Darned Good Salsa

Salsa

I have eaten more salsa in the last three years than the sum of all my life combined before that.  It's my current addiction.  I pass up ice cream for salsa and chips. When we want a simple snack, it's nachos with cheese and of course tons of salsa.  We have it bottles of it on the pantry shelf, must be that famine mentality or something.

And of course when we go to our favorite Mexican restaurants, they immediately pour out bowlfuls of salsa from huge pitchers and provide big baskets of hot tortilla chips.  Hot or mild, they ask.  We always ask for the mild and eat the salsa to the last drop.  We've had to force ourselves to stop to save room for our meals, grins.

This is my second attempt at making a homemade salsa and it's very good.  Allegedly this is a recipe that comes from a restaurant in Tucson, but I can't swear to it, but I wouldn't be surprised.  Are there better salsa recipes out there?  Perhaps, but I'm not going to go looking for it.  This one is a keeper.

SALSA

3 cans (15 ounce size) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped
4-5 stalks scallions (green onions), chopped
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped, removing any thick stems
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon crushed chili pepper and/or 1 jalapeno

Blend all together.  Refrigerate.  Let it sit for a while for flavors to develop and then indulge.

COOK'S NOTES:  I personally do not like big hunks of vegetables in my salsa, so I put my onions, and scallions and cilantro in a food processor and give them a few pulses.  I also pulse two of the cans of stewed tomatoes into an almost puree consistency and the third can I pulse but leave it fairly chunky.  You can do whatever pleases you, all chunky, all smooth.  No rules.

A note on the 1 tablespoon of crushed chili pepper.  That, truthfully, could be too much heat for some.  It is on the verge of being too much for us, so if unsure of your heat tolerance, I would probably start with 1 teaspoon, check for heat, and add to taste.  I have a friend who adds the 1 tablespoon of chili pepper and the jalapeno, but she was raised on fiery foods and as far as she's concerned, the more heat the better.

This recipe makes a two full quarts of salsa at least.  Keeps well for a few days in the refrigerator.