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I was told by our waitress at Mexicana Mama the other night that for their warm Habanero Salsa they simply roast tomatoes, onion, and garlic, blend with canned habanero peppers, and use soy oil to emulsify.  I’ve been looking everywhere in NYC for soy oil and I have yet to come across it, so I ended up using grapeseed oil, which is similar to soy in that it has a neutral flavor and high smoking point.  I also used fresh habaneros instead of canned.

Ingredients:

• 1 small yellow onion
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 3-4 fresh tomatoes or 1 small can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1-4 habanero peppers, depending on how spicy you want the salsa
• ~1/3 cup soy or grapeseed oil

Prep:

1. Roast onion, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers at 425 for about 20-25 minutes.
2. Blend and add oil slowly.  Taste for salt and pepper.
3. Server warm.

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Ingredients:

• 1 head of garlic
• 1 t Piment d’ Espelette (or cayanne)
• 1 t ground nutmeg
• 1 t cardamon
• 1/2 lb thinly sliced bacon, sauteed
• 1/3 cup cup crumbled goat cheese
• 1/2 cup spiced nuts

Prep:

1. Start by roasting the garlic.  Cut about 1/3 off the top of the head of garlic and place on tin foil.  Sprinkle Piment d’ Espelette (or cayenne pepper), ground nutmeg, and ground cardamon on top.  Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until garlic is very soft and caramelized.
2. Blend the garlic with the juice of a small lemon and a few tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme. Drizzle olive oil while blending unit you reach the desired consistency — should be about 1/2 cup.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss the salad dressing with fresh spinach and top with warm bacon, goat cheese, and warm spiced nuts.

Union Square Cafe has the best bar nuts of all time.  These are aren’t a perfect replica and slightly spicier, but not too far from the original.

• 4 cups unsalted almonds
• 2 T melted butter
• 3 t brown sugar
• 3 T fresh finely chopped rosemary or thyme
• 1 t ground cardamon
• 1-3 t cayenne and/or Piment d’ Espelette (depending how spicy you like it)
• sea salt to taste

Melt butter with spices and herbs, toss with nuts, and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 4 strips of bacon, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of tomato sauce — this time of year, it’s easy to find great heirloom tomatoes for a simple homemade sauce, but I use store bought sauce all the time as well
• 1 large bunch of hen of the woods mushrooms (see above) very roughly chopped (leaving some large chunks)
• 1 cup grated cheese — we found something slightly stinky at the farmer’s market which worked great with the earthy mushroom flavors (can’t recall the name unfortunately), but almost anything will work
• Pizza dough

Prep:

1. Saute the bacon over high heat until browned.  Remove, leaving the fat to cook the mushrooms.
2. Cook mushrooms in bacon fat over med-low heat for just a couple minutes.  They will continue to cook in the grill, so you really only need a little toast.
3. To assemble pizza, start with a very thin layer of tomato sauce, then add bacon and mushrooms, and finish with a light layer of cheese.
4. Grill pizza (instructions here) and serve with a salad and oaky red wine.

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