Salsa

It surprised me that I cannot remember making a tomato based salsa from scratch. I certainly remember make tomatillo salsa, but perhaps the availability of tasty, fresh salsas in Los Angeles precluded a need for me to make my own.

As we were having friends over last week for a game and meal of Mexican black beans, rice and tacos, making homemade salsa was a necessity. There are so many recipes online, and I focused on finding a simple one. The one I decided upon was from Mexicoconnect.com, and only required the six ingredients that I envisioned one would need: tomatoes, cilantro, onion, green chilies, lemon juice and salt.

The author stresses that one should manually chop the vegetables, and that was my plan. But it was nearing the time our guests were arriving, and I still had to shower. So, the ingredients went into the blender (we don't have a food processor). The result was a little thinner/ soupier than I was going for, but it was very tasty and had the appearance and consistency of many salsas that I have eaten. I've since chatted with my cousin's wife about the experience, and she gave me a tip for future salsa making: leave the onions out of the food processor/ blender as they tend to liquefy quickly and add after.
We and our guests were pleased with the salsa—although it was quite a bit hotter than I was expecting. I really have to be better at testing the heat of a pepper before using it in a recipe.

SALSA MEXICANA from Mexicoconnect.com

Please cut the ingredients by hand, never using electric help.

3 ripe tomatoes, chopped;
1/2 cup chopped onion;
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped;
4 to 6 chiles verdes (chile serrano), finely chopped;
2 teaspoons salt;
2 teaspoons lemon juice.

Mix well all ingredients in a serving dish, or salsera. Add a little bit of water if needed. Salt to taste. You can, of course, make your salsa as hot as you want, by adjusting the amount of chile serrano you use.