mojo you di'n't! (oh yes i did)

the cuisine of the canary islands is not what i expected.  i should have known because 1) we were in a touristy town and 2) menorca was the same.  we were expecting to find awesome local foods to sink our teeth into, and we did, but it took some serious trial and error.  emphasis on the error.  however, even in the not-so-awesome-i-think-this-paella-came-from-a-box restaurants, there was one thing that was always present and most of the time awesome: mojo sauce.  mojo is a staple condiment--it came out with bread (bread was brought to the table whether or not you asked for it, and even when you specifically said you didnt want bread so please dont bring it but it was brought and you were charged for it anyway)--much like msg in china.  it's awesome on bread before dinner, it's awesome with the potatoes that usually came with dinner, it's awesome on one's vegetables... i was in love.  i fell hard and fast.  and so, i decided to try and recreate it myself.  and i was pretty darn successful.

there are two mojo sauces--red and green. after scouring ingredients list in the supermarket, i discovered that the red one was pepper based and the green one was cilantro based. but what else was in there? garlic, certainly, oil, yes, but what spices? i decided to try cumin and paprika. and i think i'm right.

first up, mojo rojo.
into the food processor i threw:
2 roasted red peppers
about an 8th of 1 spicy wow hot hot hot pepper
a few garlic cloves
cumin
paprika
a pinch of salt
a splash of vinegar and a healthy glug of olive oil

whirl whirl whirl and done!

the whoa-oh mojo rojo tasted pretty much spot on.

next, verde!


i decided to approach this one like one might take on a cilantro pesto without nuts or cheese.

i usd:
garlic!
2 bunches of cilantro
1/2 a bunch of parsley
a little cumin
a pinch of salt
a splash of vinegar
a healthy glug of olive oil

this one is my favourite.  now, it did not taste like the sauce we were served at one particular restaurant in costa adeje (the rest of the food was subpar but their mojo verde... i just wanted to drink it in mass quantities. [all the restaurants had their own version of the sauce and some were better than the others]).

victory is mine!

as i mentioned earlier, mojo is usually eaten with bread or potatoes. or both. i boiled us some potaters to go with our sauce since i had some handy. i used a firm potato--one that is used for raclette--as it doesnt disintegrate when boiled. i boiled the taters with salt to try and approximate the papas arrugadas from canaria.

and then i baked some fish.

the fish was stuffed with lemon and bell pepper. and parsley.  



and they all lived happily ever after.

seriously, mojo is delicious.

later in the week, i made tacos...

stay tuned...