Spicy green salsa and the sorrows of empire

Well, I haven't been writing here due to my pledge to myself about not writing successive negative entries. It was just so hard what with every time I thought of writing here thinking about one of two things - the fallacy of 'small government' and the moral bankruptcy it implies and the headless chicken the state will become. If you think the only thing a government - which will be huge - has a right to spend money on is killing people, we have nothing to talk about. That and something to do with a sweet lie about a revolution that never happened that has festered in the heart of America. Which heart of corruption is the seed and soul of empire.

Okay, couldn't quite resist it.

Had a lovely weekend making food for people. On Friday and Saturday the starters were cheeses and smoked salmon on McCambridge's brown bread with butter and capers served with manzanilla. Friday's main course was baked aubergines (with a tomato and trompette du mort sauce, cooked for hours) served with warm bread and olive oil from Baena (it smells of rich fruit with just a whiff of farm - well worth the hefting five litres of the stuff) and for dessert we had, on both days, tiramisu. Saturday's main course was seared tuna served with a spicy green salsa and rosemary roast potatoes with asparagus (tossed in a pan with a knob of melting butter just after being refreshed and before serving). Nothing at all complicated, but there's nothing better than lots of really good ingredients. I thought I'd give the recipes for the salsa and tiramisu.

Spicy green salsa (stolen from Avoca café, but it was a long time ago)

5 plum tomatoes
1 large spoon of capers (to taste)
1 nt too ripe avacado
1 lemon
1 large green onion (obviously scallions are nice too)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon onion seeds (we used one of brown mustard too)
1 glug of vinegar (we used sherry vinegar)
4 jalapeno chillies

Soak the seeds in juice of half a lemon before you start anything else. They will soften in the acid, as will everything else so this is best done a couple of hours before the guests arrive, depending on the avacado. I add the sherry vinegar about then. Cut an x on the skins of the tomatoes at the end opposite from the stalk and put them into boiling water for a few minutes untill the skin starts peeling off. I get worried and don't leave them in long enough sometimes. Peel them, remove the seeds and chop roughly. It is absolutely essential to do this. Seeds are bitter and acidic, when they are liquidised in a sauce you can heat the mixture at 80 degrees and let the acid bubble away for hours, in a salsa it's raw. And the skin is minging anyway (remember that Spanish fake olive oil scandal and people getting crippled and dieing in the 80s? Well it wasn't olive oil - it was fertiliser residue on salads. Lose the skin) and it is easy to take off. Dice the avacado, the less ripe it is the smaller the dice, and put it into the mixture. The avacado will soften in the acid so don't get one suitable for guacamole or the whole thing will be mush. Dice the red onion finely, the jalapeno peppers to your preferred size and add with the capers. Season to taste. Nice and tart on seared tuna.