Verduras en Escabeche

In English: Pickled Vegetables
Everywhere you go in Mexico there is a bowl of these on the table. If you love jalapeños and vinegar like me, then this is amazing!! Everytime I eat at Guzman y Gomez I will eat a small container of jalapeños just while I am waiting for my food. I also bought a jalapeno plant a few weeks ago and there were LOADS of ripe jalapeños on it, and I suddenly realised that I needed to use them. I found this recipe in a book that my sister has but I have no idea what that book is called. I have changed the recipe a bit anyway, mainly by leaving out the caraway seeds that the recipe called for because I think caraway seeds are one of the only flavours that I truly cannot stand.


2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup water
1 tsp dried marjoram leaves
2 bay leaves
1/2 tbs salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2cm thick slices
12 jalapeño chiles, cut into 1/2cm thick slices
1 medium onion cut into wedges, layers separated
5 garlic cloves peeled and chopped in half

Place the vinegar, lime juice, water, marjoram, bay leaves, salt and pepper in a pot, and bring to the boil. Add the carrots, jalapeños, onion and garlic. Return to boiling, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, or until the veggies start to go soft. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Put the cooled mixture into glass jars and refrigerate. Serve them with Mexican foods as an accompaniment. According to the recipe they will keep for several weeks in the fridge but I have my doubts that they will be around that long in my house...
Ruth's serving suggestion: eat them with tortillas and chicken.

Semi-Dried Tomatoes

Before

After

I love semi-dried tomatoes, but they can be kinda expensive, so whenever I see tomatoes for cheap I make my own. The veg shop up the road often has trays of them on the clearance table, I think these are the best ones to use anyway because they are really ripe and juicy.

Tomatoes - as many as you want
Salt
Olive oil
5-6 fresh basil leaves
1-2 garlic cloves

Chop the tomatoes into wedges. I usually chop them into 12 wedges, the smaller they are the less time they take to cook.
Lay out the tomatoes on a wire rack, on top of a baking sheet. This way the bottom of the tomatoes won't go all mushy. Sprinkle them with salt. Put in an oven at about 150C and leave for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, rotate the trays, and if you feel like it, turn over the tomatoes. Put back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until they are looking a bit dried out and the colour has turned to a deep red.
Once they are cool, put them into a container with the garlic and basil leaves. Pour on some olive oil - I never cover them completely, but put in a fair amount. Storre them in the fridge. Yum!