Kitchen Ranch

Jalapeno Salsa

I needed a jalapeno recently and lucky for me, the husband was about to pop out to the shop for a 6 pack of our favorite local brew.

He returned with about 20 jalapenos.....just in case 1 wasn't enough. Remember the great garlic clove crisis of 2008? If you don't recall... that is when the husband thought a clove of garlic = a bulb of garlic and nearly made a sauce with 3 bulbs of garlic.

So, enter jalapeno salsa. 

So, I have researched and pondered the foamy salsa phenomena. I photographed this salsa right after it was made so I am dubious about the theory of the foam signifying breakdown/salsa going off. If anyone has a theory, let me know. 

Jalapeno Salsa recipe from All Recipes

• 10 fresh jalapeno peppers
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 white onion, quartered
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or more to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Place jalapenos in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Simmer until jalapenos soften and begin to lose their shine, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the jalapenos with a slotted spoon, chop off the stem, and place them in a blender. Add the tomatoes and boil for 2 to 3 minutes to loosen the skin. Peel the skin from the tomatoes and add tomatoes to the blender.
2. Place the onion, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt, and black pepper in the blender or food processor with the jalapenos and tomatoes. 

 

Mushroom and Swiss Cheese Quiche

Quick, get a photo before it disappears! That good.... thanks Mollie Katzen of Moosewood!

Crust

1/4 cup (half a stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup flour, can be part whole wheat
Dash salt
3 tbsp. buttermilk

Use the processor to prepare the crust: dump flour, salt, and butter chunks in the processor. Give the gadget a whirl. Dribble in cold, cold liquid starting with lesser amount and adding until the dough sticks together. Whirr between additions.

Take dough out of processor. On a nicely floured tea towel roll out the dough until it is slightly larger than the pan. It should be about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. Transfer to pan and turn edges under, pressing against wavy sides of pan and cutting dough where necessary so that the edges are not too thick.

After preparing the crust, there are three more steps before baking the quiche at 375°F.

Quiche

• 1 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced or minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (If you don't have this in your pantry a squirt of regular mustard will work fine)
• a pinch of thyme
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375° 
2. Melt the butter in a small pan.  Add onions, and saute over medium heat for a few minutes.  Once the onions are soft, add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and mustard.  Saute for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.
3. Whisk together the eggs, milk and flour.  Beat well.
4. Press your pie crust into a pie pan or a springform tart pan.  Spread the grated cheese over the bottom of the unbaked crust.  A little tip from me...get sliced Swiss from the deli and then just cut it with a knife into "shreds" to save time shredding.  Pour the mushroom onion mixture on top of the cheese.  Pour your egg mixture on top of all that.  Top with paprika if you wish.  I decided to add some thin tomato slices to the top for color.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes (until the eggs get solid in the center of the quiche.  Serve at any temperature for any meal of the day.

Fondue

What fun.... Fondue recipes are plenty and there are some great sites out there: Here and  Here for starters.

We enjoyed a chocolate fondue, a vegan mushroom fondue as well as a cheese fondue recipe we found in Sunset Magazine.

And if you don't have a fondue set...you should. You are in luck because Ebay offers some delightful sets a la 70's....

 

 

Cheese Straws

This is a recipe that I am asked to make time and time again. I can never photograph them fast enough- they disappear quickly.

Link to recipe, Thanks Ina.... here

Tomato Salsa

The 5 tomato plants in the garden are producing tomatoes non stop. I am so happy about this-I can eat 5-8 tomatos a day if required. The abundance led me to this delicious and very easy tomato salsa-

• Chop your tomatos (about 2-3 Cups)

• Cilantro minced 2 Tablespoons

• 1 Minced serrano chili

• 1/2 Lime Squeeze of Lime juice

• Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine and serve

Pickled Grapes

Pickled Grapes are a lovely sensation for your mouth. Seen here: Pickled Grapes

Amazing as pickled grapes are, what I really want to talk about is the weather. I live in Southern California and I am donning a sweater and the daughter just asked if we could light a fire and do some sewing....and it is August!

Aside from that, the chickens are adjusting well. I would like to post additional pictures but Typepad is not allowing this. Technical difficulties make me sigh. More soon.

Galette (Not a Rainboot)

A galette is a general term used in French to designate different types of round and flat crusty cakes. See the Wikipedia entry for extreme details.

I had never tried to make a galette until this weekend and rest assured that I will again be making a galette for next weekend.

Last week I was sifting through recipes for inspiration when I stumbled across the following and just knew I had to have a go. Butternut Squash and Carmelized Onion Galette on Smitten Kitchen.

The recipe details are outlined perfectly at the link above and the photos are far more appealing than this one:

Yum.