We are so thankful to our Lord about the abundance of tomatoes this year. We planted about 6 tomato plants and all of them are just hunched over because of all the weight of carrying so many tomatoes. So needless to say I am trying my hardest not to waste any of them. I am going to try to make more and more salsas, and dishes that use a lot of tomatoes.
Here is a recipe of a basic red salsa that can be used on anything.
Ingredients:
* 5 to 6 tomatoes depending on size. This is your base. You always want to have more tomatoes than anything else
* 2 to 3 Jalapeño peppers. The more jalapeños you add the hotter the salsa will be. You want salsa to accentuate your food, not to make you tear up and clear your sinuses. A little bit of a runny nose is okay, but you do want to enjoy the food.
* 1 onion. You do not want too much of onion flavor so one will usually do
* 2 garlic cloves
* I added a small poblano pepper, it adds a smoky flavor to the salsa. It is not needed to make a good salsa
* 2 dashes of Salt
Controlling Heat: Make sure you seed all the jalapeños before blending or mashing. You can do this before you boil or after. Do not rub or touch your face after handling jalapeños. The oils will sting. If you prefer, you can wear gloves while handling them or wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.
Place all the ingredients in a large pot and boil. Make sure the water covers all the vegetables. Boil for about 10 minutes or until the skins on the tomatoes are falling off and the jalapeno peppers are an opaque green. Remove all the vegetables including the garlic from the water, and place in a blender or remove the water using a colander and return the vegetables to the pot. This depends on the texture you prefer in a salsa. I like having chunks of tomato and jalapeno when I eat salsa, some prefer to have a more velvety texture to theirs. So if you prefer the velvety texture, place all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth, adding cilantro and salt to taste. This is where the art of making your own salsa comes in. Adjust the taste of your salsa by adding and removing ingredients. If you want a more textured salsa, just smash all the ingredients together with a potato masher or you can use a "molcajete" which is a mortar and pestle made out stone. Adding salt and cilantro to taste.
This salsa tastes so much better when it is served temperature hot.
I love love love to use salsa on over-easy eggs. The taste of the tomatoes, peppers and garlic just go splendidly with the yolk of the egg. Eating it with a warm flour tortilla is just heavenly!
Storage: Store any leftover salsa in an airtight container. For best taste always re-heat salsa in a skillet using a tiny bit of vegetable oil.
You can use this salsa on eggs, on sandwiches, on hotdogs as a relish, as a dip, to add taste to any meat dishes, and anything else you can think of. I even know of some people that add a little bit to their spaghetti sauces.
** Also salsas are a good way to control your sodium intake. Usually when you add salsa to things, you tend to use less salt because of the flavorful taste that salsa adds to food! Try it. Add salsa to your food instead of salt and notice that you don't really need to add any more salt to what you are eating.
Hope you enjoy!
