A look back on Halloween and a salsa recipe!

 

Happy Halloween (3 days later).

 

A lot of years in the past, my place was THE place to be for Halloween. I have found memories of being in my late teens and early twenties as I spent the better part of the year creating props for my haunted house. I was still living with my mom, and every year the theme was a little different. One year it was spiders taking over, one year zombies (before everyone did it), and one year X-Files. There were life sized ghouls made out of thrift store clothes and scavenged wigs, there were massive hairy spiders and tens of thousands of baby spiders for the spider year, and homemade gravestones. It was epic.

 

This year, Halloween kind of crept up on our family. Eleanor moved down, but getting ready and having Jason gone both contributed to the precious holiday just sneaking up instead of shouting in. Still, we had fun the way Jason and I know best – we asked friends over and headed into the kitchen. Working side by side we made a ton of great Mexican food. I made the guacamole and salsa. I made a variation of the salsa that our friend Eric likes best. I served it all in the coffin that I found at a yard sale for $10. It was the only Halloween decoration I put up this year, but it held some great stuff!!

 

If you want to make the salsa, here is the recipe.

 

Smooth Red Salsa (Cooked Version)

Makes about 4 cups

 

2 cans of diced fire roasted tomatoes (15 oz) or 4 cups of fire roasted diced roma tomatoes with juice intact

½ of a large red onion diced, about 1 cup

6-8 cloves of garlic

2-3 jalapeno peppers, stem removed only

1 chipotle in adobo

 

About ¼ cup of lime juice (2-4 limes)

½ bunch of cilantro (about 1 cup loosely diced)

Salt to taste

 

With a food processor or blender, blend the tomatoes, red onion, garlic and peppers.

Process until mostly smooth, but still has a small amount of texture.

Transfer to a small pot and simmer on the stove on medium low to low for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This allows all the flavors to combine and the garlic and onions to acquire a more ‘mellow’ flavor.

Remove from heat and allow to cool at least 20-30 minutes.

Mince the cilantro and add to the cooled salsa with the fresh lime juice and salt.

Taste the salsa. Add more lime juice or salt as needed.

Cool completely and serve.