Category Archives: Salsas & Relishes

Full disclosure right up front — Karen and I went to school with the owners of Cherith Valley Gardens, Alan and Terri Werner.  We were in band together, we spent hours at the golf and swim club Terri’s parents own, and Alan’s mom gave my siblings piano lessons.  Terri’s creativity in the kitchen emerged early, because Karen remembers making salsa with her in high school!  Alan ran a successful oil and gas drilling business until the late 1980’s, when the economy tanked.  The Werners began gardening to feed their family, and they gifted friends and family with their homemade salsas and canned vegetables.  Encouragement from those who loved their food and a small loan from a friend at church helped launch Cherith Valley Gardens.  The family has developed a delicious line of salsas, jellies, pickled vegetables, “spirited” fruits, and gourmet stuffed olives.  They maintain busy travel schedules promoting their products at gourmet and fancy food shows, and they wholesale their product to more than 2,500 specialty stores around the world.  This is a classic example of a small artisan food business growing into a commercial success.  While our love for the Werners’ products might not be completely unbiased, Cherith Valley Garden’s long list of awards validates their culinary talent!  Check out their products on their website.

One of our favorite CVG products is Hot ‘n Spicy Corn Relish.  This corn, onion, pepper and spice combination elevates the most humble tortilla chip to gourmet status, so yes, we eat it straight from the jar often.  On a recent trip to Central Market, I noticed there was a demonstration for Hot ‘n Spicy Corn Relish, and they used it to make cornbread.  Well, this really started the brain cells firing, because I had just made a jalapeno cornbread recipe that was a bit disappointing.  The recipe called for creamed corn and a healthy measure of jalapeno peppers.  I thought the creamed corn made the cornbread a little on the mushy side, and Allen thought it was too spicy.  Plus, I made the recipe as written, and it didn’t call for sugar.  Not good, since I really like sweet cornbread.  On the plus side, the recipe called for the batter to be poured into a hot, oiled skillet, which made an excellent crispy crust.  Could Hot ‘n Spicy Corn Relish take the recipe from mediocre to magnificent?  Yes, it certainly could!  After making a few recipe adjustments, we had a winner.  The cornbread retained the crisp crust we had originally enjoyed.  The sugar in the relish toned down the heat from the jalapenos, and the whole kernel corn in the relish banished the mushy creamed corn texture.  Although you could bake this cornbread in a shallow, 2-quart ovenproof dish, I recommend a cast-iron skillet for the best results.  I found Hot ‘n Spicy Corn Relish on Amazon if you can’t find it in a store near you.

Spicy Skillet Cornbread

3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 ounces freshly-grated cheddar cheese (divided use)

1 cup milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups Cherith Valley Gardens Hot ‘n Spicy Corn Relish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Pour the oil into the baking dish or skillet, and heat in the oven until very hot.  While the baking dish is heating, combine the cornmeal, salt, baking soda and 1/2 the grated cheese in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix the milk, eggs, and CVG Hot ‘n Spicy Corn Relish.  Add the liquid ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients, and mix well.  Remove hot baking dish from the oven.  Using a paper towel, carefully rub a little of the hot oil on the sides of the dish.  Do not let the paper towel absorb much of the oil.  Pour the cornbread batter into the hot skillet and sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

Karen and I are all about Mexican food, Tex-Mex to be more exact.  We think our obsession began with tortilla chips and a local favorite,  Albert’s Hot Sauce, in junior high school (more on that later).  We still talk about the best shrimp dish we ever tasted during a trip to Cancun and the chicken tortilla soup we had at Disneyworld.  When Karen comes to Texas, we often go straight from the airport to our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Dallas.  So, when it comes to Mexican food, we definitely know what we like.

In our opinion, the only thing a great salsa really needs is fresh tortilla chips.  But what makes great salsa?  Grocery store shelves have rows of salsa, hot sauce, and picante sauce.  Chunky, smooth, mild, hot and hotter – what to choose?  A relative newcomer in the market is Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa and it is well worth a try.  Andrew Robbins grew up in Dallas and enjoyed his dad’s homemade salsa for years.  He realized after trying many commercial brands that nothing came close to his dad’s recipe, so he went into the salsa business himself.  After trying a jar, we can say this is seriously good salsa that would rival that of any fine restaurant.  The all natural ingredients create a perfect blend of spicy tomato flavor with a texture that isn’t too thin or too chunky.  The label states that Mateo’s is “not responsible for obsession”, so consider yourself warned! It comes in mild, medium, hot, and habanero.  We tasted the medium and it had enough heat to be interesting, but not so much that it dominated the other flavors.  It was the perfect accompaniment to breakfast tacos, one of our favorite morning treats.  We don’t really have a recipe, but we’ll share our method.

Karen and Deb’s Breakfast Tacos

For each serving you will need:

• 1 flour tortilla
• 1 egg, well beaten.
• 1 slice of bacon or 1 ounce breakfast sausage
• 1/4 cup peeled and finely diced potato
• 1 Tbsp each finely diced onion and green pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp. cheddar cheese

Wrap the tortilla in aluminum foil and warm in a 350° oven.  Dice bacon into 1″ pieces and fry in a skillet until done.  Remove the bacon from the skillet and pour all but 1 Tbsp of bacon grease out of the skillet.  Add the potato, onion and green pepper to the skillet and cook until potatoes are browned and done, stirring frequently.  Add bacon back to the skillet, then quickly stir in the egg until scrambled to the desired consistency.  Place the bacon and egg mixture in the warm tortilla, add cheese and roll the tortilla.  Top with Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa and enjoy!

Mateo’s is sold in select grocery stores in parts of Texas and California, and is available through the company’s website, along with their signature enchilada sauce, bloody mary mix and margarita mix.    Look for the chili peppers with sunglasses and big grins on the label, and prepare to become obsessed!