Rich Buttery Croissants

{Herself sez: YUM!} OK – let’s set a couple of things straight: this is not something that you can just toss together and forget. This is not a bread machine recipe. It takes a bit of work over the course of a day and a bit. {{Herself sez: WHAAAT?}} This is what is known as a laminated dough. What’s laminated? Well, that is something made from two or more layers of different materials. Many things in history have been laminated by folding – Toledo steel or Japanese steel come to mind. Hundreds of layers of steel with the fine watery lines between layers. You don’t get this by making something out of hundreds of layers. You start by having two to three layers much bigger than the finished product, then folding multiple times and forging the layers together and repeating many times. This is not as hard as you think; follow along:

Ingredients:

115	g	granulated sugar (4 oz)
30	g	salt (1 oz)
30	g	dry milk powder (1 oz)
1		egg
512	g	water, ice cold (18 oz)
1	tsp	vanilla extract
½	stick	unsalted butter, softened (2 oz)
2	pkg	yeast
900	g	bread flour (2 lbs)
7	sticks	unsalted butter, softened (1 lb. 12 oz)
	Glaze
5	fluid ounces	heavy cream
3		eggs

Directions

You want a good strong mixer with a dough hook. You might talk a bread machine into doing the kneading, but you’re on your own there; I don’t use bread machines. You don’t want to knead by hand unless you are trying to build some serious muscles and/or are a bit of a masochist.

Put everything except the last 7 sticks of butter into the mixer bowl, mix for 3 minutes on low speed, 3 minutes on second speed. The dough should be soft and smooth.

Line a sheet pan with parchment or freezer paper; put the dough on it and shove into the refrigerator for about an hour. You want it well chilled. Chilled is the secret of working with butter doughs.

Put the 7 sticks of soft butter into the mixing bowl with a paddle. I don’t think you can do this in a bread machine. If the butter is soft enough you might get by with a hand mixer. Anyway, mix until very smooth and lump-free and elastic, but still firm. If it is too mushy shove it into the fridge for a few minutes and it will firm up. Anyway put the butter between sheets of parchment paper and roll out until 10 inches square. If it gets soft put it back in the refrigerator.

When the dough is good and cold roll it out to the height of the butter plus an inch and twice the width plus an inch. Therefore: if the butter is 10” tall we need dough 11” tall. If the butter is 10” wide we need twice plus so we need about 21”wide. See – what we are doing is making a butter sandwich. Think of the dough as the covers of a book and the butter as a page. Put the butter on the dough centered on one half of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over and seal the edges closed. If you did everything right the dough and the butter are the same consistency and should have gone together nicely. One layer of dough, one layer of butter, one layer of dough nicely sealed around three edges and about 11” by 11” or so.

The Single Book Fold: OK, so now you have a book with a spine and three sealed edges. Place the spine facing you. Roll the dough out until it is ½” thick. This will take some work. Be patient. Now fold the right 1/3 over and then the left 1/3 over. This is called a book fold.

The Cool Down: Put it back on the sheet pan with the parchment paper and cover with a cloth. Put back in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Repeat the book fold and the cooldown.

Repeat the book fold and the cooldown.

Now, this is one of those math things. If you count the layer you will notice that the count goes up logarithmically so you now have hundreds of layers. Handy trick, that. That is also how you make folded steel knives and swords.

OK, now point the seamless side towards yourself. Roll out the dough until it is 15 inches wide by 1/8 in thick by however long it winds up being. This may take a bit of doing. Cold dough with that many layers can be tough to work with. If it looks to be getting too warm shove it back in the fridge for a bit, but you shouldn’t have any problem if you work at a reasonable pace.

Cut the dough in half and then into even triangular strips. The strips should be around 4-1/2 inches by 7-12 Inches. Roll the strips up going from the base of the triangle to the point. Put them on a parchment lined sheet pan and curve them slightly to look like – well – croissants. Cover with a cloth and put them back in the refrigerator overnight. What this does is retard the final fermentation and rise. You can freeze them at this point and they will do fine.

Take them out of the refrigerator or the freezer and let them warm to room temperature and rise until about increased by about 70% or so. Warmth and humidity are good at this point if you have some control over such things 80°F and 80%RH. Too warm and humid for me, but the dough likes it.

Glaze before baking: Beat the eggs and mix with the cream and brush it over the croissants. (This is optional.)

