Salsa FIRE ROASTED

By Connor Forbes

I love salsa. I eat it with chips and on tacos, naturally. And I put it on white rice, perhaps a bit unorthodox. I use it to marinate chicken. And I use it as a base for my chicken tortilla soup. I even eat it by the spoonful when I just need a little pick me up.

Ihave been working on my salsa recipe relentlessly since I first made it in 2019. I have tweaked, added, and subtracted ingredients and techniques. But I am pretty settled in on how I like it now. Fire roasted with some charring. A balance of tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, and onion. And exceedingly satisfying to myself. And the reviews from friends and family back it up.

This recipe may remind you of the salsa that precedes your

Cooling LA

continued from page 1 communities.

Extreme heat, the country’s top weather-related killer, is generally defined as at least two to three days of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. On an extreme heat day, there’s an average of 8,222 more emergency room visits across California for related issues. Of these, 1,510 are in LA County alone. An estimated 16 additional people there die on the first day of extreme heat, with 40 more deaths a day by the fifth.

These hospitalizations and deaths disproportionately affect communities of color living in low-income, historically redlined neighborhoods, said Segura, “where the houses don’t have AC or air filtration. When you start approaching heat vulnerability that way, it’s not only a sustainability issue — it’s public works, building development, water and power, tree shade and park access, and certainly a mat- meal at your favorite Mexican restaurant. And you may just eat so much of it you fill up and don’t eat very much of your dinner after all. Or is that just me?

Let’s make fire roasted salsa! Recipe makes 12 cups of salsa. Lasts up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 5 lbs. Roma Tomatoes, sliced in half longways

• 4 large tomatillos

• 1 large yellow onion, sliced into ½ inch thick quarter moons

• 6 serrano peppers

• 2 heads garlic

• 1 bunch cilantro

• 3-4 tbsp salt

• ¼ cup water

To Make

Pre-heat your oven’s broiler or use a pizza oven. Soak and rinse your tomatoes, tomatillos and serrano peppers until there is no longer any film in the water and ter of public health.”

Heat is the top public health risk in LA, which experiences heat waves five times more often than it did 10 years ago. As extreme heat waves in Los Angeles become longer, more frequent and more intense, public outreach becomes ever-more crucial. Across her Heat Relief 4 LA social media campaign, Segura emphasizes that “It’s not your typical summer anymore. Extreme heat can run from June to November. As this means our bodies have less time to recover, we also distribute information on symptoms of heat exhaustion and heatstroke, and resources to cool off before hitting that point.”

Foremost among these resources are cooling centers; in Los Angeles, currently 119 are open. “We’ve established cooling centers and hydration resources throughout the city in facilities like libraries, senior centers and community centers,” said Segu- tomatillos are no longer waxy. On a couple of sheet pans, add a bottom layer of salt and organize your tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, serrano peppers, and the whole heads of garlic (I usually cut around the bottom but not all the way through to aid in peeling after cooking). Salt the top. Broil or roast in the pizza oven until there is black char and the vegetables are soft. Depending on whether you use the oven broiler or pizza oven and its temperature, this may take between 15 – 30 minutes. Check on them occasionally. Flip midway through for a more even char. ra. “We also made an app, Cool Spots LA, where you can find where and when they’re open, alongside other cooling spots like shade structures, hydration stations, and bus shelters.” Currently, only a quarter of all LA Metro bus stops are shaded.

The need for heat interventions like these can vary drastically from neighborhood to neighborhood, partly because of the region’s coastal and inland microclimates. Accordingly, the city’s emergency alert system now uses National Weather Service data to identify heat wave severity in specific parts of LA.

However, these stark regional heat differences also owe to shade inequity. Research shows that with each 10% of canopy cover, trees keep ground-level temperatures about 2 degrees cooler. In a city where over half the surfaces are dark concrete or asphalt — which absorbs up to 90% of solar radiation — 20% of tree canopies are concentrated in four neighborhoods where less than 1% of the population live.

And note: some vegetables may cook faster than others. I notice generally the serrano’s char faster and onions are slower. Pull out of oven and place water, tomatillos, now peeled garlic, serrano’s, a couple of tomatoes and onions in a blender. Blend smooth. Empty into a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the tomatoes to the blender and blend to a chunkier consistency. Add to same mixing bowl. Add the rest of the salt, or salt to taste. Mix. Cover mixing bowl and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to meld. You can also eat some immediately as it will already be delicious. The next day package into containers. I like to use 16 oz deli cups that we have saved from take-out food. EAT! For More Connor Cooks Recipes visit www.zapinin.com/ connor-cooks.

To address this inequity, 65,000 trees have been planted citywide in continuation of a 2019 plan by former Mayor Eric Garcetti to increase canopy coverage 50% by 2028 across LA’s least green neighborhoods. The aim is 90,000 trees by 2028.

Environmental inequity is a testament to why extreme heat is a public health issue, said Segura. “LA’s least green areas are historically disadvantaged neighborhoods where we not only see more heat-related illnesses but also more pollution and exacerbated chronic illnesses like asthma.” Hence, life expectancy in wealthy areas with ample green space like Beverly Hills is as high as 90, while that in disadvantaged south LA neighborhoods less than 15 miles away is as low as 77.

Thus, she continued, when heat policies “coordinate with departments across the city, the county, and” — under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s historic $800 million Extreme Heat Action Plan — “the state, the result can be life-saving.” Nevertheless, CHOs remain rare. Segura is joined by only two in the nation — in Phoenix, Arizona and Miami, Florida — and seven worldwide. However, she continued, it’s becoming a matter of course for cities to develop not only general climate plans, but also heat action plans. These are largely a matter of “short-term planning for public engagement and emergency response, and long-term planning for public health and resilient infrastructure,” she added.

The heart of her work as LA’s CHO, Segura said, is aligning climate equity gaps with public health results: “to treat one is to improve the other. We can see the results all over the world — if we have no plan, it’s only going to get hotter and hotter.”