Thinking about life and salsa

I'm domestic when I'm worried. I used to clean the house. Now, I cook or write.

There's too much going on. Work stuff. Family stuff. I'm getting ready to officiate my nephew's wedding. My cousin, Patrick, passed away last week. I'm definitely in my head lately.

I've reached the stage in my life when guys hit the midlife crisis. But sports cars don't have the head and leg room I require and Ash says "No effing way" on the motorcycle.

Screw it. Let's make salsa.

Roasted Salsa
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You'll need a baking pan and some olive oil.
Cilantro
Lime
Four whole tomatoes
Yellow onion - slice in half and pull the peel
Garlic - I used one clove of elephant garlic
Jalapeno peppers -5
Red bell pepper

The process
Place the tomatoes stem side down on the pan. Put a film of olive oil on all the vegetables. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until the red bell pepper turns black. Pull them out and let cool for 15 minutes or so. Handling them while they're still warm makes what you need to do easier.

Start with the red bell bepper. Pull the blistered skin off. Lop off the top and slice in half. Scrape out the seeds and ribs. Throw it in the food processer.

Next, the jalapeno peppers. For two of them, take off the top part and stem, then slice it lengthways. Scrape out the seeds and ribs. Slice each half in quarters and put in processor. For the other three, take off the top and cut them in quarters and toss it seeds and all into the processor.

Next is the onion. Roasted onions are slippery and their structural integrity has been compromised, so please be careful when you cut them. But coarse chop them and toss it in the processor.

Lastly, the tomatoes need to be done. WARNING: Roasted tomatoes hold onto their heat for a while. The blistered skin will come off easily, so peel it. Lop off the top and cut them into quarters and put them in.

Add fresh cilantro to suit your taste, along with the juice of one lime. Run the food processor for whatever consistency you like your salsa.

That'll do it.

Roasting the vegetables makes a big difference. I'll never make salsa again without doing that. It may not make up for not buying a motorcycle, but it's close.

Pad Thai recipe

I’ve experimented with a couple of Pad Thai recipes and I’ve come up with that hits the sweet, sour and spicy notes that I love about Pad Thai. You can make this as spicy or as tame as you wish, simply by adding to the recipe, or taking away the hot stuff. It will still be good.

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 chicken breasts, depending on si
• 1 package rice noodles
• 6 Tbsp fish sauce - This is essential. I found a 16 oz bottle for $3 at a grocery store.
• 5 Tbsp rice wine vinegar - this adds the sour or acidic flavor
• 6 Tbsp soy sauce - I use the low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp Sriracha sauce - This is completely optional. I keep it around all the time and use it instead of Tabasco. It has a much better flavor and adds good heat.
• Lime - juiced
• Crushed red pepper - to taste
• Ginger - about 3 inches, grated
• Garlic - 5 cloves, minced
• Red bell pepper, julienned
• Cabbage - I use Napa, but green or red cabbage will do. It adds texture. Whichever you use, slice it thin. Use as much or as little as you want, but I always use a lot.
• Green onions - a whole bunch, lop off the white part and dice them. Coarse cut the green part
• 2 eggs beaten
• Shrimp - a small package of salad shrimp will do, but you can use any kind
• Peanuts - crushed

Prep the Chicken

I start off by baking the chicken breasts. It takes about 45 minutes if you use the IQF breasts, or 20 minutes if they’re already thawed. You can do this whenever you have time and set aside the breasts so they’re easier to handle. Slice the chicken fairly thin.

Make the Sauce

In a small bowl, add fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce, Sriracha sauce, lime juice and crushed red pepper. Stir with a fork until peanut butter is liquefied. Set aside.

Prep the Vegetables

Grate the ginger. Mince the garlic. Julienne the bell peppers. Dice the white parts of the green onions. Slice the cabbage.

Make the Noodles

Boil water in a saucepan big enough for the rice noodles. When water boils, remove from heat and add noodles. Let them soak for 8 minutes and drain.

Heat the Wok

I recommend wok oil. You can use vegetable oil, but I don’t recommend olive oil because the temperature gets too high. Let it get good and hot. Medium high (7 or 8 setting) for a good 10 minutes to get it hot enough.

Note: Don’t worry if you don’t have a wok. Use a dutch oven or big saute pan.

Putting the Pad Thai together

1. Add ginger, garlic, red bell pepper and white parts of the onions and saute for a minute or so. Then push this up the side of the wok to get away from direct heat.

2. Add beaten eggs and cook all the way through. Then slice up the eggs and combine with vegetables.

Key: Cook the eggs without getting anything in them if possible. This keeps the eggs from acting as a thickening agent and lets them do what they’re supposed to do; keep everything separated. 

3. Add cabbage and green onions.

4.  Add chicken, shrimp and noodles and combine.

Key: You can make it spicier by adding crushed red pepper here.

5. Add sauce and combine. Keep the whole thing moving to marry all the flavors.

Serve

Add some crushed peanuts. This adds texture and flavor.

This will serve four with enough for leftovers. Making Pad Thai is fairly involved, but it will go easy and quickly if you prep everything beforehand. The second time you make it, you’ll knock it out it no time.