Lionel's Salsa, Julie's Margarita

Among the food and travel journals, post-it notes and cookbooks, is a black binder filled with recipes. They run the gamut from a cooking class I attended to pages torn from the NY Times food section, but the recipes most cherished are the ones I've collected over the years from friends. From cookies to sorbets, simple salads to complex main courses, printed or handwritten, my little black book is a delicious testament to friendship and conviviality.

Case in point: when the prospect of ripe tomatoes are slim to nada, my friend Lionel created a wonderful salsa recipe that I've enjoyed many times in winter and summer.

It uses a can of plum tomatoes, extracted of all their juices, with the addition of minced serranos or jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, juice of half a lime, a bit of sugar, salt and olive oil. Served with freshly made corn chips, you have the makings of a fiesta with friends.

Drinks are now in order, and his partner in culinary crime, Julie, makes a mean margarita, a simple recipe that has become a mainstay in our household.

I give you both, because a friend in need is a friend indeed.

Lionel's Salsa

2 cloves garlic

2 serranos or jalapenos

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 freshly squeezed lime

1 - 796 ml. can of plum tomatoes

1/2 bunch of cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped

Mince garlic and serranos/jalapenos. Add sugar, salt, olive oil, lime juice and pulse the ingredients a few times in the blender.

Fork tomatoes out of the can (saving juice in can). Squeeze tomatoes by hand ins a sieve until the tomatoes hold together in a sense ball. Add the mixture to the blender, add cilantro and pulse, adding tomato juice slowly until the mixture reaches the right consistency.

Add chips and enjoy.

Julie's Margarita (con rocas)

Add ice cubes to a glass

1 1/2 oz. tequila

under 1 oz. triple sec

juice of one lime (or to taste).

Stir and taste. Adjust lime or triple sec. Taste again. Enjoy.

P.S. What to do with the leftover tomato juice? It's great in a cocktail, soup, sauce or in a sangrita, that lovely Mexican accompaniment to a shot of tequila.