Cooking con mis amigas

A few months back I was at a party where my friend Sonia brought salsa.  I was in love!  I asked her if she could teach me how to make it and she enthusiastically agreed. We finally got together right before the holiday break to make two key dishes: red tomato salsa and papas verdes.

It was great to finally learn some Mexican dishes but it was even greater to hear all of Sonia’s stories during our time together.  She told me about the time she saw a truck drive by her place of employment carrying giraffes, elephants and other exotic animals.  It was the first time she had ever seen those animals in real life so she ran out of the store she was working in and followed the truck for five blocks, taking lots of pictures and marveling at seeing elephants in particular.  Then she realized that she had abandoned her post at work and ran back to find a boss who was a wee bit mad that she left things unattended.  That is, until she told him why she left.  Then he laughed and laughed and forgave all!  I love that she has such a vivid memory of the first time she saw an elephant and wish I could tell you an equally exciting story about the first time I saw an exotic animal not from the forests of Arkansas. 

My first cooking lesson with Sonia. 

A few weeks later, my friend Rosy asked when I was going to invite her to teach me how to cook, so I said come on over!  She taught me two new dishes using soy and dried chiles, and they were both bursting with flavor as well.  She also brought her daughters over to do their homework while she showed me the ropes and it was really fun having kids in my house!  They drew me pictures, wrote me sweet notes and even gave me a big pink balloon to keep me entertained for weeks (that thing has literally been floating around for 2 weeks now and shows no sign of deflating).  Best of all, they stayed to enjoy the meal with me and let me take the leftovers to work the next day for the enjoyment of my coworkers.  My coworker Fabricio said "Autumn, you gotta find a husband" in response to my ability to produce tasty food.  So at least now when people ask me why I'm not married I can say, well it's not because I can't cook ;) 

I asked Sonia if I could share her recipes and she agreed, so enjoy!  I also have recipes from Rosy if you want some soy ceviche and soy con carne tacos (and you know you do). 

Dining with Rosy and her girls.  So tasty!!

Salsa (with red tomatoes)
1 kilo de tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1.5 cups of chopped cilantro
8 chiles de arbol (chiles cola de rata) – you might start with fewer if you don’t like a lot of heat
Salt (as much as you like)

• Wash all ingredients
• Char the tomatoes until a fork can enter them without any resistance and the skins are mostly blackened
• Let tomatoes cool for a few minutes then remove the skins
• Put 2 tomatoes, the whole chiles, and a pinch of salt in the blender and blend until very smooth. Then add the rest of the tomatoes and blend for approximately 5 seconds.  You want the be able to see some texture in that salsa so don’t blend it very much during the second turn. 
• Add the mixture from the blender to a bowl with the onions and cilantro and mix well. 
• Serve with corn chips or tostadas and enjoy! 

Papas Verdes
1 kilo of small potatoes
1 cup of cilantro
1 green chile pepper (stem removed)
1 stick of butter
1 Tbsp of chicken powder (or a chicken bouillon cube)
8 limes
A pinch of salt - pinch
A super-duper tiny spoonful of olive oil

• Wash all ingredients.
• Boil potatoes in a large pot with a little salt. If the potatoes are large, cut them in half or quarters first.
• Cut limes in half and squeeze out all the juice into a bowl. 
• Put chile, cilantro, lime juice, and chicken powder in blender and blend well.  Set aside. 
• Cook potatoes until a knife easily enters (but just barely easily enters).  Drain potatoes and remove.  Melt a stick of butter in the same pot.  Put potatoes back in the pot and mix well over low heat. If you did not cut the potatoes earlier, use a fork to put holes in each potato now (to allow more flavor to seep in). 
• Pour the blender mixture into the pot with the potatoes and mix well.  Continue to cook for 15-20 mins more until the mixture boils. When it boils, turn off heat and let continue to simmer with lid a little while longer.
• Serve and enjoy!

Note: for all cilantro, remove the bottom part of the stalk and only use cilantro leaves that look healthy and are not black/yellow.