Salsa, Two Ways

You know one thing I love about summer?  Fresh salsa.  For years, I bought the jarred stuff from the aisle in the grocery store that has the International foods.  You know, the kind that doesn’t need to be refrigerated until you open it?  What was I thinking?  How fresh can tomatoes be if they can sit indefinitely on a shelf?! 

Then one day I found that there is a separate salsa section in the grocery store.  Go to the produce section and you will find some fresher salsas.  One I like is Jack’s Special Salsa.  I also like this one kind that is just called “Fresh Salsa.”  I promise, that’s all it says on the jar.  The difference in the fresh salsa vs. the other stuff is unbelieveable. 

Then a few years ago, my mom started making her own salsa, and it is amazing.  This summer, being the new owner of my very own food processor, I decided to give it a whirl.

This recipe is adapted from the way I have seen my mom make it.  Now, if you don’t have a food processor, you could finely dice each ingredient with a knife, or you could use a chopper to dice each ingredient, and then mix it all together at the end.  personally, I throw all the ingredients in the food processor and process them all at once.  That’s just because I am lazy.  But it comes out delicious!

Fresh Summer Salsa

Ingredients:

• 4-5 vine-ripened tomatoes, rough chopped
• 1 bell pepper, rough chopped
• 1-2 Jalapeno Peppers or other “hot” peppers, rough chopped*
• 1 small-medium onion, rough chopped
• handful of cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves (I just throw them in whole)
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• sea salt and Freshly ground black pepper to taste

* For a milder salsa, you can omit the “hot” peppers.  You can also control the heat by including (or not including) seeds from the peppers.  The seeds add lots of heat!

Preparation:

Throw everything in the processor.  Process until the salsa is the desired consistency.  Pulse to be sure it is mixed well and scrape down sides once during processing.  Store in the fridge for about a week.  If it lasts that long.  ;)

Use this fresh salsa for:

tacos

taco salads

on fish

as a dip for celery

as a salad dressing

on burgers

on chicken or chicken sandwiches

Are you wondering about the two ways thing?  Well, I do love salsa 2 ways.  Obviously I love to eat it.  But you all know I am a Zumba instructor.  So I also love salsa dancing!  It is one of my favorite Latin rhythms and I always include a salsa song in every one of my playlists for Zumba classes I teach. 

(Here are a couple of photos from a few classes I have taught or helped with lately.)

So… here’s to Salsa!  Go enjoy either type this week!