Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa

I used to think that you could only make good salsa in July and August, when tomatoes were at their juicy red best. The rest of the year I would mope at Mexican restaurants and wonder how come they had great salsa all year round. I reasoned that they imported fresh tomatoes at their peak from some well-guarded farm near the equator. Well, I wanted some of that secret stash too. So I started to snoop and ask questions. Finally a nice little lady cashier at one of my favorite southern California whole-in-the-wall taco stands filled me in. "Oh, honey... they're just canned tomatoes." When I finally got over my shock, I went home, fiddled around, and made 897 gallons and I haven't stopped making it since. Then I started blabbing my recipe all around town. It's been years and I still can't keep quiet. "Did you know you could make this great salsa at home..in the WINTER?" Not only is this salsa unbelievable on it's own, it's the base for countless Mexican dishes. I'm going to show you a few this week, so get started with this salsa recipe. Betcha can't wait for Cinco De Mayo. You can leave your salsa testimonials (and recipes!) in the comment section. STAY TUNED....TOMORROW IT'S CLASSIC RICE AND BEANS!!!
Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa
Estimated Cost: $2.00
A couple of notes: I'm making the salsa today with canned fire roasted tomatoes for a little extra smokiness. They are a bit pricey, so if smokiness isn't your thing , you can substitute plain canned diced tomatoes. The easiest way to make this is to get diced tomatoes with green chiles and you won't even have to add in a hot pepper.
1/4 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 hot chile pepper, such as serrano (you can use just a tiny bit if you don't like too much heat)
1 (14 ounce) can diced fire roasted tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup cilantro, leaves and soft stems
juice of one lime
sea salt, to taste
Place the ingredients in the bowl of a blender or food process in the order listed. Process until smooth, or chunky, depending on preference. This salsa tastes best within the first two days it is made. After that, you can use it in cooked recipes for up to a week.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forget Taco Bell, Yo Quiero Prudy! I have all my groceries and I'm all ready for El Quinto! Can't wait to make this salsa tommorow!

Michal said...

my mouth is watering.

i hope you are including your cilantro lime rice in the line-up. your recipe is now the only rice i make with mexican food. it can't be beat.

Prudy said...

Michal:
I just wrote that one down in my secret blackbook so I wouldn't forget to post it soon. I'm doing the classic red tomorrow, but I promise to do my cilantro lime rice soon.
Catte:
What meat are you going to do?

Anonymous said...

I don't know what kind of meat I'm doing, some kind of man meat that my man picked out.

Okay, I just checked it's eye of round, steak. And I'll probably do some veggies for me.

RecipeGirl said...

Hi Erin-
Thanks so much for the nice post on my site. This is my first visit to your site- very creative. I love the concept. Looks like you've got some nice ideas for affordable cooking!
Best...
Lori

Prudy said...

Lori:
Thanks for visiting. I visited your site for the first time last week and I'm definitely impressed. You're a recipe guru!

Pamela said...

Just found this one. It looks so good and I'm going to give it a try soon.