Salsa

Salsa Macha

Dax Phillips 1 Comment

Salsa macha may not be something you have heard of before, but trust me it is such an unusual and awesome salsa that it’s texture alone will have you wondering. Salsa macha is unlike your common red or green salsa that you may have come to know, and typically referred to as ‘macha’, the feminine version of ‘macho’, this one lives up to its name. It’s bold, unique, and strong in every way.

Salsa macha is a blend of chilies, oil, and nuts, and is just crazy out of this world. I’ve been stirring this up and drizzling over morning omelettes, and dipping warm tortillas in it. It reminds me of a red chili sauce I made a couple of years ago, but a bit different in terms of the chilies that are involved.

Salsa Macha Recipe
Salsa Macha Recipe

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 2 chile arbol peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 4 chile morita peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 2 chili ancho peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 2 puya chili peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 2 cloves of garlic, skin removed
  • 2 tbsp Mexican oregano
  • 1/2 cup of pecans
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • pinch of salt

Start by heating a skillet on medium heat. Once heated, add in all of the chili peppers and garlic. Toss the chilies in the skillet for about three minutes. This helps bring out the oils. Remove from the stove, and set to the side.

Next, heat a sauce pot on medium-low heat. Add in the olive oil, and carefully add in the chilies, pecans, and garlic. Cook for about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat, and let it cool to room temperature.

During this time, add the oregano to a small bowl, and season with the salt and pour in the vinegar.

How to make salsa macha
How to make salsa macha

Once the chili oil is cooled, pour it into a blender, along with the vinegar and oregano mixture, and blend until smooth.

Pour the salsa macha into a seal proof jar, and use it up. A little goes a long way. You may think it is super spicy but it is not the case, at all. It’s more of a smokey flavor with a hint of chili. There is something about this that I question every time I use it. It’s like the Mexican version of pesto in a way when I think about it, and trust me that is not a bad thing. To store, simply place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it up. The ingredients sink to the bottom, and the oil comes to the top, so give it a good stir when you are ready to reuse. Hope you enjoy!

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Salsa Macha
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Recipe type: Mexican
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • 2 chile arbol peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 4 chile morita peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 2 chili ancho peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 2 puya chili peppers, stem and seeds removed
  • 2 cloves of garlic, skin removed
  • 2 tbsp Mexican oregano
  • ½ cup of pecans
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Start by heating a skillet on medium heat. Once heated, add in all of the chili peppers and garlic. Toss the chilies in the skillet for about three minutes. This helps bring out the oils. Remove from the stove, and set to the side.
  2. Next, heat a sauce pot on medium-low heat. Add in the olive oil, and carefully add in the chilies, pecans, and garlic. Cook for about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat, and let it cool to room temperature.
  3. During this time, add the oregano to a small bowl, and season with the salt and pour in the vinegar.
  4. Once the chili oil is cooled, pour it into a blender, along with the vinegar and oregano mixture, and blend until smooth.
  5. Pour the salsa macha into a seal proof jar, and use it up. A little goes a long way. You may think it is super spicy but it is not the case, at all. It’s more of a smokey flavor with a hint of chili. There is something about this that I question every time I use it. It’s like the Mexican version of pesto in a way when I think about it, and trust me that is not a bad thing. To store, simply place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it up. The ingredients sink to the bottom, and the oil comes to the top, so give it a good stir when you are ready to reuse. Hope you enjoy!

 

Spicy Burger Relish

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

In my family, the grilling season never ends. I know that we can have some harsh weather in Wisconsin, however the grill is always near by, and the bag of charcoal is always stocked. With that said, whenever I take a poll with my family for what they want for dinner in the coming week, well, I should just say my boys, the answer is pretty much ‘burgers’. My daughter is not a burger loving girl, but the boys are, and at their age now, it is almost as though they eat 3 of them. No kidding. Stop it. They are eating me out of my house.  As they are the typical plain cheese, or simply a burger and bacon kind of kids, I like to jazz mine up from time to time, and that’s when I decided to come up with a new relish. A spicy burger relish.

Spicy Burger Relish

This relish not only goes great with burgers, but heck you can dip chips or veggies into it, or even layer it on your omelette in the morning. It’s good, really, really good.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 4 whole pickled cherry bomb peppers, stems removed
  • 1/2 cup of roasted red bell peppers
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 6 cherry tomatoes tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 tbsp red chili flakes
  • generous pinch of dried oregano
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp salt, to taste
  • generous pinch of cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil

How to make spicy burger relish

Add all of these ingredients to a food processor and pulse until you have a thick salsa like consistency. Taste and season to your liking.

Cook your burgers to your desired temperature, and slather on the spicy burger relish.

