Salsa

If you know me, you know I feel pretty passionate about waiting to eat produce until it's at it's very seasonal best, for a variety of reasons.  And it's tomato and tomatillo season, finally, after a long rainy Seattle summer.  Right now the fridge has two of my favorite salsas in it--all ready for dipping and topping and snacking and slathering.

Peter Reinhart's Green Salsa (from Sacramental Magic in a Small Town Cafe)


2 1/2 cups fresh tomatillos, quartered
1 small onion, quartered
*1-3 teaspoons smoked chili flakes or 2-8 fresh jalapenos
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 large avocado, seeded and scooped
3 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup white vinegar
salt and sugar to taste

Put all this in the food processor and puree.  Taste and adjust--you may need more vinegar, salt or sugar.  If you've actually grown tomatillos in your garden, this is indescribably good with still frozen tomatillos on a hot day--a savory icee, so to speak, scooped up with chips.

*You know your taste for hot best--if you tend to be sensitive, start on the cautious end and add more.   I've been known to add as many as seven jalapenos . . . .


Pebre (Chilean Pico de Gallo from Sundays at Moosewood)

1/3 cup sliced green onion 
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro 
4 medium tomatoes, chopped 
2 tablespoons hot sauce (Tabasco or your favorite brand) 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
1 tablespoon cider vinegar 
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (give your self extra points if you grind it fresh)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together in a bowl and refrigerate.  You can add a lot of things to this and make it almost a side dish--sliced zucchini, radishes, finely chopped cabbage.  Do remember the acidity may leach color out of things and so it's prettiest eaten within an hour or two.  It stays delicious for several days.