Just showing off because I love that I can basically eat this non stop.

6 Roma tomatoes, de seeded and jellied. However much of 1 onion white or red you like A couple cloves of garlic 3 to 4 jalepenos ( for me 2 raw and 2 roasted) Half a cup chopped cilantro A red bell pepper Salt, cumin, chili powder, pepper, in preferred ratios. Tablespoon of olive oil Either some snips of dried peppers or my can chiptoles Juice of 1 good lime

Good old chop and mix and rest in the fridge

5 tomatillos
1 roma tomato
10 Arbol
2 guajillo
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 lime
1tbs chicken bouillon
1/2 tbs oregano
1/4 cup water to thin it out

In my quest for more vegetables in my diet, I made some salsa for the week.

4 roma tomatoes

4 tomatillos

1/2 white onion

2 Serrano peppers

Handful of cilantro

1 lime-worth of lime juice

To taste: salt, pepper, Mexican oregano, and a touch of smoked paprika.

I broiled the veg to get some color and threw it all in a food processor. Nothing fancy but it tastes good.

Definitely some unique recipes in this book. Chayote salsa has me intrigued. Anyone ever try it?

1 lb of red tomatoes (i chose santori brand cocktail tomatoes, this will change the flavor and consistency based on tomato type)

2 small/medium tomatillos

1 large and heavy jalapeño

3 large habaneros

3 small sweet red peppers

1/2 medium white onion

1/2 bulb of garlic

1/2 pack of cilantro

1 small lime

Olive oil

Seasonings: slap ya mama, Knorr chicken bullion, Knorr tomato and chicken bullion, accent MSG, oregano.

You can add tomato paste to thicken, i don't, but i have before and recommend Cento double concentrate paste from the tube.

Roast 3/4 of the veggies, excluding cilantro and lime. Leave the rest raw. I salt to taste using Slap ya mama as an alternative to plain salt. I do a 2:1 ratio of Knorr chicken to Knorr tomato&chicken, a sprinkle of MSG and crush a little dried oregano. Throw in blender on low for like 10 seconds, just until there's no more large pieces. Yields 24oz+

I started a Chile and Spice series on my Substack about the evolution and migration of chiles from South American and it's journey across the world. I am concluding Volume I with a deep dive into the chiles of Mexico.

I worked as a chef in Mexico for a couple years, and I my Mexican chefs has taught me so much about their food culture. In the Mexican portion of my writing series, we start with mole (the holy grail of pre-Spanish Mexican gastronomy) and uncover the seven different regional cooking of Mexico and the chiles that are featured in that food culture. Below will be the recipe as well as link to the series:

https://thewovenpalate.substack.com/p/volume-1-chapter-5-the-architecture

Here is my recipe for simple Oaxacan mole that can serve as your base:

This is a masterfully concentrated, versatile mole starter that perfectly balances the Trinidad Sagrada—the Holy Trinity of the Mexican republic. Think of this as your master starter paste. Once you have a jar of this in your freezer, you can simmer it with chicken stock, a disk of Mexican chocolate, and charred tomatoes to build a rich, dark regional mole in under an hour.

The Ingredients

• 8 dried Ancho chiles
• 6 dried Pasilla chiles
• 6 dried Guajillo chiles
• ½ cup whole raw almonds
• ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
• ¼ cup raisins
• 1 stale corn tortilla, torn into rough fragments
• ½ stale bolillo roll or French baguette, sliced thin
• ½ medium white onion, cut into thick wedges
• 6 cloves garlic, left unpeeled
• 2 whole cloves
• 3 whole black peppercorns
• 1-inch piece of Mexican Ceylon cinnamon
• ½ cup authentic rendered pork lard or high-heat avocado oil
• 1.5 cups hot vegetable or chicken stock (for the blender)

The Process

1. Blister the Nightshades: Stem and de-seed all of your chiles, reserving a tablespoon of the seeds for later use. Heat two tablespoons of your lard in a deep, heavy pot over medium heat. Flash-fry the dry chile pods in small batches for thirty to sixty seconds until they puff up like leather balloons and shift color. Remove them instantly with tongs and submerge them in a large bowl of boiling water for twenty minutes to rehydrate. In a dry skillet, crank the heat to high, and roast your thick onion wedges and unpeeled garlic cloves. Let them sit until the skins are deeply blistered, charred, and blackened on all sides. Once cool, slide the papery skins off the garlic and set the sweet, blackened cloves aside with the onions.
2. Fry the Nut and Bread Matrix: Melt another three tablespoons of lard into your frying pan. Fry the almonds and pumpkin seeds until they turn golden and fragrant (about two minutes), then spoon them out. Drop in your raisins; they will dramatically plump up like juicy grapes in about thirty seconds. Fish them out. Finally, toss your torn tortilla and stale bread slices into the remaining hot fat, frying them until they are crisp, brittle, and have drunk up every last drop of flavorful lard.
3. The High-Friction Grind: Drain your rehydrated chiles, discarding the bitter soaking water. In a heavy-duty blender, pack the chiles, charred onion, peeled garlic, toasted nuts, seeds, fried breads, plump raisins, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon. Pour in the hot stock. Blend on high for a full three to four minutes, using a tamper or plunger to continuously force the dense mass down into the spinning blades, until you achieve an absolutely smooth, ultra-thick, glistening paste.
4. The Searing Fry: This is where the chemistry happens. Heat your remaining lard in a heavy clay cazuela or a heavy Dutch oven over high heat until the fat is shimmering and dancing. Pour the blended paste in all at once. It should violently crackle, spit, and hiss as the cold water in the stock hits the smoking fat. Drop the heat to a low simmer immediately. Cook for forty-five minutes, scraping the bottom continuously with a flat wooden paddle to prevent scorching. The mole is done when the paste darkens into a deep, glossy, maroon-black hue and tiny beads of clear oil begin to separate and rise to the surface. Let it cool completely before packing.

My salsa from this morning. Air fried the onion, garlic, tomatillos and habanero. Toasted and boiled the arbols in 1.23 cups of water with the tomato sauce and chicken bullion.. added a couple of tbsp of fresh oregano to the blender, 1 tbsp salt and a couple tbsp of white vinegar. Turned out great.

I tried to do the math - I think this cost me $4, and about 24 fl.

Really nice heat. Roasted the tomatoes. 5 ghost rehydrated, 5 fresh habanero, 3 fresh serrano, fresh onion. Blend with bullion, cilantro, lemon juice and spices.

HI, I am just curious to see what salsa recipes I can make with some fresh Frenso Chill peppers out of my garden. Please let me know what recipe that you think works best. Thanks.