David Ross

That reminds me, our local market has fresh chicharron, which, if I really want to be indulgent, is what I serve with salsa.

Fiesta Foods in Yakima is in the heart of Central, WA and the home to our greatest agricultural region. These are a few more photos of Fiesta Foods when I made the trip down there. And, it made me think of another topic for our Salsa discussion. Has anyone ever used cactus in a Mexican salsa? Fresh Chorizo-

The local Mexican grocery store and cantina, DeLeon Foods, doesn't open right now until 11am due to shorter business hours, so I'll make a run over there tommorrow and look over the array of dried chiles. They have a very good selection, but this is a photo of the dried chile, spice and herb aisle at Fiesta Foods in Yakima, WA. It's well worth the trip for us to make the 3 hour drive down there on occasion and make it an event for a day.

I decided to pair the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with scallops, something I've never done before. I love serving seafood with salsa and I thought maybe this salsa would work with the scallops since they are very sweet and rich and the salsa would bring in some heat, a bit of bitterness and fresh flavors. For sea scallops I use the basic technique that Thomas Keller uses and is printed in his cookbook Ad Hoc at Home. Dry the scallops, then heat up clarified butter in a skillet. He recommends not using a non-stick skillet but stainless like an All-Clad. I used my old Calphalon skillet and it worked just fine. The butter is heated to medium-heat and the scallops sear about 3 minutes per side to get golden and caramelized. Then served with my homemade corn tortilla chips. For the chips I cut thin corn tortillas and cut them into 8 wedges. Then into a deep-fryer at 350 and fry until golden, takes about 2 minutes. I drain them on a rack over a cookie sheet, and just out of the fryer season with salt and chipotle chili powder. Just some sliced red radishes on the side. Next I'll be moving into a tomato salsa and some salsa made with dried chilies.

My pie crust recipe I've been using for about 25 years now. Call me old-fashioned, I use both butter and Crisco and cut the pastry by hand using a metal pastry cutter, but the recipe never fails. 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup cake flour 2 tbsp. granulated sugar 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cup (stick) butter, chilled 1/2 cup Crisco shortening, chilled 1/2 cup ice water 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. of water 1 tsp. granulated sugar In a large bowl, combine the flour, cake flour, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter and Crisco. Cut the mixture until the pieces are the size of small peas. Using a fork, pour in ice water a tablespoon at a time then toss with the fork to coat all the dry ingredients with water. Continue to add water and toss so that the dough begins to come together. Form the dough into a ball. It should be soft and come together but not be sticky. Cover the ball of pie crust dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for one hour. This lets the dough relax and firm up. Remove the pie crust dough from the refrigerator and cut in half. Sprinkle the counter and the dough with flour, then roll into a circle about 1/8" thick. Place your pie dish on the dough and use a pizza cutter to cut the dough about 1" larger than the pie dish. Place the bottom crust in the pie dish. Spoon your filling in the pie dish. Roll out the top crust, then trim, and flute the edges. Cut a slit in the top of the pie crust to release steam during baking. Beat the egg with a teaspoon of water, then brush the top of the pie with the egg wash. Sprinkle the top of the pie with demera sugar. Wrap the edges of the pie with foil or use a non-stick pie crust protector so it doesn't burn during baking. Bake the pie according to your recipe.

Yes that's exactly what I buy at a local Mexican market.

Yes the Mexican is a different variety but usually does have the flowers left on. The Rancho Gordo version on the right looks different than what I buy at the Mexican market, but they always have the best products....and beans. The Rancho Gordo one looks like larger leaves and the flowers maybe at a farther stage of blooming than what I have. I'll take a photo of what I use for comparison.

These tamales were pretty good, a decent ratio of meat and the masa. The local store makes thousands of these tamales during the Holidays and people buy them by the dozens.

This is my Roasted Tomatillo Salsa. Sometimes I vary the ratio of tomatillos, adding a few more or less, adding more jalapeno, that sort of thing. The fresh garden cilantro is much more flavorful than the stuff in the grocery store since I just go out back and cut what I need off the cilantro pot on the patio. I peel the skin off the tomatillos and rinse to get off that sticky texture, then on a sheet pan under the broiler to soften and get some charred bits. These tomatillos were more bitter than I like, so I added about a teaspoon of sugar. Served with a prepared pork tamale from the grocery store. They are made by a family business in Utah and are really good, but the local Mexican grocer and cafe wasn't opened yesterday morning when I drove by. Their tamales are made fresh every day of the year. I buy Mexican oregano for this salsa. It's whole leaf oregano with the flowers that is dried. Just rub it and it releases the fragrance. I use it in Italian dishes too because it has a lot of flavor. I prefer charred onions and garlic over raw for this salsa. Everything goes into a blender and then blended to combine. It stays a vivid green color covered and kept in the fridge. 1lb. tomatillos 1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro 1 jalapeno 1/2 yellow onion, charred 4 cloves garlic, charred 1 tsp. sugar as needed Salt and black pepper 2 tsp. Mexican oregano

I can't get enough rhubarb this time of year. This is the pie crust and the rhubarb pie just out of the oven. Later this evening with vanilla ice cream. I haven't had a slice of pie with ice cream in months.

Thanks I just might experiment. In our region the best garden tomatoes aren't until later in July but we'll have many green tomatoes in the coming days. My next salsa will be with tomatillos though.

