Winter Salsa

Our downstairs, except for the kitchen is covered from floor to ceiling with plastic and blue tape while our ceiling is being somethinged. Retaped, refinished, Somethinged.

So I decided to cook. Not my usual mono-meal, squash in a bowl or brown rice with an egg. No. I decided to have every burner going while I stirred and flipped, griddled and mashed. Did I mention the pantry door is also draped and taped with plastic. Anything in there is off limits. More forced creativity.

And we had the best local meal ever. Upstairs on the bedroom floor. Watching the third season of Lost on a DVD due back tomorrow.

I mashed potatoes with milk and butter all from Sonoma County. Sauteed delicata squash that I'd under baked the night before. Quick steamed kale from the Sunday farmers' market. And I put together a winter version of salsa I'd dreamed of in the summer. It's took me until now to make it a reality.

In August and September I slow roasted peppers, pureed and froze them. Tonight I added the spicy cubes with a touch of water to tomatoes I'd also froze. Once the tomatoes, which had been roasted, with olive oil, garlic and sea salt, were partially thawed I easily removed the skins. That was it.

"Why's it so sweet," the cute guy asked.

It had to be the tomatoes. They were from the elderly man in Petaluma that grows them like they are members of his family. Buying them felt like kidnapping even though I was the one paying.

The cute guy also bought a roasted not-really-a-free-range chicken tonight and tortillas, both from the next county. Being mono-meal people though we layered one thing on top of the other into one bowl each and covered everything with salsa.

Yes, it was sweet.

The house is going to be taped up for a few days, which is fine with me. I'll cook.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, first off: I'm impressed that you admitted your watching of Lost. LOL. We don't watch tv except when we're watching them on dvd - which is rare. But - ahem - my husband and I rented all the 3rd season dvds a couple of weeks ago and watched them when I was sick. There, I said it.

Second, I love your tomato story. Isn't that the best way to enjoy a food, knowing that someone really loved growing it? Until my own garlic comes up (I hope I hope), I buy my garlic from a guy that truly loves his garlic. When I pick them up and put them in a bag, he comes over to tell me about each variety, how long he's been growing them, what his daughter's friends rated it out in the east coast (I guess they get together and do garlic tasting), and he smiles with pride.

Have fun cooking!

Kale for Sale said...

Melinda - We love Lost. Well, it's sort of a love hate thing. They always leave you hanging but then nothing happens. But I have a crush on Sawyer and Jack so I don't really care. Our tv habits are the same as yours and I started watching the 3rd season because I stayed home not feeling great. Excuses, I know. Are we sisters?

And yes, I have crushes on all my favorite growers too!

Green Bean said...

More squash! I envy your winter salsa. I'll have to prepare better next summer. Oh, and we're mono meal people too. That's the one big challenge about the Dark Days challenge. I can't write about our mono meal (in our case some sort of salad with everything under the sun in it) every week. :)

Kale for Sale said...

Green Bean - I'm so happy to meet another mono-meal person. Thank you! And I need some new salad inspiration.