NO COOKING NEEDED: SAUCES, DIPS, MARINADES

SAUCES, DIPS, AND MARINADES

Salsa Fresca

Although no one is certain as to the exact date the first Salsa was made, historians and anthropologists have estimated that the three key ingredients for red and green salsas (tomatoes, tomatillos, and various chili peppers) were cultivated and combined by the Aztecs who acquired them from the natives of the Andes Mountains, possibly as early as 3000 B.C.

Chilies were first brought to Spain in 1494 by the doctor who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage. Later, during their conquest of the Aztecs beginning in 1519 the Spanish were first exposed to sauces that combined tomatoes, chilies, and tomatillos. Salsa is simply the Spanish word for sauce.

    

There are entire books devoted to Salsa variations which use fresh chopped ingredients which macerate in the flavorful acid of lime juice. You can eat Salsa Fresca alone or use it on salads, or for combinations of Burrito and Taco fillings with lettuce, avocado, sour cream, seasoned meats, shredded cheese and beans.

If you make one salsa you will want to try others, instantly recognizing that the taste of freshly made Salsa is far superior to the pre-made refrigerated or canned versions in super markets.  The only drawback to Fresh Salsa is best if used on the same day that you make it. After the second day under refrigeration the acids in the lime juice begin to build up and create a sour taste.

My favorite Salsa Fresca is mild and uses a ratio of one part sweet onion to four parts fresh tomato as a foundation. If you prefer a green Salsa you can try substituting tomatillos for the tomatoes. Feel free to vary the amounts of the other ingredients and experiment on your own by adding other types of fresh minced hot peppers to suit your own desire for heat in the recipe.

Hardware:  Two-quart plastic mixing bowl, Chef’s Knife, Mixing spoon, storage container.

Ingredients:

4 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, ¼ inch dice

1 medium onion (Vidalia or Red), ¼ inch dice

2 cloves fresh Garlic, 1/8 inch dice

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, 1/8 inch dice

1 red bell pepper, ¼ inch dice

Juice of one fresh lime

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro leaf

Procedure:

1. Trim and ¼ inch dice the tomatoes and add to the bowl
2. Trim and ¼ inch dice the onion and add to the bowl
3. Trim and core the red bell pepper by removing the stem, seeds and pulp. This can be most easily done by slicing off the sidewalls and bottom of the pepper while being careful to leave the bulk of the pulp and seeds intact with the top. Then simply trim any remaining pulp from the inner face of the sidewalls. Discard the trimmings. Next slice the sidewalls and bottom of the pepper into parallel ¼ inch thick julienne strips. Rotate the parallel strips 90 degrees on your cutting board and slice the strips into ¼ inch cubes. Add to the bowl.
4. Trim off the top of the jalapeno. Slice the jalapeno in half, lengthwise. Use a small spoon to remove the whitish pulp and seeds from the inside of the pepper. Discard the seeds and pulp. Slice the cleaned and trimmed sides of the pepper longitudinally into 1/8 inch strips. Rotate the parallel strips 90 degrees on your cutting board and slice into 1/8 inch cubes. Add the diced jalapeno to the bowl. 
5. Shell the Garlic. Cut into 1/8 inch dice. Add to the bowl.
6.  Rinse any dirt from the Cilantro bunch with water in your kitchen sink. Shake off any excess water and pat the cilantro dry with a paper towel. Trim off the stems and discard. Finely chop enough of the Cilantro leaf to make ¼ cup. Add to the bowl.
7. Add the lime juice, olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
8. Mix all of the ingredients with a spoon until evenly blended.
9. Store the mixture in the refrigerator and allow the ingredients to meld their flavors for one hour. Serve immediately.

Yield: one quart

Guacamole

Guacamole is known to have been made by the Aztecs as early as the sixteenth century. The name derives from an Aztec dialect and translates as avocado sauce. Avocado pulp is the primary ingredient, generally followed by the addition of salt and lime juice. Beyond these three primary ingredients limitless variations abound.  Texture is also an option. You can choose to puree all of the pulp or reserve some as cubed chunks to be folded in at the finish. 

Hardware:   Two-quart mixing bowl, wire whip, mixing spoon, chef’s knife

Ingredients:

2 ripe Haas Avocados. They are ripe when the skin first turns from green to dark brown.