So I thought about a couple of questions regarding tomatillos in salsa. How do you prep the tomatillos? I usually wash them and then put them in a single layer on a baking sheet and put it under the broiler for a short time until they soften and blacken a bit, but I'm curious how everyone uses tomatillos in a salsa. I don't know if this is ever done and I couldn't find a reference in my Mexican cookbooks, but do some people ever use green tomatoes in salsa or would they be too bitter and the texture to hard?

I put it in the garage in winter, but it doesn't survive. It's an older detached garage that isn't heated. But I'm always amazed that year after year, lots of snow and a few days below zero, the chives come back strong every year and they stay on the patio year-round.

That's a great price. Up here it's always varying in price from as low as about 68 cents a bunch to about 5 weeks ago 98 cents. I guess maybe people were making a lot of salsas while at home or something. They way my plant is going I'll be giving cilantro away.

Three weeks ago I bought a small cilantro starter. I think it was around $3. This is what it has grown to this morning. We've had higher than normal temps the past week, now back to a mild 75 or so today. The oregano, basil and thyme are doing ok, but the cilantro is really taking off so I'll have a great supply for many salsas to come.

That's what my Mother and Grandmother would have called it. They put up canned tomates with some chile, spices and would have called it spicy tomato pickle, albeit by today's standards it was mild.

And the dried is pretty bad too. Worse than those grey bay leaves in cheap spice bottles. Although on occasion I use very high quality dried California laurel bay leaves in Mexican dishes, possibly a roasted or cooked salsa.

I didn't either in the stew I made and it certainly doesn't seem to have the flavor of fresh cilantro. By the way, my French friends always say cilantro tastes like soap.

I'll be taking a trip to our local Mexican grocery store this weekend. One herb they have that's always intrigued me, but I've only used once in a stew, is epazote. Has anyone ever used epazote in a salsa?

Oh this Cook-Off makes me so hungry. That looks delicious and fresh.

yes it was the oranges had just the right sweetness

Aside from a wonderful recipe that both my Mother and Grandmother would have made, the typed out onto a sheet of white paper is wonderful. That's a lot of vinegar, but I see it tempered with the sugar and how delicious it would be. In my region, we don't have good garden tomatoes toward the end of summer just when canning season gets going.

A few months back I created a new version of my Chipotle-Pepita Salsa to use in a contest I entered using a company that makes salt-free spice blends. They make a blend for swordfish which I've used with this salsa before. I like the texture and meatier flavor of swordfish that can stand next to the salsa. It's is good with salmon and halibut, but I think best with swordfish and grilled tuna would be a good choice. The change I made this time was to add orange juice and chopped orange segments to the salsa. I wanted to go with mandarins, but they didn't look as good in the market. I garnished with some whole toasted pepitas which adds crunch and flavor, and the chips are homemade. I buy the thinnest corn tortillas I can find, cut them in quarters, then deep-fry a few minutes. I usually season with salt and chile powder. I prefer to make them at home as they are not only fresher, but I like those little bubbles that make the chips more crisp. This will go into our Pico de Gallo style salsa files. For the Salsa- 4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced, (1 ½ cups) 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ cup finely chopped yellow onion 1 ½ tbsp. finely chopped jalapeno ½ cup chopped cilantro ¾ cup chopped orange segments 1 ½ tsp. Healthy Solutions Spice Blends-Authentic Chile/Tacos seasoning ½ tsp. black pepper 1 tbsp. fresh orange juice 2 tsp. fresh lime juice 2 tsp. olive oil For the Swordfish- 4, 6oz. swordfish steaks 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 ½ tbsp. Healthy Solutions Spice Blends-Grilled Swordfish seasoning ½ tsp. black pepper ¼ cup pepitas for garnish, (green pumpkin seeds) 4 orange slices for garnish 4 fresh lime wedges for garnish Tortilla chips dusted with Healthy Solutions Spice Blends-Authentic Chile/Tacos seasoning Prepare the Salsa- In a large bowl, add the diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, jalapeno, cilantro and chopped orange and gently toss together. Add the Healthy Solutions Spice Blends-Authentic Chile/Tacos seasoning, black pepper, orange juice, lime juice and olive oil and gently toss together. Spoon the salsa in a container and cover and refrigerate until ready to grill the swordfish. Grill the Swordfish and Serve- Heat a grill plan on the stove-top over medium-high heat. (You can also grill the swordfish on an outdoor grill over a hot fire or high temperature setting on a gas grill). Brush both sides of the swordfish steaks with olive oil. Season both sides of the swordfish steaks with the Healthy Solutions Spice Blends-Grilled Swordfish seasoning and black pepper. Grill the swordfish for 5-6 minutes on one side, then turn over and grill another 5-6 minutes until the swordfish is opaque on the side and firm to the touch. Remove the swordfish steaks from the grill and season again with the Healthy Solutions Spice Blends-Grilled Swordfish seasoning. Serve the Grilled Swordfish with the Orange Pico de Gallo, and garnish with the pepitas, orange slices, lime wedges and corn tortilla chips.

Oh thank you that looks delicious and something I can certainly see being "put-up" in the pantry to use throughout the year.

Oh thank you for reminding me of a green chile cheeseburger. I love them. The best ones I've had here in the state of WA is over in the central part of the state in Yakima. Delicious and far better than I make at home.