Welcome to Seasoned Cooking and to Phil's International Flair!
This has been an eventful month! At the end of July, Gilroy held its annual Garlic Festival with plenty of good food, most of it based on garlic. Then, during the first week of August, Santa Barbara held their annual Fiesta celebration. Once again, there was more good food. I just hope I didn't gain too many pounds over the course of these events! We even had the pleasure of listening to Pasqual sing with the Mariachis in his popular restaurant. Unfortunately, my mother was disappointed that I forgot to bring her some of my BBQ sauce during the fiesta weekend. I guess that gives me a good excuse to visit again soon!
In addition, I managed to secure tickets to the next Paul McCartney tour to San Jose, California on October 22. After seeing him perform last April, I vowed that if I ever had another chance to see him perform again, I would do so. His last performance opened with Cirque de Soule and was absolutely spectacular. I am very much looking forward to the next performance.
To top it off, people keep asking me to market or sell my BBQ sauce, Salmon Supreme and smoke baked salmon. Since all of the salmon I have is sport caught, I am not allowed to sell it -- legally or ethically. However, I actually sold the first quart of my BBQ sauce to a friend of a friend for $10 on the day of this writing! I plan to make a new batch this weekend since I gave most of the last batch away to friends in Alaska and used it for the BBQ/video/picture display held at Derrick's house after our July Alaska trip. This turned out to be quite a successful event with my BBQ sauce used on pork ribs and the Salmon Supreme we served for an appetizer. Grilled Alaskan salmon and halibut were the main entrees, along with sweet corn on the cob and the French Potato recipe from last month's column. We basically repeated the fabulous dinner in Alaska that I mentioned in my last column. The Salmon Supreme and ribs went fast!
I'm in the process of designing a label for my BBQ sauce and plan to begin marketing locally very soon. Once I hire a local kitchen to produce and package the sauce for me in quantity, I will begin selling it. I'll also be able to sell and ship it to Seasoned Cooking readers as well. Let me know via email if you are interested in buying some. If the demand is high, I will have an incentive to produce more and arrange for appropriate labeling and shipping as well. Rest assured, I intend to make sure that the mass produced product is every bit as good as my homemade sauce.
This month, I would like to present a recipe for salsa that my Mexican grandmother used to make. My mother told me about this recipe over the fiesta weekend. She said that this was her favorite type of salsa.
Now, on to the recipe!
Taco Salsa
My mother prefers to use this salsa on tacos, taquitos or eggs. You might even try using it on hamburgers to add a Mexican fling to that otherwise boring burger. It is quick, simple and easy to make. And, it tastes really good! I think it would also go good with chips.
- 2 small cans tomato sauce
- 3 green onions, diced
- Cilantro to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Crushed red chili pepper to taste
Mix the above ingredients in a mixing bowl and allow it to set for at least an hour before using. The longer you let it set, the more the chili will penetrate the salsa making it hotter.
- Yields: 8 servings
- Preparation Time: 10 minutes