Salsa (the dip not dancing)

Khaczor

Anyone have a recommended chips and salsa recipe? Preferably tomato based. I have a food processor now and want to start using it.

Toldo

Check out The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She has some amazing recipes.

Enc

Fun and tasty salsa:

Finely mince the following, then put in bowl and mix:
-3x beefsteak tomatoes (including seeds, and as much of the moisture as you can save)
-1 yellow onion
-2 jalapenos (remove seeds if you don't like very spicy food).
-1 Cubanelle pepper
-1 Bushel cilantro (finely minced. this stuff is great, use as much as you get in a bushel, not the stems though. Just the leaves)
-1 clove of garlic (or a heaping tablespoon of the pre-minced kind)
-1 8oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (mince finely, retain sauce)

Makes a lot. Eat with Tostidos or some other kind of chip. You can make your own chips, but making tortilla chips is a real pain and, while they are great homemade, the effort versus the time just isn't there.

A Bear

I'd say, just get some things you like about salsa (or just flavors you like), for example:

• tomatos (probably the majority of your salsa)
• hot peppers (i like jalapenos)
• onion
• cilantro
• corn
• beans
• lime
• garlic
• cumin
• salt & pepper

Then,

• Get some of these things, make sure you have more than you think you need.
• Make a little bit with some basic ingredients
• Try some. What does it need? More seasoning? More heat? (Throw in peppers.) Less heat? (Throw in tomatoes.)
• Once you find a good balance, just try to add the ingredients in the same rough ratio until you have made enough to go around.
• Make sure to be mindful of how much/hard you use the food processor, again, this is catering to personal preference, but you don't want to be making tomato paste.

If you want to get really specific, write down your ratios for future use, but I prefer to just make salsa "to taste" especially when you get to dealing with produce that might have vastly different flavors/heat each time you make salsa. For me its always the jalapenos, which can range between so-so and CRAZY HOT! As such, its a lot better just to put them in little by little then sticking to an arbitrary number each and every time.

2868

My recipe. Five big assed tomatoes, 3 jalepenos (more if you can handle the heat), cilantro, apple cider vinegar, 1/2 onion, 4 cloves garlic, salt.

Fire up your broiler and burn the shit out of the tomatoes. Turning them when necessary. (I like to do this outside on the pit, but the broiler will work)

Make em black on all sides. Drop em into a bowl, or bucket to cool once they are black. Burned skin and all. Then do the same with the garlic and jalepenos. Darken those fellers too and drop them in the bowl.

Blend the entirety of the bowl into your food processor/blender with the 1/2 onion.

As it blends mix in about two tablespoons of the Apple Cider Vinegar (more if you like a little tartness) and salt and cilantro to taste. Blend until well salsa'd.

As for the chips, If you have access to a deep fryer I like to make my own chips.

Buy at least 20 white corn tortillas, take a sharp knife and quarter them into wedges. Fire up the oil and drop in the chips, when they begin to float remove them.

Enc

What 2868 is suggesting is more like the smoothie-esque salsa you get in pace jars (in consistency, his recipe sounds amazing). What A Bear and I have suggested is more pico de gallo style salsa. Depending on what you want, all of them are good.

A Bear has it right, though. Salsa is best when you try it out and make it your own. I've done many varieties, all were awesome. It's really something that is hard to screw up.

Oh, and as a suggestion, don't start with haberneros. Delicious though the fireballs may be, you need to really gauge how many to use quite carefully in order to cook with them.

Khaczor

Thanks guys. I'm more of a fan of "smoothi"e salsa than pico de gallo but I'll be sure to try out everything and experiment.

iMatt

Dr Mario Kart wrote: »

This is my standard thing.

~5 pounds of roma tomatoes. Pour equal amounts of balsamic vinegar and olive oil into a small bowl. Mix well (or cover and shake). Quarter cup of each will be more than enough. Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise, destem, coat with oil/vinegar. Fill a wide, shallow pan with the tomatoes, face down. Then throw down another layer of tomatoes face up. 250 degrees for 8 hours. Yes 8 hours.

With an hour or so left, take the other ingredients, dice them and throw them in the food processor and then put the result in a large bowl and wait for the tomatoes. The ingredients for this are:

4 jalapenos
4 habeneros
4 cerranos
some amount of garlic
a ton of cilantro (2 cups?)
half of a red onion
juice of 2 limes
spoon of black pepper
some measure of salt. Maybe two spoons. Use your judgement.

Tomatoes are done. You'll notice that the top layer will have lost 50-75% of their water volume and are essentially tomato raisins. The bottom layer will have lost some volume as well but not nearly as much. Put them in the processor. You'll end up with something that appears too thick/dry, but thats ok. Put it into the big bowl with the rest of the stuff and mix well with a big spoon. The dryness that may have bothered you has now evened out.

You might have been concerned that it is too spicy. Let it sit for a day in the fridge before you eat it. Its actually hardly spicy at all. Something in the mix neutralizes the spiciness. I think its the caramelized sugars from the roasted tomatoes. If you eat it right away after mixing, it will burn your face off.

The consistency is SO GOOD for dipping.

8 hours! - I'm so trying this!

Echo

I had strawberry and lime salsa once. It was surprisingly awesome.

mere_immortal

Not a recipe but lime flavoured doritos go brilliantly with salsa.

2868

mere_immortal wrote: »

Not a recipe but lime flavoured doritos go brilliantly with salsa.

All doritos go brilliantly with salsa.

2868

Khaczor wrote: »

Thanks guys. I'm more of a fan of "smoothi"e salsa than pico de gallo but I'll be sure to try out everything and experiment.

Well the chopped salsa is Salsa Cruda (which includes Pico de Gallo), or Picante (which is a chunky style, like pace).

The fully blended, or crushed, style is the more traditional salsa.

vermiculture

I may be flogged for suggesting it, but sometimes tomato paste goes well in salsa to thicken it up

jeddy lee

I make salsa about once a week. I think I put my recipe in the D&D cooking thread one time, but there's plenty to choose from here, my only reccomendation, to get the most FLAVOR out of your jalapeno peppers, roast them on a cast iron skillet till they are browned/black (not charred) on every side, then put them in a tied off thin plastic bag (like for newspapers or produce bag from the grocery store) and leave it in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes. This will "Sweat" the peppers. Once this is done, run them under cool water and use your thumbs to remove the darkened skin, then dice it up as a normal pepper and throw those puppies in there.

Also, many people seem to forget that cilantro is delicious, and belongs in 99% of salsa's. My salsa is:

Boiled tomatoes
Cilantro
Green Onions
Roasted Jalapeno's
Garlic
Garlic Powder
Kosher Salt
Black Beans
Corn (if available fresh)
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar