Category: Salsa

Restaurant Style Salsa

12/20/2015

I'm just gonna say it - I make REALLY good salsa. It's really more pico de gallo, not like the cooked-tomato salsa you get at a Mexican restaurant. In the summer, mine is especially killer, but in the off-season I thought it would be nice to have a recipe that didn't depend so much on the flavor of just a few fresh ingredients. This recipe seems like it will be flavorful and still fresh tasting, so I'm going to break out the chips and give it a try.

INGREDIENTS

6 ripe Roma tomatoes (about 1 1/4 lbs), halved
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
2 green onions
1/3 cup chopped red onion (I didn't have so I used 1/2 of a yellow)
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced into 5 pieces, stem removed (remove seeds for milder heat)
1/3 cup fresh cilantro (about a handful)
1 large clove garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (from 1 large lime)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: for a thinner salsa you can add in a bit of tomato juice

Put everything in a food processor and whir on high until finely chopped.

When I tasted this, it was bland. I added:
juice of 1 more lime
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
more salt
the other half of the onion
more cilantro

RP Servings: 6-8

RATING: As written, 2 1/2. As doctored, 3 1/2

Overall, with the adjustments, this is pretty good. But both my husband and I detected and didn't love the flavor of the chilies in the canned tomato. It's kind of a... weird... flavor. I would say to use regular canned tomatoes (they don't have to be diced since you're chopping them up) and throw in another fresh jalapeno. I think you could get it to a 4 with that. The great thing about salsas, though, is they can be tweaked for every individual preference, so play around with it. I think it's a good base recipe in general.

0 Comments

Fresh Pico de Gallo

9/5/2015

0 Comments

It's really, really hard to go wrong with fresh pico de gallo. I got tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos in my vegetable box, and friends coming over for dinner, so trying this was a bit of a no-brainer!

Side note- I'm sorry for the picture above. That bright white spot is an onion. I don't quite know what happened there.

Ingredients:

4 medium tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 jalapenos, diced (remove seeds for less heat)
1 lime, juiced
Salt and fresh pepper to taste

Chop all ingredients. **VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: when you chop fresh jalapenos, ALWAYS wear gloves. If you don't have gloves, put a zip lock bag on your hand and hold it with the zip locked hand. If you don't, your hand will first feel like you have a rash, then feel like it caught on fire. All of the internet tips like "put coconut oil on your hand," or "continuously dunk your hand in ice water," or "scrub your skin off with soap," will not work, and you will have to take a benadryl so that you can pass out. Not that I'm saying that this is something that happened to me, I'm just saying that it might be something that would happen to someone out there, and I want to save you the pain.

Mix everything together. At this point, try it and add what you need to taste. Some people will want more lime, more jalapeno, more salt, etc.

RP Servings: about 2 cups, which is a varied amount of servings.
Stars: 5- it was excellent, and gone extremely quickly.

0 Comments

Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa

5/14/2015

0 Comments

So my mom made copycat Chipotle rice, and now I made this copycat Chipotle corn salsa. Apparently we have a thing for Chipotle. (Oh my goodness, do I have a thing for Chipotle.)

Ingredients:

1 12-ounce bag of frozen sweet yellow corn, defrosted and drained
2 medium-sized jalapenos, seeded and chopped (leave in some seeds for more heat if desired)
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
3/4 cup fresh cilantro, torn or chopped
the juice of 2 juicy limes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

I'mma stop you right here- I used one can of corn, and then estimated the rest of my ingredients based on ratios.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix.

RP Servings: For my can, going on taco bowls, probably 5 or 6?
Stars: 5. This was DELICIOUS, and an awesome compliment to taco bowls, taco salad, tacos, etc. I kind of never want to make Mexican again if I can't make this to go with it. My only suggestion would be to taste it as you go before putting the full amounts in. Mine was really spicy because my onion and jalapeno both happened to be more spicy than usual, and I just dumped the stuff in without tasting. But that's a good general recommendation, not just for this!

0 Comments

Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa

1/28/2015

0 Comments

We don't have Chipotle, but I've been a few times and always like it. I get some sort of bowl something or other... but I always get corn salsa on it. So when I saw this recipe, and loving almost all salsas with a somewhat obsessive passion, I knew I had to make it.

Don't those ingredients look amazing?

Ingredients

1 12-ounce bag of frozen sweet yellow corn, defrosted and drained
2 medium-sized jalapenos, seeded and chopped (leave in some seeds for more heat if desired)
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
3/4 cup fresh cilantro, torn or chopped
the juice of 2 (juicy!) limes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

The recipe says it makes a "big bowl" but I used a medium mixing type bowl and it isn't full. Also, all but the "steam in bag" corn was sold in 16 oz bags at my store, and 16 oz was the same price as 12 oz steam in bag, so I just poured out about 12 oz. I didn't figure it had to be exact for salsa!

I chopped 1/4 of a pretty small red onion and that was 1/3 of a cup. Again, I don't think salsa needs too many exact measurements, but I'm trying to make it to the recipe the first time!

The jalapenos were HUGE so I just minced up 1/2 of the one I got. It was at least the size of one normal pepper. If I need more, I'll add it; you never know how hot they are. Also, I use my wonderful Pampered Chef chopper to get nice little dices whenever I make salsa - that way my fingers don't get the hot jalapeno oil on them. [Helpful hint - plus you can get all your aggressions out using the chopper!]

The recipe says 3/4 c of cilantro, chopped. I am assuming that means you measure 3/4 of a cup and then chop it, versus "3/4 c of chopped cilantro."

2 juicy limes, squeezed. Salt and pepper. Done!

It's good, but very very limey. Very very limey.

We tried it with chips, and then I made shrimp tacos.

RP Servings: Varies depending on what you use it for. I'd say 6 is a good estimate!

RATING: 2 1/2 stars as written, 4+ doctored
It's just way way too limey. My husband said, "That should be a 4 or 5 star recipe! It's got way too much lime!" That was without any commentary on my part ahead of time. So, to make it edible, I added probably a total of another half teaspoon of salt (for a total of 1 tsp). I drained out some of the lime juice, and added a LOT of agave syrup - I did it a little at a time and tasted in between, but I'm going to guess I added at least 1/2 a tablespoon. It was still tart, but not overly so, and was completely fine in the tacos.

NEXT TIME, here's what I'll do: start with 1/2 a lime and 1 tsp of salt and mix well. Let it sit for about 15 minutes. Slowly adjust the lime until it suits your taste. Remember, it's a LOT easier to add flavor than to take it away!

0 Comments

Restaurant Style Salsa

Fresh Pico de Gallo

Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa

Copycat Chipotle Corn Salsa

Author

Archives

Categories