Recent Posts
- A no-machine Coffee Ice Cream and Ice Cream Basics
- Life’s about to get dangerous.
- Trashy Tuesdays
- Quinoa and Roasted Pepper Salad
- The proof is in the licking … and H2Ope for Haiti.
- Frozen Yumminess
- 100% Whole Wheat No-Knead Sandwich Loaf
- Workplace Harassment
- Chana Masala / Chole (Chickpea Curry)
- Dark Chocolate-Almond Cake (Gluten-free)
-
Admin
Sep
22
Baffle them with Bull … and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
September 22, 2008 |
This is a food and gardening post, but before we come to the recipe, we really have to share with you a very exciting discovery.
In the past month, we’ve driven close to 3000 miles often on desolate desert terrain - public land with no houses or trees in sight for miles around. The only ‘company’ on the dusty roads are other vehicles. Many of them are 18-wheeler trucks barreling down next to you at 85 miles an hour. They are long, moving billboards with mysterious messages along their sides.
Like “Redefining distribution, one innovation at a time”.
If bullshit was music, the B-school graduates who churn it out - one rhetorical note at a time - would be a brass band. Well, now that we’ve discovered the Web Economy Bullshit Generator, we can join the symphony.
Just hit the ‘make bullshit’ button, and it pairs verbs, adjectives and nouns that yield confounding phrase cocktails to pitch highly-inflated ideas.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a phrase generator that creates culinary word combos to aid food bloggers? If you are a geek proficient in Javascript, here’s a glossary of culinary terms to get started. I, for one, would be deeply indebted.
As the saying goes, “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.” The more convoluted, the better.
“My chronologically gifted, rustically inclined female relative deployed a parallel methodology to engage me in an interactive paradigm involving a synergy of flour, dairy by-products and leavening agents.”
sounds so much more intriguing than
“My grandmother back in the village showed me how to make these unusual pancakes.”
The possibilities for commenting are even more promising.
Once a week, I run down the list of feeds on my Safari reader to see what’s going on at my favourite blogs. I leave a note on any blog I visit regularly because I think it’s like visiting someone’s home. Not saying ‘hi’ is rude. Leaving feedback on the political and personal blogs is easy.
Food blogs, on the other hand, are a different kettle of fish. How many times can one say, “Nice recipe and fantastic picture” ? Especially when 40 folks before you have said the same thing? A crockful of jargon never hurt anyone. Heck, I would love to read a comment here that says:
Your concoction efficiently targets collective eyeballs. It transitions the intuitive network to leading-edge mindshare for repurposing holistic relationships with plug-and-play solutions.
instead of
“Nice recipe and pic. I’d love to try this.”
Until that materialises, a simpler idea would be to have a form with options for readers.
Instead of typing out whole sentences, they can just click on one of the checkboxes next to various options.
1. Nice post Bee, nice pic Bee.
2. Nice post, Jai. Nice pic, Jai.
3. Nice post, Bee. Nice pic, Jai.
4. Nice post, Jai. Nice pic, Bee.
5. I didn’t read your post. Just wanted to say your picture sucks.
6. You been drinking?
7. I just wanted to say ‘hi’.
8. When are you posting the CLICK results?
9. What the hell is wrong with you people?
10. Can I use tofu instead of eggs?
Any other ideas for productizing seamless deliverables in the comments space? We’re all ears.
ROASTED TOMATILLO SALSA (SALSA VERDE)
Tomatillos are tart, delicious cousins of tomatoes with a husky covering. You need more than one plant to yield fruits, since flowers from at least two plants are required for pollination.
Looking at this pic in the context of the earlier part of this post, I realise there is a connection. It does look like poo. We made this recipe a couple of times - once with roasted anaheim and poblano peppers, and once with unroasted peppers. The roasted peppers turn the end result a rather hideous shade of brown-green, but the flavour is far superior to the prettier bright green version.
The tomatillos and anaheim peppers are from our garden. Green tomatoes are a good substitute for tomatillos. We grew two varieties this year. One had a plain green husk, the other had pretty purple markings (see first pic). Inside, though, both of them looked and tasted quite similar.
Rick Bayless is our fail-proof source for any Mexican recipe. (See Mole Poblano, Arroz Rojo and The Perfect Tomato Salsa).
Jai followed his Roasted Tomatillo Salsa with one change. He substituted the serrano chillies with anaheims and poblanos. The end result was perfect.
(Makes about 2 cups)
1 pounds tomatillos (about 12 medium)
3 to 4 peppers - anaheim, poblano, serrano or a combo (depending on how much heat you can take)
Husk the tomatillos and wipe the sticky residue. Stem the peppers.
Line a baking sheet with foil, place the tomatillos and peppers on it and broil on on HIGH. Depending on the size of tomatillo you’re using it will take 6 to 10 minutes on each side. When they get charred spots on one side, turn them over and broil for 6-10 minutes on the other side. They should roast well and be cooked through. Set them aside to cool.
