Tomatillo Salsa!

Hello Gastronauts!

Last week our CSA gifted us with all the ingredients one needs to make some amazing tomatillo salsa.

To make the salsa combine the following in a blender, magic bullet or food processor – 6-8 tomatillos (de-husked), garlic (fresh or crushed), pepper (either fresh chopped pepper*, or dry red pepper), onions (green, white or red), 1 or 2 tomatoes (any kind), salt, pepper (ground black), cumin, sugar, lime juice and olive oil.

* please be careful when handling and cutting peppers. use gloves when possible and thoroughly wash hands afterwards. do not get near eyes, nose, or mouth. *

This is different from the Salsa Verde or Green Sauce you’ll find in restaurants. That is an equally awesome salsa to make from tomatillos,s and if it interests you, some recipes can be found HERE.

If you’re not familiar with the little ball of wonderful that is a tomatillo, check it out here: CLICK ME

As the link says – “The tomatillo fruit is surrounded by an inedible, paper-like husk formed from the calyx. As the fruit matures, it fills the husk and can split it open by harvest. The husk turns brown, and the fruit can be several colors when ripe, including yellow, red, green, or even purple. The freshness and greenness of the husk are quality criteria.

Tomatillos are a key ingredient in fresh and cooked Mexican and Central-American green sauces. The green color and tart flavor are the main culinary contributions of the fruit. Purple and red-ripening cultivars often have a slight sweetness, unlike the green- and yellow-ripening cultivars, and are therefore generally used in jams and preserves. Like their close relatives, cape gooseberries, tomatillos have a high pectin content. Another characteristic is they tend to have a varying degree of a sappy sticky coating, mostly when used on the green side out of the husk. “

So I love these little guys. Sweet but not overwhelmingly so, crisp ( like those old pickle commercials on TV when some kid would snap a pickle in two before chowing down,) and most fun of all – semi indigenous to San Diego. If you can get your hands on some for sure make a salsa, slice them up for a summer salad, pan sear them with onions and olive oil to top a nice piece of fish, or just snack on them whole.

HAPPY EATING!!

-SUSANNAH 

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Baked Cheesy Eggs in Avocados, Say What?!

Hey Blogosphere,

So how about being totally badass and baking an egg, in an avocado, topping it with cheese, and serving it with breakfast potatoes? Let’s do this!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or large avocado
• 2 small eggs
• shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Crack the eggs in a medium bowl, careful to not puncture the yolks. Set aside.
3. Cut avocado in half and carefully remove seed. Depending on how big the seed is, the hole in the avocado should be big enough for one small egg. But if the hole looks too small, scoop out a little at a time till it matches the amount of egg.
4. In a medium baking dish, try to rest the avocado half inside the edge of the dish so that the avocado doesn’t tilt over. You need to keep the avocado from tilting so that the raw egg does not spill out. NOTE: I ended up using my egg poaching tray and then putting that inside a pie tin. See photo: 
5. You can crack the egg directly in the avocado, but it might overflow and make a mess. So this technique will be useful: With a medium spoon, gently scoop out one of the yolks and place it into the hole of the avocado. Then continue spooning the egg whites into the avocado hole till it’s full. Repeat for both avocado halves.
6. Add salt and fresh cracked black pepper on top of the eggs, to taste. Sprinkle the shredded cheese atop the eggs.
7. Gently place the baking dish in oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Baking time will vary depending on how much egg you have and how big your avocado is. So keep checking the egg to see if it’s cooked to your desired consistency.
8. Serve up with your favorite breakfast potato medley!

ENJOY!

5 Minute Post! – Salmon,bacon,potato hash, served with a fried egg and a blood Mary.

Hi Guys,

Happy Weekend!

I just wanted to quickly share today’s brunch with you guys. I didn’t get a chance to photograph each stage because I was too busy thinking about eating it, I forgot to think about blogging it. In fact, this happens to me a lot. So I think going forward I’ll post 1 recipe a week, that may not have been planned for the blog, but ended up coming out so good I had to share. These will be my 5 minute posts!

Hope you enjoy!

Step One- the Hash!

Ingredients- potatoes, bacon, salmon, onions, salt, pepper, cumin and paprika.

• Dice up any potatoes you have on hand, red, russet, sweet – you name it! (In a pinch a frozen hash browns can be used, simply heat them up and break them apart to small pieces. ) Set potatoes aside.
• Dice up 3 slices of bacon into small pieces. In a skillet cook the 3 chopped up pieces of bacon, and 1 intact piece of bacon medium heat.
• When the bacon is 1/2 way cooked, set the intact slice aside and add the potatoes and spices listed above to the pan with the diced bacon. Mixing all ingredients together, continue to cook on medium heat.
• Salmon- For this hash the salmon needs to already be cooked. I had cooked the salmon the night before (let me know if you want that recipe.) Flake the salmon into little pieces and add it to the mixture, continue to heat on medium heat.
• Add cream cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese as desired.
• When the hash is done, remove from pan and set aside. Do not allow pan to cool.

Step Two – Fry your egg!

• Turn the heat up to high and then fry your egg.
• Serve the hash, with the egg on top, and sprinkle the plate with dill.

Step Three- Make your drink!

I served this meal up with a bloody Mary complete with a celery, olive, onion and bacon garnish. That’s right! Remember you 1 slice of intact bacon? Well add it to your bloody Mary for the tastiest garnish there is.

FINAL PRODUCT