Spicy burger relish

The end result is really great. It’s everything you want in a great condiment, and the heat from the cherry bomb peppers, and the roasted bell peppers really make this relish shine. It’s almost everything you love in a Sriracha sauce, but a bit better. Yes, I said that. I hope you enjoy, and keep those grills going!

Fire Roasted Habanero Salsa

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I was asked some time ago what was my favorite chile pepper to use when cooking. At first I was thinking it was the jalapeno as it is more on the mild side and can be tolerated by many, however as I continued to think about it, I thought it was the serrano, or heck even the habanero. There are so many that I do love, including the smoked jalapenos, and as importantly the Thai bird chile pepper. But the habanero is one of those awesome chile peppers that is just loaded with awesome flavor, and heat for that matter. In the past I have only used the habanero in making Jamaican jerk rubs, and even a habanero hot sauce that was completely addicting (and hot). With that in mind, I decided to take that idea of using the habanero and turn it into a fire roasted habanero salsa, plus I wanted to use a handful of tomatoes from my garden. Trust me, this salsa rocks.

Fire Roasted Habanero Salsa

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 4 large tomatoes
  • 1 medium onion
  • 3 whole habanero chilies
  • 1 cup of cilantro
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1/2 cup of water

The cool thing about making this salsa is that you cook the vegetables and chilies directly on the coals. The Mexicans have been doing this forever, and it is typically referred to as cooking al carbon. The cooking method instills this awesome flavor that you typically will not get by cooking on your stove top or broiler. Trust me, try this. Folks have even been known to cook meat directly on the hot ashes as well!

Heat your coals until they are all nice and gray. Lay the onion, tomatoes, and habaneros directly onto the coals. Note that the onion will take longer to cook than that of the tomatoes and habaneros. Cook everything until they are completely black and super charred. Once fully charred place them in a bowl and let them cool to the touch.

How to make Fire Roasted Habanero Salsa

Once they are cooled, use the back of your pairing knife and remove the outer skin from each of the items. Don’t worry if you get a bit of ash or char along with the items. You can decide if you want to keep the seeds in tact on the habaneros. I kept two whole, and removed the seeds from the third.

Once the charred skin is removed, add the tomatoes, habaneros, and onion to a food processor. Toss in the garlic, cilantro, salt, and lime juice. Pulse until you have a nice consistency, then start slowly pouring in the water until you have your desired thickness. Taste and adjust with any salt.

The result is just the perfect amount of heat. It does have a kick to it, but the flavor is just out of this world. This stuff is great on just about anything. I was adding it to my omelettes in the morning, using it as a standard chip dip after work, and drizzled on chimichangas. I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think when you decide to cook al carbon!

Mexican Red Sauce

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

I don’t know about you but we have tomatoes that are just growing off the charts right now. We planted a variety of tomatoes back in May, and now they are finally beginning to ripen. We have bowls of cherry tomatoes, as well as these great roma tomatoes sitting on our kitchen counter right now. In the meantime, I am pulling these great, large tomatoes off of the vine. With that said, I’ve been creating things such as loaded bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches, simple pico de gallos, and recently came up with this Mexican red sauce.  I’m calling this a sauce because it is so diverse that I have been marinating with it, topping omelettes with it, and well, pretty much using it on a majority of things, including drizzling it on pizza.

Mexican Red Sauce

What turned me on to creating this sauce is some dried chilies I recently purchased, the Puya pepper. After reading Pok Pok, I was interested in the puya pepper as Chef Ricker was using them in his Thai cooking.

The puya chiles have an intense heat that is somewhat pungent and have a light fruity flavor profile with an almost berry flavor. Puya chiles are grown in Mexico, and are somewhat similar to the guajillos chilie. I thought they would be perfect in a sauce, and they were.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large tomato, such as Beefsteak or Better Boy
  • 1 medium onion, quartered
  • 4 puya chilies
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 pinch of cracked black pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup water
  • additional water

Start by adding the puya chilies to a skillet, and cook on medium heat, flipping along the way for about 4 minutes. Remove the chilies, and let cool.  Once cooled, slice, and remove the stem and seeds.

Mexican Red Sauce with Eggs

During this time, bring a medium pot of water to a simmer. Add in the tomato and the chilies. Cover, and cook for about 15 minutes.

Remove the tomato and chilies with a slotted spoon, and let cool on a plate.

How to make Mexican red sauce

Add the chilies to a food processor, along with the remaining ingredients. Remove the skin from the tomato. The skin should easily come off.

Pulse until you have a smooth sauce.  Taste and adjust any salt to your liking.

Pour into a large mason jar, and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.

This sauce had just the right amount of heat to it. A subtle punch of heat in the beginning, and then that fruitiness from the chilies, along with the garlic and onion. It’s really good. If you are looking to try a new Mexican chili, give the puya a try. I’m certain you will love it. Enjoy!