Salsa

Making salsa is neither hard nor time consuming, but having all the necessary ingredients on hand is the troublesome part. There is certainly some spice to it. And, in early autumn, all of these ingredients are in season. The recipe ratio comes from Harold Shifflett's YouTube video.

Makes 10 pints

Lots of salsa for the winter

Ingredients

10 pounds fresh tomatoes, any variety
8 tomatillos
8 jalapenos
4 red chilis
2 green bell peppers
1 bunch fresh cilantro
2 heads of garlic, cloves removed
4 tbsp lime or lemon juice
4 tbsp kosher salt or sea salt (this tastes salty to me, maybe next time start with 3 tbsp)

Directions

1. Prepare ingredients for the food prep:

Wash and core tomatoes. Slice into wedges and set aside.
Wash and de-stem hot peppers (red chilis and jalapenos). Set aside.
Wash and core the bell pepper. Discard seeds. Roughly chop.
Discard the outer hull of the tomatillos. Wash fruit and set aside.
Peel outer layer then roughly chop the onion(s).
Wash cilantro bunch, remove brown leaves and stems. Roughly chop and set aside.
Peel and trim hard end from garlic cloves. Set aside.

2. Work in batches. Toss everything except the salt and lemon juice into a food prep or blender and puree until no big chunks remain.

3. Pour puree into a large stockpot, add 1 tbsp of salt at a time, add lemon or lime juice. Boil for 1.5 hours or until the salsa reaches a proper consistency (not too watery, not too chunky).

4. Process in a hot water canning bath for 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Latte (Coffee or Tea)

If you like bits floating around in your tea, you can certainly skip straining the liquid before drinking. I strained it because I didn't want the spices to steep longer than they should. I would caution that you shouldn't drink this at night or before going to bed. These spices, while warming, are also stimulants. First time making this and after tasting, the recipe still needs some tweaking. Recipe can be doubled, as necessary.

Makes 1 cup.

Ingredients

1 cup organic milk (whole cow milk, coconut milk, almond milk, etc.)
1 tbsp organic pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1 tsp loose leaf black tea or green tea (instant coffee, instant espresso, or 2 tbsp freshly ground coffee)
sweetener to taste (I used 2 tsp organic sugar)
ground cinnamon for garnish (optional)
organic whipped cream for garnish (optional, only 8 calories per tbsp!)

Directions

Heat milk, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice in a small saucepan. Don't let it scald or boil, a gentle simmer until the milk starts to foam. Remove from heat and pour through a mesh strainer into a mug. Stir in vanilla extract and sugar. Enjoy.

Pumpkin Pie Spice

This autumn, Portland is strangely sunny and dry. Not that I'm complaining mind you. The mornings are a bit chilly now (in the 40s) but for the most part very pleasant. I'd imagine you'd be using this in a pumpkin or sweet squash pie; but for today, I am using this in a chai tea latte.

The basic ratio goes like this:

4 tbsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp ground nutmeg
4 tbsp ground ginger
3 tbsp ground allspice

Mix all spices together in a half pint mason jar. Stir until combined. Cap and label the jar. Use as directed by another recipe.

Steamed Bao with Pork and Nappa Cabbage

This is a different bao dough recipe than the other one (uses milk) or this one (uses milk powder) posted on this blog; the primary difference is that it doesn't call for dairy. For wrapping meat dumplings, it is very pliable and easy to work with. It's tastes ok. Though, it'll take a lot more tries to get the pleats to look "normal" at the top.

Steamed Bao, looks pretty ugly, tastes okay

Because it's autumn, it's about 60 degrees in the kitchen. I used a double boiler with a covered bowl insert to create a warm, dark environment for the yeast to rise. It's really quite clever. I didn't even have to crank the oven.

Sloppy Elk

I am cycling through the freezer and this ground elk is from earlier in the year. I thought I would do something different with it so I made Sloppy Joes.. with elk meat. After the copious amounts of doctored homemade ketchup, I really can't tell what I was thinking when I started this recipe. It's food and I'm hungry. Let's eat!

Ingredients

1 lb ground elk meat
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c homemade ketchup, plus more for reheating
garlic powder, to taste
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

In a large skillet, heat oil and add garlic. Fry the garlic a bit until lightly golden brown then add the peppers. Stir it around some more. Add the meat and the remainder of the ingredients. You should always be tasting this (after the meat has cooked).

The consistency should be about the same as spaghetti sauce, runny enough to be poured on top of bread, but not too liquidy to seep right through it. This can also be eaten on top of rice or other non-rice cooked grains.