salsa...simply salsa

About a month or so ago...could have been longer...I'm awful at that sort of thing, I read an article in either TIME OUT NY or the NEW YORKER which was about simple ways to save money in the kitchen. One of the key things it mentioned was overpaying for our prepared staple food elements, like salad dressing, grated parmesan cheese, and salsa. Not to mention the loss of nutritional value ! So I set out to master a handful of dressings, keep fresh parmesan cheese in the fridge, and make my own really good salsa (not to mention guacamole...but that's another post).

So here it is...really simple, with an even simpler shortcut from Tyler Florence of the Food Network. Canned whole tomatoes, SAN MARZANO tomatoes to be exact. I'm sure you're thinking....really, canned tomatoes...but yes...SAN MARZANO tomatoes are wildly accepted as some of the best in the world, and you've hardly had a good pasta sauce which doesn't rely heavily on them. So why not salsa ? Of course you can use fresh tomatoes, of which I would recommend ROMA tomatoes as they're not real juicy which can make your salsa liquidity. I would suggest 2 large or 3-4 med/small but modify to your own likes.

Let's talk peppers. The heat in a pepper is a chemical named capsaicin and is most highly concentrated in the white ribs and seeds of the pepper. That being said, you can easily adjust the heat of any salsa by seeding the pepper or not. This recipe assumes that the peppers are WHOLE. That being said, the recipe calls for a SERRANO pepper which has a bit of heat. I would rate the base recipe as MEDIUM, if you want a MILD (less heat) salsa substitute a JALAPENO, and for a HOT (really HOT !) substitute an ORANGE HABANERO. Here's the base recipe.

Salsa

1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained (recommended: San Marzano)

1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 Serrano chile

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Salt and pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Directions

To make salsa, pulse all the ingredients in a food processor to desired consistency. Drizzle salsa with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and set aside, allowing the flavors to marry.

OK...now that you've got the salsa...let's talk about usage. We all know how good it is with the tortilla chip. How about some toasted pita instead ? Take some chicken, lettuce, cucumber sticks, a sprinkle of fresh grated parmesan cheese, and salsa and put it in a wrap...outstanding. If you look at the ingredient list above...there is nothing in fresh salsa besides fresh veggies. This is good enough for more than just the dip bowl. Use it as a tapenade on some stuffed chicken or any other way you see fit. All I'm saying is salsa can be what you make of it...so go a little nuts and see where it leads you. Of course if that happens to be in a bowl surrounded by chips in front of the big game...there's nothing wrong with that either !

Mangia e statti zitto...

cheers...

dunkin