Baja Sessions

“If you drive down the California coast and just keep goin' and goin' you'll find yourself in a place called Baja – more cactus than people, more time than worries and surrounded by the ocean and the sea...” (from Chris Isaak's Baja Sessions album cover). And this is exactly what we did, my companion and I, driving from Southern California all the way to Lands End, Cabo San Lucas and back. In 8 days.

It was a pretty long time ago. When Baja was dreamy, Cabo San Lucas was made of dirt roads and there was more livestock than cars on Highway 1. We were zigzagging back and forth from the ocean to the sea, skinny-dipping whenever we dared. Now and then, we got stuck in the sand and used our frying pan to dig out our old bronze Chevy van. The only real headache was if we needed to put on shoes so we wouldn't step on scorpions.

Wherever I looked, the slopes along the road were vivid from the chili peppers that were laid out drying. I fell for the colors: the bright blue sky, the softest white sand, neon-green limes, strikingly red tomatoes, nearly black avocados displayed at the little mercados. I admired the huge pale green cacti with their violent-looking thorns and was in awe of the unbelievably kitschy sunsets. Our diet consisted of Coronas at 10 cents a pop, rice, beans, tortillas and fresh seafood. Some mornings we went clam digging and fried them right there and then. And I discovered ceviche.

A perfect hot-weather food, fresh fish is marinated in lime juice until no longer raw. Succulent with the wonderful tang of lime, every bite is tender yet firm, and the flavor is complemented by juicy tomatoes, tiny dice of sweet onion and a few flecks of cilantro. A little jalapeño pepper adds some bite, and a pinch of fragrant Mexican oregano a kind of earthiness. I ate buckets full.

We were limping back across the border with the obligatory stomach bug on Sunday late at night just in time for my job Monday morning, bright and early at 7 am. Oh, but Baja is so worth it.

Baja Ceviche

Serves 4

½ pound of sushi-grade fish (salmon, scallops, halibut)

Juice of about 3 - 4 large limes

1 small tomato, chopped, seeds removed

¼ fresh jalapeño pepper with seeds

1 tablespoon finely chopped sweet onion

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 healthy pinch of Mexican oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Cut up fish into 1/2 inch pieces and mix with lime juice (start with the juice of 2 limes) to almost cover. Refrigerate 3 – 4 hours or just until fish looses transparent look, replenish lime juice as needed to keep fish submerged. Stir occasionally. Scallops will take the least amount of time, salmon the most. Add tomato, jalapeño, onion, cilantro and crumbled oregano. Let stand for 1 – 2 more hours.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with creamy avocado and crisp tortilla chips.

Try the jalapeño pepper before adding and adjust quantity according to spiciness. I sometimes toss in a little cayenne at the very end.  

Teeny Tiny Household Jam

Our household is a pretty tiny one, so cooking happens on a much smaller scale, which is not a problem unless I mull over jam-making. A lot of recipes ask for copious amounts of fruit and that makes way too much for our modest needs. I have visions of cabinets jam-packed (sorry, had to do it!) with jars that no one will ever eat. My cousins still have their late daddy's jam that he made almost 20 years ago.

Although it's really nice when friends and relatives share their yummy homemade jams with us, to me it just seems wrong not to make my own. To be perfectly honest, besides the slightly absurd quantities, one of the other drawbacks is actually the canning. The whole process just stumps me; the need for a large canning pot, sterilized canning glasses, lids and rings, pectin, the pop-pop of the seals. It seems inordinately involved when all I want is a couple of jars of preserves.

And then, last spring, Bon Appétit magazine gave me just what I've been trying to find, a no-fuss recipe for a beginning-of-summer strawberry jam. It fills two small glasses with my favorite fruit jam, it's a piece of cake to make, and best of all, no canning required!

From our farmer's market I get the very freshest organic strawberries which are small, fragrant and brightly colored. The distinctive aroma of strawberries wafts through my kitchen while I stir them over low heat with a wooden spoon. I gently mash the berries and admire their lovely red hue with its matching pink fizz trimming. The tangy apple and zesty lemon juice bring out the pleasingly sweet and exquisitely strawberry-ish taste. It has bits and pieces of apples and berries, vibrant until the very last spoonful. Oh, and if I run out, I can quickly whip up another batch.

Bon Appétit's Easy Strawberry Jam

Enough to fill two small glass jars (approx. 7 oz each)

1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered

2/3 cup sugar

1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely grated

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Combine quartered strawberries and sugar in a medium-sized pot. Stir in grated Granny Smith apple. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring and breaking up strawberries, until sugar dissolves. Simmer until jam is thickened, about 15 minutes, fold in lemon juice.

Transfer to a bowl and let cool. Fill two small glass jars with lids and chill until set, about 2 hours. Keep refrigerated and use within a few weeks.

Tastes great on a fresh baguette or brioche smeared with sweet butter; stirred into plain yogurt or as a filling for paper-thin pancakes.

P.S.

happy popper - happy hour

Illustration by Majalisa