Mar 02 2008
Salsa
Homemade Salsa:
When I make salsa, almost everything is just added “to taste”. I don’t really measure anything out here, particularly the peppers, since the heat level varies so much with Jalapeños. After slicing off the stem end, I touch the bit that I cut off to my tongue to try and get an idea of how hot the peppers are. I like very spicy food, for typical hot Jalapeños I would use 3 or 4. For milder salsa use less.
If you’ve not used cilantro in anything before, be aware that a very small amount goes a long way. It’s very easy to overpower the recipe by using too much. For a large amount of salsa like this I use maybe 1 Tbsp at the very most
Ingredients:
- 2 Quarts home-canned tomatoes, seeded and drained (or roughly equivalent canned store-bought, seeded and drained.)
- 1 small onion (or 1/2 large), very finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic (see directions)
- Jalapeño Peppers to taste, seeded if you wish, finely chopped
- Cilantro, very finely chopped (use less than you think you need.)
- Red Wine Vinegar to taste (3-4 Tbsp)
- Olive oil to taste (1-2 Tbsp)
- Kosher salt to taste
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
Chop up the garlic, and put a liberal pinch of kosher salt on top of it. Then smash it all together with the side of your chef’s knife to make a garlic/salt “paste”.
Buzz the tomatoes in a food processor for just a couple seconds, long enough to break them up. Stir in all the rest of the ingredients, and refridgerate for a couple hours to allow the flavors to blend.
That’s very close to the recipe I use. I omit the vinegar (although I used to use vinegar, but I have since began to dislike it) and oil, and I put some lemon juice in mine. I generally use store-bought petite diced tomatoes (the less added salt, the better), but in late summer I use whatever I have in my garden. I have used serranos in place of jalapeños, and they work fairly well. I don’t mind a lot of cilantro–I have used 1/4-bunch of it before in a medium sized batch of salsa.
I’ll try lemon juice next time I make it, that sounds like a good idea. The diced tomatoes would be good for a more chunky style too. I’m going to try both next time around.