Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Grilled Tiger Salsa (Sauce)

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Alongside last week’s Spicy Cumin Coriander Tri-Tip Steak recipe we served up this nifty Grilled Tiger Salsa (some might argue it’s a sauce as well).

As with almost any dish you might search to find a recipe for, there are a number of versions of this salsa; most are damned tasty and a few are great.

And as I often do, I reached out to our compadre Chef Libby in Austin to see what her spin on the recipe was (is?); and as is most often the case, she had some definite opinions and had tweaked some of the best recipes to make her’s suit the Tex-ified palates she serves catering in Austin.

Like a lot of great grilled salsas, this one is built around grilled tomatoes, rubbed with olive oil and good salt and roasted over high heat until there’s a bit of char present and some of the tomatoes are just beginning to burst.

Many Tiger Salsa recipes you’ll see call for cherry tomatoes; I agree with Chef Libby that Campari tomatoes have a deeper, richer flavor grilled, and are a tad bit easier to handle on grill grates given their larger size.

Given that we can find uber-fresh serranos all around the neighborhood here in North Texas, we lean to using serranos (as does Libby) instead of Thai chiles, but feel free to use whatever peppers are handy and whose flavors you most appreciate.

The salsa prep is rounded out using a chopped shallot (a very nice touch) and a bit of cilantro, with the acid component being freshly squeezed lime juice (I usually add a bit of lime zest out of habit), and a strong umami boost comes from fish (use the good stuff) and oyster sauces.

We think this one is best freshly made with the tomatoes still warm, but it does hold pretty well for a day or two – ours never really lasts beyond the first day…

1 and 1/2 cups Campari or cherry tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
4-6 Thai or 2-3 serrano chiles, stemmed, finely chopped
3-4 green onions, trimmed, grilled, chopped
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1/2 cup (or more) cilantro leaves + small stems, chopped
Juice of two limes (more if need to thin)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce

To start the sauce, lightly oil and salt the tomatoes and green onions in a medium bowl, then grill until lightly charred and the tomatoes are beginning to burst. Remove from the grill and cool the tomatoes in the original bowl, chop the green onions and set aside.

Into the food processor go the chopped green onions, garlic, Thai or serrano chiles, shallot, and 1/4 tsp salt; process to a paste consistency. Now quickly pulse in the cilantro.

Crush the cooled, grilled tomatoes by hand, then add the shallot-chile mixture, lime juice, fish and oyster sauces. Adjust for salt and lime juice (acid), serve immediately or hold in the fridge for a short time.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Buffalo Sauce Number One

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Betraying my Texas Panhandle, more-or-less authentic redneck roots, I have to admit that now and again the folks eating around our campfire absolutely clamor for and eventually devour piles and piles of buffalo chicken off the grill.

Though we don’t tend to hang around with ‘em, I’m told there are lots of foodies out there that turn their collective noses up at such pedestrian food as buffalo chicken, perhaps in some way related to the sauce’s origins (read up on the history if you’re into that sort of thing – I am personally, but didn’t have the time this week to rehash the story in sufficient detail) in a humble northeastern bar.

And I will grant buffalo sauce critics one unfortunate reality – that fact being that many of the commercially prepared, pre-mixed buffalo sauces are filled with absolute crap ingredients (soybean or canola oils being probably the worst of the lot), many of which are added in to attempt to recreate the particular flavor of the original despite using an array of ingredients not even close to the original recipe.

Please note that the recipe following is one that we’ve using around our camp for years; it’s very close to the “original”, though I always reach for a good Louisiana-style hot sauce – we just like the flavor profile better, and a hint of Worcestershire and garlic powder to round out the flavors a bit.

And yea, it uses butter, real, glorious butter, and there’s nothing in the commercially prepared buffalo sauce game that tastes anywhere close to this good.

Chef Libby in Austin convinced us to add a bit of vinegar back in, as most Louisiana-styled hot sauces aren’t quite as vinegary as Frank’s (the sauce ostensibly used in the original), and she most often sweetens hers when cooking commercially in her catering business down in Austin.

