Cooking Basics: Salsa

This is one of the easy ones that can turn you into a gourmet chef in no time.  Here's a basic primer on salsa that can enhance any dish.

I am going to assume that everyone has tasted a basic, old tomato-based salsa.  Take your pick of grocery store brands.  Here is the essence of it:

1/2 medium-size yellow onion  
2 cloves of garlic
1 t salt
juice of one lime
1/4 C of chopped fresh cilantro

3 medium-size tomatoes (base ingredient)
1 jalepeno (heat ingredient)

Toss it all in a food processor and pulse a few times.  Voila!  Fresh salsa, just like on the infomercial.  Here's where it gets fun.  This can be the basis of any salsa.

Salsa Base
1/2 medium-size yellow onion  

2 cloves of garlic

1 t salt

juice of one lime

1/4 C of chopped fresh cilantro

The rest is a base ingredient (like tomato) and some kind of heat (like jalepeno).  Replace tomato with avocado and you get guacamole.  Instead of tomato, try mango for mango salsa.  Any kind of fruit or mix of fruits can work.  Try pear and pomegranate.  Try pineapple or papaya or peach.  Anything can be a base.  Even carrots or beets or mushrooms.    

Then you can play around with the heat.  Instead of a jalepeno, the smoked variety is chipotle which can add a great flavor and heat.  Think of other hot stuff like black pepper, fresh ginger or wasabi.  Anything strong to wake up your guests.  

Another piece to play with is the lime juice.  Any citrus will work.  Lemon juice and orange juice work too.  

You can also play around with the onions.  Sweet Vidalia onions or red onions impart different flavors than yellow onions.  Try green onions too.  They will all work.  

For a fun meal, multiply the Salsa Base recipe by four or six.  The change the base ingredient and heat ingredient to make four to six different salsas at the same meal. 

These are all for fresh salsas.  I'm not a big fan of cooked salsas, but I'm all for cooking certain ingredients.  If you have a smoker at home, try smoking tomatoes or mushrooms and adding those to the base of fresh ingredients.  Play with colors too.  Carrots, jicama, pomegranate, etc.  

The more colorful your salsa, the more appetizing it will be.  Have fun!  Salsa is one of the great playgrounds of cooking as long as you know the basics.         

Cooking Basics: Mirepoix

What the heck is Mirepoix? (pronounced MEER-uh-pwah)

Some call it the "Holy Trinity" of cooking.  It is the basis for many stocks, soups, sauces, stews, stuffing, and many more dishes.  I just call it good old flavor.

Typically a mirepoix is:

onions (2 parts)
celery (1 part)
carrots (1 part)

In New Orleans, it is onions, celery and bell peppers.  Mirepoix is usually chopped up and is the first thing you water fry in a pan until brown.

What do you get when food turns brown in a pan?  FLAVOR!  Some people call it "carmelization."  Whatever you call it, anything you add to your mirepoix will have significantly more flavor.

Check out my recipe for: Garlic Thyme Gnocchi with Fennel Creme Sauce and Bok Choi Twists.  I use a mirepoix of leeks, fennel and carrots.  Leeks are very onion-like.  Fennel bulb is very celery-like.  It worked great!

Try out a mirepoix in your next sauce or soup.

Cooking Basics: Dough

For some reason, people freak out with the prospect of having to make a dough.  So, let's demystify the world of dough.

Grind up grains and mix it with water and you get dough.  Add more water and you get a slack dough that won't hold it's shape which can make bread with big holes like foccacia.  Add more water and it turns into batter for pancakes or crepes.  Roll it out, boil it and you get pasta.  Add yeast to a firm dough and you'll get bread.  Pound it flat and you get flatbread.  Let it sit for a few days and you get sourdough.

Contrary to popular belief, it's hard to mess up dough.  After learning the basics, I started making all my own breads, pastas and crackers.

Give this a try...

Mix by hand:

1.5 cups of whole wheat flour
.5 cup of water

This is a 3:1 ratio.  3 parts flour.  1 part water.  This will make a good-old middle-of-the-road dough.  Firm and a little bit tacky... kind of like touching a Post-It note.  Remember what this dough feels like.  You will have this consistency dough for many breads, crackers and pastas.

I will refer to this kind of dough and texture in future posts.

Cooking Basics: Water "Frying"

How do you pan fry without oil?

For most people, when they cook, oil is the first thing they reach for.  This is entirely unnecessary and just adds empty calories to your food.

The purpose of frying is to bring out the natural flavors and oils in food.  Most often, people fry onions and garlic to start a dish.  Instead of oil, use a couple tablespoons of water.

Some people call this "water frying."  The water will evaporate but will cook the onions and garlic enough to release their natural flavors and oils.

They will still brown.  Depending on your pan, they may stick, but this is nothing to worry about.  Anytime you sautee onions and garlic, it is likely the base for something like tomato sauce.  When you add the tomatoes, the liquid will pull those stuck pieces right into the sauce and take on all that flavor.

For extra credit, instead of water, use wine, fruit juice, vinegar, soy sauce, or brandy.  All liquids will accomplish the same end.  Trust me.  You won't miss it.