Variation on a Salsa Verde

For some time now, I've been craving salsa verde. I don't really know why, or even what I wanted to do when I find it, but there was a clear deficit of the stuff in my life. Store-bought salsas are pretty much invariably disappointing, and the green varieties double so. They usually at double the cost too.

Traditionally, salsa verde is made with jalapenos, tomatillos, cilantro, and lime juice. I don't like jalapenos (or, at least, I prefer other sources of heat), the cilantro at the store wasn't so great, and I forgot to buy lime juice. As usual, I was not about to let this deter me.

I used:

• 3 tomatillos
• 1 cup (or so) fresh basil
• 3/4 cup Vidalia onion
• 2 Serrano peppers
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 3/4 tsp celery salt
• 3/4 tsp turbinado sugar

First, preheat your broiler, with the top rack as far up as it goes. Now remove the papery husks from the tomatillos, and wash the sticky stuff from them. Now, slice them in half, and place on a cookie sheet with your peppers and unpeeled garlic. Put in the broiler, about 1-2 inches from heat. They should stay in until the tomatillos are slightly charred and falling apart, which takes about 10 minutes, but you should turn everything once halfway through.

While those are cooking, chop up your onion and measure the spices.

Once everything's cooked, take it out of the oven, peel the garlic and stem the peppers. Now, put everything into a blender or food processor and liquify. Adjust with salt, sugar, pepper, and whatever else you like, until you're happy. Remember - the flavors will be stronger once it has cooled and congealed a bit!

Serve with chips or on enchiladas or wherever you might want a very flavorful, slightly sweet but mostly tangy, heat. It also works very well as a pesto substitute if you use more basil.

Sous vide, Sans Frais

As anyone who watches Top Chef knows, cooking sous vide means cooking food sealed in a vacuum pouch, in a low-temperature water bath, for a long time. As anyone who has ever considered actually doing this knows, the "proper" way to do this - with special bags and a fancy, temperature-controlled water bath setup - is really expensive. I don't even have a vacuum food-saver, let alone a separate gizmo for water temperature control.

But I still wanted to try this sous vide business, and decided to see what I could come up with. I figured - my freezer bags are supposed to be microwave safe, why not lukewarm water safe? I also have a large pot and a candy thermometer which handily dangles from the side, measuring the temperature at about the center of the pot. The half-pound mahi hahi fillet I bought at the fishmonger today was just begging me to experiment.

I filled my large pot with water over a high flame and set up my thermometer. I stirred it around occasionally to make sure the temperature was even, and when it was at 125 (F) I reduced it to low heat, and made sure I could maintain it there while prepping the food.

For the marinade, I decided to go a bit Japanese, and used:

1/4 cup shochu (sake might be better, but I had shochu)
1/4 cup water (because shochu can be vicious)
1/8 cup light soy sauce
2 squirts of Sriracha
1 handful of chopped spring onions

I put all that, along with my fish, into a medium-sized (2-cup) freezer bag, and sealed it almost all the way. I then made my own vacuum by sucking the air out of the remaining open corner, pressing it shut as I did. Don't do this in front of your guests - it might will weird them out. Then, I dropped the bag into my pot and watched until the temperature rose back up to 125. Then, stirring occasionally and checking/adjusting the temperature, I let it cook for a little under 25 minutes (this was all, by the way, wild guesswork).

I opened the bag and served the super moist and extremely tender fish with jasmine rice. Let me tell you, this is a great way to cook. The flavors were amazing! I would use an even lighter marinade next time, because the fish really did just suck it all up - I even cut myself a few bites from the very center of the fillet and even there it was saturated with deliciousness.

Sous vide may become my new default way of cooking, when I'm not in a hurry. Fish cooks pretty quickly, but something like chicken or steak (which I fully intend to try!) will take a bit longer. But let it be known - this technique is not just for fancy-pants drama queens on Bravo. You too can use the principles to cook some really spectacular stuff at home.

Photoshop Failure #1

Thanks to Photoshop Diasters for this one...

There's something fishy about this picture...not quite sure if I can put my finger on it...

I have to wonder what this tastes like. I'm guessing either exactly like Special K or Honey Bunches of Oats. Possibly even a combination of the drippings of the scores of hefty women who work out there mixed with desperation and bad body images.

It's sweatastic!

Hank's Lookaround Cafe' Has Closed?

According to Dave Hughes of the comprehensive local media blog DCRTV.org, not only has Don Geronimo of the "Don and Mike Show" taken an early retirement, but his co-host, Mike O'Meara, has closed his self-named pub in Northern Virginia as well.

I had never been to O'Meara's, often referred to as "Hank's Lookaround Cafe'" of "The Larry Sanders Show" fame on the show, though I heard the nightlife was more memorable than the food. In fact I've been to Texas more in the past decade (four) more than I've been to nearby Manassas (two).

Don's departure from the show was expected - he'd announced months ago that he'd grown tired of the industry and regulations, though the retirement was thought to begin in another few weeks. O'Meara will continue on with the show, bringing back former producer Beth Ann McBride and keeping the rest of the crew.

Still, I can't wait to find out why O'Meara's restaurant has closed. I'll post more as I find out more.