Salsa

[marmalade]

It's summertime, and that means salsa!

Anyone have any good salsa recipes?

What can you do with salsa besides eat it with corn chips?

[BattleNymph]

Holy cow I love salsa! Especially fresh made!

Take 3 tomatoes, barely ripe and chop finely

1/2 medium chopped finely

1/4 lime squeazed over the whole thing (and chopped into it without the peel if you like)

1/2 tsp salt.

1/4 cup chopped cilantro.


Mix it all up and let sit for an hour or so to blend. Yummy!

I eat it with eggs for breakfast burritos, and cooked into various vegetable dishes to give them zing.

[silverwhisper]

my wife makes a granny smith salsa and a mango salsa that i love, and normally, i can't abide using sweet ingredients in anything but dessert.

if i can scare up the recipes, i'll post 'em later.

[COTSBOE]

My wife makes a pretty mean mango salsa. I'll bug her for the recipe later tonight if I think about it.


I'm not really a fan of overly spicy tomato salsa, so really mine just consists of diced tomato, red onion, cilantro, a bit of seasoning, and if I'm feeling spry, some manner of pepper.

[marmalade]

Battlenymph, your salsa sounds pretty close to the one that I make.

Except for gaspacho, this is the only other way I will consume raw tomatoes.

Salsa Fresca

3 lg. red-ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 lg. white onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
¼ cup parsley, chopped (or a bit less cilantro)
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp sugar (optional, if the tomatoes are acidic)

Mix all ingredients (except sugar) in a large bowl. Taste test.
Add sugar, if needed.
Let the mixture rest for at least 30 minutes while the flavors blend.
Taste for seasoning, and serve at room temperature.

[Cranky Dog]

I was bored, hungry and in the mood for homemade salsa to go with our kettle style potato chips. I didn't have a wide selection of ingredients, so I used whatever I had at hand and felt like having:

Cranky Dog's improvised salsa recipe:
-1 and a half big tomatoes (all I had)
-A couple of pickles (three our four? Don't remember)
-Quite a few sliced hot peppers from a jar
-Herb seasoning
-Curry powder

Sadly, no onions.

All mixed in one of those manually powered whirly blade dicing thingies. Lots of liquid drained with a spoon. Pig out.

Still a lot of liquid.

Anyway, it's still pretty tasty for something totally improvised.


Cranky Dog
"I have a salsa making opinion, international!"

P.S. After that bit of fun, I made myself some gruel.

[Mouser]

It's the cilantro that makes a salsa.

Poach the tomatoes to peel them for a better salsa.

Fresh jalapenos, but jarred works too.

Cut the red and green tomatoes really small.

Use a small can of tomato paste to cut down on the liquid.

Fresh garlic.

Dice the onion small also.

Spice it with the three sisters Oregano, Basil, Cilantro. Plus their puta girlfriend, dried red pepper.

[silverwhisper]

you could also roast/grill the tomatoes quickly, which i believe ought to make them easier to peel, too, while adding some interesting flavor as well.

[Cranky Dog]

SALSA THREAD RESURRECTION!

So this coming weekend is my mother's family annual summer family reunion, and I'm itching to do a few batches of salsa.

I'm trying to go with three levels of spiciness: mild (no peppers), medium hot (average consumer grade hot) and freaking-hot-yet-still-tasty (an acquired taste).

Does anybody have any idea of which kind of peppers would be best for the medium and hot versions? Keep in mind that the average Canadian palate has a low tolerance to hot spices.

I was thinking habanero/scotch bonnet for the hot kind, but it may be overkill. However, I intend to remove all the seeds which hold most of the hotness.

For the mild, I'm thinking jalapenos, but they may be *too* mild (for my tastes at least).


So anybody got experience in varied levels of hotness?


BTW, my current salsa recipe is diced seasoned tomatoes, chopped onion, garlic, green onion, chives, cilantro, cumin, lemon/lime juice, salt/pepper.


Cranky Dog
"I have a salsa making opinion, international!"

[Chimaera]

My understanding is that the bit about the seeds being the hottest part is a myth. The hottest part is the inner membrane, not the seeds.

[Cranky Dog]

My understanding is that the bit about the seeds being the hottest part is a myth. The hottest part is the inner membrane, not the seeds.
In that case I'll still take out the seeds just so no one will have to pick their teeth because of them.


Cranky Dog
"I have a tooth friendly opinion, international!"

[Maristo]

You could use some poblanos for taste. They don't really have any heat in them at all. And they are huge so one or two is more than enough.