Variations on this simple relish/salad turn up throughout Southeast Asia. The purpose is to give you a bite of cool, crisp, crunch to counterpoint spicy hot meat.
This simple veggie spread will knock you out first with its speckled-magenta beauty. Then you'll be impressed by how it synthesizes the old-school delight of peppery, cool radishes from the garden, dabbed with a dot of good butter and a pinch of salt. Spread it on rye toast points, unsalted crackers, celery sticks, endive leaves, or crunchy romaine hearts. We got the idea for radish butter from our Nashville friend Mindy Merrell, the co-author, with her guy, R. B. Quinn, of Cheater BBQ: Barbecue Anytime, Anywhere, in Any Weather. For folks who call themselves “cheater chefs,” they sure don't skimp on anything, and they come up with ideas that are simple and original and damned delicious. We think you'll agree “clever chefs” is more like it.
"Mother would take blocks of American cheese, jars of Miracle Whip, and cans of pimentos, sit under the post oaks and grind them together with a clamp-on-the-table meat grinder." That's how pimento cheese was made in Patrick's family. This version started out pretty much the way Patrick's mother's did, with pimentos and mayonnaise but Cheddar and Jack rather than American cheese. Then, feeling the pimentos were not as tasty as they once might have been, we switched to thick, jarred Spanish peppers and bolstered the mix with smoked paprika, along with plenty of pepper and a little mustard. The resulting cheese, in our assessment, can be addicting, whether on a cracker or in a sandwich."
A beautiful sight. Tomato chips of many colors and sizes are fun as a garnish.
The better the cream, the better the butter. It's worth checking out local farms for their cream. And, yes, different creams do have different tastes. It's that "terroir" thing.
Ingredients
I gotta confess: I find this sprightly, tingly mixture ever so much more interesting than cranberry goop out of the can.
Sophie Coe, my guru when it comes to early Meso-American cooking, in her masterpiece, America's First Cuisines, tells us that the tomatillo (also known in Mexico as "miltomate," "tomate verde," or simply "tomate") was likely the most-consumed "tomatl" (Nahuatl for a general class of plump fruit) in pre-Columbian times. Yes, more than the "jitomate" or red, ripe tomato to us English speakers. That explains, I think, why a mouthful of tomatillo salsa transports you straight to Mexico. It is the gustatory essence of the country - a gleaming contour of fresh green spiciness, herbal perfume and zest.
An improvised recipe for our Stump the Cook contest that is eaten at room temperature. For appetizers and snacks, pile the onions on garlic toast or cucumber slices. For main dishes, try it over grilled salmon, sword fish, or lamb, or over cous cous, quinoa, or rice.
Lynne Rossetto Kasper watched a cook on a horse farm in Umbria make a sauce right on her cutting board with wild chives she picked just outside the back door. Mincing everything may not follow traditional pesto technique which calls for crushing in a mortar, but I like the idea of this fast sauce made on a cutting board. Adjust the herbs with what you find at the market. Try this over rice and with couscous.