Fire Roasted Salsa

So I was watching Rick Bayless' Mexico, One Plate at a Time  on Sunday morning and it was all about salsas.  The main point of the show was that salsa in Mexico is used more as a condiment than as a chips/dip combination that we use here in the States.  He showed clips from various Mexican restuarants that would have 5 or 6 different varieties of salsa available for toppings to the tacos and street food they were enjoying.  One of the salsas he made in the show really caught my eye, it was a fire roasted salsa.  I made it that night and mixed it with some homemade queso sauce and poured over macoroni, topped with shredded cheese and breadcrumbs and baked for 20 minutes.  However, I think the salsa would be a great topping to almost any dish, it could go on fish, steaks, burgers, tacos, fajitas, or could be used as a dip with chips.  The recipe I used (and adapted from Rick Bayless') was as follows:

8 garlic cloves
1/2 onion
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 can of chipolte peppers, in adobo sauce (spoon out 4 peppers)
1/4 can of roasted red peppers
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1 tbsp of water
10 dashes of hot sauce

In a medium hot skillet, roast the garlic cloves, with the paper still on, until softened and paper is black in spots.  While you are roasting the garlic, slice onion into 1/8th inch slices and add to pan about halfway through the garlic cooking.  After garlic is roasted, remove from the pan and set aside.  Add the tomatoes, chipolte, red peppers and hot sauce to the pan with the onions.  Sautee for about 3-4 minutes, to remove the canned flavor and to heat slightly.  While this is cooking, peel the garlic from its paper and place in a blender with the cilantro, add the ingredients from your skillet and blend until smooth.  Add the water if needed to thin out slightly.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Hope you enjoy.

Simple Dinner

The other night we invited some friends over for dinner last minute.

We were excited to have them but weren't really sure what to make.

Since neither one of us is that good of a cook, we were truly stumped all afternoon about this.

Ultimately we decided pizza was the best way to go.

Easy, yet delicious!

I bought pizza dough from Fresh Market.

Since I don't like pizza sauce, yes I am that picky, we made two medium size pizzas,

one with sauce and one without.

The one with sauce is much prettier.

It included spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, pepperoni, & salami.

Topped with shredded mozzarella & feta cheese.

(Mine had everything minus the sauce and meat.)

Stuck them in the oven for a few.

And there you have it!

Simple, yet delicious, dinner for four.