Last night I was preparing a Santa Fe Salad for dinner, complete with homemade guacamole, a special Santa Fe Sauce and of course salsa and sour cream.My oldest daughter came into the kitchen after school to ask what we would have that night and when I told her the salad she grinned and said, "And guacamole?" "Yes." "And salsa?" "Yeah." "No," she continued, "I mean REAL salsa?"
LOL.
She meant not store bought! Which is what my family prefers. Now, we would probably have to debate for a few minutes on what the first choice would be - my homemade canned salsa (recipe is on this blog under 'canning' label!) or my 'fresh' salsa. I think fresh would win out in the end because really, how can you ever truly beat the taste of 'fresh' homemade salsa!?
Use tomatoes if you have them... fresh from the garden if you can! But in the winter time, in the heartland of America when tomatoes might be hard to find or mealy and under ripe, it's better to use a good quality canned, diced tomato. Yep! There you go... a shortcut and hint to 'fresh' salsa in the middle of winter!
Homemade Salsa
1 lb. tomatoes, seeded and chopped (or 2 - 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained)
1 small onion or half a 'sweet' onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 2 inch jalapeno pepper, chopped fine or for a mild salsa use 4 oz. chopped green chilies
Juice of one lime, squeezed
1 T oil
1 t salt
1/2 c fresh chopped cilantro or use 1-2 T dried
Mix all and run through the blender briefly (!!!) if you prefer no chunks. Chill until you use it and best if you can do so at least 1-2 hours before serving.
