat that hits the back of your throat)
• onion (red) (3/4 cup or so)
• garlic (fresh minced) (4 cloves)
• cilantro
• olive oil (enough to get stuff moving)
• lemon
• lime
• salt
• pepper

Alright. Here is the drill – as I run it.

1. Cut everything into manageable strips and toss them into some olive oil – including the tomatillos.
2. Lovingly place everything – seriously – everything on a hot hot hot grill – over hot hot heat. (hooray for roasted vegetables!)
3. Keep an eye on stuff – and revel in it getting charred – but no too charred – we aren’t making briquette salsa.
4. Gingerly get everything off of the grill – bring some tongs and a spatula – because those tomatillos are going to do their best to slip down into the fiery pit of the grill . . . and while you are gathering your olive oil, salt, pepper, cilantro, lemon and lime – let everything max and relax before they meet your pal – the Cuisinart.
5. Dump it all into a Cuisinart and pulse pulse pulse until properly mixed – stopping every so often to taste for perfectness.

So – there you have it – 2 (two) pretty darn good (and distinctive from each other) salsas to make and eat – and eat – and eat. Both recipes make about as much as you can see in the photo (maybe 2 1/2 – 3 cups or so) – and should be eaten.