Bake 425°F for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

You will get somewhere around 30 to 35 croissants. I usually freeze them in batches of 4. On the weekend I take them out of the freezer and plop them onto a foil lined pan and cover with a cloth very early in the morning, then go back to bed. When I get up later and start cooking breakfast the croissants are usually thawed and risen. I bake them while the bacon (or hog jowl) and eggs (in some incarnation or other) are cooking. Wonderful!!!

{{Herself Sez: So why bother? Just pick some up at the local bakery or grocery. Right? WRONG! The ones available at even the most upscale stores will not be as flaky and puffy as the ones you bake at home. We used to purchase from a local store when himself wasn’t feeling like making them. The last time we bought them, they were tough, less than puffy, and not particularly flaky. Never again!}}

Motor Oil Sludge for Your Salad

Aka Garlic Balsamic Dressing

This is really good stuff. You should get a nice Haas avocado and split it in half, discarding the seed. Fill the seed cavity with this sludge and eat with a spoon. Wonderful stuff. Also works nicely on standard salads.

Ingredients

2	Tbs	balsamic vinegar
1	Tbs	red wine vinegar
1	tsp	your favorite mustard
2	Tbs	dark brown sugar
½	tsp	salt
¼	tsp	fresh ground black pepper
2		large minced garlic cloves
¼	cup	olive oil

Directions

Use a small food processor or hand mixer or immersion blender. What you want to do is emulsify and doing that by hand takes a bit of a masochist.

You can mince your garlic in a mini processor, but a garlic press works best. Mix up everything except the olive oil vigorously.

Add in the olive oil and really whip things up. When you get a nice emulsification it will resemble used motor oil and will not separate under normal conditions. Enjoy.

{{Herself Sez: I LOVE this dressing – +5! My basic favorite! You can vary by using raspberry balsamic vinegar, and toss some fresh raspberries or strawberries in the salad. }}

Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

{{NOTE: Instant Pot

https://amazon.com/Instant-Pot-Bluetooth-Multi-Use-Programmable/dp/B00N310CKG/ref=sr_1_4?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1501341021&sr=1-4&keywords=instant+pot

Worth the money. Bluetooth is handy to set complex programs.}}

Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

4-5 garlic cloves
4 cups water
3 lb. corned beef brisket, including spice packet
2 lbs petite red potatoes, quartered
3 cups baby carrots
1 head green cabbage, cut into large wedges

—-seasoning packet ingredients—–
{leave this out if you are using the packet that comes with the meat.}

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 bay leaves, crushed
8 Allspice berries
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1. Place corned beef brisket, spice packet, garlic and 4 cups of water into the instant pot. I used the rack to keep the brisket off the bottom of the pot.

2. Cook on 90 minutes using the meat/stew setting or high pressure for 90 minutes. Once time is up, quick release pressure. Remove corned beef to a platter and cover with foil. Let rest while cooking the vegetables.

3. Without discarding liquid, add potatoes, carrots, and cabbage to pressure cooker, you may remove the rack if desired.

4. Cook at high pressure for 5-6 minutes. Do a quick pressure release before removing vegetables.

Servings: 6

Colcannon

Ingredients

3 lbs potatoes, scrubbed
2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cups hot milk
Freshly ground black pepper
1 head cabbage, cored and finely shredded
1 (1-pound) piece ham or bacon, cooked the day before
4 scallions, finely chopped
Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

• Steam the potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes. Peel them using a knife and fork. Chop with a knife before mashing. Mash thoroughly to remove all the lumps. Add 1 stick of butter in pieces. Gradually add hot milk, stirring all the time. Season with a few grinds of black pepper.
• Boil the cabbage in unsalted water until it turns a darker color. Add 2 tablespoons butter to tenderize it. Cover with lid for 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly before returning it to the pan. Chop into small pieces.
• Put the ham in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Drain. Remove any fat and chop into small pieces
• Add cabbage, scallions, and ham to mashed potatoes, stirring them in gently.
• Serve in individual soup plates. Make an indentation on the top by swirling a wooden spoon. Put 1 tablespoon of butter into each indentation. Sprinkle with parsley.

Servings: 6
Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Vicki’s Cake (Victoria Sponge Cake)

This is a quintessential and favorite British tea time cake. It is called the Victoria Sponge Cake because it was Queen Victoria’s favorite for high tea. When you are the Queen you get what you want. It’s good to be the Queen.

2	sticks	unsalted butter, softened (1 cup)
220	gr	sugar (1 cup)
2	each	eggs
160	gr	all-purpose flour (1 cup)
6	gr	baking powder (1-1/2 tsp)
125	gr	milk (1/2 cup)
4	gr	vanilla extract (1 tsp)

Set your oven to 400°F (200°C). Lube an 8 inch spring form pan with unsalted butter.

