Autumn

Autumn

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Kitchen Time

Every year at this time I make my famous (insert silly smiley face here) Irish kick-ass salsa. Its deadly to all wimps, wussies, democritters, the very young and elderly alike. It takes me a good two hours of construction.

This afternoon, after I closed the shop, I ran to several markets for the ingredients. I'm finicky about my fresh vegetables. So, I arrived home with a truck load of bags, and the makings of a fish dinner.

No, I will not detail a list or recipe...sorry, it's mine. Suffice to say I make a base and include a small portion of fresh ingredients into the base, and then smack it to death in a blender. This base is poured into a very large bowl and then I chop and add fresh vegetables. Tomatoes, bell pepper, cilantro, onion, and various peppers. I also include salt, black pepper, Tabasco sauce, and the seed of one of the fresh vegetables. Guess which.

The salsa must be thick. I then refrigerate over night, and this step is very important...overnight. The salsa will thicken, almost congeal. When a chip is dipped into the sauce and released it should stand without tipping over.

Above, the birth.

And, finished. Cover with plastic wrap, after you adjust the seasoning, and chill over night. If you like that silly football game scheduled for tomorrow evening, this and a cold beverage of your choice should keep you entertained when the game disappoints.


Your taste may vary but I appreciate Nacho Cheese chips with mine...my wife like those tasteless plain chips - but then again she's from Georgia.

*****

I had a hankering for fish. I satisfied my craving.

Preps...btw, the bottle of Yellow Tail was on sale. Not bad. But, they use those silly plastic 'corks.'

I sauteed the fish, after a dip in egg wash and seasoned flour, in olive oil and butter. As the fish sang its happy song I placed a batch of fresh asparagus in a bit of olive oil and butter with a dash of white wine vinegar and placed pot of grits to fire. For you Yankees that's fine ground corn. Try it.



After I plated the fish I made a simple wine and butter sauce with shallots and garlic with a dash of Balsamic vinegar. I reduced the sauce by half. If you have a cardiologist on speed dial forget the butter as I use full stick...real butter.

Dinner is scheduled for 1800 hours...hurry.

Stephen




21 comments:

  1. Sounds good. My dinner? "You want to make that a meal, or just the burrito"?

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    1. Ah, man, sorry. I avoid fast food like the plague...I have leftovers, come on over.

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    2. Whats 2,000 miles for some tasty leftovers? Rarely do fast food but today had other challenges.

      Thanks for the invitation!

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  2. It all looks good! I especially love your brown eggs! Do you keep chickens?

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    1. My dearest Kelly, I wish. No chickens I'm afraid. I do however have a cat. Thanks, my dear lady.

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  3. salsa sounds too hot for me but the rest sounds delish!

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    1. kristine, the flavor is so very good you'll never notice the heat. One Christmas Eve, years ago, one of my sisters sat down to a bowl of my salsa. I walked away and came back a few minutes later. She was red faced, had beads of sweat on her brow, her nose ran and she appeared to be in tears. I asked her why she just didn't drink a glass of milk and quit. She said, "Because its too good to quit," then dunked another chip. I save some for you.

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    2. poor girl but thanks for saving some

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    3. My pleasure...hey, its ready and it taste wonderful...hurry.

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  4. Many many years ago we took a trip to a place called Maggie Valley, in North Carolina, and they served us grits at the hotel. Wow. Memories...

    Butter is the only way to go. The other stuff is just melted plastic :) Sorry I missed dinner!

    Blessings,
    Red

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    1. Red, consider yourself a Southern Girl...of course girts should always have a nice large chunk of butter and be seasoned with salt and pepper and several dashes of Tabasco Sauce.

      Agreed, margarine is nothing more than colored vegetable grease....Thanks, my lovely friend.

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  5. Stephen,

    The salsa looks delicious, damn I'm to late for dinner.

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    1. Come on down...should be a tab or two left over.

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  6. You can just come on to my house and do bring that salsa. Here in South Texas we can handle our heat. ; ) Glad to see you still at it. Take care

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    1. Trust me, I'd love to drive over and make this salsa for you...I did a test drive for taste this morning and its perfect. Nice and thick and the bite kicks at about forty seconds after it hits your mouth.
      As to still at it...six day work weeks are tiresome but I still have a bit of life left. I'll always cook. Thank you my sweet friend.

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  7. Having become addicted to shrimp and grits when first exposed to them years ago in Charleston, SC, I make grits several times a week. The real stuff, good coarse ground ones. Mixed with freshly shredded cheese. Yum!

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    1. Good for you, PH...I love my grits, simple, with butter, salt and pepper and a big dash of Tabasco. Thanks, my friend.

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  8. Dang it Stephen, now I'm hungry and I'm too late for dinner. Maybe there's some leftovers in the fridge....

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    1. For you, Six, there will always be leftovers.

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