SC - OT & OOP:::I need a salsa recipe

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Seton1355 at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Hi Gang,
> I know that this request is OOP & OT but I have been looking high and low for
> a plain salsa recipe.  I have seen one for fancy salsas made out of
> everything BUT tomatoes and I have seen recipes that give no evidance of
> liquid or sauce that I seem to see in the jarred varities in the store.
> 
> Does anyone have a plain, straight forward salsa recipe they will share?
> Thanks so much.
> Phillipa

Please understand that I'm making this up off the top of my head. That
said, I've sold it in restaurants (garnishing various foods) for
ridiculous sums of money, and it has always received a positive
response, which, considering where I'm from, isn't too bad... this is
pretty basic stuff.

	SALSA CRUDA

	3 - 4 medium-to-large tomatoes, such as beefsteaks
	1 medium sweet onion, red, bermuda, or vidalia, etc.
	juice of two limes
	~2 Tbs chopped cilantro
	1 fresh jalapeno or other chili pepper, or to taste... I usually use
one jalapeno and one Scotch Bonnet for my own use
	~1/2 tsp Kosher salt, or to taste
	Very optional: 1 - 2 Tbs tomato paste

Cut the tomatoes in 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice. One option for special garnish
use or for the anally retentive is to peel and seed the tomatoes by
plunging them into boiling, salted water for about eight to ten seconds,
then plunge into ice water. This will loosen the peel. To seed the
tomatoes, halve them at the equator with a _sharp_ knife, and gently
squeeze each half to squoosh the seeds out. Cut out the stem end and
dice each half. If one wanted to be a wuss, there's a canned product
called "fresh cut" tomato dice, usually packed in a thin tomato puree.
This isn't a bad use for such a product. Or you can just dice the
tomatoes without peeling and seeding.
  
Peel and chop the onion into small dice, maybe 1/4 inch. Add to the tomatoes.

Squeeze and add the lime juice.

Open, seed and devein the chili(s), finely chop and add. Some chilies
are good roasted and peeled before seeding and deveining, but these are
too small for this to be necessary.

You can make the salsa a day or so in advance up to this point... once
the salt and the cilantro have been added, the appearance will begin to
deteriorate; normally this isn't a problem as it doesn't seem to last
too long anyway. The optional tomato paste can be added to create a more
homogeneous sauce consistency, instead of chunks of stuff in lime juice.
If you're used to bottled salsa you may want to go this way. Leftovers,
if any, can be sauteed quickly in a pan in which eggs have been fried in
olive oil or lard, then poured over the eggs for quick and dirty huevos
rancheros. Makes 3-4 cups, I'd guess.
  	
HTH,

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com