 |
Nurse Judy McIntosh:
"This is me at Don Pablo's
for my birthday last October.
I like the Don's food, but I'd much
rather have my own salsa!" (Cleo agrees.)
|
You can read more about Nurse Judy in her fun, funny, (and inspiring) bio below the recipe. (She went back to Purdue at age 32 for her nursing degree and went back for her Master's at age 52.)
As for her salsa, Marc and I have tasted many versions of salsa fresca over the years: restaurant pico de gallo, homemade, bottled. This beats the de gallo out of them. It's so good that you'll want to eat it with a spoon, but use tortilla chips for the very best Rx to a snack attack there is.
Thank you, Nurse Judy, because of you, Marc and I are most definitely eating with joy! ~ Cleo
Fun Foodie Trivia
According to Wikipedia, the term "pico de gallo" is Spanish for "beak of rooster," and at least one food writer claims the name came from the way it was originally eaten, with thumb and forefinger, which meant reaching for the condiment looked like the pecking of a rooster. Others say the name could be a simple reference to the rooster-red color or the minced texture of the sauce, which resembles bird feed.
P.S. The winner of the official FDNY T-shirt will be announced on this blog at 11:45 PM Wed. (9/19). To see the original post, click here - and thanks to everyone who entered!
Nurse Judy Mac’s
"I've passed the books to my daughter and my mother, taken fabulous new coffees to work to educate the taste buds of night shift nurses who had become used to drinking coffee that had the smell and consistency of old tar. Along the way I have converted a lot of nurses to what REAL coffee tastes like and I will never drink generic coffee again. Life is much too short to drink bad coffee! And I still wait impatiently for the next new Coffeehouse Mystery so I can roam the streets of New York and learn to love new coffees and new recipes."
A Brew to a Kill: A Coffeehouse Mystery
Read with joy!
~ Cleo
Fun Foodie Trivia
P.S. The winner of the official FDNY T-shirt will be announced on this blog at 11:45 PM Wed. (9/19). To see the original post, click here - and thanks to everyone who entered!
Nurse Judy Mac’s
(Best Ever!) Salsa
A note on the recipe from Cleo: With beautiful, ripe, end-of-summer tomatoes so plentiful (and football season upon us), I hope today's post comes in handy for you. As mentioned above, it came to us via Judy, already canned for the winter, and that's a wonderful way of preparing it, in large batches that can be saved and eaten over the year or given away as gifts (see Judy's note below)...and eat with joy! ~ Cleo
Makes about 3 quarts (6 pints) of salsa
Judy's final note: "You can take out some of the salsa base before you add the vinegar and add it to fresh avocados with lime juice for an awesome guacamole. Another way to do this is with the canned salsa: simply drain out the excess juice, add lime juice (I prefer Key limes), and avocados."
Born in Arkansas with a Mamaw that could cook an old shoe and make it taste wonderful! Learned to cook early out of necessity because the cooking gene skipped my mom. She could paint, sing, sew, quilt, and swing a hammer with the best but she just could NOT cook! I went to Purdue University to become a veterinarian and met a dark haired young man under a piece of mistletoe at a Christmas party. Our first kiss was 30 minutes long! So, of course, we eloped, two and one half months later, over Spring Break, 38-1/2 years ago. (That first kiss is why we always have mistletoe up at Christmas!)
Fast forward three kids, lots of cooking, growing gardens, going back to Purdue at age 32 for nursing, cooking, working, back to school for Master's at age 52, two granddaughters, more cooking, more working, and here I am.
~ Judy
"I discovered Coffeehouse Mysteries with On What Grounds in the fall of 2003 and fell in love. A book based on the love of coffee! I inhaled the first book and began buying (gasp) whole bean coffee and grinding the beans and discovering what fantastic coffee tasted like. Since that time I have bought every book the minute it became available, buying new varieties of coffee, cooking new recipes, and waiting impatiently for the next Coffeehouse Mystery.
 |
| Cleo Coyle, author of The Coffeehouse Mysteries |
|
| Nurse Judy McIntosh, who does not wear the sombrero on duty, or so her patients claim. |
A note on the recipe from Nurse Judy: I am an experimenter in the kitchen, trying this, trying that, and developing some recipes that I am proud of. This salsa recipe is one of them. I don't like hot (even mildly hot) peppers and I REALLY don't like cilantro, but I love garlic and onions and more garlic. The salsa tastes wonderful fresh and just as good when canned. I hope you like it as much as my family, my friends, and I do. I have a friend who's always begging me for salsa. Her annual birthday present is 6 jars of salsa. She takes me out to lunch, I give her salsa! I will tell you that as good as the salsa is canned, the fresh will have you eating it with a spoon. I know because I end up doing it all the time! Enjoy! ~ Judy Mac
Judy Mac's Salsa Recipe
To download a PDF version of this recipe that you can print, save, or share, click here.
