Simple pleasures appreciated

<p>People who care what they eat -- and there are a surprising number who don't -- always have moments of transcendence when absolutely everything falls away except for overwhelming deliciousness.</p><p>I'm not talking about gorging on a favorite food or even about planned enjoyment, a special meal, say, that you've been anticipating. Instead, I'm talking about something taking you by utter surprise with its extraordinary perfection. It's best when you least expect it.</p><p>This happened a couple of weeks ago when I sat down -- collapsed is more like it, as I'd been working at full speed for many days -- with a simple tomato salsa, good chips and a cold Bohemia beer. I took a bite and everything else -- my exhaustion, my anticipation of the next round of work, my messy house -- fell away. And so, of course, I took another bite and then another.</p><p>"If I had to give up every food in the world except one," I thought to myself, "I think I would choose chips and salsa to eat forever. I could never grow tired of it."</p><p>Of course, were it to come to that, I would grow tired of it. It's our nature to seek variety. But the moment will live forever in my mind as so many other transcendent moments do -- a sweet crisp watermelon heart savored on the lawn at a park in Fairfield, a forkful of Bing cherry and seared foie gras at Babette's Restaurant in Sonoma in the mid 1990s, tiny Olympia oysters in their own briny liquid and a dollop of cocktail sauce at the counter at Swan Oyster Depot in San Francisco.</p><p>In a happy coincidence, the Healdsburg Tuesday night farmers market hosted "Salsa Gigante," a salsa competition, a few days after my moment.</p><p>Participants included Jesus Hernandez of Taqueria El Sombrero, Pedro Diaz of El Farolito, Dona Chela of Agave Mexican Restaurant and Taqueria Guadalajara's David Chombo, who won the competition. Each chef was assisted by a local student, who helped with the gathering of ingredients and the making of the salsas.</p><p>A highlight was watching Chef Diaz grinding ingredients in an 80-pound molca jete. For photographs of the chefs and their salsas, visit Eat This Now, this column's companion blog, which you can find at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. I'll also post links to many of my favorite salsa recipes from the Seasonal Pantry archives.</p><p>Fall is a great time to make salsa and also presents an excellent opportunity to prepare for winter salsas. There's an urgency to tomatoes right now and those that have been grown in warm areas, especially Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and Sonoma Valley, have luscious textures and rich, concentrated flavors. If you can preserve some, you'll be rewarded for months, until our own local tomatoes begin to ripen next summer.</p><p>One of the most interesting aspects of the Salsa Gigante competition was the way chefs secured their ingredients: They were all from the Healdsburg farmers market, gathered after the chefs arrived. David Chombo, the Taqueria Guadalajara chef who won, used cilantro and onions from Ortiz Farms, tomatillos from Hector's Honey, serranos from Early Bird's Place and, for garlic, he chose Spanish Rioja from Bernier Farms. To duplicate this salsa, you don't need to track down each of these vendors; instead, get the freshest possible ingredients from your farmers market.</p><p>Taqueria Guadalajara's Avocado &amp; Tomatillo Salsa</p><p>Makes about 2 quarts</p><p>2 large avocados</p><p>1 medium yellow onion, chopped</p><p>5 serranos, stemmed and chopped</p><p>5 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled</p><p>1 bunch cilantro, rinsed, dried and chopped</p><p>2½ pounds tomatillos</p><p>-- Kosher salt</p><p>Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, scoop out the flesh and put it into a blender, along with the onion, serranos, garlic and cilantro.</p><p>Wash the tomatillos, remove the papery husks, chop and add to the blender.</p><p>Season with salt and pulse until the mixture is fairly uniform.</p><p>Transfer to a bowl, taste and correct for salt.</p><p>Let rest a few minutes before serving with chips, tacos, roasted meats or roasted vegetables.</p><p>Tomato concassé is a building block of many recipes, from salsas and soups to a huge array of sauces. If you have a lot of tomatoes, it is one of the best and easiest ways to preserve them.</p><p>Tomato Concassé, with Simple Salsa Cruda</p><p>Makes 5 to 6 cups</p><p>5 pounds medium or large ripe red tomatoes, preferably heirloom</p><p>-- Kosher salt</p><p>First, peel the tomatoes: Spear each tomato through its stem end with a dinner fork and hold it close to a high gas flame or hot electric burner, turning it so that its skin sears and cracks; it will take about 15 seconds. Set the tomato aside and continue until all tomatoes have been seared. Use your fingers to pull the skins, which should slip off easily.</p><p>After the tomatoes have been peeled, remove their seeds and gel. First, cut the tomatoes in half through its equator, hold one half, cut side down, over a bowl and gently squeeze. The seeds and gel should drop out easily; if they don't, use a finger to coax them out.</p><p>When all of the tomatoes have been seeded, set them on a wooden cutting board. Set a medium strainer over a large bowl.</p><p>Chop the tomatoes into very small pieces, until they are nearly reduce to a pulp. Transfer the pulp to the strainer and let drain for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring the tomatoes now and then as they drain.</p><p>Transfer the drained pulp, or concassé, to a bowl, season to taste with salt and set aside until ready to use. Store the juice that remains in the bowl to use in another recipe (it makes a great Bloody Mary and is also excellent chilled, seasoned with lemon juice, salt and pepper and served as a refreshing appetizer). Both the juice and the concasse can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.</p><p>To freeze tomato concassé, pack it in freezer bags in 1 or 2 cup portions; label the bags with the date and store in the freezer. To thaw, remove a bag from the freezer several hours or the day before using it, set it in a bowl and let thaw slowly in the refrigerator.</p><p>To make a simple salsa cruda, put 3 cups of the concassé into a bowl. Dice a small white onion, mince 4 cloves of garlic and 2 to 3 serranos and stir into the concassé. Add the juice of ½ lime, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves and a tablespoon of minced fresh oregano. Stir and let rest 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with chips. This salsa will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days. Should you not feel like making concassé, you can make the salsa with chopped tomatoes instead.</p><p>Michele Anna Jordan hosts "Mouthful" each Sunday at 7 p.m. on KRCB 90.9 &amp; 91.1 FM. Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com. You'll find her blog, "Eat This Now," at pantry.blogs.press</p><p>democrat.com/</p>