Reduce the oven to 425 F and put
3 ounces (about 1/3 cup) onion chopped into chunks (preferably white)
** or shallots
and
4 whole peeled garlic cloves
on a piece of foil. Cook them for 12-15 minutes until soft and just starting to char at the edges. Don’t turn them too brown, or they will turn bitter.
Do this when you are roasting pepper or baking bread, if you don’t want to heat up a whole oven for this. Or reduce the broiler to LOW and broil the onions and garlic. Or use a toaster oven or a cast-iron pan on the stovetop.
If you want this to be rustic, don’t remove the skins from the tomatillos and peppers, unless there are bits that are totally charred.
If using serranos, remove the seed and pith. They get a concentrated flavour upon roasting and become much hotter than they were.
Even if using milder peppers, add only 3 to begin with.
Blend the peppers with onions and garlic to smooth. If you need liquid while blending, add a dash of water.
Scrape it with a spatula into a bowl and coarsely blend the tomatillos in the jar without adding any water.
Add salt to taste.
Check if you need more heat. If you do, chop up the remaining peppers fine and add them.
Add a dash of sugar if you wish (J didn’t), then add
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour for the flavours to blend. In Mexico, this salsa is really runny, served as a sauce rather than a dip. If you want it thinner, add more water.
Tastes great the first day, even better the next. It will mellow down as it sits. This salsa freezes very well.
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is our entry for Heart of the Matter: Preserving the Harvest @ The Accidental Scientist.
- b.
Anaheim-peppers, blogging, Chilli, GARDENING, Garlic, Mexico, MUSINGS, Onion/Shallot, poblano-pepper, Rick-Bayless, salsa, Tomatillo, vegan recipes, vegetarian recipes
How fitting that I’m the first to leave you a message. Lay off on bashing the poo will ya?
addition to you comment checkboxlist
- haaaaaaa
- whatever that is, loooks soooo yummy
- wow awsome pic, how do you take that from your camera….
- I agree totally
- I disagree totally (will send you mails with lectures on blogging etiquette)
Can you add ‘LOL’ to your list of options? Btw, Nice post Bee, nice pic Bee.
Nice post Bee, nice pic Bee
How about ditto? As in whatever all the people above said.
Lol. he he he he ….
Nice pics. This seems tasty. Thanks. Can I replace the garlic with tofu? I need to grow some tomatillos. Can you post detailed instructions on how to do this, along with all of the health benefits of eating them raw, steamed, baked, fried, pureed? I need a local source of tofu (to replace the garlic) - can you tell me where to go? Actually, we don’t get tomatillos here - maybe I could replace them too (prior to growing my own)? Would eggplant work? What camera did you use?
“Bashing the poo”? What is this?
bashed poo is a unique american delicacy. we distribute it free to the rest of the world. what do you aussies know?
How about:
1. My mom/mil makes this
2. I made this last weekend, but substituted ABC for XYZ
2. Reminds me of my childhood days
3. I wish i could get ABC ingredient in our XYZ city
4. Your pic jumps out of the screen. I can almost taste this now
How silly of me - obviously bullshit is not something we Aussies are good at. yeah, right. It must be that we keep it all for ourselves - too good to export.
i read the post and thought it was very funny, but then I read the comments…they are hilarious
you have good readers 
hehehe
(that should be an option too, btw)
How about “I’ve never seen or tasted (that) before, but it does look good!” Har har. Because it kind of applies to me– never seen a live tomatillo before! Even as I have this Filipino cookbook from the 70’s that describes how to preserve them. How sad that they seem to have fallen out of fashion when I was just a kid!
Ha ha, if we have the Plug and play available, the foodie feed lists in reader will be growing like a monster
On the top of the option : Hilarious
Salsa is sexy Bee
How about adding “that looks delicious” to your list of options.? Personally, I’ve entertaining the idea of leaving the comment “what the hell is wrong with you people?” on all the blogs I read, just for kicks.
I never write a comment without reading the post! And each time I read your post I come up with something new to say! Aren’y u people making us to say something new? U blog about new recipes every time right ? LOL ! But bee I am not fo this automated commenting! The personal touch is lost! And oh my, will I miss your comments in my blog?
I agree with Manggy. “I’ve never seen or tasted (that) before, but it does look good!” ought to be an option.
Maybe that’s another option to offer. You know, “I agree with ……..”!
So I’m waiting for your comments check box option. When is it due?
Impactful perusing, and niche solution for practitioners in offshore sites.
Wow. Wish I could have some now.
You are always so funny Bee.
Wow. Jai cooks for you? How nice. Wish my husband cooked.
Wish we got tomatillos in India.
Wouldn’t mind reaching in the screen and grabbing some.
How come your photos are always so good?
I could go on… but your post might end up being just checkboxes for the comments!
How about adding:
What do u call tomatillos (in this case) in
Bengali/ Kanada/ Malayalam….
hi,first time to ur blog,u blog is really wonderful.
