Guacamole and Salsa Fresca

Someone asked for some more Latin flavors. Oscar, this one is for you! I like to make these two salsas at the same time, because they have similar ingredients and once I start choppin, I might as well keep on choppin...Nobody complains on meatless dinner night when these two salsas are on the plate! Let's start with the Salsa Fresca.

Salsa Fresca Ingredients:
5 Roma Tomatoes (diced)
1/2 Onion (small dice)
2 Garlic cloves (chopped or crushed)
1-2 Serrano or Jalapeno pepper (small dice)
1/2 bunch Cilantro (chopped)
1 Lime
Salt to taste


*Tip: After washing the cilantro, dry it off with a paper towel so it doesn't stick to the knife when you chop it. Also use mostly the leaves and discard the stems.








*Tip: Use a serrated edge knife to cut tomatoes without fuss.









Preparation:
In a bowl mix together tomatoes, onions, chilli pepper, cilantro. Squeeze juice of one lime over the top and salt to taste.



Moving on to the Guaca-MOL...e (pronouncing the the MOL part of the word like the Spanish soccer announcers do when someone makes a GOAL...) Now avocados might be one of the fattiest fruits out there, but it is all good healthy fat! Good for your heart; avocados contain 76 milligrams beta-sitosterol in a 3-oz serving. Beta-sitosterol is a natural plant sterol which may help maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Avocados contain nearly 20 vitamins and minerals and other phytonutrients such as, carotenoid lutein, which studies show may help maintain healthy eyes. With that said...let's make some GUAC!

Guacamole Ingredients:
4 Avocados
4 Roma Tomatoes
1/2 Onion (or Shallots are a nice alternative)
2-3 Serrano or Jalapeno pepper
2-3 Garlic cloves (crushed or chopped)
1 bunch Cilantro (chopped)
1 Lime (fresh squeezed juice)

Preparation:
Cut the avocados in half and spoon out the inside, removing the seeds and placing aside. Mash the avocados with a spoon or a little plastic cup. Then add tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli peppers and cilantro. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the top, salt to taste and stir.

*Now if you are knife savvy, after the avocado is cut in half, you can hit the avocado seed with the sharp edge of the chef knife, then with a little twist of the wrist...voila, the seed pops right out. But please be very careful with that move, cuz blood will ruin the guacamole ;-)










*Tip: to keep the guacamole from turning brown, add back the avocado seeds. And for storage, squeeze a small amount of lime juice over the top and cover with saran wrap, placing the saran wrap right on top of the guac, leaving no room for air.





Both Guacamole and Salsa Fresca are great in place of salad dressing. Tonight, for meatless dinner night, they are served along side Red Beans with Queso Fresco and Brown Rice. Yummy! I hope you all will enjoy these as much as I do!

SALSA!

While I can make some pretty good Salsa, and I am not too shabby at dancing Salsa either...my best friend Gloria, IS the Salsa Queen! So, I am going to consult her for this blog post. If you are not a fan of the picante, then you can always edit the chile content. Salsa works beautiful for adding flavor without fat and it's made with vegetables, so it's healthy! Get excited people, you can't go wrong with salsa!

Three very simple salsas. Seriously, these were much easier than I anticipated. All you need is a blender, a pot and a pan. Here we go...

Salsa Roja:
Ingredients:
3 tomatoes (top of core cut out)
2 serrano chiles
1/2 clove of garlic
salt to taste

Roast tomatoes, serranos, and garlic in pan. Let cool slightly, remove most of the tomato skin, and then blend all ingredients with a dash of salt on medium speed in blender. (In this picture there are 3 serranos, and it was very HOT! So, I recommend using only 1 or 2. I find that chile peppers tend to be hotter in the winter months, so vary the recipes as needed.) Gloria's tip: Roma tomatoes work best for this salsa, and remove the top core because it doesn't blend well.


Tomatillo Arbol Salsa:
Ingredients:
9-10 tomatillos
5-6 chile de arbol (these are dried little red chile pods)
1/2 clove garlic
salt to taste

Boil tomatillos with chile de arbol in just enough water to cover. After tomatillos are cooked, pour out most of the water. Everything goes into the blender including garlic and a dash of salt, blend medium speed. Gloria's tip: make sure chile de arbol is fully immersed in water below tomatillos, or they float to the top and don't soften up as well.

Salsa de Aguacate (Avocado):
Ingredients:
1 avocado
8-10 tomatillos
handful of cilantro
1/8 of an onion
1 garlic clove
2-3 serrano chiles
salt to taste















Place all ingredients in the blender on medium-high speed. This salsa is tangy and creamy and as spicy as you want to make it.

The uses for all of these salsas are limited only by your imagination. They are perfect for tacos, quesadillas, eggs, fish, chicken, steak or even as a salad dressing. And of course, these salsa work great with chips. We served them with a variety of 'green chips.' Made from kale, collard greens, chard, mustard greens and even beet greens, but more on that in another blog...


Let me know how these work for you and stay tuned for another Salsa blog in the near future. Special thanks to Gloria for sharing her salsa expertise with us!