Summer Entertaining: Ultimate Restaurant Style Salsa

The Ultimate Restaurant Style Salsa is easy to make using fresh ingredients and your handy food processor.  Perfect for all your summer get togethers!

Ultimate Restaurant Style Salsa 

Whenever we entertain over the summer next to the pool,  we typically serve a mix of snack food before the main meal.  This homemade restaurant style salsa served along with tortilla chips fits the bill.  Plus it's even better than any jarred salsa.  

A few simple ingredients thrown in the food processor and pulsed to perfection will create a saucier salsa that is reminiscent of the ones served at your favorite Mexican restaurant. 

Enjoy!

Entertaining Tips

Many great connections are made around the table eating wonderful food.  You can have people come over as strangers and leave as friends with good food, conversation, and your wonderful hospitality.  Entertaining doesn't have to be lavish or over-the-top, but should be special and unique.  Providing appetizers such as this homemade salsa and chips is one way to get people to interact before dinner.

I served this in a long weaved bread basket, lining it with a colorful towel.  Instead of just using this basket for the chips I snuggled in a deep bowl that holds the salsa.  That keeps the dip close to the dippers.  Another way would be to use a round basket with the dip bowl in the middle and chips all around.  Simple yet elevated from the typical bag of chips and a tub full of salsa.  Serve along with drinks or cocktails and other types of chips and salasa for variety.  

What Ingredients do I need?

• 28 oz canned diced or whole tomatoes - use a good quality tomato for the best flavor
• garlic
• cilantro
• jalapeno - fresh or jarred pickled jalepenos
• cumin
• red onion
• 1 fresh lime - fresh lime juice is always best

Substitutions and Variations

• Use fresh tomatoes, about 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 lbs. I would peel them first.

• Don't like your salsa spicy? Leave out the jalapeno.

• If you don't have any jalapeno on hand use a few dashes of hot sauce or sirracha.

• Use white or yellow onion instead of red.

• Try adding salsa over grilled chicken, or use it as a sauce when baking chicken.  Add a dollop to tostadas, tacos, and burritos.  Serve along quesadilla with sour cream.

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• Use a good quality/brand of tomatoes for the best flavor.  

• Pluse your indgredients in the food processor instead of letting it run.  This way you can control how chunky or liquidy the salsa is.

• Allow your salsa to sit about 20 minutes before serving so the flavors meld together.

• Leftover salsa (though there may not be any!) can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to emails at the top of this page and follow along on Facebook,  and Pinterest for all of the latest updates.

Ultimate Restaurant Style Salsa

Yield:  A little over 1 quart

Ingredients:

1 28 oz can of whole or diced tomatoes

½ of a red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno, chopped
1/2 of a bunch of cilantro – roughly 1 good sized handful
Juice from 1 fresh lime
1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a 10 cup capacity food processor.  Pulse until you get your desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Place in a large container and allow to sit 20 minutes to blend flavors.  Serve.  Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator up three to four days. 

Grilled Top Sirloin with Blistered Green Beans, Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Farro

Juicy top sirloin, grilled to perfection and served with blistered green beans, tomatoes, earthy mushrooms all on top of a bed of nutty farro.  It's the perfect low carb summer meal!

Grilled Top Sirloin with Blistered Green Beans, Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Farro

This dish was inspired by my Tomato and Farro Salad.  I love the earthiness of farro and wanted to incorporate it in a hot side dish.  Adding seasonal green beans and grape tomatoes brought it up a notch, and then I decided to add earthy baby bella mushrooms.  Heaven!  Since mushrooms pair so well with steak I decided to go with a lean top sirloin cut that is also easy to grill on a weeknight.  A fabulous dinner was born.

The farro vegetable side dish was the perfect accompaniment to the tender and juicy sirloin steak.  Easy enough to make on a weeknight; beautiful enough to serve on the weekend for company.  This will be your new go to meal this summer!

Enjoy!

What Ingredients do I need?

• top sirloin steak
• pearled farro
• sliced baby bella mushrooms
• green beans
• grape tomatoes
• garlic
• red wine vinegar
• Montreal steak seasoning

Substitutions and Variations

• Use whatever steak seasoning you enjoy, or just salt & pepper

• Use frozen green beans in place of fresh

• Don't like mushrooms, leave them out!

