Using Salsa. Recipes: Southwest Spinach Salad and Country-Style Chicken

Salsa

Salsa Sets A Fiesta Mood

The salsa touch makes Mexican easy. As the Mexican revolution goes mainstream, just about every restaurant is adding at least a few South-of-the-Border specialties. You can count on salsa to give authentic flavor to any Mexican specialty, from nachos to soft tacos to chimichangas.

Salsa is more than Mexican. Your whole meal deserves the zing Mexican salsa can offer. Why not put some of that fiesta spirit into your meatloaf or clam chowder? The following recipes show how you can add salsa to regular recipes. Your guests will say "Ole!" to the taste difference.

Salsas have something for everyone. Some like it mild, some like it medium and, yes, some like it hot. Salsa offers thick and chunky, picante and green chile sure to please everyone's taste.

Helping out in the kitchen. Salsas are delicious for dipping, but they have many other uses. Think about putting salsa to work as a marinade, sauce, recipe ingredient, garnish or condiment. Whatever the use, you can depend on the high quality of salsa, made with Anaheim chiles.

Southwest Spinach Salad

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

Bacon, 1/4-inch dice—1 lb
Medium Picante Salsa—2 cups
Lemon juice—1/2 cup
Sugar—4 tsp.
Cilantro, chopped—2 tsp.
Eggs, hard-cooked, finely chopped—6 each
Black olives, sliced—6 oz.
Red onion, 1/4-inch slices—3/4 lb.
Mushrooms, 1/4-inch slices—9 oz.
Whole green chiles, 1/4-inch slices—6 oz.
Spinach, washed and trimmed—30 oz.

Method

sauté the bacon slowly over low heat until crisp; reserve the bacon and 1/4 cup of the bacon fat.

Combine the reserved bacon fat, salsa, lemon juice, sugar and cilantro; mix well and hold in a warm water bath until needed for service.

In a large bowl, combine the hard-cooked eggs, olives, red onions, mushrooms, chiles, spinach and half the reserved bacon; cover and refrigerate.

For each serving, arrange 6 ounces of reserved spinach salad mixture on a plate and drizzle 2 ounces of warm dressing over the salad; garnish with 1 tablespoon of reserved bacon.

Country-Style Chicken

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

Chickens, cut into 8 pieces—7 lbs.
Flour—1/2 cup
Olive oil—1/4 cup
Chorizo sausage, 1/2-inch slices—2 cups (1-1/2 lbs.)
Garlic, minced—2 Tbsp.
Onions, large diced—1 qt. (1 lb.)
Green pepper, large dice—2 cups (1/2 lb)
Red pepper, large dice—2 cups (1/2 lb)
Mushrooms, quartered—3/4 lb. (1 qt.)
Red wine—1 cup
Canned black beans, drained—1-1/2 lbs. (2 qts.)
Canned chopped tomatoes, drained—10 oz. (2 cups)
Tomato sauce—5 cups
Medium Picante Salsa—2 cups
Diced jalapeños—2 Tbsp.
Cilantro, chopped—as needed

Method

Dredge the chicken in flour and shake off excess flour. In a heavy bottom saucepan over medium high heat, sauté the chicken in hot olive oil until golden brown. Lower the heat and add the chorizo, garlic, onions, peppers and mushrooms, and sauté until the onions are translucent. Deglaze with red wine, add the black beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa and jalapeños, mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour until the chicken is fork tender. Transfer to pan for service.

Serve 16 ounces per portion garnished with chopped cilantro.

Provided by Nabisco Foods Group

This page originally published as a FoodDay article in 1997.