sirdarksol

A month or so ago, someone posted a recipe for homemade banana bread. This is as repayment.
Over the past year, I've discovered the joys of homemade salsa. Pace, Old Home, etc... are garbage. The ones you find in the refrigerator section of the grocery store (usually from a local producer) are better, but nobody knows your own taste like you do, so it's best to make your own. Not to mention, fresh is better, and there's nothing more fresh than salsa you made ten minutes before you sat down to eat it.

Here are the basics:

One can of petite diced tomatoes, drained as well as you can get them

One-half an onion; small if you don't like onion a lot, large if you do. You can skip the onion entirely, but that's tantamount to blasphemy, so I wouldn't suggest it.

One-half a sweet pepper. I use green, but red or yellow would work, too.

Pepper of your choice. I have, so far, tried mild green chiles, which have no heat to speak of, poblanos, which are still pretty mild, especially if you de-seed and de-vein them, and chipotles, which are made from jalapenos, and are really hot. Jalapenos make for hot salsa. Habaneros would allow you to make ultra-hot salsa while focusing on a flavor other than the pepper. Guatemalan Insanity Peppers are not suggested for making salsa, as the patients of the asylum they are grown in are not treated well or paid fairly for their work.

Chop the onion and peppers as fine as you want. Some people like really chunky salsa, some don't. Mix everything together, put half of it in a blender (or magic bullet, or food processor) and puree. If you want chunkier salsa, puree less. If you want it with more of the Pace texture, blend more.

That's it. Those are the basics. Beyond this, there's room to play.

I usually add garlic (everything is better with garlic) and a bit of sea salt. I often will dry-roast some or all of the peppers in a frying pan (it's a pain to clean out afterwards, but makes for great flavor). I have stuffed a poblano with garlic and cumin seeds and smoked it in a grill for two hours. That made for some good salsa.

One last warning: If you're working with anything with more heat than mild green chiles, WEAR DISPOSABLE GLOVES WHILE CUTTING THEM. Seriously, it's that important. I have, on three separate occasions, failed to do so, and have regretted it every single time. When I made the mistake with habaneros, my hand burned for over a day, and I had to avoid touching my face or my eyes, nose, and mouth would start burning.

drumbum540

yummm.. I Love salsa! I make mine with banana peppers!

sirdarksol

Woops, forgot to tell how to make salsa verde.

Instead of a can of petite diced tomatoes, get a few tomatilloes, roast them in the oven until they are soft, take the leaves off, then chop them finely. Otherwise, the basic recipe is the same.

Tavel

you can drain the tomatoes more effectively by mixing a couple teaspoons of salt into them and letting them sit in a colander over a bowl for about a half hour.

Fresh Cilantro makes a great addition, just make sure it hasn't turned to coriander. Some places will label coriander as cilantro.

COBettaCouple

Guatemalan Insanity Peppers?! Aren't those illegal in 14 states now?

Allie

It must be early but I was thinking salsa for fish??

Narcicius

Wow that was pretty random. Good luck with the salsa.

sirdarksol

Blech! Cilantro. The stuff tastes like medicine to me.

But you're right, if you like Cilantro, it's good to add.

Firecracker

I LOOOOOOOVE cilantro!

Can I add one? It's not very exact ... but if you want some homemade guacamole to go with your homemade salsa ... The problem is I never measure anything, I just dump it in and taste.

Avacados (of course)
Lots of fresh cilantro
Lime juice
Cumin
Chili powder
Finely diced jalepeno
Celery salt
Garlic powder

Sorry for the lack of measurements ... I honestly can't even guess how much of any of it I use!

sirdarksol

Avocados and cilantro... Can't imagine a worse dish, unless you were to top it with olives (which many people do).

Thanks for the recipe. I get what you mean about measuring. I almost never measure anything, despite the fact that I cook often. It's more art than science to me. My dishes never come out the same way twice.

SereneReyn

avocados - the perfect fruit.

i make avocado sandwiches all the time... just buttered toast with some sliced avo, and a teeny bit of salt. mmmm....

Firecracker

That sounds yummy, I will have to do that.

However it is tough to find truly ripe avocados around here except for certain times of the year. They pick them green to ship, so they go straight from hard to spotty in the store.

Tavel

this all reminds me, I have to start my tomatoes soon...like tomorrow. I want lots of fruit to make lots of salsa!

Firecracker

Hmm, yeah, good call ... hard to think of when there's still snow on the ground! We got 8+ inches yesterday. Saturday it was 75. Go figure.

bert2001

If you really want to kick it up a notch, grill everything until it starts to char (turn black) espicially the tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Thorw it all into a blender. Add salt, pepper, ground cumin, a squeeze of lime, and some fresh chopped cilantro. There you have it, fresh fire roasted salsa!

sirdarksol

I am currently in the process of making my own chipotles, as well as a poblano version of a chipotle, to make my next batch of salsa with.

COBettaCouple

Add a drop of the source.