Roasted Tomato and Pineapple Salsa

This is a very complicated salsa recipe, I’m not going to lie, but it’s so tasty! There are a lot of ingredients cooked a few different ways, and the results are fantastic. You can really taste everything and it comes together as a sweet, sour, spicy salsa that’s just super flavorful. The recipe is from Truly Mexican, my fave. Would be perfect for Super Bowl this weekend!

Ingredients:

1 lb tomatoes (4 small/medium)

1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks

1 medium red onion, peeled whole and cut into 1/2” rounds

5 garlic cloves, peeled

3 dried arbol chiles, wiped clean and stemmed

1 small poblano or hot Italian pepper

pinch allspice

2 tbsp chopped jalapeño chiles, including seeds

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

2 tbsp water

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp fine salt or 1 tbsp kosher salt

Caviar Potato Chips

I saw this recipe in the Times ages ago and have been wanting to try it. I had some friends over for my birthday and served this as a festive appetizer. It's delicious. So salty and tasty, and goes perfectly with champagne. It's great for a special occasion. 

You just mix up some creme fraiche with lemon zest and put it on good potato chips and top with salmon roe. Easy peasy. Just be sure to only do it right before you serve them so they don't get soggy.

Snickerdoodles

If you want your house to smell amazing (a la Clueless), bake these. The cinnamon sugary goodness wafts out from the oven and will make anyone in the house come to the kitchen for a sample. Also, you probably have most of these ingredients in your kitchen already. These are simple cookies but they just taste so, so good.  You do need to know about an hour in advance just to be sure your butter and shortening are nice and soft.

Makes about 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 tbsp butter, softened

8 tbsp vegetable shortening (like crisco)

2 large eggs

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Winter Sundays are always good soup days. For this Italian-inspired soup, I roasted a bunch of vegetables (mostly root vegetables) with fresh rosemary, chopped fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes. You can use whatever vegetables you want or can find, just be sure to have some starchier veggies in there like potatoes/turnips/parsnips. Using a food mill instead of a blender means that you don't have to peel the vegetables or fish out the rosemary, and it gives the soup a more rustic texture. I drizzled the top with reduced balsamic vinegar and some good extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:

1 red potato

2 small turnips (I did peel these because they put wax on them)

2 leeks, rinsed

3 garlic cloves

1 small floret broccoli, halved

2 parsnips, roughly chopped

3 carrots, roughly chopped

1/2 big yellow onion, peeled and halved

2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp roughly chopped fennel seeds

4 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Roasted Cauliflower with Panko and Pecorino

Happy New Year! As with most early January weekends, I've had my nose in cook books - all my wonderful Christmas presents from the people who know me best. Every Christmas I amass several new books to add to my growing collection. My mother-in-law gave me Ina Garten's new "Make It Ahead" book. I love Ina, and pretty much everything she makes is good. Healthy, not always, but reliable and tasty, yes. This cauliflower is fantastic! Totally addicting. I will certainly be making it again. It's pretty simple and it will disappear quickly.