Hello there. Sorry for the lack of recipes in the last 6 months.
This recipe is a tribute to London. Its an incidental and pragmatic fusion of Mexican cuisine with English ingredients that came about mainly due to the lack of fresh tomatillos in England. One day my lovely flatmate had brought home a carton of fresh gooseberries. As she placed them on the kitchen counter they looked almost like tomatillos from across the room where I was sitting.
"Tomatillos?"
"Whaht?"
"Oh sorry. What is that produce?"
"Oh! Gooseberries!"
"Hmm... uhhh... whats a gooseberry?"
She was kind enough to introduce me to the gooseberry. I immediately saw them as smaller, sweeter and juicier tomatillos. Later that night she was wondering what to eat for dinner, and I had been clockin' those berries all afternoon... that combined with the fact that I had been having Mexican food dreams since I moved to the UK almost two years before lead me down the non-existant Anglo/Latino fusion funnel.
Gooseberry Salsa Verde
Ingredients:
-225 - 250 grams of gooseberries - trimmed of stems or husk
-2 cloves garlic - UNpeeled
-1 1/2" thick slice of onion
-2 jalapeno chiles (or serranos if you prefer)
-1/2 cup chopped cilantro/coriander (less or more depending on your tastes)
-salt to taste
Method:
Start by spreading out your gooseberries on to a aluminum foil lined baking sheet and then heating up the broiler. Poke a small hole or make a tiny incision on each of the gooseberries. Place the gooseberries on the high rack under the broiler (the grill). Keep a close eye on the gooseberries: once the tops start to blacken take them out. If the tops are blackened and the berries all seem thoroughly cooked then they are done. If they are just blackened and still fairly firm then turn the berries blackened-side-down and put them back under the grill until they are soft and cooked. Set cooked berries and any liquid in the baking sheet aside in a bowl.
Set a small pan over medium heat and place the unpeeled garlic, onion slice and jalapenos in it. You want to blacken as much surface as you can on the garlic, onion, and chiles. So continue to dry-heat until the chiles are blackened all over, the onion is carmelizing, and the garlic skins are burned and the cloves feel soft. Take off heat, let cool. Chop the onion roughly, chop the chiles and either leave the inside of the chiles in or discard (if you leave em the salsa will be much spicier).
Place the garlic, chiles, and onion into a food processor with a large pinch of salt and about 1/8 cup of water. Blend until almost smooth then add in the berries and just lightly pulse once or twice to incorporate the ingredients. YOU DONT WANT A SMOOTH PUREE - just a nice, slightly chunky and textured mixture. If it appears dry add a bit of water. Pour out into a bowl. Add in salt to taste, chopped cilantro and a bit of lime juice if so desired.
- - - - - - - - - -
The salsa is now ready to serve.... with what? Well I would say the Gooseberry Salsa Verde probably is great for grilled fish, chicken or even a steak. But I am always fiend-ing for Huevos Rancheros (especially was fiending hard while I was in London).
Like this:
Huevos Rancheros Inglese
:
Warm corn tortillas + Gooseberry Salsa Verde + chopped onion and cilantro + side of refried beans w/cheese.
Comfort food for anyone. I promise.
(
BTW - this recipe is sort of conjured from memory so let me know if anything is off balance)
