Product Review: Salpica Mango Peach Salsa

I bought Salpica Mango Peach Salsa from my food co-op a couple of months ago with an immediate use for it -- only I wound up not needing it because what type of party needs three different (but similar salsa), especially when two are fresh? Not mine.

Anyway, I opened this salsa the other day, only to realize how runny it is. It's a bit like chunky, flavored tomato juice--which makes sense because filtered water is the second ingredient. The flavor is good (a little sweet, like it should be with fruit -- but did it also need sugar? Really? I don't think so) if you like slightly sweeter salsas, but that's not really my preference. I prefer the salsas that incorporate fruit without incorporating additional sugars. It's not particularly strong on onion or garlic flavors, for a salsa, or of the tangy bite of hot peppers, even though it's in the "Medium" hotness range. These are all things you should keep in mind if you're buying this salsa and have particular ideas about how bottled salsa should be.

However, I do appreciate that I can see evidence of roasting. And peaches and mangoes. And the occasional chunk of something like a pepper, tomato, or onion. But really, when I'm looking for salsa, I'm looking for something with more substance than this particular salsa, which I had trouble keeping on a chip--much less on veggies (which, is sometimes my preference -- like today, when I didn't really want corn chips).

The label claims "made in Texas" but my bottle, at least, is distributed from Illinois, which isn't so much of a surprise since this is where Rick Bayless (as an institution) is based and Salpica salsa comes through the Frontera supply chain. Either this is a horrible inefficiency or a marketing scheme. Anyone remember the "Made in New York City?? Get a Rope" commercial? There are a few versions out there, but when I was reading the label (more carefully at home so I could write this review than I did in the store) that's the commercial I immediately conjured.

It claims "no preservatives" and "all-natural," which are both technically true if you're talking about artificial preservatives, but most salsas contain preservatives -- citric acid in some form, usually -- especially ones that have been bottled. I'll take my citric acid and spare myself the case of botulism, thanks.


All in all, I might buy this salsa again. If it was on sale. And if the other salsas nearby didn't appeal, or if I was buying it with a specific salsa need -- I just can't think of what such a need might be.

Product Review: Sonoma All Natural Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free Wraps in Ivory Teff

Since going gluten-free, I miss flour tortillas. Really good ones, the type that melt in your mouth, the type patted out by hand at The Original Donut Shop on Fredricksburg, in San Antonio. The type that Chevy's restaurant chain makes on tortilla machines. The type you can buy at HEB groceries--usually still steaming--if you live in Texas. I even miss the less-than-stellar fresh flour tortillas I'd occasionally make (mine usually turned out overworked, but I was getting the hang of it, right about the time I figured out I should probably avoid gluten).

To fully understand this you should know: for me growing up, Mexican food was comfort food. We were homesick Texans--and for a time, in grad school, I was a regular follower of Homesick Texan's blog. My family made tacos on the weekends. Pretty much every weekend. We made tamales and fresh salsa and huevos rancheros and moles. We ate fish tacos and occasionally smoked things in plantain leaves. We made corn tortillas and sometimes drank horchata. You've probably got the point. Even when we stopped eating as much Mexican food--we replaced it with Indian, to some extent, we still probably had something Mexican once or twice a week. Rick Bayless visited our house weekly via his public television show and my dad tried his recipes. We would find new favorites and replace old ones.

So giving up flour tortillas, in a way, was hard. Fortunately, I'd also moved to the Midwest, where I couldn't seem to find fresh flour tortillas unless I'd made them myself. That made it a little easier just because I wasn't eating as many.


When I moved again, I found La Tortilla Factory's Sonoma brand ivory teff wraps (they also apparently come in dark, but I haven't seen those at my local grocer). The full name is a mouthful and in the title for this post, so I'm not repeating it here. These wraps, when heated, become very soft, smooth and pliable, have a rich, complex flavor and just enough chewiness to be reminiscent of gluten. They almost melt in your mouth and leave a slightly sweet aftertaste, the way a good flour tortilla will. When they're cold, they're less pliable. I might almost describe the mouth-feel as a bit rubbery. Not in a bad way, but in a way that makes me just not want to eat them cold if I have the option to eat them hot. The flavor is less complex because there's no steam rising to your nose, helping you smell the grains.

