Noodle and Shrimp Salad with Oriental Cucumber Salsa

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This quick and easy basic salad can be changed by using a different salsa to dress the noodles. Try a commercial peanut-based salsa and if your salsa is too thick, thin with a little oil or vinegar.

Ingredients

For the Salad:

•    2 cups cooked vermicelli or Chinese noodles
•    ½ cup cooked shrimp or shredded cooked chicken
•    1 recipe Oriental Cucumber Relish (see recipe below)
•    1/4 cup chopped peanuts
•    Chopped fresh cilantro

For the Relish:

•    3 serrano or Thai green chiles, stems removed, minced
•    1 large cucumber, peeled and finely diced
•    1/4 cup shredded carrots
•    4 green onions, chopped, including the tops
•    2 tablespoons vinegar
•    1 tablespoon peanut oil
•    1 teaspoon soy sauce
•    1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
•    ½ teaspoon sesame oil
•    ½ teaspoon sugar
 

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients for the relish and allow to sit for at least an hour to blend the flavors.

Toss the noodles with the shrimp and cucumber relish. Garnish with the peanuts and cilantro and serve.

 

Louisiana-Type Hot Sauce

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This recipe is from The Hot Sauce Bible, by Dave DeWitt and Chuck Evans. They say that the key to success with this sauce is to use fresh rather than dried chiles and that any small fresh hot chile can be used.

Ingredients

  • 15 to 20 large fresh Tabasco chiles, stems and seeds removed, cut in half lengthwise, or substitute fresh piquins or cayennes

  • 2 cloves garlic, cut in half

  • ½ cup distilled white vinegar

  • Salt to taste

Instructions

Place the chiles, cut side down, on a broiler rack. Broil for about 5 minutes or until the skin blisters and blackens. Transfer the peppers to a paper bag and let stand for about 10 minutes. Peel the chiles when cool.

 

Place the chiles and garlic in a blender or food processor. With the machine running, slowly add the vinegar until the mixture is well blended. Add salt to taste. Keep covered and refrigerated until you use it.

Yield: ½ cup

Heat Scale: Hot

 

Homemade Hot Sauce

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Many chili cooks like to adjust the heat in their chili by adding various kinds of hot sauces. For the purists in the crowd who insist on making everything from scratch, here is our recipe for a homemade hot sauce. Any chiles of choice can be used. When substituting dry chiles for fresh ones, soak them in warm water for ½ hour to reconstitute them. For more body in this sauce, add the carrots. You can easily double or triple this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup chopped onion

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

  • ½ cup chopped carrots (optional)

  • 10 small fresh hot chiles such as tabascos or piquins, chopped (or substitute 4 habaneros)

  • ½ cup distilled vinegar

  • 1/4 cup lime juice

  • Pinch salt

Instructions

In a saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the carrots (if used) with a small amount of water. Bring to a boil, reduce, the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft.

 

Place the mixture and the fresh chiles in a blender and puree the mixture until smooth.

Combine the puree with the vinegar, lime juice, and salt and simmer for 5 minutes to combine the flavors.

Strain the mixture into sterilized bottles and seal.

 

Spanish Tortilla (Tortilla Espanola) with Salsa Romesco

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This traditional tapa is not anything like a Mexican tortilla. A Spanish tortilla is a large, thick, omelet-like cake made with potatoes and eggs and is served at room temperature. Romesco sauce is an all-purpose Spanish sauce that is served with a wide variety of dishes. From the Tarragona region, this Catalan sauce combines two of the most popular horticultural imports from the New World—chiles and tomatoes. The sauce gets its name from the romesco chiles that are used but are not readily available outside of Spain. The combination of ancho and New Mexican chiles approximates the taste.

Ingredients

Tortilla:

  • 3 pounds (approximately 10 medium-size potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8-inch thick slices

  • 1/3 cup olive oil, virgin Spanish olive oil, preferred

  • 1 medium-size onion, thinly sliced

  • 6 eggs, beaten

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Romesco Sauce:

  • 1 dried ancho chile, stem and seeds removed

  • 2 dried red New Mexican chiles, stems and seeds removed

  • ½ cup blanched, silvered almonds

  • 5 large cloves garlic, unpeeled

  • 2 tomatoes, unpeeled

  • ½ cup red wine vinegar

  • 1/3 cup olive oil, virgin Spanish olive oil, preferred

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

To Make the Sauce:

 Preheat the oven to 200°F.

Place the chiles, almonds, garlic, and tomatoes on baking pan and roast the ingredients in the oven until the nuts are toasted, the chiles are fragrant, and the skins of the tomatoes and garlic are blistered. The nuts will take about 5 minutes, the tomatoes about 20, and the chiles somewhere in between. Check frequently to be sure nothing burns.

Allow the ingredients to cool. Grind the almonds. Place the chiles in a saucepan and cover with hot water and steep for 5 to 10 minutes to soften. Drain the chiles. Remove the skins from the tomatoes and garlic.

Put the almonds, chiles, tomatoes, garlic and vinegar in a blender or food processor and puree to a smooth paste.

Transfer the paste to a bowl and slowly whisk in the oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, until half of the oil is absorbed. Gradually add the remaining oil. Season with the salt and pepper.

Allow the sauce to sit for an hour or two to blend the flavors.

To Make the Tortilla:

Increase the oven to 350°F.

In a small roasting pan, toss the potatoes with the oil, cover, and bake for 20 minutes.

Uncover the pan and spread the onion slices evenly over the potatoes. Cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are just done. Remove the pan and pour off the oil, reserving it. Cool the potatoes to room temperature.

Season the eggs with the salt. Gently fold the potato and onion mixture into the eggs and mix carefully.

Heat a nonstick saute pan over high heat with a few tablespoons of the reserved oil. When it’s hot, carefully add the egg mixture. Allow the eggs to set on a high heat for a minute while gently shaking the pan so they don’t stick. Reduce the heat to the lowest temperature and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the mixture is firm.

Place a plate on top (upside down as you look at it) of the saute pan and flip the tortilla onto the plate. (Do this over your sink.) Reheat the skillet over high heat and carefully slide the tortilla back into the pan. Reduce the heat to low and cook the other side until it’s done, about 8 minutes. When the tortilla feels firm to the touch, it’s done.

Cool the tortilla to room temperature, slice it into wedges. When you are ready to serve the tortilla, spoon some of the romesco sauce onto a plate and place a wedge on top.

 

Belizean Habanero Hot Sauce

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

After cooking and pureeing the sauce, stir in the habanero juice. The sauce is very smooth, very hot, and has a strong habanero flavor.

Ingredients

Carrots, Lime Juice, Vinegar, Habanero Juice

Instructions

In this recipe I never cooked the habaneros in order to preserve their distinctive flavor, so it was a perfect choice for our readers’ first experiment with juicing chiles. After cooking and pureeing the sauce, stir in the habanero juice. The final consistency of the sauce was very smooth, very hot, and had a strong habanero flavor.

  • 1 small onion, chopped

  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

  • 1 cup chopped carrots

  • 1/4 cup lime juice, fresh preferred

  • 2 tablespoons distilled vinegar

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1/3 to ½ cup habanero juice

In a saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the carrots and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft.

Remove from the heat and transfer the mix to a blender or food processor. Add the lime juice, vinegar and salt, and puree until smooth. Add the habanero juice and mix well.

Store the hot sauce in a glass bottle.

Yield: 1½ cups

Heat Scale: Extremely Hot