• Use cherry tomatoes or chopped roma tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes

• Use a different combination of vegetables - try zucchini, tomatoes, and yellow squash, bell pepper, onions, and zucchini.

• Add some herbs to the farro mixture such as chopped basil or oregano

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• Make sure to start the farro first, as it takes the longest to cook.

• Make the veggies while the steak is resting.

HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to emails at the top of this page and follow along on Facebook,  and Pinterest for all of the latest updates.

Grilled Top Sirloin with Blistered Green Beans, Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Farro

serves 4

1 1/2 lb top sirloin steak
Montreal steak seasoning
1 cup pearled farro
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 pint sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz fresh green beans, end trimmed and cut in to 2" segments
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt & pepper

Preheat an indoor grill pan, or an outdoor grill to medium high.  Pat steak with a paper towel and then sprinkle on the Montreal steak seasoning on both sides, patting in to the steak like a rub.  

Add farro to a medium saucepan and add water until it is 2 inches above the farro.  Turn on burner and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

Oil the grill grate, or indoor grill pan.  Place steak on the grill and allow to sear on the first side 4 to 5 minutes. Turn the steaks over and continue to grill 5 to 7 minutes for medium (internal temperature 140 degrees F).  Remove from grill and allow to rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile add 1 tablespoon of butter to a large skillet over medium high heat.  Allow to melt and then add the mushrooms.  Cook until wilted 3-4 minutes (do not salt) then add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the green beans and tomatoes.  Allow to cook 4 minutes without stirring.  When vegetables are blistered on one side add in the chopped garlic, stir and allow to cook another 3-4 minutes without stirring.  Tomatoes should begin to wilt and pop, and green beans should be blistered in places.

Add vegetables to the bowl with the farro.  Stir to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with red wine vinegar and stir to combine.

Cut steak in to slices cutting across the grain.  Place sliced steak down the middle of a large platter and add the faro mixture around the steak.  Drizzle steak and farro with a little more red wine vinegar and serve immediately.

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

These Easy Buttermilk Biscuits are delectably soft, flakey, and buttery.  They are so simple to make you'll wonder why you hadn't made them before!

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

Confession:  I'm a biscuit lover.  Always have been, always will be.  These are the Southern quintessential staple for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  This recipe is so easy to make.  Virtually one bowl and a quick simple dough is made which turns in to the most heavenly, soft biscuits you will have ever had.  Now these biscuits are heavy on the butter, and will taste that way as well. Which, quite frankly, are a wonderful indulgence on occasion!  If you are watching your calories, these are not for you but you might enjoy some of my other biscuit recipes listed below.

Serve these up with butter and jelly for breakfast.  Serve alongside as a hot roll with dinner, or make a wonderful ham sandwich with them for lunch.  Anyway you slice them they are heavenly!

What Ingredients do I need?

• self rising flour - White Lily, King Arthur, and Gold Medal are all good brands

• baking powder - even though we are using self rising flour we are still adding baking powder

• baking soda

• salt

• unsalted butter - I prefer unsalted butter so you can control the sodium content

• 1 egg 

• buttermilk

Substitutions and Variations

• You can use regular all purpose flour but the rise will not be as high on the biscuits.

• Use whole milk instead of buttermilk but they will not have the tang buttermilk gives.

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• No buttermilk?  Make sour milk by adding 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk

• No self-rising flour.  Make you own: 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt

• For tall biscuits, press the biscuit cutter straight down and then back up without rotating the cutter around the biscuit.

• Cut your butter in to small cubes. It will be easier to cut in to the flour.

• Use two forks if you don't have a pastry cutter.

HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to emails at the top of this page and follow along on Facebook,  and Pinterest for all of the latest updates.

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

yield: 8 2" biscuits

2 cups self rising flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut in to chunks
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the butter and ust a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until the butter is the size of small peas.

Combine egg and buttermilk and add to the flour mixture.  Stir with a spoon until combined and dough holds together when pressed.  Refrigerate the dough while you preheat the over to 400 degrees.

Turn dough out on to a floured board and press it into a round that is 1/2 thick.  Use your hands or a rolling pin.  Using a 2" biscuit cutter, but out biscuits, pressing down and up (don't turn the cutter as this reduces the height of the biscuit). Re-roll any dough scraps and cut out the remainder of the biscuits.

Arrange on a baking sheet.  Bake in the oven 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with butter and/or jelly.