These wraps--really not tortillas, unless you subscribe to the "burrito size" jumbo tortilla idea so many people seem fond of right now--only come in a size I'd call "too large." I never want a full one, which is good since a 6-pack of the ivory teff wraps runs $4-5 depending on which store I buy them at. Not outrageous (at least by market standards) for an organic, gluten-free product, but pretty expensive on my budget.

These wraps, like many gluten-free products, start with a lightweight flour (usually either cornstarch or tapioca flour--in this case, tapioca), and also include teff and millet flours, and guar gum--plus a number of other ingredients, including among other things: soy lecitihin (this is in almost every processed food you eat), canola oil, corn syrup solids, and "colloid powder" which is cellulose gum, maltodextrin, carrageenan), honey. You can just taste that note of honey if you're eating these wraps plain (but heated), or with a mild spread, such as cream cheese.

If you can't find these wraps in your local store, that might be because their distribution outside of Northern California is spotty, at least according to the website. If you're craving flour tortillas though, and are gluten-free, it's worth talking to your local grocer(s) and seeing if they can get their hands on some. I don't eat mine particularly quickly, if you're concerned about that, and they store just fine in my refrigerator, as long as I'm careful to reseal the bag properly. I suspect that like many flour tortillas--and an obscene number of gluten-free products--these wraps also probably freeze pretty well, but I haven't given it a shot yet.

Huevos Rancheros with Garlic Smashed Black Beans and Goat Cheese

Growing up, I ate Mexican food fairly often. My dad was raised in Texas and although my mom moved around a lot, she spent high school and college in Texas. When my dad was transferred to North Carolina in the mid 1980s, we discovered we discovered a lack of Mexican food. In city I grew up in, Mexican food options consisted of not much--and the only place even remotely close to the part of the city we lived in microwaved their entrees. Tex-Mex wouldn't even describe it--Taco Bell was a more authentic experience.

Fortunately, my parents had learned how to make Mexican food a decade earlier, when they lived in DC and had gone to Pizza Hut for the "Mexican Pizza" just because that was as close as they could get to the food they were used to finding everywhere. We made tamales, fish tacos, beef tacos, carne verde, and other dishes--including things like enchiladas and nachos that most restaurants would serve. We had Mexican or Tex-Mex at least once a week. Fridays, for years, were "taco night," at my house.

But huevos rancheros. That was a meal we had at least once a month, on a Saturday or Sunday, when my dad liked to make large breakfasts. Eggs and I don't always get along and so for years I'd get him to scramble mine, or just opt to eat refried beans and tortillas. I frequently opted for just beans and tortillas (and for that matter, still do).

The one restaurant we make sure we eat at when we visit family in San Antonio, Texas is The Original Donut Shop ("Hot Donuts" is what we call it), which has been in business for around 60 years. My dad ate there from time to time as a small child, and as my grandmother moved toward dying, the hot glazed donuts were one of the few things she would still eat voraciously. For years, The Original Donut Shop was only a donut shop (there are an unbelievable number of donut and kolache stores in Texas) but at some point it expanded into a cocina Mexicana as well and serves everything Mexican-breakfast from egg tacos to menudo (only on Saturdays) to, you guessed it, huevos rancheros. All meals are served with hand-patted flour tortillas (which I'll miss terribly now that I'm not eating gluten. Even thinking about it makes me a sad) that melt in your mouth.

There are dozens of ways of preparing huevos rancheros--but the way I enjoy them most involves poached eggs and no ranchero sauce (which I swear is just an invention of the Tex-Mex aisle in grocery stores, like "curry powder" to Indian food). This is the way my family made them (except when I requested scrambled eggs). We topped them with Paces Picante sauce, or with a homemade salsa, depending on what we had on hand. This is the way The Original Donut Shop in San Antonio makes them, except with fried egg and with bacon and browned potatoes on the side. This is the way my friend Anna made them when I was in Columbia, Missouri with Annie for True/False (a film festival) earlier this year.

Anna's variation interested me because unlike the versions I grew up eating, she smashed whole beans and simmered her eggs in store-bought enchilada sauce rather than a traditional water-poaching. We ate our huevos on top of stove-top crisped corn tortillas, smoothed with black beans, topped with and egg, and drowned in the enchilada simmer sauce. The meal presented beautifully and was filling--good for a day of wandering around Columbia and watching documentaries.

