My Crave: Salsa Fresca and Chips Con Chile and Limon

Lately I've been craving some snacks and dishes from my childhood and for me that means easy, quick, fresh Mexican creations.  While my ability to form memories was barely forming while my family lived and traveled throughout Mexico, the recipes my mother collected became a cornerstone of family meals and quick snacks throughout my lifetime.

The only fair thing to do when one is having a craving is do one's very best to pass the crave along.  To  that end, I'm going to share a couple of my favorite, quick, recipes with you.  Please forgive the lack of pictures but lately I've realized that my desire to have beautiful pictures on my blog posts conflicts directly with my inability to capture decent pictures while I'm chopping, stirring, and being fabulous in the kitchen.

The first snack I am going to share is insanely easy and really not a recipe at all, but that doesn't mean that your mind won't be blown by its perfect friendship of crunch, smokey spice, and tangy tartness.  Are you ready....

1.  Get some plain potato chips, you're favorite kind, but those really crunchy ones are GREAT and stand up well.  I'll admit, I don't really keep chips in my house so when I'm craving this I'll take whatever kind of plain potato chips I can get.  

2.  Cut a wedge of lime and squeeze it over the chips (now you see why those really thick super crunchy ones work so well).

3.  Flip the top on some chili powder and sprinkle liberally over the chips.

4.  Devour

Try this with popcorn too or take a trip to a Mexican grocery store and find a fun seasoning that has already united in holy and tasty matrimony the tangy and the zippy.  Look for anything that says something like "salsa con limon" or "chile con limon" or even... you'll love this "fruit seasoning" yes, this combo is amazing on fruit too!  Is that cray cray or what?  I usually use the brand Tajin but go with your heart. 

You're less likely to have this combo on hand but Citric Acid (vitamin C) and Chili powder can be thrown together in whatever proportions float your raft to keep on hand for cravings. 

Ok, let's move from crunch and spice to spice and lusciousness.  My mom's salsa fresca or pico de gallo is one of those things that seems to be at every family gathering, impromptu or formal.  It usually lasts about 5-10 minutes and is best enjoyed with some really great tortilla chips or any dang thing you want.  I realize I am apologizing a lot today but I don't have specific measurements for you, it would be against the spirit of the dish.  You throw this together out of a desperate attempt to keep your greedy family away from the carne while it finishes roasting.  You know how garlicy, oniony, or spicy you like your food.  Go ahead and boldly create. I'll give you guidelines to make about 3 cups of salsa.

Diced Tomatoes- This is your primary ingredient, what you  should have the most of.  Everything else works to make these better.  I can get about 2-3 cups of salsa if I have a couple pints of cherry or 4-5 roma or 3-4 large beefsteaks.

1 chopped medium or 1/2 large white onion.  If you don't like onions... I'd say get over it, but as an alternative to you changing your lifetime held onion prejudices you can try using dehydrated onions (not my favorite course of action) or grating about half the amount of onions called for.  You will get the necessary flavor components without getting a big bite of onion.

1/2-1 jalapeno minced as small as you can get them.  Go ahead and drag out that fancy food chopper thing you bought at the last in home appliance party.  You'll need it again for the....

2-4 cloves garlic minced.  I like garlic.  I don't understand that it's possible to have too much.  If you aren't using your food chopper try this method:

         

Roughly chop your garlic with a large chef's knife (buck up camper, YouTube some videos on knife handling and PUT DOWN THE PARING KNIFE).  Pour some (preferably) kosher salt over your little mound of garlic and chop some more.  Let it get messy while you teeter totter the knife back and forth through the garlic. Lay your knife flat and while putting pressure on the blade of the knife press and drag the garlic to turn it into a paste.      

This video might help. In fact, you could have just ignored this whole paragraph and watched the video, but I guess it's too late for that. 

Fresh Cilantro roughly chopped.  Bundle that bunch of cilantro up into a tight little ball and chop away.

Juice of 1/2-1 lime.  A lemon will do in a pinch.

Salt and Pepper to taste

Throw all of that into a bowl and TRY with all of your might to let that refrigerate, and I only say refrigerate because it will be out of site and therefore less of a temptation, for at least 30 minutes. 

Once you taste the magic of this recipe don't feel like it's sacrilege to play with the ingredients.  Throw some cucumbers or black beans or avocado in there.

You might not catch the crave that I have for these childhood food memories but with these two recipes/methods you have some tools that you can twist up and use in as many different ways as you can think of.  Throw that lime and chili powder on some popcorn, you won't regret it.

Love and Deliciousness to all!