Extra Spicy Green Tomato Salsa

Just a quick update to my last post...

Adam is having a "Hot Off" (aka a competition to see who can handle the spiciest foods) at work today and requested I make that Green Tomato Salsa with habaneros instead of jalapenos. I just made a new batch not only with orange habaneros, but with double the amount (four instead of two). He claims it is so good, people would pay money for it. I'm not trying it, so I'll have to take his word for it.

If you or someone you know is one of those crazy people that likes to eat food so spicy that they sweat until their clothes are drenched, maybe give this version a try:

5 green tomatoes
1 onion
1 garlic clove
4 habanero peppers
small handful of cilantro
salt to taste
(I skipped the 1 tbsp of vegetable oil this time)

Green Tomato Salsa

I don't think my expectations were too high.

I just wanted one. One ripe tomato. With 4 tomato plants in my garden, I didn't think it was too much to ask. It was my first garden ever and I just wanted to pick one juicy ripe heirloom tomato off the vine. I had "Julia Child" tomatoes, crazy banana pepper shaped tomatoes, and yellow tomatoes. At first, there were just a couple little green globes growing. I waited patiently....and then, the squirrels got to them. Then some more green balls appeared, but I went out of town in the middle of tomato season. No one really knows if any of them made it to being ripe before getting eaten by pesky critters, but I didn't get a single one.



There are still a ton of unripe green tomatoes growing though, but it's been really cold the past few weeks since we returned from our honeymoon and I gave up. Yesterday, we made fried green tomatoes. I'd never had them before and Adam hadn't had them for years. We were both underwhelmed. But what else can you do with those firm green buggers? I had no idea.

Google led me to this recipe. I was skeptical, but we decided we might as well give it a try. Plus, I got to use the jalapeno pepper I found hiding under an overgrown tomato plant. And what do you know? It actually turned out really good. So if you too have a bunch of green tomatoes still hanging on and want an option besides frying them, here you go.

Maybe next year I'll get one.



Green Tomato Salsa
Note: If you want to make it extra spicy, try this version.

5 medium unripe green tomatoes
1 small onion
2 jalapeno peppers
1 garlic clove
a small handful of cilantro
salt
pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil


Combine ingredients in a blender or food processor. That's it!

Quinuevos Rancheros

Whenever I go on vacation, I come back completely disoriented. I forget how I used to function. In college, even after a long weekend, I'd come back wondering "How exactly did I mange to watch so many episdoes of Six Feet Under and do all my homework at the same time?" or even "What time do I normally eat dinner?" Coming back from my honeymoon has been no different. After 10 days of eating out for every meal, plus the weeks beforehand where I was traveling and not cooking regularly, have gotten my routines out of whack. I went to the grocery store the day after we got back since we had pretty much nothing in the fridge and was so overwhelmed, I ended up buying some apples and bananas and coming home. Not exactly great ingredients for dinner.

Slowly but surely I'm getting used to cooking again. The blogging part? That's coming back soon. I made myself a fantastic birthday cake last weekend and took pictures the first half, and then completely forgot about it. So I have pictures of making ganache and that ganache spread over the bottom layer of the cake, but anything else? Nope.

Oops.

I promise to be back in full force soon. There are too many new kitchen toys from the wedding for me not to be! I am super excited to start using my KitchenAid Ice Cream maker. I made my first batch of vanilla, just to get the hang of things, the other day and it is marvelous. I can't wait to try some more complex and delicious flavors. But anyway...to make up for my lack of entries lately, I bring you my dinner:



I got this recipe from Rebecca Woolf at Girls Gone Child. I am loving her new Eat Well section.

No recipe is really needed. Plop some quinoa on a plate. Top with 2 eggs, shredded cheese, salsa, cilantro, avocado and anything else you think would be good. I used cayenne pepper to add a little spicy to it. I don't think I've ever seen quinoa used in a dish like this but I think quinoa and runny egg yolks may be new favorite combo.

Honeymoon: Delancey

While we were in Seattle, we were lucky enough to have dinner at Delancey, the restaurant owned by Molly Wizenburg (Orangette), who you may realize from reading my blog, I love. A lot.



We started with Burrata, served with prosciutto and arugula (excuse the not-so-great pictures taken in the dark restaurant with my point and shoot):



Then, pizza! I picked sausage:



Salami and fennel seed (which I loved even though I do. not. like. fennel):


They may just look like normal pizzas, but they were AMAZING. Simple, high quality ingredients. The salami was especially phenomenal.

In the back, you can see Molly's husband, Brandon. In the front, you can see the bottle of rose that we drank...

Then, I met Molly. No big deal...



She and Brandon gave us dessert on the house since it was our honeymoon. This is Adam's. I can't remember what it was, except it involved blackberries and was delicious Oh hey, I took a picture of the menu. It's blackberry pavlova:



But mine was totally better. Peaches with honey whipped cream, and BOURBON carmel. The bourbon. It was good.:


If you ever find yourself in Seattle, I highly recommend checking out Delancey (and getting there when it opens or else you might have to wait 2 hours for a table. If you do have to wait two hours for a table, there is a bar across the street, not that we went there and had enough drinks to be a bit tipsy before dinner). Also, one pizza is not enough for two people, but too much for one person, which means leftovers you can eat for breakfast in your hotel room. Cold pizza. Breakfast. It's classy.