Ooh! A recipe from the woman who rarely cooks . . .
Yes, that's right, folks. I have a recipe to share.
(This entry is a repost, because when I posted it the first time - from my husband's computer - something was wonky about the date/time, and it never turned up on my f-list (this has happened to me before; I think he has the time set wrong on his machine). So, since I'm not sure whether or not any of you actually saw it - and since I'm posting it to *share* ::grin:: - I'm resposting it now, from my machine. Sorry for the duplication if any of you actually did see this the first time around).
One of my favourite restaurants of all time is a place called Tito's Tacos, in Los Angeles (well, Culver City, really). And it's not really a "restaurant" - it's a big taco stand. But it's been there for years, and I LOVE the food. I've got lots of memories to go along with eating there - like how every time a Pippi Longstocking movie was going be on television on a Sunday, we'd go there and bring back dinner to eat while we watched the show. (It was a family tradition, right robingrace)? Hope and a hey and a hope sha na!
Anyhow, one of my favourite things is their salsa, and I've never found anything like it anywhere else. I tried to Google the recipe, but Tito's has said they're not giving it out. So, in a rare moment of gastronomical experimentation, I decided to see if I could reproduce it on my own. (Gail and I had a chat about this when she was down, trying to figure out what the ingredients were, and for some reason I was inspired). And guess what . . . I did! I wandered through the produce section of my grocery store, grabbed some likely ingredients, and after three tries, I came up with something that tastes pretty close, anyway, and it's yummy, so I'm feeling pretty happy about the whole thing right now.
NB: I didn't measure quantities of things when I was creating this; it's just done "to taste" - but I'll describe the amounts as closely as I can. This version is fairly mild, but of course it could easily be spiced up by adding more jalapeno.
Ingredients:
1/4 of a white onion
1/4 inch of a jalapeno pepper
Black pepper (about 1/8 t)
Salt (about 1/4 t or to taste)
2 medium tomatoes
Put all ingredients *except* the tomatoes in a blender, and blend at a high speed until they are "liquified." Then, chop the tomatoes into chunks, add to the blender, reduce the speed and blend gently just until the tomatoes are chopped and mixed with the onion/jalapeno mixture (about 10 seconds or so). It should be runny, but don't over-blend the tomatoes, or you'll end up with a rather unappealing tomato foam (at least that's what happened to me the first time around ::grin::). Chill overnight. Serve with tortilla chips (or can be used as a garnish on tacos, burritos, etc).
So, if any of you decide to try this, let me know what you think. Especially Robin and Gail (and anyone else familiar with the original Tito's) . . . how close did I come?
(This entry is a repost, because when I posted it the first time - from my husband's computer - something was wonky about the date/time, and it never turned up on my f-list (this has happened to me before; I think he has the time set wrong on his machine). So, since I'm not sure whether or not any of you actually saw it - and since I'm posting it to *share* ::grin:: - I'm resposting it now, from my machine. Sorry for the duplication if any of you actually did see this the first time around).
One of my favourite restaurants of all time is a place called Tito's Tacos, in Los Angeles (well, Culver City, really). And it's not really a "restaurant" - it's a big taco stand. But it's been there for years, and I LOVE the food. I've got lots of memories to go along with eating there - like how every time a Pippi Longstocking movie was going be on television on a Sunday, we'd go there and bring back dinner to eat while we watched the show. (It was a family tradition, right robingrace)? Hope and a hey and a hope sha na!
Anyhow, one of my favourite things is their salsa, and I've never found anything like it anywhere else. I tried to Google the recipe, but Tito's has said they're not giving it out. So, in a rare moment of gastronomical experimentation, I decided to see if I could reproduce it on my own. (Gail and I had a chat about this when she was down, trying to figure out what the ingredients were, and for some reason I was inspired). And guess what . . . I did! I wandered through the produce section of my grocery store, grabbed some likely ingredients, and after three tries, I came up with something that tastes pretty close, anyway, and it's yummy, so I'm feeling pretty happy about the whole thing right now.
NB: I didn't measure quantities of things when I was creating this; it's just done "to taste" - but I'll describe the amounts as closely as I can. This version is fairly mild, but of course it could easily be spiced up by adding more jalapeno.
Ingredients:
1/4 of a white onion
1/4 inch of a jalapeno pepper
Black pepper (about 1/8 t)
Salt (about 1/4 t or to taste)
2 medium tomatoes
Put all ingredients *except* the tomatoes in a blender, and blend at a high speed until they are "liquified." Then, chop the tomatoes into chunks, add to the blender, reduce the speed and blend gently just until the tomatoes are chopped and mixed with the onion/jalapeno mixture (about 10 seconds or so). It should be runny, but don't over-blend the tomatoes, or you'll end up with a rather unappealing tomato foam (at least that's what happened to me the first time around ::grin::). Chill overnight. Serve with tortilla chips (or can be used as a garnish on tacos, burritos, etc).
So, if any of you decide to try this, let me know what you think. Especially Robin and Gail (and anyone else familiar with the original Tito's) . . . how close did I come?