Salsa Recipes?

[cass]

Sitting on my porch this morning having coffee,and an ex neighbor swings by and drops off two huge bags of tomatoes from his garden Some are pretty ripe and need to be used up ASAP. Does anyone have a pretty simple and quick salsa recipe?

I live in a small, tiny little town, and fresh herbs are pretty scarce, but I have rounded up some fresh Cilantro.

Thanks

[liamsaunt]

Lucky you! I wish someone would bring me tomatoes!

Easiest salsa ever:

as many tomatoes as you need to use up, seeded and chopped
one bunch cilantro, chopped
1-2 jalepenos, chopped (or substitute hot sauce to taste)
juice of 1-2 limes (OK to use lemon if you can't find limes)
1 white onion, minced and soaked in ice water for about 10 minutes
salt

Combine the tomatoes, cilantro, jalepeno and onion. Add a little lime juice and salt, and taste--keep adding more until you have the flavor the way you like it. If it's too acidic, add a pinch of sugar.

If you want to get fancy you could add in some chopped avocado or mango.

[chrisn]

I use red/purple onions in mine cause I like their sweetness. I also use lots of fresh minced Garlic.

[Jo Ann - VA]

I like to dip my tomatoes in boiling water for about a minute so the skins will peel off easily. I don't like the tomato skins in my salsa. I also cut up the tomatoes into chunks and run it through my salad shooter then drain well in a colander to get most of the water out. I use a colander that has holes all the way up the side and shake it well over another bowl. DH uses the tomato juice for redeyes! No waste here!

Jo Ann

[Schnell]

We add all the usual tomatoes, jalepenos, green/red/yellow/orange peppers, cilantro and whatever else you want to put in salsa. Then we add a couple small cans of shoepeg (sp?) corn along with equal amounts of red vinegar and sugar. Makes for a very nice sweet and spicy salsa. And its even better the second day and beyond.

Mmmm....my tomatoes are ripening at home as we speak. Might have to do that this weekend!

[RickG]

We are enjoying an embarrassment of tomatoes as well. Its been a great year so far for the veggies. We do like liamsaunt and casually seed the tomatoes. I like to drain them as well so that don't get so soupy.

Tomatoes chopped
Jalapenos & Serranos minced
Onions minced
Cariander minced (including tender stems)
sea salt
lime juice

We can this as well using a water bath for 20 minutes. If you are canning add extra lime juice (1/2 cup per 1/2 gallon).

Cheers, RickG

[cass]

Thanks all for the ideas. I have never made salsa before (if you can believe that!), I used the ingredients from liamsaunt, except I didn't have any peppers on hand. I shook in a little bit of Adobo for some extra zing. I think I put WAY TOO much cilantro in. It's also a little soupy (didn't drain after I seeded).

Not too awfully bad I guess, but I think I will turn it into spaghetti sauce or top some grilled chicken with it tomorrow.

Next up will be zucchini experiments. You can't leave your car unlocked at the post office here without finding a bag of zucchini inside when you return! I do love it though!

[RickG]

We use zucchini to discipline the children. They don't leave marks.

Around DC zucchini and squash get hit hard by cutworm and squash borers. We put them in pots, which also keeps production in the reasonable range.

Our ancho pepers are starting to hit their stride and the Habaneros are the size and shape of small Christmas trees with green fruit. Almos time to make our version of Tarzan Sauce.

Cheers, RickG

[JT]

We are in the prime time for garden veggies. I make buckets of fresh salsa this time of year. In addition to the tomatoes, zuccinni,onions, various peppers[sweet and hot] cilantro, lime juice,touch of vinegar, salt ,pepper,I also add a bit of sweet corn, a little cumin and paprika, and fresh minced garlic.
I use this salsa for making bruchetta, topped with fresh shredded parmesan cheese. It's almost a meal in itself!
Yesterday I made about a 1/2 quart of basil pesto,too. We have basil coming out of ears this year. I tossed angel hair pasta with the basil pesto and added freshly steamed shrimp, which I ice down as soon as it's cooked to keep it firm! The other day I did something similar with the angel hair pesto, but cut up chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks and sauted them in the wok with pesto and added it to the pasta. Serve with the above salsa bruchetta. Not bad!

[cass]

RickG that's funny. I'll have to add that to my list of 101 ways to use up zucchini!

I come from the land of fry it in lots of grease or smother it all with tons of gravy!

JT I'm gonna do a similar thing (angel hair & chicken) with my botched batch of salsa tonight. I will probably throw in some of the zucchini as well!

Schnell, I make kind of a variation of your shoepeg corn salsa, I also throw in black-eyed peas and use it to top crackers.

[nothintolose]

You guys are probably gonna laugh, but how many tomatoes do you need before you can make the salsa.

We grew them for the first time this year, and we have so many, we can't eat them as fast as they are ripening (sp?).

[cass]

You guys are probably gonna laugh, but how many tomatoes do you need before you can make the salsa.

We grew them for the first time this year, and we have so many, we can't eat them as fast as they are ripening (sp?).

I used one big nice tomato and about 5 small ugly ones. It made probably about 4 cups in the end.

[pjayer]

You guys are probably gonna laugh, but how many tomatoes do you need before you can make the salsa.

We grew them for the first time this year, and we have so many, we can't eat them as fast as they are ripening (sp?).

Here's our favorite recipe. It will give you an idea of how many tomatoes to use.

Pico de Gallo Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

1 1/2 cups seeded, diced tomatoes
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon diced jalapenos
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons cilantro, plus extra for garnish
Salt and pepper

In a bowl combine all ingredients.

[RickG]

Salsa is a holistic process. Prep all of your tomatoes and then add the other ingredients to get the right color and texture. The only time we measure is when we are hot water bath canning, since we need to get the acid level right.

nothingtolose, just make it!

Cheers, RickG

[pjayer]

Salsa is a holistic process.

That's so true! Give it the Justice Stewart "Casablanca Test". It's hard to define, but you'll know it when you see or (in this case) taste it.