Makes about 3 quarts (6 pints) of salsa
Ingredients
3-4 cups fresh tomatoes, peeled
(Note: Judy says she gets the best results with the Roma variety.
You'll need 3-4 pounds of fresh tomatoes. Use the ripest you can find.
Fresh tomatoes will give you the best tasting salsa, but in a pinch,
you can use top quality, canned whole tomatoes.)
(Note: Judy says she gets the best results with the Roma variety.
You'll need 3-4 pounds of fresh tomatoes. Use the ripest you can find.
Fresh tomatoes will give you the best tasting salsa, but in a pinch,
you can use top quality, canned whole tomatoes.)
4 fresh bell peppers (1 each green, red, orange, yellow),
seeded and cut into chunks
1 extra large or 2 large sweet onions, peeled and cut into chunks
(Note: Judy uses Vidalias)
(Note: Judy uses Vidalias)
1/2 to 1 cup diced garlic
White vinegar (1 cup or more, to taste)
Salt (1 teaspoon or more, to taste)
Directions:
Step 1 - Scald fresh tomatoes in boiling water until skins start to
split. Carefully remove very hot tomatoes from the water and place in a colander and under running cold water to make
peeling easier. Cut out the stem end and transfer tomatoes to a bowl. Let sit and allow clear juice to
separate from the fruit. (Judy drains and saves this juice for soups or broths by freezing.) Repeat the draining of the tomato juices 2 more times to concentrate the flavor.
Step 2 - Using your food processor's pulse mode, process the cooked, peeled tomatoes until you have the desired texture for your salsa, whether chunky or smoother. Pour the results into a large bowl.
Step 3 - Process peppers and onions, separately, with pulse mode
until you see the pieces chopped into the size of small peas. (Note: Do not over process or you’ll end up with pepper/onion soup!) Pour into your large bowl with the tomatoes.
(Judy does not add cilantro or hot peppers to her salsa, however, if you'd like to add these ingredients, process them and place them into the bowl at this stage.)
Step 4 - As Judy says, "This is where you finish the salsa according to your
personal taste." Start with 1 cup of the white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of the salt, add to the salsa and mix
thoroughly. Taste test. Add more vinegar in small amounts until you get a small "bite" of vinegar when you taste the salsa. Adjust salt according to personal
taste.
Canning/Jarring the Salsa:
Method One, Fresh Packing: Fill sterilized quart or pint canning-quality (Mason) jars
with salsa to 1/2-inch of top of jar, wipe edge clean of any salsa, put new (sterilized) canning
jar lids and rings in place and finger tighten the ring. Place in refrigerator. As the
salsa chills, the jars will seal and stay "canned" until the seal is broken and the lid is removed. This is fresh packing.
Method Two, Hot Water Process: If you'd rather not lose space in your fridge to jars of salsa, Judy suggests that you "hot water process" the jars of salsa in boiling water. You can then store the Mason jars at room temperature indefinitely as
long as the lids remain safely sealed. To read more about the process of properly canning/jarring salsa, jump to this Wikihow site page by clicking here.
Awesome Guacamole:
Judy's final note: "You can take out some of the salsa base before you add the vinegar and add it to fresh avocados with lime juice for an awesome guacamole. Another way to do this is with the canned salsa: simply drain out the excess juice, add lime juice (I prefer Key limes), and avocados."
About Judy
Born in Arkansas with a Mamaw that could cook an old shoe and make it taste wonderful! Learned to cook early out of necessity because the cooking gene skipped my mom. She could paint, sing, sew, quilt, and swing a hammer with the best but she just could NOT cook! I went to Purdue University to become a veterinarian and met a dark haired young man under a piece of mistletoe at a Christmas party. Our first kiss was 30 minutes long! So, of course, we eloped, two and one half months later, over Spring Break, 38-1/2 years ago. (That first kiss is why we always have mistletoe up at Christmas!)
 |
| John and Judy McIntosh |
~ Judy
Judy asked me to add
this very kind note...
(Thanks again, Nurse Judy! ~ Cleo)
"I've passed the books to my daughter and my mother, taken fabulous new coffees to work to educate the taste buds of night shift nurses who had become used to drinking coffee that had the smell and consistency of old tar. Along the way I have converted a lot of nurses to what REAL coffee tastes like and I will never drink generic coffee again. Life is much too short to drink bad coffee! And I still wait impatiently for the next new Coffeehouse Mystery so I can roam the streets of New York and learn to love new coffees and new recipes."
Your biggest fan from Day One
Nurse Judy Mac
A Brew to a Kill: A Coffeehouse Mystery
Read with joy!
~ Cleo
To get more recipes, enter to win
free coffee, or learn about Cleo's books, including
her bestselling Haunted Bookshop series, visit her online coffeehouse: CoffeehouseMystery.com
her bestselling Haunted Bookshop series, visit her online coffeehouse: CoffeehouseMystery.com
