Tag Archives: salsa

Show Me The…Pork??

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No, you may NOT reach in and snag a blackberry *smacks your hand* Make your own darn it!

I think that it has been established that I like pork. Maybe even love it and want to bear it’s oinky children. Though trying to imagine how said children would sound when laughing rather frightens me considering I tend to snort like a pig when laughing hard (maybe that’s not info I want out there on the web. Hmmmm…). As well as what their nose would look like. I don’t have the smallest schnoz in the world myself so join that with a piggy nose and Lord help the child socially. Plus, that only being able to cool down by rolling in the mud part could cause issues. I can see it now… “Junior, how many times do I have to tell you not to come into the house after you’ve been wallowing?!!!” But…but…*snort snort*… MOMMMMMM… I was hotttttt and…*snort snort*… you said no more 3 hour cold showers!” “No dear, no more cold showers. You’ll need those later when all the women see your nose. Now go get one of your brothers and the axe so I can make dinner”.

Maybe it would better if it were the children of a Llama. I don’t think I’d ever eat llama meat. Food for thought…. or dinner. *Snorts* I crack me up.

I started a pork loin roast marinating a few days ago. Yes, a few days. I like to do a two day marinating time usually and meant to make this last night but it didn’t happen that way. Why? Because I’m a lazy slug. What can I say?

I was worried that the three days would lead to an overly salty piece of meat with the texture of liver. I was pleasantly surprised when that was far from the case. We ended up with a pork roast that my husband ate I think 4 pieces of, I ate two pieces which is rare for me (unless I’m eating mid rare beef in which case just set a side of beef and a knife in front of me). Let’s just say that out of a four pound pork loin there is enough left for a sandwich. Add in the salsa that I made (which my husband actually tried…GASP!!) So yeah… it turned out. 😀 So if you’re a pork fan or like to have fruity relish/salsas with meat, this may be for you.

The marinade is an extreme adaptation of one from all recipes recipe. The salsa is me though as with 99.9% of the things we think we are creating, I am sure there are 500000000 variations online somewhere.

Roast Pork Loin In An Asian/Mex Fusion Marinade

With a Blackberry Peach Salsa

  • 1 3 to 5 pound pork loin
  • 1/2 cup lime juice
  • 2/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 small jalapeno, sliced thin
  • SALSA-
  • 1 6 ounce container blackberries
  • 1 large peach, chopped
  • 6 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
  • 3 green onions, thinly sliced
  1. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large ziploc bag. Leave the lime halves in the marinade. Add the pork roast, turning to coat. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days.
  2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. You heard me; 450.
  3. Put roast in a foil lined pan. Again, why make more clean up for yourself if you don’t have to. I want to give a huge kiss to whomever invented foil. On a side note, remember when it was “Tin Foil” not aluminum foil. If you do, that means you too are old like me. Welcome to the club 😀
  4. Cook roast until it reaches an internal temp of 145 degrees; about 40 minutes. Start checking at 30 and frequently there after. It goes up quickly at that temp. But doing it this high, you get a nice crispy outside and a juicy inside.
  5. While it cooks, make your salsa (can also be done earlier in the day)- mix your salsa ingredients. Taste for seasoning but remember all flavors will get stronger as it sits.
  6. When pork is done, let it rest for about ten minutes before cutting. Drives me nuts when people cut meat the second it comes out of the oven. LET IT REST! The juices go back into it and make it that much juicier and more flavorful.
  7. Slice as thin or as thick as you like and serve with the salsa.

 

Can You Do The Salsa?

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Can you… Salsa! Heh. I crack me up!!! Again, mainly because I crack up no one else and I’ll be damned if there will total silence when I make my completely inane dumb plays on words but still… I crack me up!!

I can see you all shaking your heads wondering how that was even a play on words in the first place. Well duhhhh mannnn! Cause this is a post about home canning salsa. Geee, so obvious. *Gives you all the L on the forehead gesture and then realizes that only a 100% L person would even USE that gesture and giggles sheepishly* (on a side note, do Sheep giggle? If they do something stupid do they say that they are looking human? These are the things that my mind contemplates.)

Moving on…as usual… many many moons ago I was like many of you. I bought all my jams, jellies, relishes, salsas and other yummy canned goods at the store. The store I say shamefully!!! Can you believe it!? It’s a dark part of my life I try not to look back on. the therapy took years.  Now however, I have seen the light!!! *Finds a soapbox, gets up on it and starts preaching* Yes brother, I have seeeeennnnnnn the light! And the light shines through canning jars!!!! Can we say Amen!? Say amen with me!

I really need more therapy.

As I was saying, but put more simply, over the years I have come to love home canning (as opposed to canning in say the Wal Mart parking lot). You can make so many flavors you can only find via gourmet stores or web sites (like Blueberry Lime Jam or Jalapeno Cranberry Preserves) as well as make the typical store bought flavors of different condiments and jams but do it knowing that they are fresh, there is no law allowed amounts of rat poop in it and it isn’t filled with preservatives (I guess to keep the rat poop fresh). Not to mention, that old saw about how fulfilling and dare I say empowering it is to can foods yourself is actually true. it’s a rather heady feeling to see jars of tasty foods that YOU made, not some hair netted stranger 2000 miles away.