Of course the classic use of a great buffalo sauce is basting chicken on the grill, though I’ve brushed this one everything from redfish to pork chops to shrimp to skirt steak with great results.

This is one of those recipes that makes you look like a genius with roughly 5 minutes of effort; you’ll never buy another bottle of commercial sauce again.

1/2 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 to 1.5 tbsp vinegar, optional(1)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Good salt to taste

Optional additions:
Up to a tsp of good paprika
Sweetener of choice (brown sugar or honey)(2)

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the butter has melted and you’re able to easily whisk until smooth and well combined.

Heat to a gentle simmer (do NOT bring to full boil or the sauce will separate), remove from heat, and let cool.

I personally think it’s best the day it’s made, though this one will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks (it’ll never last that long).

Notes:
1 Your call on the vinegar, try white, ACV, or even Chinese vinegars
2 We’ll sometimes add up to a tbsp of brown sugar or honey to sweeten things up a bit, but it’s not in the classic recipe.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Ranchero Tomato Sauce (or Salsa) No. 1

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Today’s recipe came about in sort’ve a roundabout way and with input from a number of damned talented folks messing around in kitchens.

Two summers ago a friend came to me and asked me to help with menu planning an event he was hosting for his extended family around Father’s Day; as is typical for our North Texas neighborhood he was planning a big brisket and fixin’s barbecue one evening, but he also wanted to serve a brunch built around some of his Tex Mex favorites, including huevos rancheros.

My buddy was not only hell bent on serving a classic huevos rancheros, but he wanted it to match a particular dish he’d enjoyed on a hunting trip down in the Texas Rio Grande Valley in the months prior. He waxed poetically about a thick, tomatoey ranchero sauce, deeply flavored with dried peppers, and punctuated with a smokey, lingering heat that just had to be from chipotles.

My best advice was to call the little eatery he’d placed on this culinary pedestal to see if they’d share a recipe; he did, and lo and behold he reported the grandmother running the kitchen ran off a list from memory, though without the specific amounts of each ingredient, and she apparently said to use “some good spices” as well.

It pays to have a chef friend in the fold who likes to chat about recipes, so I called Chef Libby in Austin and worked backwards to construct a recipe that we both refined further over a few weeks. Libby was actually using something similar she’d sourced somewhere online (she couldn’t recall at the time) and we tried to incorporate both fresh, dried chiles and reached for saucy chipotles in adobo given how rich and flavorful that canned adobo sauce is.

The spice profile is pretty typical for ranchero-style sauces, though we’ve added a bit of paprika and a splash of tamari/coconut aminos/soy to deepen the umami notes.

The result is a thick, rich, deeply flavored sauce (some might argue this could even be called a salsa) that makes for the best huevos rancheros (next week’s recipe) that I’ve ever tasted, and plays very well with roasted meats – chicken and pork especially – and could very likely work even as an enchilada sauce, though to be honest we haven’t gone there. If I’m not careful, my wife will pull out her tortilla chips and eat through half a recipe anytime this is on the stove…

Note the recipe as written makes enough for 2 meals of huevos; halve the recipe if you want, though I’ve been making it up as written and freezing half for later.

1 medium onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 large dried ancho chiles, seeded, thinly cut into strips (use scissors)
2 guajillo (or New Mexico) chiles, seeded, thinly cut into strips
1-2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 and 1/2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
2 cans (14-oz) fire roasted tomatoes
4-5 chipotle chiles in adobo
4-5 tbsp adobo sauce from chile can
1/2 cup fresh cilantro and tender stems, finely chopped
2 tbsp tamari, coconut aminos, or soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Stem and seed the peppers, then cut into thin strips using scissors.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat without oil, then toast the chile strips until fragrant, watch carefully, given their small size it won’t take long. Remove and set aside.

Now add the oil, onion and garlic slices and sauté until softened and just starting to brown, then add the chile strips, oregano, cumin, and paprika. Stir and cook another 20-30 seconds, then add the tomatoes, chipotles, and adobo sauce. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and keep it simmering gently for 15 minutes or so.

