Recipe: Michael’s Homemade Salsa
By Michael Nolan
Salsa is as easy to make as it is delicious, and its uses go far beyond a topping for nacho chips!
Once I started making my own, I couldn’t bear to eat store-bought salsa from a jar again.
Basic Recipe
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes
• 1 small onion -or- a small bunch of scallions
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper
• lemon juice to taste
• lime juice to taste
• seat salt to taste
Quarter tomatoes and onion, place in food processor along with jalapeno and process using the pulse setting until desired consistency is reached.
Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and add lemon and/or lime juice and sea salt to taste. I can’t give a precise measurement here because it changes every time I make it depending on the flavor in the fresh ingredients.
You might notice that I do not skin the tomatoes. It is a personal preference; I don’t find that it changes the flavor or texture noticeably, so it isn’t worth my time.
Now with that basic recipe under our belts, here are a few optional ingredients for you to experiment with:
• cilantro (I know you expect to see it in the basic recipe, but I don’t like the taste)
• red, yellow or green pepper
• whole kernel corn
• black beans (drained and rinsed)
• fresh pineapple
• Tequila (adults only, please!)
I usually make my salsa in large batches because it can easily be used in recipes after you’re tired of snacking on it. Reduced on the stove with some minced garlic, herbs and spices of your choosing, it makes a phenomenal marinara sauce. It works brilliantly in a fresh veggie salad. It also works very well with cocktail shrimp.
My favorite use for my fresh salsa is to use coffee filters to strain off the excess liquid (save it for making broth later!) and use the thicker, more formable mixture as a topping for veggie burgers.
April 6th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Yum!!! And brilliant idea about condensing the salsa to make a burger topping. Seems like it would make a mean topping for meatloaf, lasagna, and baked chicken, too. I like to toss salsa into my refried beans and black bean soup for some extra flavor complexity. And I’m with you on the tomato skins! I ranted on about that in my Poor Richard’s Almanac post, “What’s the deal with the peel?” not long ago, ’cause I just hate wasted steps. Don’t we all have enough to do without peeling tomatoes?!
April 6th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Oh that sounds good. I have to have garlic though. Great idea about straining off the extra liquid. We eat gallons of the stuff around here in the summer.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Ben: I actually use my basic recipe as an add-in for meatloaf. I have always been a proponent of using as much of the vegetable as I can - especially if I grew it myself and know “where it has been”. Lots of vitamins and minerals get lost in what we toss away.
deb: I use garlic a lot of time as well. I think I go through more tomatoes, onions and garlic than anyone on the planet! I love salsa, but it just must be fresh. I can’t even touch the jarred stuff anymore, it doesn’t compare!
April 8th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I’ve been experimenting by adding poblano peppers to my salsa lately. I like the smokey flavor they add.
Adding pineapple is a great idea thanks. I’m sure that will go nicely over fish. Yum!
April 8th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Add dried Ancho (dried poblano) or the dried new mexican dried red chiles to your salsa.
I live in Texas so I have a huge variety of dried chiles to choose from
Reconstitute and add to your blender with the tomatoes. Gives great flavor and even darker red hues.
I also grow Orange Bell, Yellow Bell, Habaneros, Serrano’s and Jalapenos, along with all my tomatoes and herbs.
One of my favorite salsas I do is Tomatoes, red onion, roasted Habanero (roast to bring out the sweet fruit flavor.)Mango, sea salt and fresh mint.
bobo
April 12th, 2008 at 9:48 am
This sounds like a fabulous recipe. The Bag Lady can’t eat the store-bought stuff anymore, either, after making her own, so she makes huge batches in the fall and cans it. Tries to use all home-grown veggies. Up here in the “frozen” North, because of the short growing season, she has to grow her peppers in pots on her deck, but they do well there and she usually has enough to make several batches of salsa.
May 17th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I have been wanting to make some salsa.