So today I am putting up what will be my first of many (over time) canning recipes. I am NOT however going to get into the whole teaching you how to can part of it. I will give the recipes and add in a link or two to good sites to go to to learn to can. It’s much easier than what one would think. If you can think “keep it clean and think safe” you can can. This post is for homemade Peach Salsa. I love this stuff! My daughter finally had to learn to make it because I was refusing to let her continue swiping what I made 😛 This has a bit of a bite (but you can make it less so) and a wonderful fruity flavor to it. It is great with chips, with meats, with cream cheese, with a spoon eating it straight from the jar….

Here is a good link to learn proper canning techniques. 🙂

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

Spicy Sweet Peach Salsa

(Canning Recipe)

  • 3 lbs ripe tomatoes, peeled then chopped
  • 2 1/2 cups chopped onions
  • 2 cups chopped green pepper
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped (can also omit if you want extremely mild salsa or leave in the seeds if you want hot salsa)
  • 5 ripe peaches, peeled then chopped
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup vinegar (white or apple cider)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pickling spices (can be found with canning supplies or in the normal spice aisle), tied up in a cheesecloth square (a coffee filter works well too)
  1. Easiest way to peel your tomatoes and peaches is this: boil a large pot of water. Add the fruits (not all at once) to the boiling water and boil for two minutes. Then dump into a bowl of ice water and let sit for a few minutes. The skins should then slip off easily.
  2. Put chopped tomatoes and peaches into a large heavy bottomed pot along with all the other ingredients.
  3. Boil slowly, stirring often, until thickened which should take about two hours. If your maters (yes, I said maters 😛 ) were really juicy it may take longer.
  4. Take out and discard the pickling spices.
  5. Ladle the salsa into half pint or pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Make sure to wipe the rims of the jars thoroughly with a CLEAN hot washrag. Put the clean lids on, making sure to just finger tighten. Don’t over tighten them.
  6. Process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.
  7. This makes about 3 and a half pints.
  8. Let cool and then undo all your hard work by popping open a jar and getting out the tostitos 😀
  9. If you have never canned before, please please don’t be scared off thinking it is too much work, too much trouble or too frightening to do. It’s really quite easy and more than worth any work you put into it. I PROMISE you this. If you have any canning questions, please feel free to ask me in a comment here or write me at my gmail address (in my “about me” section)

Doin’ The Salsa

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When I was a kid, you didn’t see salsa on the store shelves in Chicago. At least not that I remember in my doddering old age.  There also wasn’t a variety of chips to serve the non-existent salsa with. You had Jays potato chips (yes Jays; not Lays. Jays was/is regional to the Midwest), Doritos in two flavors- Nacho Cheese and Taco (I HATED the Taco ones; still do and wish they had never made a comeback) and bagged popcorn. Yes, yes I AM old. Why do you mention it? I am also old enough to remember when frozen meals were called TV dinners and came in foil trays like this *points down*

I prefer not to think about what the parts that weren’t white meat consisted of. Do Turkeys have lips? These wonderful dinners had school paste masquerading as mashed potatoes and veggies that were so mushy you could feed them to the seniors at the nursing home with no problem.

On the subject of “omg, I’m old and nobody else remembers this”, does ANYBODY other than me remember the pop (soda for those born elsewhere) named “Anna Banana”? I have asked others and no one else seems to remember it.

 

Moving back to the subject of salsa. Yes, that was the original subject… I just got distracted by shiny things. Imagine that huh? When I was a kid, I had never heard of salsa. I imagine it was available in certain areas of the country but not mine. Then came the taco sauces. Thin uninspired mild stuff with very little flavor. Then we started coming into the time when people were branching out in their food tastes and from what I saw, salsas were one of the first things that became something everyone was eating. You name the flavor, there was/is a salsa with that taste. Want some pineapple salsa, no problem! Habanaro Peach Salsa… get it here!  Turkey Lip/Orange flavored salsa? Yep; we have it! Fine, so I’ve never REALLY seen that one but I bet somewhere, someone tried to make something with turkey lips!

My favorites have always been the fruit flavored salsas. There is something about the sweet taste of the fruit mixed with the bite of peppers and onions that I just love. That’s also why I love chutneys. Same fruit to heat thing going on there.

In Spring and Summer, I tend to make Salsas even more. they are a great way to get some fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet. And generally speaking, kids tend to love them too which is always good when it comes to the fruit and veggie idea. So today I kind of cleaned out my fridge of the fruits I needed to use. Add some vegetables, some spice, some sweet and I ended up with a great fruity salsa. It is so good with chips but I can also see it making a fantastic cover for some grilled chicken or fish. I was really pleased with how this turned out so I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 This really needs to be eaten the day it’s made to maintain the fresh taste and texture of the fruits.

SPICY THREE FRUIT SALSA

  • 2 ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped
  • 2 peaches, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 10 grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
  • 1/2 jalapeno, very finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder (can omit this if you prefer more mild but it adds a nice smokey flavor and aroma)
  • zest and juice of one lime
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  1. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Taste for personal preferences. I added a bit more chipotle and a touch more lime but that’s cause I love them both.
  2. Eat.
  3. Comment here telling me how easy and how tasty this was. 😛