If you are a masochist and doing things by hand you mix up the dry goods, cream the butter and sugar, add the dry goods, then add the wet goods. Of course, you pre-mix the flour and the baking powder. Then pre-mix the milk and the vanilla. Oh yeah, if doing by hand then you may want to use powdered sugar. It dissolves and creams a little faster.

If you are using a good mixer like a sensible person, then cream the butter and sugar until they are supple and smooth. Then add the dry stuff – flour, baking powder – and mix it in on low. Then add the milk and vanilla and mix until smooth. Notice – no pre-mix is necessary. You also want to be extra cautious if you use powdered sugar. It tends to go everywhere when the mixer starts. The flour and the milk sometimes do also. You might want to bump the mixer a time or two as you start. I wish Kitchenaid had a soft start. My Cuisinart hand mixer has soft start and it is wonderful.

Either way, dump the batter into the pan, bake at 400°F (200°C) until a toothpick comes out clean. This will be somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes depending on your oven. Mine tends to run around 30 minutes. Cool down still in the pan for about 10 minutes on top of a wire rack. Pop the outer ring off and, leaving the cake on the pan base, cool down completely. If you are not doing something else with the cake you can just leave it on the bottom of the pan.

You now have a proper Victoria Sponge Cake. Traditionally, you just whack and serve. If you want (and have a very steady hand), you can cut it in half and add some preserves in the middle. Apricot and raspberry are traditional (and good). Of course, you can use any preserves or other stuffing that you like. If you are like me, I think that this cake is a bit thin for cutting in half. I would cook a second cake and layer them together. Of course, you will have to shave the top of the bottom cake so the top layer will sit flat. Oh well, the cook gets the leftover top goodie. It’s good to be the cook. You can also sprinkle some powdered sugar on the outside if you like.

Custard is also used as a stuffer. A dollop of whipped cream has been known to be used for a topping.

As a note: a real purist would not use vanilla extract, but heat the milk and then soak a scored vanilla bean in it.

Impressions of the San Diego ACR – 2013

To an old HVAC engineer ACR means something entirely different – but here it means American College of Rheumatology.

The good: I got to meet a bunch of herself’s web buddies. Mostly beautiful women. A couple of guys, but mostly, I remember the women. The thing that so many people don’t seem to do is to look into rather than just at. Now, the at was pretty damn good. Mostly the gals you read on the RA Warrior blog are just lovely. But the into. Wow. Incandescently gorgeous. What most don’t seem to realize is the amount of strength and guts it takes for these people to just get out of bed and put one foot in front of the other every day. So, not only are these gals babes, not only are they intelligent and funny, but they are some of the most courageous people you will ever meet. (Guys too, just not my cup.)

The bad. Deep sigh. You would think that at an ACR conference there would be very little ignorance about RA. Deeper sigh. There is. Lots. Let us firstly understand that the way these beautiful, gutsy people made it here and put on a smiling face and functioned is – tada: THEY WERE DOPED TO THE GILLS. Most of them were on some sort of Prednisone taper, and even so, paid one hell of a price in pain every day. But – there were even doctors who seemed to be totally ignorant of the reality of RA. One guy even mashed hands and fingers without permission and stated, “You couldn’t have RA – your hands are not bad enough.” Jackass. I say that advisedly. I can see a layman with that level of ignorance. BUT A RHEUMATOLOGIST!!?? That’s really a bad.

The ugly. Well. I only heard one set of the speeches, the set that Herself was in (no surprise). One of the speakers positively chirped in a totally cheerful way about the strong need for diet and exercise. Also did not seem to draw any lines between RA and OA. …Gotta change that name. OK. A little common sense here. Speaker – let me see you get up and do a brisk two-mile walk when there are knives in your feet. Oh, swimming??? Good idea!! Wonderful exercise. First – let’s find a local pool that is not too cold for use with RA. Most pools are swimming pools – temp somewhere at 85⁰F OR LESS. What the RA Warrior needs is at least 88⁰F, preferably 92⁰F. There is no way an athletic swimmer can tolerate that range. There is no way an RA Warrior can handle less than 88⁰F. Looks like exercise might be a little tough for the RA people. My observation: every time useful exercise is attempted it takes three days to recover. This is known as a net loss. OK – diet. Easy enough. Just – oh, wait a minute, is this the one or two days a week that methotrexate DOESN’T have the guts totally torn up? Lemme tell you sumtin. As the caretaker and cook, I will fix whatever Herself can get down and keep down most of the time. And that is a bloody moving target. It can change half an hour before dinner. Now – I may have a real bad attitude, but on the days when something CAN be eaten I’m going to cook what is a treat and tastes good. And the food Nazis can go to hell. You know the medical diet? If it tastes good – spit it out. Nope. Mostly I cook what will stay down, and the mayor of New York can go to hell on the days when good food can be used. What is really ugly is that was a real RA pro.

