Restaurant Quality Homemade Salsa

Who loves Homemade Salsa?

Everyone loves Homemade Salsa.  Without a doubt, it’s kept my marriage together!  My wife loves Homemade Salsa and my ability to crank it out in a matter of minutes.  That’s what I want to share with you today. After you flip through this quick tutorial you’ll be able to throw together Restaurant Quality Salsa in no time.  All I ask is that you share this recipe and where it came from with everyone you share the salsa with.  As much as you would like to bathe in the spotlight by taking credit for this recipe, you can do us both a favor by crediting Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen for the ingredients and patting yourself on the back for being the genius that found this Homemade Salsa video recipe!  See, win win all around!

SalsaNow let’s break it down.  Do you like your Salsa mild or hot?  Notice I didn’t say “Spicy”.  It doesn’t matter which you prefer because either way, you are going to get the same amount of spices in this recipe.  But if you want to control the heat, then you’ve got to control the Peppers!  O.K., write that down (or hit the print icon above).  Onions and Peppers bring the Heat, so there has got to be a good balance.  Garlic spices it up a little bit, but it mostly adds that awesome flavor everyone is looking for in their Homemade Salsa.  I know that the Jalapeno’s I’m adding are HOT!  Because of this, I only add 1/2 of a de-seeded Jalapeno and 2 smokey Chipotle Peppers (which are optional).  Other than the seasonings, everything else in this recipe is relative to any other Homemade Salsa recipe you’ve ever had.

Homemade Salsa Ingredients:

6 Roma Tomatoes
1 Onion
1/2 Bell Pepper
1/2 Jalapeno Pepper without Seeds
2 Chipotle Peppers with canned Juice (Optional)
1 Handful of Fresh Cilantro
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tsp Chicken Bouillon
1/4 tsp Cumin
1 tbsp Oregano
1/8 tsp Garlic Powder
1 Squeezed Lime

Add all ingredients to a Blender and serve.  Flavor because more potent and flavorful the longer it marinates.  So this salsa will get better in your refrigerator overnight if you can make it the day before you’d like to serve it.  Homemade Salsa, right here in the Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen!

Eastern Chicken Chow Mein

Chicken Chow MeinWinner Winner Chicken Chow Mein Dinner!

Cash in on this Chicken Chow Mein dinner Fo’ Show!  It’s got everything you want in this recipe; vegetables, chicken, rice and Crispy noodles.  Yep, that’s what I’m talking about.  Now, if you’re wondering why I’m referencing “Eastern” Chicken Chow Mein for this recipe and you missed my other post about “Western” Chow Mein, you can CLICK RIGHT HERE to read up on the differences between the two and how Lo Mein fits in with all the confusion.  Otherwise, let’s move on shall we.

Traditionally, Chicken Chow Mein is serve with a ton a vegetables over rice, topped with crispy noodles.  If that’s what you are looking for, then you came to the right place.  This recipe has all of that, and I’m happy to say that and more.  But this Chicken Chow Mein recipe doesn’t necessarily have to have chicken in it at all if you prefer a substitutions.  Tofu is an excellent source of protein and it’s used in Chinese cooking constantly.  So if you’re leaning that way, don’t be shy because this recipe is great with Tofu too.  Personally I even prefer using shrimp when I’ve got it.  Nothing like some wild Browns!

Chicken Chow Mein Ingredients:

2 cups of rice
2 cups Crispy Noodles
4 boneless Chicken thighs (chicken breast,shrimp or tofu)

2 Celery Stocks
1 cup Shitake Mushrooms
1 cup Bean Sprouts
1 can Water chestnuts
1 hand full String Peas
1/2 chopped Onion

3 cups Chicken stock
1/3 cup corn starch
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
2 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp fresh chopped Ginger
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
peanut oil for cooking

  • Cook the Chicken thoroughly, salt and pepper to taste
  • Mix 2 cups of Chicken stock with soy and sugar on low heat in a seperate pan
  • Mix 1 cup of Chicken stock with corn starch in a seperate bowl
  • Stir fry all the vegetables, add chicken, then stock with soy and bring to a boil
  • Add Chicken stock with Corn starch
  • Add Sesame Oil and Ginger and serve

For an added bonus, I like to top off this recipe with a shake of Tempura Dipping sauce, made by Kikkoman.  I hope you enjoy this Eastern Chicken Chow Mein recipe as much as I do.

Lobster Ravioli Sauce

Lobster Ravioli SauceA very creamy Lobster Ravioli Sauce

Lobster Ravioli Sauce can be tricky. Good thing I’ve got a video making this sauce with My Borsellini recipe. I have always loved the sweet flavor that comes from a very thin evenly spread sauce like this one so I’ve incorporated the idea into a few recipes of my own.

My Lobster Ravioli Sauce is….

The only difference between my Borsellini recipe and my Lobster Ravioli Sauce recipe is this recipe calls for lobster; so it needs to be either added in with the mushrooms or swapped out and substituted all together. Also when it calls for the stock, use clam juice instead. The great thing about this dish is you can use different raviolis if you’d like that have just cheese or maybe even vegetables. The reason I say that is because that’s exactly what I did here. I cheated and bought a frozen 5 cheese ravioli bag from the grocery for six bucks that feeds 4. Why? First, I love cheese; mmm….Second, price;”Low budget wonder” remember….Third, raviolis can be tedious to make from scratch and I wanted to save time….And last but not least, Five, This really gives a good variety and accentuates the Lobster Ravioli Sauce! Here’s the video for the sauce and in the mean time, get boiling/ steaming those Lobster tails and claws cause you’re going to need the meat!

Lobster Ravioli Sauce Recipe

2 oz unsalted butter
1/2 tsp chopped or minced garlic
1 stock chopped shallots
1/2 tsp of minced anchovy paste, or 1 whole anchovy
1/2 cup clam juice
4 ounce chopped chunks of Lobster meat
2 ounces cognac (amaretto/cognac gives an extra almond flavor)
1 lemon juice squeeze (about 1 Tbsp)
10 ounces heavy cream
1 pinch of cayenne
2 tbsp of Parmesan Cheese

Make sure you babysit this recipe because you don’t want the bottom to burn. In order to keep that from happening you’re going to have to keep a constant stir in between ingredients. Use a medium high to high heat to keep it bubbling. I add small amounts of heavy cream to the boil just to cool it off and repeat. If you add all of it at once, the reduction for the sauce to thicken will seem like an eternity before it’s done. But if you do it right you’ll be enjoying one of life’s delicacies…choking down a few ravioli’s smothered in my Lobster Ravioli Sauce!