Now puree (coarsely) using an immersion blender (or standup blender if you prefer – remember hot liquids expand in the blender), then add the prepped cilantro, tamari/aminos/soy sauce, and lime juice. Stir the mixture well and add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

The sauce is ready for huevos rancheros or any other recipe you want to use it for, and keeps well sealed in the fridge for 7-10 days.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Roasted Green Chile (Enchilada) Sauce

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Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of being on a multi-person Skype call talking food with several friends and foodie professionals; most of us happen to be in Texas currently, most of us aren’t professionally trained chefs (though two, including friend Libby from Austin, were culinary school trained), and to the person all of us are immersed in some aspect of the food world more or less on a daily basis.

Somehow the topic of verde or green enchiladas came up, prompting a debate as to whether or not verde sauces (and you might even argue salsas) should include our tart friend – the tomatillo.

Opinions ranged widely as you might imagine, some invoking the hallowed “New Mexico Green” enchilada, which collective opinion insisted was built around the revered Hatch Chile (probably New Mexico’s finest export) and not the tomatillo, though many of our Texas-allied compadres insisted that “it’s just not a (insert colorful adjective of choice here) green enchilada if tomatillos aren’t in the (insert second colorful adjective of choice here) sauce”.

While those on the call parted amicably, a few days later I chatted with Libby about tweaking a verde enchilada sauce recipe to include hefty piles of roasted green chiles along with tomatillos – preferably roasted.

She didn’t have time to play around with recipe trials given her catering schedule that week, so I ventured off and started playing with several combinations of these great flavors we’d been arguing about days before. While it’s probably best to do over live fire on the grill, I started off by roasting onions, poblanos, and tomatillos in the oven after drizzling with a good olive oil, and then combining them with a more or less typical assortment of ingredients you see time and time again in most roasted green chile based sauces.

Hot damn, this ended up being a very tasty approach, and one that can be spiced up (more serranos or jalapeños) as desired, and left fairly thick or thinned out as needed. My wife insists it makes a damned fine salsa verde, and she’s pretty good at the salsa game.

Try this next time the verde enchilada siren calls your name; we’ve been using it as a salad dressing, topping for roasted proteins and vegetables, even as a dip for fresh, crunchy veg as well. It’s amazing over eggs or migas, and I find it delightful over a simple salad too.

I’ll also feature this roasted green chile (enchilada) sauce in an upcoming post covering a green chile chicken casserole I helped a buddy cobble together for a family gathering around the 4th, it was a huge hit…

1 small onion, trimmed and halved
1 poblano chile, trimmed and halved
5-6 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 tbsp (or more) olive or avocado oil
Kosher salt

4 4-ounce cans roasted green chiles (Hatch if possible)
4 garlic cloves, rough chop
2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, rough chop
1/2 cup cilantro, leaves and tender stems
1/2 to one cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 and 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher (or to taste)

Preheat your trusty oven to 400, and place the onion, poblano, and tomatillos on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the oil, dust with a sprinkle of salt, and throw in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are soft and browned. Let cool for several minutes, rough chop, and throw in the blender, along with any juices that leaked from those beautifully roasted tomatillos.

Now add the next 8 ingredients, taking note that you should start with 1/2 cup of chicken stock, adding more as needed to reach the desired consistency. Puree until smooth, taste, and adjust for cumin and salt.

Note: Pending how thick or thin it is, you can either add more chicken stock or throw the sauce into a pan on the stove and reduce to the desired consistency.

As noted in the narrative above, this recipe was most recently used for a friend’s 4th of July party feed down here in Texas, though this makes an astoundingly tasty verde enchilada sauce as well.

Enjoy.

And by the way, it’s kinda hard to get really sexy images of salsa and sauces; the image below is looking right down the barrel of a blender loaded with this sauce in progress…

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Gochujang Curry Peanut Sauce (Dip)

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I’ve shared before that we’re big fans of spicy peanut sauces, particularly when we’re grilling during the warmer months and have great leftover proteins in the fridge on most of these blisteringly hot summer days. To hammer that point home, and tempt your taste buds today, there’s an image below featuring this wonderful sauce over the Original Recipe Chicken from last Friday’s Feast.

