Mr. Hawthorne Cans Salsa Ranchera.

Mr. Hawthorne has been a busy boy. Since he was getting "low" on his homemade Salsa Ranchera (I think only a dozen jars are left.), Mr. Hawthorne has been a bit anxious. In a burst of energy, he finally canned another batch the other day. Salsa Ranchera is not a hot salsa. It's a more robust, complex salsa. We use it in omelets. We add it to rices. Gives a dish some punch.

I generally despise Food Network competition shows, but I did watch The Big Waste. As a consumer who tries her best not to waste anything, I felt I should watch it. It was shocking how much is thrown away. This is why Mr. Hawthorne and I always check dates on meats and wait for it to be marked down as it nears its sell-by date. Because it will be thrown out that day. I've seen it happen too many times and I think it's shameful. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that food. Very little goes to waste in the Hawthorne household, I'm happy to say. And I recycle too. In fact, some days when I go to the grocery store, I purposefully do not take my canvas bags. That's because I need the brown paper bags for recycling my glass, my plastics, my tin cans, my aluminum cans, my papers and boxes. So the hallway from the kitchen to the back bedroom and bath is nothing but an obtrusive recycling center. I try to do my part in spite of obstacles along my way. And they know who they are.

That said, and trying to be mindful of waste, we went to the rack of rapidly rotting food at Harris Teeter. Nothing wrong with this food. It's just not as pretty or as young as the produce on display. So it gets banished to The Rack. And it gets marked down drastically. So we picked our peppers from The Rack. We don't care if a vegetable's skin is wrinkled since this is going to be simmered for a good while.  We used  4 poblanos, a handful of serranos, and a  jalapeno.  You can use whatever combination of assorted peppers. That's what makes the flavors interesting. 

We had 2 Roma tomatoes and 3 others we found on The Rack.  You want to peel them first, so put them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Let cool, then easily remove skin.

Return to pan.

Those big cans of tomatoes I got on sale: Buy 1 can. Get 2 free. Chop one onion. This ain't rocket science, so there are no hard and fast rules here. Eyeball it for amounts.

Chop the peppers.

Mix all together in a large pot over low heat.

Bring to a bare simmer, stirring occasionally.

This was kept at a bare simmer for about 2 hours. You may can it now, or let the sauce cool and refrigerate it and do the canning the next day. Which is what Mr. Hawthorne did. He was exhausted after all that bare simmering.

One of the loveliest sounds to my ears is the sucking pop of a jar sealing properly.

Mr. Hawthorne's Most Excellent Los Barrios Salsa Ranchera.

I love my summer garden.

Tomatoes, both hybrids and heirlooms, are producing nicely. And I have many types of peppers - sweet peppers, serranos, habaneros, jalapenos, bananas, Anaheims, and probably some more I can't think of. Mr. Hawthorne is preparing Salsa Ranchera tonight, and we'll show you a couple of dishes using it, which I know you'll like. When we were on our trip across country last fall, we stopped in San Antonio and went to lunch at Los Barrios. I blogged about it here. As you know, Mr. Hawthorne and I both love Mexican cuisine. He consulted our Los Barrios Family Cookbook, and picked out the recipe for Salsa Ranchera to make tonight.

Now, if you want the exact recipe, go buy the cookbook. The link is above. I'll just tell you what I watched Mr. Hawthorne do. First he put a bunch of tomatoes in a large saucepan and covered with water. He cooked the tomatoes until the skins start to split. Then he took out the tomatoes with a slotted spoon. He removed the peel and returned the tomatoes to the pan.

Next, he thoroughly mashed the tomatoes.

Assorted chopped chiles and onion. The nice thing about this is you can control the heat by the different peppers you add.

Add to the pot.

Bring to a simmer over low heat. Mr. Hawthorne simmered this for about an hour until it thickened and reduced.

I had to have some of this immediately. On a scoop.

I like this salsa served warm. It makes a great snack with tortilla chips.

But wait, you say. I want to do more with this. How do I do that? Come, Little Grasshopper. I shall show you.

Here's what Mr. Hawthorne did with it. He made a quesadilla.

Mr. Hawthorne had previously prepared his meat mixture. He sauteed hamburger meat (85%/15%) over medium heat and added salt, pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic, and cumin, to taste. Be sure to pour out grease. If you need amounts, I'd say a pound of hamburger, 1/2 tsp freshly ground salt, 1 tsp freshly ground pepper, 1-2 tsp granulated garlic 1-2 tsp onion powder 1 TB cumin. There's your starting point. If you'd like to add in a few shakes of hot sauce, then by all means do so. If you'd like a sprinkling of chili powder, go ahead and throw it in.

Next a few chile peppers and onion.

A few sliced jalapenos.

Mr. Hawthorne squirted a bit of the seasoning packet from a Food Lion Taco Dinner package.

Next, he sliced some type of Mexican cheese for the inside.

Fold over into half-moon shape and pour as little ...

... or as much sauce as you want.

Grate some Monterey Jack over top.

And a little cheddar.

Mr. Hawthorne likes refried beans. I do not. This went into the microwave until the cheese melts. Ours took about 2 minutes.

Top with sour cream and shredded lettuce and dig in.

Now that's a quesadilla.

WWRD?What would Rosie do? Rosie would fry a tortilla. Then she would add the seasoned hamburger, the salsa ranchera, the chiles, the jalapenos, the onions, the cheese. Then she'd melt the cheese under the broiler. And add shredded lettuce.

And serve it up.