Sometimes I am in the mood for a multi-course meal. I love Thanksgiving. I love the many steps of preparation, the many dishes spread on the table, with gleaming accoutrements and candlelight. I love the ritual of sharing platters of holiday foods. I also love the indulgent concept of a desert island meal: appetizer, main course, and dessert. But there are some nights when enough is enough; when I put my sneaker down, and want something plain and simple. I want crunchy, and I want delicious. Give me chips and salsa.
As I sit here smugly typing in my sun-filled studio, I imagine my grown-up self, the more presentable me, laughing and waving away a bag of Doritos. This is total fiction. There is not a bag of Doritos that I wouldn’t just hoover up if I were alone on that desert island. But I try to apply an opaque veneer over my craven self, and mask my baser appetites. It is much more civilized to first roast some veggies, blitz them in a food processor, and deposit that mixture into a decorative bowl. The bowl can then be transferred to the coffee table, where it will join a bowl of gently warmed, locally sourced, lightly salted, artisan, organic corn chips. I will add a large cold glass of cheap white wine, a cloth napkin, and turn on “Julia”. Bliss.
Dinner with Julia Child. It is the perfect dinner. There’s very little fuss, a little muss, plus I am getting a serving of healthy vegetables, and am being kept company by a vibrant force of nature. Naturally, since it is Julia and my own adult self I am trying to impress, I can’t just tip a bag of chemically flavored Doritos down my maw. I need to get my chip fix in an elegant, epicurean fashion. Who really knows what is in those industrial vats from which Doritos emerge anyway?
I love the fresh cilantro in this Food52 recipe: https://food52.com/recipes/77387-roasted-vegetable-salsa
I usually stick with jalapeños, but you might want something with a little more heat: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/roasted-tomato-salsa.html
With warm weather just around the corner , we will be grilling outside again, and will have extra ears of corn. This recipe is good for leftovers and the odds and ends you might find in the vegetable bin: https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/roasted-corn-salsa/
This is more work than I want to do tonight, but the garlic aioli is divine. I just love Thomasina Miers. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/aug/30/thomasina-miers-recipe-charred-corn-and-bean-tostadas-jalapeno-aioli
As someone who would happily eat my way through the Frito Lay factory, it never occurred to me that there is a difference between salsa and pico de Gallo. https://www.tastingtable.com/844136/the-real-difference-between-salsa-and-pico-de-gallo/
And here is a handy concept: salsa in the freezer! Make it in bulk, so the next time you want your own evening alone with Julia, you’ll have a tub in the freezer. All you’ll have to add are the chips and the wine. https://vanillaandbean.com/roasted-tomatillo-salsa-verde/
Of course, if you want to make enough to share with someone other than your best imaginary friend, Julia Child, by all means, go forth and spread your deelish munificence.
https://top10best.how/organic-corn-chips?
“I have brought neither book nor newspaper
since reading material is considered cheating.
Eating alone, they say, means eating alone,
not in the company of Montaigne
or the ever-engaging Nancy Mitford.”
– Billy Collins
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