I resolved to make a variation of this for Friday breakfast the following week. Friday breakfast is an almost three-year tradition with my friend Rachael. Annie and Brenna joined this tradition about six months later. Friday breakfast forces us all to eat a real meal at breakfast once a week, gives us an opportunity to talk about our frustrations and success for the week, to discuss weekend plans, or boys. Rachael, Annie, and I are moving to separate cities soon and the thing I'll miss most about living where I do now may well be the tradition of breakfast with these three women.

Huevos Rancheros with Garlic Smashed Black Beans
Serves 4
2 teaspoons olive oil (just enough to coat the bottom of your pan)
2 garlic scapes, chopped (or about 1 tablespoon minced garlic)
1 14-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 teaspoons whole cumin
Water

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
Taco spices
Water
4 eggs

4 corn tortillas*
Soft goat cheese (optional)

In a small sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat and then add the garlic scapes or garlic, Saute 1 minute and then add the black beans. Heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbling. Smash the black beans with the back of a fork or spoon and add the cumin seeds and 3-4 ounces of water (or until desired consistency) and heat through.

Black Beans with Garlic Scapes

Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce, 8 ounces of water, and taco spices (to taste, I used about a teaspoon of a taco seasoning mix my dad makes) in another small saucepan, or a skillet big enough to hold four eggs. When just simmering, crack the eggs into simmer-sauce, being careful not to break the yolks. (If the yolks break, no worries--you just won't have a runny yolk, but it'll still taste fine.) Return to a simmer and then cover the pan and reduce the heat so the sauce continues to just simmer for 3-5 minutes, depending on the size egg you're using, until the white appears cooked.

Heat your corn tortillas and spread one quarter of the black beans on each tortilla.

Smashed Black Beans Spread on a Tortilla

Using a large spoon, carefully remove your poached eggs from the simmer sauce and place one on each tortilla, the cover in remaining simmer sauce.

Topped with Egg & Simmer Sauce

Top with goat cheese (in the picture below, I'm using a soft herbed goat cheese). Serve hot.

*If you're not trying to create a gluten-free meal, feel free to use small (6") flour tortillas instead.

A long time coming - and a recipe!

It's been a while since I've written. Being a grad student is great because it means that (in my case) I'm being paid to do something I love and live in a wonderful little town. It also means that I go through weeks upon weeks where I feel like it's all I can do to keep my head above the water. Actually, this semester hasn't been too bad, but all my classes are night classes which significantly cuts down on the amount of time I spend experimenting in the kitchen. However, last night one of those classes was cancelled (hooray for small favors!) and I had a friend over for dinner. I wanted to make something I could store in my freezer and that used ingredients I already had on hand.

I decided on bean burgers because they'll make an easy meal later and are something I can easily take to campus with me if I need to. And because I haven't made my own bean burgers in a while and it's something I actually really enjoy doing. I'm strange, I know! Anyway, these use canned chili beans and the bit of nutritional yeast (in theory) makes them taste a bit cheesier than they might otherwise.

You can adjust the seasonings to make them as spicy (or not spicy) as you'd like but my very spice sensitive friend seemed to have no problem with these. On my own, I'd probably serve them with a chipotle sauce and/or a whole grain mustard. I served these with root vegetable fries (radishes, turnips, carrots, onions and garlic--these last two are not a roots technically, yes I know). They would also go well with sweet potato or green bean fries. In addition, because I had one that needed to be used up, I sliced an orange bell pepper and grilled it in the pan with the burger.

Chili Bean Veggie Burger
Yields 5 patties

1 cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 cup grated or diced carrot
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon extra dark cocoa powder
1 15-ounce can chili beans (extra spicy), with liquid
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I used a whole grain dijon)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup oat or wheat bran
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes, optional
Salt

Saute onions and garlic in oil, over medium heat, about 5 minutes until onions begin to soften. Add carrots and saute another 5 minutes. Add cumin, cayenne, chipotle, and oregano and saute 2 minutes. Add cocoa and remove from heat.

Process beans in a food processor, or mash with a potato masher, until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in mustard and sauted vegetables. Add oats, bran, and nutritional yeast (if using). Season with salt to taste.

Moisten hands and form into approximately 5 patties. Cook patties in lightly greased nonstick skillet about 5-8 minutes over medium-low heat, until patties begin to brown. Flip and cook another 5-8 minutes. Serve on a bun or tortilla!