Curry and peanut flavors tend to play really well together, and while you could certainly make your own curry sauce, given the number of ingredients and time required to make a really great curry sauce, we much more often than not reach for one of the tasty prepared curries available today (scan ingredients carefully).

Curry, peanut, and coconut flavors also play very well together, and on a whim a few months back, brand-spanking new tub of gochujang in hand, I stirred a couple of tablespoons of gochujang into the peanut sauce I was crafting to serve as a dip for crudite for a little party at the house.

Gochujang is, among other things, an umami flavor bomb, bringing all sorts of deep, almost at times fruity peppery notes to a dish, without being ferociously hot.

Oh you can certainly add more heat to this sauce, either with fresh peppers (try minced serranos or jalapeños), or using cayenne or other spicy ground red peppers, and you do want this sauce to be fairly spicy, given that the foods you’re pouring it over or dipping in it typically aren’t. We’ve even thrown a little chipotle powder in a batch or two, and love the smokey heat that chipotles bring to the table.

Finally, a friend who took this recipe home from the party above likes to add a teaspoon or more or cumin as well – it’s not a typical peanut sauce ingredient but is damned tasty too.

1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1/3 cup prepared red curry paste (maybe more)
1-3 tbsp gochujang paste
1 can full-fat coconut milk (14.5 ounce)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp good fish sauce
1 tbsp honey (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin (optional)
Kosher salt to taste

Heat your oil of choice over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan, and the prepared curry paste and at least 1 tbsp of gochujang, and cook, stirring pretty much consistently, until the paste darkens a bit, is very fragrant, and just begins to stick to the pan.

Quickly add the entire can of coconut milk, stirring to combine well, and bring to a simmer. Continue to whisk occasionally until the mixture has reduced by 10-15%; it’ll darken a bit as it cooks as well.

Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the peanut butter, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and if you’re using them – the cumin, honey, and other spicy flavors (see above).

Let it cool a bit, then taste, and adjust seasons; we almost always add a bit more gochujang and/or cumin, even a little cayenne or chipotle powder occasionally.

Keep this one chilled in the fridge.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Salad Monday: Curry Vinaigrette

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We’re always on the lookout for interesting and flavorful vinaigrettes, not only for the obvious use as salad dressing, but as a quick dip or drizzle for proteins and vegetables, and even for folding into homemade avocado oil mayo to fancy things in the spirit of a high-brow, flavored aioli.

I’ve shared recently that we’ve also been on something of a curry blitz of late now that the weather has finally cooled off here in North Texas, and this Curry Vinaigrette has caught my wife’s eye in particular.

Admittedly the tablespoon (or a tad less) of curry powder sounds like a lot – it is – but the acids (vinegar of your choice below and the lemon juice) really balance this dressing out nicely, as do the garlic and dijon mustard notes. By the way, I’ve made this using a coarse-grind Creole type mustard and it was delicious as well.

Given the use of fresh garlic this dressing should be used within a week of making it; ours is always gone within a day or two!

1/2 cup avocado or good olive oil
1 tbsp (scant) good fresh curry powder

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, your choice
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp good Dijon mustard
A grind or two of fresh ground pepper
Good salt to taste

To get started, bring the curry powder and your oil of choice to a gentle simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and cool.

When the oil has cooled, combine your vinegar of choice, the lemon juice, the prepped garlic, and the Dijon in your trusty blender, then stream in the curry oil (with the motor running of course) to make a smooth, thick emulsion. Add the salt and pepper, adjust to taste, and go to it.

Will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Sauce Monday: Quick No-Cook Tomato Sauce

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As the wonderful tomatoes continue to pour into farmers markets these long summer days, we’ve been fiddling around with various recipes for to savor their peak summer flavors.

