Recipe:
Fire and fruit yellow tomato salsa
MAKES: 2 cups
TIME: 40 minutes
The combination of mango and tomato may seem surprising, but the pickling ingredients bring them together in an enticing way.
- 1/2 lb. firm-ripe yellow tomatoes, cut in wedges
- 1/2 medium serrano chile, very thinly sliced (see
- "Add Heat to Taste," below)
- 3/4 cup chopped mango
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped red onion
- 1 1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. cracked coriander seeds*
- 1 tbsp. packed light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp. unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 green onion, diagonally sliced
1. In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, chile, mango, red onion, and ginger.
2. Warm oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add coriander and cook, stirring, until medium brown, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and carefully stir in brown sugar, vinegar, and salt.
3. Pour warm spice mixture over tomato mixture and let stand 30 to 60 minutes for flavors to develop. Just before serving, stir in green onion.
*Crack seeds using a mortar and pestle, or seal them in a plastic bag and whack with a rolling pin.
PER 1/4-CUP SERVING:
40 Cal., 40% (16 cal.) from fat;
0.4 g protein; 1.8 g fat (0.2 g sat.); 6.2 g carbo
(0.7 g fiber); 77 mg sodium; 0 mg chol..
Classic salsa verde
MAKES: 13/4 cups
TIME: 30 minutes
Tomatillos and fresh chiles give this salsa a bright, "green" flavor, and toasting the ingredients contributes a smoky element (plus it loosens the chiles' skins). Mexican cooks traditionally use a griddle or comal to toast salsa ingredients, but a broiler chars the chiles more evenly.
- 1/2 lb. tomatillos*, husked and rinsed
- 1 thick onion slice
- 1 large poblano* chile
- 1 1/2 medium serrano chiles (see "Add Heat to Taste," page 93)
- 1/2 ripe avocado (optional), peeled
- 2 tbsp. coarsely chopped cilantro
- 1 whole garlic clove
- 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
- About 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1. Preheat broiler and set a rack 3 in. from heating element. Line a rimmed baking pan with foil and set tomatillos, onion, poblano, and serranos in it.
2. Broil the vegetables, turning as needed, until tomatillos and onion are speckled brown and chiles are black all over, 12 to 15 minutes; as vegetables are done, transfer to a bowl. Cover vegetables with a plate or foil and let stand about 5 minutes for chile skins to loosen.
3. Pull off stems and blackened skins from chiles; for best flavor, don't rinse chiles (a few blackened bits are okay to leave on). Open poblano and remove seeds.
4. In a food processor, pulse vegetables and any juices; avocado, if using; cilantro; and garlic until coarsely purŽed. Scrape into a bowl and stir in 1/4 cup water, lime juice, and 3/4 tsp. salt. Season to taste with salt.
*Tart-tasting tomatillos look like green tomatoes with papery husks. Poblanos (sometimes mislabeled as pasillas) are large, meaty, deep green chiles with a fairly mild flavor; find them in your grocery store's produce section.
Make ahead: Chill up to 2 days; if using avocado, smooth plastic wrap against surface and chill up to 1 day only.
PER 1/4-CUP SERVING:
20 Cal., 14% (2.7 cal.) from fat;
0.7 g protein; 0.3 g fat (0 g sat.); 4.2 g carbo
(0.9 g fiber); 126 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.
Roasted tomato and three-chile salsa
MAKES: 21/2 cups
TIME: 1 1/4 hours
The layers of deep flavor come from roasted vegetables and pan-toasted chiles.
- 2 medium firm-ripe tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, cut crosswise in 4 slices
- 5 unpeeled garlic cloves
- 10 dried cascabel chiles*
- 10 dried arbol chiles*, stems removed
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce*
- 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- About 11/2 tsp. kosher salt
1. Preheat broiler and set a rack 3 in. from heating element. Line a large rimmed baking pan with foil and put tomatoes, onion, and garlic in it. Broil the vegetables, turning as needed, until browned in spots all over, 15 to 20 minutes; transfer to a bowl as done. Let cool.
2. Meanwhile, wipe dried chiles clean with a damp cloth. Pull out and discard seeds and stems from cascabels (break chiles open a bit if needed). Turn on fan over stove. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add cascabel and arbol chiles, and cook, turning often with a slotted spoon, until slightly softened and darkened in spots, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Reserving oil in pan, transfer chiles to a small, deep bowl and pour 2 cups boiling water on top. Let stand until chiles are softened, about 20 minutes. Discard 1 cup liquid.
4. Whirl chiles and remaining liquid with chipotle in a food processor until very smooth. Cut tomatoes and onion into chunks. Peel garlic. Add vegetables to chile purŽe and pulse until nearly smooth.
5. Reheat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add chile mixture and bring to a simmer, stirring. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes to blend flavors.
6. Pour salsa into a bowl and let cool. Stir in lemon juice and season to taste with salt.
*Buy in your supermarket's international foods aisle or at a Latino market.
Make ahead: Chill airtight up to 1 week.
PER 1/4-CUP SERVING:
43 Cal., 63% (27 cal.) from fat; 0.7 g protein; 3 g fat (0.4 g sat.); 4.3 g carbo (1 g fiber); 205 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.
Event Information:
What: Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend
Date: Saturday and Sunday, June 6th and 7th
Time: 10am to 5pm
Prices: $15 General Admission, $12 Senior Citizens
Kids: Free Under 12
Discount: Get $1 off if you bike to the event. Get $1 off if you park at Sun Microsystems at 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park (east of Highway 101) and ride the free shuttles to the event.
Tickets: Sold at the door.
Location: Sunset Headquarters
80 Willow Road Menlo Park, CA 94025
More info and stage schedules at www.sunset.com/cw
About Margo True:
Margo True, the Food Editor at Sunset magazine, joined the company in January of 2006. As Food Editor, she works with her team of cooks to develop accessible, reliably delicious recipes and stories that celebrate western ingredients, cooking styles, and the people and places that produce them.
Before coming to Sunset, she was the executive editor at Saveur magazine in New York and worked there for eight years, writing and editing stories about food and culture. From 1995 to 1999, she was an editor and writer for Gourmet. She has won several honors for her writing, including four James Beard journalism awards, and her pieces have been anthologized in the Best Food Writing series. She lives in Menlo Park, California.