1 fresh lime

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

½ teaspoon dry granulated garlic

1 teaspoon Sriracha Chili sauce

1 tablespoon mayonnaise….yes this seems weird, but it will add creaminess to the texture.

Procedure: 

1. Using your Chef’s knife, and starting at the pear-shaped tip of the avocado, longitudinally cut and score through the skin completely down to and around the pit. Place your knife aside. Grasp the top and bottom half of the avocado with your hands and gently twist the two halves apart. The seed will remain stuck in one half. You can easily remove the seed by gently tapping the blade edge of your Chef’s knife into the pit. Then you can hold the half-avocado steady with one hand and remove the pit by twisting it loose with your Chef’s knife. The pit will stay stuck on the knife blade. Safely wrap it with a cloth towel and pull it loose and away from the blade to avoid cutting yourself. Dispose of the pit, or save it, plant it and grow a new tree later. Repeat with the second avocado.
2.  Using a soup spoon, scrape and remove the pulp from the skin of the avocado halves into your mixing bowl. Discard the skins.
3. Add the juice from the fresh lime, salt, pepper, sriracha, granulated garlic, and mayonnaise.
4. Blend all of the ingredients together in the mixing bowl with the wire whip until you the ingredients are well blended. You can leave some lumps of pulp or puree it all. Your choice. You can add a little more salt to taste if desired.

Yield: one pint of guacamole

Crème Fraiche

With origins in Normandy, France, Crème Fraiche is used in many of the same ways that one might use sour cream when a creamier, more delicate, and slightly sweeter taste is desired. It is very expensive to buy in the U.S., but you can easily make it yourself by combining equal amounts of whole-milk Sour Cream and Heavy Cream.

Hardware: wire whisk, two quart mixing bowl

Procedure:

1. Blend equal liquid volume amounts of Heavy Cream and whole-milk Sour Cream in a mixing bowl using a wire whisk, until evenly blended. (I recommend using one pint of each)

2. Store in the refrigerator in a covered container for 2-3 days. The mixture will be thickened and ready to serve.

  

Marinade for Rack of Lamb

This is my personal spin on a recipe by Julia Childs, with a more intense use of fresh Rosemary and Garlic. First, use the best rack of lamb that you can find. New Zealand or Colorado suppliers sell newborn baby lamb racks which are the most tender and flavorful. Australia seems to wait longer in the slaughter process, with slightly larger racks that rate as a decent second choice.

You will achieve an incredible degree of sumptuous flavor in your rack of lamb if you apply a thick coating of the marinade to the meat and then seal the coated rack in a vacuum sealing bag.

The flavors in the marinade will be maximally absorbed in a vacuum and the lamb will taste that much better!

In my experience vacuum sealing bags also have the added advantage of allowing you to store meat for at least six months in a freezer set at zero degrees Fahrenheit, or six days in a refrigerator that is set at 38 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Hardware:  Chef’s Knife, four quart mixing bowl, wire whip, Food Processor (optional)

Ingredients:

8 cups coarse-grain Dijon Mustard

2 cups soy sauce

32 cloves (approximately one whole head) shelled and minced)

½ cup finely chopped fresh Rosemary

2 Tablespoons dry Ginger

2 cups extra-virgin olive oil

Procedure:

1. Add the mustard, soy sauce, and olive oil to the mixing bowl and blend with a wire whisk
2. Shell the garlic cloves by pressing down on them using the flat side of your Chef’s Knife. Once they are shelled, pulse-grind them to a paste in the Food Processor. Add the garlic to the bowl.
3. Remove the rosemary from the stems by holding the stems at one end and stripping the needles off with the other hand. Chop the needles by placing one hand over the top of the tip end of your Chef’s Knife and use a rocking motion over the rosemary with handle-held end to do the chopping. You want to get pieces that are about 1/8^th of an inch. Add the finely-chopped rosemary to the bowl
4. Add the dry ginger and combine all of the ingredients until well blended with a wire whip. Store until ready to use.

Best Use:  Coat whole lamb racks with a thick coating and then vacuum seal the racks. The flavors will intensify and you can safely keep the vacuum sealed racks under refrigeration up to four days or freeze them for later use.

Yield: eleven cups (enough to coat ten racks)