Your concoction efficiently targets collective eyeballs. It transitions the intuitive network to leading-edge mindshare for repurposing holistic relationships with plug-and-play solutions.
Hope you loved the above comment.
Salsa verde? I am eternally enamoured by the soniferous splendidity of this invention. Try adding a pinch of roasted cumin to furthur enhance the bull on display.
BTW, the pics definitely do NOT suck, despite what others may say…
What the hell is wrong with you people?
You been drinking?
Why the hell didn’t you invite me?
(my sides are aching i am laughing so hard!)
PS. Can I use normal tomatoes for my salsa “verde”?
(that was a joke!)
Hmm so u guys are pondering over another attempt to keep my mouth shut,coz i m notoriously famous for writing long comments and many of the bloggers just zzzzzzzzzzz in the midway of reading them,but i cant help it,coz i just cant go on with “Nice pic,nice recipe”.I visit very few blogs(i know i miss out the fun at remaining blogs)and i do SPEAK MY MIND there.And if u guys come up with checkbox comment option,i wont be able to hog the space in comment section,but on another thought,if that happens,be generous to share the scripts with me,atleast visitors at my blog will be benefited!
One more suggestion(i know u r gonna kick me for that),leave this cooking and food blogging for Jai,while u (bee)amuse us more and more with ur FMMN !Coz this CRABBY chick stings really hard and i love when WRONG is bashed in public !
My lips are sealed
Your concoction efficiently targets collective eyeballs. It transitions the intuitive network to leading-edge mindshare for repurposing holistic relationships with plug-and-play solutions.
ROFL…
Some more
g1 b
u soooo lky
gr8 post!
LOL! gr8
I want 2 come 2 ur house rt now.
can u send me a fedex?
lol. i can never decipher those.
cant stop laughing !
:)
‘u been drinking’ defntly gets my check.
there’s no “u crack me up!”
Nice post Bee, nice pic Bee
Here’s my addition:
Looks good, gotta try this
Bookmarked
I’m drooling here
Food porn at its best
I really should visit your garden sometime.
This symbiotic merging, foundational physalis philadelphica as it is, circumvents its chromatically challenged nature by synthesizing the requisite flavor analogues with risk-appropriate compositional thermal elements.
How about “I’m speechless.”
And, second post I’ve come across tonight with roasted tomatillo salsa, seems to be a trend. Also, I’m wondering why my tomatillos don’t have those little purple veins in the husks.
D. All of the above E. None at all..Great post, very informative!:-)
Word generator suffered fatal error…
there’s nothing some chocolate can’t fix.
Are you kidding me… I was reading the post, and then swooped down to the comments! Oh boy… these are the most entertaining set of comments I have ever read! (Better than the post itself, I must say)
Where are all these people when I need them!
All said and done, it is rather challenging to leave unique, and innovative comments on a food blog on a regular basis.
First of all, I’m such a dull head, I didn’t even understand what you were telling. It took some time for me. Then how do I ever write comments like that. You have made your criticism sound very hilarious. You can only pull it off Bee.
You have also missed Hats off and the two hands down emoticon, which I’ve seen a lot in your comments seciton.
I end up usually saying - that is something new to me!! I can’t help it because you are the one who keeps introducing new things - BTW, I haven’t seen these, only heard!
I like the way you get away and make yourself clearly heard - I am straight spoken and end up giving a wrong impression when I don’t mean a thing!! There are few more things to be learnt here apart from the recipes, I see:)
Hmmm Mmmmh to say or not to say is the dillema!
Excellent!
I don’t believe you have excellent on your list so I’m unable to leave a comment ;0)
ROFL!!
Are you from XXX region in India?? [Which will be totally unrelated to the cuisine mentioned in the blog post, of course!]
[...] Tomatillos from last year’s garden [...]
[...] jugalbandi Baffle them with Bull and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Posted by root 1 day 1 hour 15 minutes ago (http://jugalbandi.info) Food blogs on the other hand are a different kettle of fish or use a toaster oven or a cast iron pan on the stovetop and if u guys come up with checkbox comment option i wont be able to hog the space in copyright 2007 2009 http jugalbandi info feed powere Discuss | Bury | News | jugalbandi baffle them with bull and roasted tomatillo salsa [...]
I think it’s supremely gracious of you to not leave a blog you read without leaving a comment. It seems an excellent practice to emulate. And so, even though you have tons of comments on this blog, I can’t leave without writing one myself.
As an avid peruser of food blogs, I know what you mean about providing feedback. Do you provide feedback on a recipe without trying it?? Do you react only to photos, good or bad?? Sometimes the recipe seems brilliant, but not the writing. Other times photos are spectacular but not the recipe… the list is endless.
I find the blogs I react best to are the ones where I enjoy the write-up and the virtual experience of being there,…just like this one, the great recipe is a bonus!!
Congratulations on what is clearly a very beautiful and successful labour of love!