Restaurant-Style Roasted Salsa Roja

Restaurant-Style Roasted Salsa Roja - In our house, we eat a lot of salsa. It doesn't matter whether it's fresh chopped Pico de Gallo, red, green or tomatillo... we enjoy it all. My husband prefers his to be somewhat nuclear on the heat scale. I'm more of a "medium" heat girl. This recipe is one of our favorites because it's very simple, has great texture and uses roasted vegetables. Whenever you roast anything it magnifies the flavors. It isn't too chunky and isn't too runny. This is the ideal salsa to dip into freshly made tortilla chips. But a warning.... as written, this recipe is hot. It's very spicy. That said, the heat can really vary depending upon your chiles. If you would prefer a mild or medium salsa, simply reduce the number of Serrano peppers. The first time you make this, I recommend you roast all the chiles then slowly blend them in one at a time until you find your brand of hot!

Homemade Roasted Salsa Roja - Ingredients

• 10 Roma Tomatoes, halved and seeds/liquid removed
• 8 Serrano peppers, stemmed
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1-2 white or yellow onions, peeled and sliced
• 1 "bunch" of cilantro leaves, plus some for garnish
• 1 TBSP sea salt
• 1 chipotle chile
• 2 TBSP adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Place tomatoes, garlic, onions and serrano peppers on a large baking rack. Bake for 30-40 minutes until onions are translucent and all vegetables are roasted. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

Place all remaining ingredients and roasted vegetables in a food processor or blender (I used our Vitamix) and pulse until blended to the desired consistency. Season to taste and add more or fewer peppers to obtain desired heat.

Cook's note: If you like some fresh chunky vegetables in your salsa, simply chop some additional veggies (not roasted) and stir into salsa. Another great addition is corn kernels off grilled corn on the cob or black beans - sky is the limit on variations!

Cherry Rosette

Cherry Rosette

Ingredients:
A:
180g butter.
180g icing sugar.

B:
2 eggs.
1/4 tsp vanilla essence.

C:
280g flour.
80g custard powder.
1/2 tsp baking powder.

D:
Some red glace cherries.

Method:

1. Cream A till light, then add in B and continue to cream till smooth and fluffy.

2. Add in the sieved C and mix till well blended.

3. Place the mixture into the piping bag with star tube. Pipe star rosette into the greased pan.

4. Cut the cherry into quarters and place a quarter on top of each cookie.

5. Bake at 170ºC for 15-20 minutes or till golden brown.

Tips:
If the mixture is creamed too long, the shape of the baked cookies will not appear clearly.

Orange Shell Cookies

Orange Shell Cookies
Ingredients:
A:
150g plain flour.
50g corn flour.
2 tbsp cocoa powder.
1/2 tsp baking powder.

50g corn flakes, finely crushed.
1tbsp grated orange rind.
100g butter or margarine.
50g sugar.
2 egg yolks.
1 tsp orange essence.

Method:

1. Sift togther A, then stir in corn flakes and orange rind. Mix well and set aside.

2. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks and orange essence until fluffy.

3. Fold in flour mixture and mix well until soft dough forms.

4. Shape dough into small balls and firmly press into 'putu kacang' mould. Then knock lightly to remove cookies.

5. Place cookies on lightly greased baking tray, allow room for spreading.

6. Bake in preheated oven at 180ºC for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let it stand for 20 minutes.

Tips:

For Variation: Mix sifted icing sugar with orange essence and beat until well mixed. Then spread on cookies and sandwich together.

Empedrat - Beans and Cod Salad

Empedrat - Beans and Cod Salad - This is a traditional Catalan dish. Its literal translation would be: Stoned; meaning done with stones. Maybe paved would be a closer translation. A funny name for a dish!

The recipe is really easy, with no cooking involved, perfect for a starter and a suitable choice for the summer. If you really feel like wasting no time in the kitchen and you want to offer your guests a different flavour... go for this one!

You can prepare this in advance, have it in the fridge and serve the plates fresh... there's no better salad on earth! My advise is to use your own cooked beans but if you feel lazy and not in the mood, then a high quality can would do the job.

Ingredients for 4 servings: 500 grs of white tender cooked beans, 400 grs of desalted cod, 100 grs of black olives, 250 grs of green onions, 350 grs of savory ripe tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, some parsley, salt and black ground pepper.

• Prepare the tomatoes, olives, onion and parsley. Cut, take off the seeds and bones and reserve in separate plates.
• In a big bowl, mix the tomatoes, beans and onion, dress with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Get a mould and pour the mixture inside pressing a bit so that it doesn't fall apart.
• Put the olives on top (either cut or in units), sprinkle with the parsley. Cut the cod in small pieces and decorate on top and circling the plate.
• Dress with some more olive oil, salt and black pepper.
• Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Enjoy!