Corduroy Orange

I got my first local tomatoes in my CSA shipment yesterday, accompanied by a healthy bunch of cilantro, some thai basil, and some corn (among other inclusions). As far as I’m concerned, though, those (along with a couple of garden-fresh hot peppers) are the most important parts for today, as I set out to make salsa.

I don’t particularly like tomato peel or seeds in my salsa. The easiest way to avoid both of those is to make a concasse of tomato. Basically, this means to peel, seed, and dice. The easiest way to peel the tomatoes is by removing the core from the tomato with a paring knife, slicing a small x in the opposite end with the tip of the paring knife (trying to cut as little of the flesh and as much of the skin as possible; ideally, the knife tip would go parallel to the flesh between it and the skin), and dunking the tomatoes in boiling water for about 10-12 seconds then immediately removing the tomatoes to ice water to cool. The small bath in the hot water isn’t really enough to cook the tomato, but it’s enough to loosen the skin and then it will come right off when coaxed by your paring knife.

The next step is to slice the tomatoes through their equator and squeeze the excess juice and seeds out of the tomatoes’ interior pockets. This juice is mostly water, and isn’t really necessary for salsa, though you can save it and add some in later if you think your salsa is too thick. Then, quarter the tomatoes and, carefully, slice parallel to your cutting board to remove the irregularly shaped interior portion of the tomato from the regularly shaped exterior. You’ll use both parts, but the interior takes a bit more attention to properly dice, whereas the exterior is ready to stack and slice.

I’ll slice the hot peppers thinly, starting at the end away from the stem and working my way up the pepper. When I get to the point where I start to see seeds, I’ll stand the pepper on its newly flat end and cut the pepper away from the seed core. By leaving the seeds and the pith out of what I use, I avoid the bitterly hot portion of the pepper. Then, I’ll slice the rest of the pepper and saute what I’ve cut briefly in oil. This will release the oils from the pepper and help distribute their heat evenly throughout the salsa.

I’ll probably saute the corn along with the peppers. Not so it’s fully cooked and mushy, but just a bit to help round out its flavor while still retaining its fresh-from-the-cob texture. While I’m at it, I’ll throw in some of the garlic I grew in my garden this year, thereby making it an entirely locally-grown treat (with the exception of the olive oil and salt, because neither can be produced in the Pittsburgh region).

Then, once all of that has been mixed together, I’ll mince the cilantro and thai basil and mix them in with everything else, add a bit of salt to taste, and leave it in the fridge for several hours while the flavors mingle and develop. By this evening, it will be ready for dipping!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 9:16 am and is filed under Recipes, Sustainable Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.