29Jul

Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

One of my favorite homemade sauces is tomatillo salsa.  The green salsas you buy in the grocery store simply don’t compare with the fresh home made version!  The only tomatillo salsa in a jar that I like is the Trader Joe’s brand. There are however some great salsa verdes available at some Mexican and Spanish restaurants.  However, if you don’t eat pork, you’ll have to ask if they added pork to their recipe.

For me, I not only love eating this wonderful fresh salsa with chips, I love using it to make chicken casseroles or just smothering fish or chicken in it.  You can make it ahead of time and then add it to many dishes!  If you don’t eat meat, you can use it in vegetarian tacos or burritos or vegetarian Mexican casseroles.

The other day I was inspired to make this salsa and it turned out hotter than I really like, so I sauteed a whole onion until it was very sweet and browned, and then blended it into the salsa.  It toned it down and made it a bit sweeter.  Very nice!

So if you’re looking for a great Tomatillo Salsa recipe, here it is!:

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11Jun

Fresh herbs from the farmer's market and Beet and Fennel Recipe

Tuna Tahini Salad with Farmer's market herbs and strawberries

There is something so wonderful about going to the Farmer’s market and looking at all the beautiful, home-grown produce, herbs, plants and flowers for sale.  If you can’t have your own garden, I think this is the closest you can get to incredibly fresh and beautiful food.

A couple of weeks ago  when I went to the market, I spotted some fresh herbs, some of which I had never used before.  The man at the organic herb stand told me that the chive flowers, featured above in the salad, were all the rave with the local chefs. I tried it fresh in my salad and it was, oooooooooh, spicy!  (I ate the whole flower in one bite).  If you like onion flavor, this would be a great herb for you.  But I would recommend cutting them up a bit instead of devouring them whole like I did.  You can also saute these flowers and the chopped stems, and use them in vegetable or meat dishes.

I also decided to try the “Anise Hyssop” herb, just right of the salad in the picture above.  If you like licorice or anise flavor, this herb is for you.  It is quite strong but has a very lovely flavor and can be added to salads fresh or chopped up and used in fish, chicken or vegetable dishes.

I decided to put the anise hyssop in a dish I created with golden beets and fennel.  Now, these two vegetables may not be favorites of some people.  But again, if you like licorice or anise flavor, you will like this dish even if beets aren’t your favorite vegetable.

Golden Beets and Fennel with Anise Hyssop

Golden Beets and Fennel with Anise Hyssop

Here is the recipe:

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