Party snacks: cheesy churros with a spicy salsa
Turn up the heat with Susan Jung’s recipe for cheesy churros with piment d’Espelette butter and roasted red pepper and jalapeño salsa
These cheesy, slightly spicy churros make a good party snack. They taste best the day they are made but, if needed, can be reheated in the oven (at 180 degrees Celsius for about five minutes) to crisp them up. While they are delicious as is, they are even better with this roasted red pepper and jalapeño salsa, which can be made a day or two in advance.
Cheese and piment d’Espelette butter churros with roasted red pepper and jalapeño salsa
It’s hard to say how much egg you’ll need for this recipe. It depends partly on the size of the eggs (because “large” can vary in size) but also on how long you cook the mixture on the stovetop after adding the flour.
For the churros:
120ml water
60 grams piment d’Espelette butter
75 grams plain (all-purpose) flour
2-3 large eggs, at room temperature
80 grams aged comté
Oil, for frying
For the roasted red pepper and jalapeño salsa:
1 red bell pepper, about 200 grams
1 jalapeño chilli
50 grams ripe, sweet cherry tomatoes (I use the local pear-shaped variety sold by fruit vendors)
1 shallot, about 25 grams
The finely grated zest of half a lime
About 15ml fresh lime juice
Fine sea salt
Make the salsa first. Char the bell pepper and jalapeño by putting them directly on the high flame of a gas stove. Turn them over as they blister and burn so they cook evenly. When the bell pepper and jalapeño are charred, put them in a bowl until they are cool enough to handle, then strip off the blackened skin. You can do this easily by running the bell pepper and jalapeño under a thin stream of running water. After skinning them, blot them dry with paper towels. Halve the bell pepper and jalapeño and remove the core, seeds and stem.