Of course we’re talking tomatoes on the menu for the nightshade tolerant and those who choose to partake; remember they’re a potent source of lectins per Dr. Gundry, but also packed with lycopene and other beneficial phytochemical warriors, along with vitamins C, A, and host of the Bs as well.

We’ve tended to drift a bit over the past few years from our historical family consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based sauces given our bent toward a keto-inspired food plan, and the sometimes hefty carb counts some tomato sauces in particular have. Like many of you, we’ve transitioned to much less sweet (no additional sweetener) homemade primal ketchup, meatza sauces, etc.

In particular lately I’ve been searching for a no-cook tomato sauce to pour over various vegetable noodles or konjac pastas, and we’ve finally settled on this Quick No-Cook Tomato Sauce as being our favorite.

Why? The combination of a flavor-packed tomato puree (along with garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes) with halved grape or cherry tomatoes, along with the nuts – is simply delicious, and it’s different enough to be novel and interesting as well. Mind the garlic – my wife thinks two large cloves is too much in terms of pungent raw garlic flavor, though garlic lovers may want to throw that third clove in…

The nuts are a great play as well; we’ve used hazelnuts (our fave), almonds, and macadamias – don’t be afraid to experiment a bit.

1/2 cup almonds or hazelnuts

1 pound grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 tsp good salt

1 medium to large fresh garden tomato, roughly chopped
1 cup fresh basil leaves, divided
1-2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/4 good olive oil
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp good salt, more to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Toast your nut of choice at 350 for 6-8 minutes; cool and then roughly chop and set aside.

Halve the grape or cherry tomatoes, throw in a large bowl, and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt.

Into your trusty food processor or blender goes the large chopped tomato, 1/2 the basil, 3 tbsp of the chopped nuts, the garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, and the other 1/2 tsp of salt. Blend/puree until smooth, then pour over the halved tomatoes.

Stir to combine, then stir in the rest of the basil, the remaining nuts, and the olive oil; mix well. Adjust for salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Monday: Ancho Lemongrass Chile Oil

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We’re always on the lookout around our camp for interesting condiments that bring new dimensions of flavor to the table.

We happened to be in Austin recently and dined at one of our old haunts from our time there years ago, the Buenos Aires Cafe; they serve the best chimichurri I’ve personally ever tasted in my life, and we enjoyed it yet again.

We happened to be sitting near the kitchen, and I heard the chefs on duty chatting about a version of this Ancho Lemongrass Chile Oil. I happened to pester them for a taste and eventually a rough “back of the napkin” recipe, which I’ve played around with here at home to bring more in alignment with a Paleo/Primal palate (the oil in particular).

The fruity, almost raisin-like texture and taste of the oil soaked ancho chiles is wonderful; and as you can see from the image above, I like to throw in enough ancho to make this more of a paste than an oil drizzle. The combination of the shallots, garlic, and fresh ginger with the pepper is unique and just fits, as does the hint of lemongrass from the lemongrass puree. By the way, cutting the cleaned and seeded anchos with your kitchen shears makes it easy to pare the peppers down to size.

Perfect with grilled proteins hot of the grill, we served this over spaghetti squash a few nights ago and it was amazing – almost like an ancho lemongrass pesto….

1 large or 2 small shallots, trimmed and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1-inch nob of fresh ginger, peeled, chopped
1/2 cup avocado or mild olive oil
1/4 – 1/2 tsp good salt
1 tbsp lemongrass puree
2 large ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, torn or chopped (see note)
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup roasted peanuts (salted), chopped
1-2 tsp fish sauce

Combine the shallots, garlic, ginger, salt, and the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, adjusting the heat as needed, until the shallot is just beginning to brown around the edges (15-20 minutes).

Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the lemongrass puree, prepped ancho chiles, and the red pepper flakes. Let cool slowly, every 20 minutes for an hour, until the dried ancho pieces begin to soften.

Now into the blender the mixture goes for a quick puree, though be sure and leave some texture here (you want to be able to distinguish some of the chile pieces).

Pour into a small bowl, stir in the chopped peanuts and fish sauce, adjust for salt.

Enjoy.