Salsa might be my love language. It is in is stiff competition with chocolate and peanut butter....and popcorn. Is it a rule that you can only have 1 love language? I'll come back to that. Let's talk about this salsa.
Mexican food has a special place in my families heart. My dad in particular is a salsa connoisseur. He loves a good chip & dip situation but is pretty loyal to a good old fashioned spicy salsa. How spicy you ask? Totally up to you, I would say. This salsa features the hard working jalapeno - which can be relatively mild with all the seeds removed. It can also come in hot with a subtle "oh, there it is" lingering spice if you leave the seeds in half of the pepper. Or if you are like my daddio you don't remove any, I mean ANY seeds. My mother has actually made this salsa with habaneros. Talk about spicy - that batch required a glass of milk to wash it down. Safe to say she loves that dad of mine!
The cast of characters is pretty basic and can be changed to meet your hearts desire in any way:
Tomatoes - Pepper - Garlic - Shallot - Cilantro - Salt- Cumin - Lime
I normally use a combination of canned fire roasted and regular tomatoes. Whatever tickles my fancy when I am at the store or perusing through my pantry at the time. If you grow your own tomatoes, pick a couple of those bad boys - roast them up and then get to salsa making. Regular onion can be used in place of or in addition to the shallots if you wish. I really like the mild onion flavor of shallots but typically use the b i g g e s t shallot and garlic I can find for salsa recipes. Garlic - she is my tried and true. I typically add garlic to recipes that do not even call for it and if it calls for it - well then make it a double! Jalapeno is my favorite pepper for this recipe. You could choose a mild pepper like a poblano, or something spicier if you like it that way. If spice is not your thing then you can omit the pepper component completely. Cilantro is the herb I normally pick for this salsa but I have experimented with other herbs in addition to/in place of cilantro and it still tastes great. If I am being completely honest 9/10 times I make this I use dried cilantro - but for the sake of a pretty photo mama got the good stuff. Kosher salt, cumin, and lime come in hot at the end. These three are all just to taste, and they taste goooood.
Once you have all the ingredients together the process is pretty simple. Peel the garlic & shallot - dissect pepper(s) - tear (or shake dried) cilantro - open the tomato cans - dump everything in a food processor or blender and pulse until you like the consistency. When I get it to just about the texture that I like I taste it and add the salt, cumin and lime juice. Sometimes more or less of each depending on how much salt and acid the tomatoes are currently packing.
This salsa is delicious, super easy, inexpensive and you probably have all of the ingredients right
now to whip this bad boy up.
Enjoy it on chips, veggies, meat, eggs, salad, crackers, the possibilities are really endless.
This salsa makes a wonderful gift idea! I have given quite a few mason jars full of this stuff to friends, family, co-workers, complete strangers. OK, maybe not the last one....but I would! You could customize a couple of different jars with varying spice levels and flavors. Or package up all the ingredients with a jar and label for a sweet hostess gift.
This salsa is a staple in our house - I hope you love it as much as we do!
XO
Elizabeth
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