Kick Ass Salsa

Hello friends. We've had a busy old few weeks here with lots of visitors at the end of September, which was just lovely. One of the things I enjoy most about visitors coming - apart from the obvious is the fact that we have a good excuse to try some of the restaurants and cafes that we walk past and say 'oooo we must try there sometime' but never quite get round to normally. We ticked off visits to Haesje Claes for some beautiful authentic Dutch food, Ree7 (@ree7amsterdam) for some cosy eats whilst it was absolutely chucking it down outside. Next time I go there I am having one of their epic freak shakes! And the Corner Bakery (@cornerbakeryamsterdam) which we took my mother in law to one afternoon and she loved it so much we went back the next day for lunch! And I finally got a cookie from Van Stapele (@vanstapele) which is famous for its dark chocolate cookies that are stuffed with oozing white chocolate. There is almost never not a queue outside their door!

The other reason I have failed to post recently is there has not been much sleep going on thanks to Wee Man. This has left me fairly exhausted and lacking the ability to sit down and write a whole post coherently. We bought all our furniture for our most recent move and invested in a lovely bed and mattress. We over ruled that little voice in our heads that was saying just get what ever was cheapest and save our money and went for one that, whilst not top of the range, was a good mid range choice that was an investment. It wouldn't be one that after a year was lumpy and like sleeping on a bag of potatoes, which is inevitably what you become used to when you rent furnished apartments as we have done for the last 8 or 9 years. Why am I going on about my bed your wonder? Because since having this bed I have not managed a full nights sleep in the bed. I seem to spend most of my time asleep in the chair in Wee Man's room where we have fallen asleep during a night feed. I don't know about anybody else's child but mine, in the early hours of the morning, seems to have this sensor where he can be fast asleep, a marching band could come in and he would remain asleep, but as soon as you go to place him back in his cot he is wide awake and crying at the indignity of being put down. So in the early hours of the morning, when I have usually woken with a crick in my neck, we pad back my bed, where annoyingly, Wee Man will usually allow himself to be put down, and shove my husband back onto his side, shuffle the cats round and climb in and try and get another couple of hours sleep. My husband and I have got used to waking up on the edges of the bed, cats pinning our legs in position with Wee Man diagonal between us or awake and roaming the gap and squeaking. I have almost forgotten what it feels like to wake up without small hands simultaneously pulling my hair and sticking fingers up my nose whilst leaning on my bladder. And then I roll over and see it's only 5.30am.

So this post is a little different. It's very much in the savoury spectrum where so far I have mainly stuck to sweet things. I'm not going in a different direction merely widening the spectrum. I have a couple of sweet things in development but the problem with developing recipes and tweaking them means you keep making them and eating them. There in lies the problem dear friends. At the moment, as a housewife and full time mum, my activity level differs greatly from when I worked full time. I am no longer on my feet for 11 hours a day in a fast pace kitchen. This is a whole new type of exhausting activity. Some days I think if I was back at work it would be a welcome break from my average day now. Never belittle anyone who is a stay at home parent until you have done it yourself - it is hard work. I could punch people in the nose for saying otherwise. Still my point, getting back to it, is that there is only one way to test something you have cooked. The proof is in the pudding. Baking leads to eating which leads to the pounds creeping on. My husband has set himself a challenge to loose 10kg and I wouldn't mind loosing at least half that so a few healthier posts can't hurt!? Just look at all the beautiful veggies!

I'm posting this today so that it is in time for Tuesday because apparently Tuesday has become dubbed Taco Tuesday. This way you have plenty of time to go out and buy the ingredients so you can make this at home. No excuses. Despite having it's own day this salsa is not something that should be limited to just Taco's. Make it next time you have people round to step up your nacho game! I first made it to accompany Avocado Toast on a breakfast menu. It is super versatile with just the right level of heat and acidity. I love it with grilled chicken and roasted sweet potatoes but it could easily go on with steak or white fish. It is even better the day after you make it as the flavours really blend together and the raw onion which sometimes can be a little astringent, essentially cooks in the lime juice which mellows its punch just a little.
This salsa is my take on the traditional Mexican dish 'Pico de Gallo' which is so much fresher than any salsa that you will find in a jar. You'll never want to go back. Sweet tomatoes, fragrant coriander, spicy fresh jalapeno and zingy lime. The only difference between this and a traditional Pico de Gallo is probably the consistency. I make this in the mini chopper attachment for my immersion blender which I love because it takes all the hard work out of making dishes like this. It does how ever mean that you can end up with a looser texture than many purists would argue is truly authentic. I would argue that I would rather have the extra 10 minutes to do something else rather than finely chopping everything by hand plus this way I can get more on my taco or nacho without it falling off like delicious salsa rubble on the way to my mouth!

KICK ASS SALSA

Ingredients

3 Tomatoes
1/2 Red Onion
1 Fresh Jalapeno
Small Handful Coriander
1 Lime
Pinch of Salt

• Quarter and de-seed the tomatoes and roughly chop the red onion.
• Chop as much or as little of the jalapeno as you desire. If you add the seeds the resulting salsa will be much hotter than if you left them out. I generally cut from the tip (so no seeds) and use a piece about 2cm long and then can add more as desired.
• Place the tomatoes, onion and jalapeno in to the mini chopper attachment for your immersion blender*. Chop the last few centimetres off the ends of the coriander stalks and discard. Throw the coriander in the chamber.
• At this point squeeze in the juice of about 1/4 of the lime (you can add more later) and season with a little salt.
• Whizz to the desired consistency, for me this is reasonably fine but so I can still make out the different ingredients and it isn't a uniform colour. Check at this point for spice, salt and citrus and add more to your taste. Bear in mind if you want to add more jalapeno I would finely chop the chilli before I add it and give a quick whizz to incorporate as if you added a whole chunk you would end up with a finer end consistency to get it evenly blended.

* If you don't own an immersion blender with a mini chopper attachment you could use a full size food processor but I would pulse the mixture as in a full size food processor it could become salsa soup fairly quickly. If you don't own any of the above you can do it the old fashioned way and chop everything by hand and ask for an immersion blender with a mini chopper attachment for Christmas!

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