Salsa Daddy

Rick Martínez, the author of Mi Cocina, turns his attention to salsa, the element that brightens Mexican meals, afternoons of snacking and days at the beach. The book is a playful introduction to Mexican cooking built around seventy-five salsa recipes and twenty-five simple meals. The salsas run from fast to slow. Some need nothing more than chopping, smashing or blending and are ready in minutes, such as a pico de gallo with tomatoes, avocados and chipotles. Others are sauces simmered together to build depth, and some are less expected, like a nutty, savory, spicy blend of roasted peanuts, caramelized onions and toasted chiles. Rick treats salsa as a way of living, not just something spooned on the side. He draws on more than five hundred years of salsa history while encouraging cooks to adapt and riff on the traditions. Here salsa can be a dip, a condiment or the basis of a classic Mexican meal. It can also rescue grilled cheese, burgers, rotisserie chicken or a platter of roasted vegetables, and the recipes come with plenty of room for variation.