Salsa!

The garden is full of tomatoes in all states of ripeness. Larry likes to pick them and put them on the table on the deck, which means there is now no place to eat outside. Unless you want to eat tomatoes.

Over the weekend I dug out my salsa recipe and made a batch to can (a jar or two got polished off before they even went into the canner, though!).


The recipe can be varied depending on what you have at hand. I don't like cilantro and I didn't have any tomatillos. I also didn't have enough hot peppers and used canned ones instead. Cheating! but hey, who cares? I'm the one who has to eat it, and the only one likely to know (except of course, the whole blogosphere knows now).


Here's my basic recipe:



Susanna's Salsa

A bunch of very ripe tomatoes, Romas are best, I think ( a peck or maybe more), chopped up (I don't peel them, but you can if you prefer)

3-4 onions, chopped (how many depends on how much you like onions--I used white, but red are nice too)

2 bell peppers (sweet), chopped (can be green, red, purple, or gold--your choice!)

A few cloves of chopped garlic

4-5 fresh chilis (or a 4-oz can of green chilis)

jalapenos to your taste (fresh is best, but I used a 4-oz can)

about 2 tbsp lime juice

about the same of olive oil

and about the same of cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt (to your taste)

1/3 cup chopped cilantro or parsley (I used parsley)


Combine it all in a bowl and mix well. Put into a blender about 2 cups at a time and BRIEFLY blend (I used the pulse button). Texture should suit your taste. If you like it really chunky, don't blend at all.


Heat just to boiling. Ladle into sterilized jars and seal. Process in a water-bath canner for 5 minutes (bring the water in the canner to a boil, THEN add your jars). I ladle some of the juice out to make the salsa thicker.


That's it. Simple and delicious. You don't have to can the salsa, of course--you can just eat it without cooking it at all. Either way is delicious.