Pineapple Salsa (Pantry Style)

by tardigrsde

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  1. tardigrsde

    Recipe first, story after:

    I’m trying to copy-cat a pineapple salsa from my new favorite Mexican place. Once again, I managed to sweet talk the proprietor into sharing the ingredients.

    I used:

    4 cups frozen pineapple chunks that were languishing in my freezer

    1/2 sweet white onion (I always have onion)

    3 cloves garlic (and garlic is always on hand)

    5 chile de arbol (from the cupboard)

    1 guajillo (from the cupboard)

    I oven roasted the pineapple, onion and garlic. I soaked the arbol and guajillo in boiled water.

    I tossed about 1/2 the pineapple in the Vitamix with the reconstituted peppers and carefully pulsed, scraped and pulsed the lot until the dried peppers were thoroughly chopped.

    I tossed the rest of ingredients in and pulsed and scraped until I got a fairly coarse texture. I used some of the thawed pineapple juice to achieve the consistency I wanted.

    As always, I waited until the next day to taste… As the chef said, about a tsp of apple cider vinegar really sealed the deal.

    It’s sweet, hot and the tang from the vinegar really added something.

    I actually made 2 batches with the same ingredients. The roasted one described and one where everything was raw.

    I was hoping the sharpness of the raw onion and garlic would add something.

    I am ashamed to admit, that I can’t tell the difference between them. Perhaps my palate is weak or maybe the intensity of the pineapple masked the raw onion/garlic tang.

    Now the story:

    I’ve recently moved across town (from Cave Creek to Sun City for those that know the Phoenix area) and found a new Mexican taco joint. Some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had. They make everything by hand (al pastor, barbacoa, birria, pollo), 6 different salsas and special lemonades. They are so popular that they sometime run out of one of the meats or the other.

    As always, I got to chatting and asking about the salsas. I ventured my guesses as to what was in them and the owner let me know when I was right. I think I made a friend, He gave me a small baggie of some moritas and a week later I gifted him some of my stash of Pasilla de Oaxaca chilis.

    They make a pineapple salsa to die for. Sweet, tart, hot.. Goes great on the al pastor.

    For me, a pantry salsa is any salsa I can make without leaving the house for ingredients. Normally pineapple wouldn’t count, but I had a couple of big baggies in the freezer I wanted to use up.

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