Conclusion: It was good, mostly. But I despair of the state of things when that level of ignorance was the best we’ve got. Kelly, babe, keep on educating as hard as you can. It is needed.

Lest I forget – I did meet a whole bunch of really good docs. I don’t want to leave the impression that there are not some really top notch people involved in RA. There are. Doctors and researchers and so forth, oh my. I suppose the majority of the people there were (are) actively as involved as they can be in trying to fight this horror. God, please bless the good ones.

Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms with Walnut Dressing

1	lb	Brussels sprouts
1	lb	mushrooms
1-2	Tbs	olive oil
1/4	cup	crushed walnuts
1	Tbs	minced shallot
1	Tbs	lemon juice
1	tsp	whole-grain or Dijon mustard
1/2	Tbs	mirin

 

Trim the stems of the Brussels sprouts and cut a cross in the base. Steam the sprouts and the mushrooms together for 8 to 10 minutes until the sprouts are tender.

Meanwhile, whisk oil, shallot, juice, mustard, walnuts, mirin. Add salt and pepper to taste if you think it needs it, but I find that it really doesn’t. Really works well with shaking in a capped jar if you’d rather do that than whisk. Sometimes whisking chopped nuts is a bit of a pill.

Drain the veggies well, rough chop and serve with the dressing.

Five Spice Fish and Garlic Spinach

[HERSELF SEZ: Here I am again – posting for Himself who refuses to learn how to use WordPress and relies upon me to post for him! But this IS his post!]

1	tsp	grated lime peel
3	Tbs	fresh lime juice
4	tsp	minced fresh ginger
1	tsp	five-spice powder
1	tsp	sugar
		salt, pepper to taste
		vegetable oil
1	lb	salmon steaks
1/2	lb	fresh baby spinach leaves
2		large cloves garlic, minced
		nước chấm (optional)

The five spice powder is basically Chinese in origin, but this is a kinda fusion version. For me it has a bit of a Vietnamese hint to it. I’m not sure what you’d call the rest of the influences. The Chinese get a bit mystical about the whole thing and talk about five spice powder being the perfect balance of sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty; the five fundamental taste groups of Chinese cuisine. To my simple old Western mind it has cinnamon, clove, star anise, ginger, and fennel. Whether it was some mystical blend to achieve universal harmony, or some genius with taste buds made it, or some dumb assistant cook sneezed ad dumped all the spices together is immaterial and will probably never be known. Who cares, it is good stuff. There are many variations, but when you get it at the store it will probably be something similar to the above.

On to the goodies:

Mix up the marinade: lime peel, juice, five spice powder, sugar, a splash of oil (about a teaspoon), salt and pepper to taste. Put the fish and the marinade in a dish or plastic bag, whichever you like for soaking, and let it soak in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Don’t go too long as citrus will prematurely cook seafood to the detriment of the final taste.

Crush or mince the garlic into one to two teaspoons of oil and dump over the spinach. Mix it up with your hands. What you want to do is wilt the spinach, so it isn’t necessary to stem it before using. If you like the old fashioned way you can wilt the spinach in a skillet or some such. The easy way is to nuke it on high for 2 minutes or so. That works nicely, and it is hard to goof up.

You should have decided ahead whether to grill, use a contact grill, or pan fry. Whatever your choice, it should be ready to go at this point. We like pan fried in a hot skillet with a little olive oil and a little sesame oil for flavor. A nice crust can be had without drying it out if you keep the heat up and the time down to about 3 minutes a side or whatever works for you. If you grill give about 4 minutes a side covered. Toss any leftover marinade. While you cook the fish is really the best time to wilt the spinach if you are using the microwave method.

Serve the fish on a bed of spinach. It doesn’t need anything else, but if you a feeling in a Vietnamese mood serve a little nước chấm (1) (2) on the side.

(1) Discussion of Nước Chấm and Nước Mắm is found HERE.

(2) Another discussion of Nước Chấm and Nước Mắm is found HERE.

BBQ Sauces

[Herself is publishing this (as usual!)]

No real directions needed! Just mix ’em up and heat ’em up.

