Summer salsa
This is my standard salsa that I whip up ever summer as soon as the cherry tomatoes start to ripen. It gets even better once all the ingredients are coming straight from the garden, but store bought tomatoes just don't cut it for this recipe. While I will make this recipe with regular tomatoes, I highly recommend using cherry tomatoes for their sweet flesh and thin skins.
Generally I prefer the texture and look of this salsa more when I hand chop everything, but when I'm in a hurry, I'll toss the the ingredients into the food processor to chop them up (pulsing) one ingredient at a time, and mix them separately in a bowl. You really want to have individually recognizable ingredients with this recipe, so don't overdo it.
Preparation Time:
about 15 minutes
Tools
- Sharp knife and cutting board
- Food processor (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 cups chopped tomatoes, preferably sweet cherry tomatoes, including seeds and juice.
- 1 medium (or half a large) sweet onion, chopped (I prefer red for more color)
- 2 homegrown hot garlic cloves (about the size of 8 store bought cloves), minced.
- 2-4 jalapenos, chopped. Seedpod removed, veins and some seeds left in.
- 2-4 fresno chiles, same as above.
- 1 handful of cilantro, chopped. (optional)
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tsp of salt to draw out the juice. Add more to taste later.
- A few dashes of chipotle powder and whatever other ground chiles strike your fancy
Cooking Instructions
Chop everything up to get the size pieces that you like, and just toss in a bowl and stir it up. Let it sit for a little while to let the salt mellow the tomato taste and you're ready to go.
Given the variability in heat levels of fresh chiles, I tend to rely on my ground dry chiles to regulate the heat. After letting the salsa sit an mellow in the fridge for a little while, start stirring in your powdered chiles a little at a time and tasting as you go.
dave – Mon, 2007 – 09 – 03 14:27