01 – Big Daddys Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce
1 cup prepared yellow mustard
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs liquid smoke (hickory flavoring)

02 – St. Louis Barbecue Sauce
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs yellow mustard
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne

03 – Classic BBQ Rib Sauce
2 cups ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup minced onion
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs water
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne
fresh ground pepper to taste

04 – Kansas City Rib Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cayenne

05 – Memphis Barbecue Sauce
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 Tbs minced garlic
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs molasses
2 Tbs prepared mustard
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs mild chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne (optional)

06 – Best Odds Pulled Pork Sauce
1-1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup hot water
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne

07 – Piedmont Barbecue Sauce
1-1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

08 – Mustard Sauce
1 cup prepared yellow mustard
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp cayenne

09 – North Carolina BBQ Chicken Sauce
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs butter
2 tsp salt
1/4 Tbs hot pepper sauce

10 – Jack Daniel’s Rib Glaze
1 cup Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

11 – Columbia Gold Barbecue Sauce Recipe
2 cups prepared yellow mustard
2/3 cup cider vinegar
3 Tbs tomato paste
1/2 tsp chipotle Tabasco sauce or you favorite hot sauce
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules or 1 cube
2 tsp dried rosemary leaves
1 tsp celery seed
3 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

12 – East Carolina Barbecue Sauce
2 cups cider vinegar (you can cut this in half if you think it will be too vinegary for you)
2 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs ground dry mustard
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbs Worcestershire
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 tsp cornstarch

13 – East Carolina Kiss & Vinegar Barbecue Sauce & Mop
1-1/2 cups of distilled vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce
2 Tbs sugar (white, light brown, or dark brown)
1 Tbs salt
2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp finely ground black pepper

14 – MTR (Himself) KC Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1 cup white wine or some decent vinegar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1 Tbs black worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs white worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves minced fresh garlic (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
about 20 grinds black pepper

Experiment! Enjoy!

Ecuadorian Salsa

After trying the original recipe we had found, and then adjusting the recipe through several trials, we found this variation to be our top preference. It is a raw, rather than cooked, salsa, and is just delicious. Himself does the rough-chopping and dicing, while Herself sits at the table and uses the food processor.

1	cup	diced raw carrots
1	med	cucumber, seeded and chopped
1	cup	diced bell pepper (preferably red or orange)
1	large	onion, sweet, diced
2	each	tomatoes, large, juicy deseeded and chopped
3	each	garlic tooths, chopped
10	sprigs	sprigs parsley (leaves only), up to — 15 sprigs to taste
		Salt, freshly ground, to taste (Pink Himalayan is best)
1	cup	Lime juice (Key Lime juice works really well) (yes, that is one CUP – use more or less to your taste)
1	cup	Clamato juice (more or less) to taste
5	drops	Tabasco sauce (more or less) to taste (optional)
4	shakes	Cayenne pepper (more or less) to taste

 

CarrotsCukesBellPepOnionGarlic

1. Blend chopped tomatoes, diced onions, chopped garlic, seeded, chopped cucumber, diced carrots and diced bell pepper in a food processor to desired consistency. We like the consistency a little rough, while the original recipe called for using a blender and liquefying the ingredients. Make it however you like it. The food processor Herself likes to use is the smaller one, so each item is processed separately and then all are mixed together in a large bowl.

 

2. Mix well in a large bowl.

3. Add lime (or Key Lime) juice, Clamato juice, salt, Cayenne pepper, and Tabasco sauce. Use less Lime juice and Clamato juice if you prefer a dryer salsa.

Added Tomatoes & Parsley

 

4. Check seasoning and adjust. (Keep in mind that chips will be salty.)

5. Serving suggestions: serve with corn chips as an appetizer, or as a side with grilled chicken or a grilled, mild fish (like tilapia), or with grilled salmon.

Cooking Tip: Do not use Italian tomatoes, too dry.

Author Note: The original Ecuadorian Salsa recipe called for no additional liquids other than a few tsp of lime juice. The original recipe also called for smaller amounts, with all ingredients to be blended to a smooth consistency. It is a much drier salsa. It also does not call for cucumber – but we really like the flavor it imparts.

Second Author Note: The nice thing about “folk” recipes is that every family makes them a little differently, so if you want to make yours differently from this, feel free!

Mixed and Repacked
Keeps well in refrigerator up to 7 days (that’s as long as we have ever been able to keep it – we eat it too fast!)

 

Third Author Note: If you prefer cilantro, use that instead of parsley – we just don’t much like cilantro. Sometimes we substitute fresh basil from the herb garden Herself works on. Nice change of taste.

Set Out for Eating

O YUMMM