Restaurant Style Salsa
The garden is bursting with tomatoes right now so this week I started experimenting with fresh tomatoes to make a fresh-tomato, restaurant-style salsa.
If you have followed me for long, you’ll know I have a mild obsession with salsa and have posted a few recipes including my Warm Roasted Smoky Salsa, Coral Snake Salsa, Pico de Gallo (Fresh Salsa), Tropical Salsa, and my old stand-by – Easy Five Minute Salsa. Oh shoot! And we can’t forget my Black Bean Salsa (Texas Caviar).
Yes, i might be mildly obsessed.
This year we planted some wonderful varieties of tomatoes. So far my favorite in flavor have been these Black Hybrid Early Girl tomatoes from Park Seed.
Their thin-skin and deep rich tomato flavor have earned them the top spot of “we do nothing with these tomatoes but slice them and eat them plain” status in our home.
Gardening season always takes me away from my little blog so I apologize for straying away for a few months.
Gardening always distracts me from writing, pulling me away to its glorious therapy of planting, nourishing and pruning.
It reminds that me a little of life right now, and goodness knows, we could all use some therapy.
Normal life just now is not like anything I have experienced in my years, and has become daily disturbing snapshots of people in pain, fear, anger and confusion.
My desire is to offer up a little of the sweet wisdom I’ve learned from gardening.
The offering to plant, nourish and prune.
Planting seeds of love, understanding and compassion right now could be the best (and perhaps the only) offering you might have right now.
Your see, folks come in different shapes, sizes, personality types and temperaments. And heavens…there are SO many differing opinions out there being thrown around….. much like my varying garden fruit.
And just like the odds shapes and sizes in the garden, people are much the same.
Some can’t take the heat, while others thrive from it and grow stronger.
Some pretend to be tough, all the while letting the rot of fear eat them from the inside out like a sneaky garden worm.
Some just give up and hide away from it all, pretending that conflict and sickness don’t exist, all the while withering inside just a little.
Whatever the case, I choose to plant or sow seeds of love, offering words of comfort or understanding,to nourish…. trying to help lend an ear to or even cook a meal for those who are hiding away.
And yes, sometimes there is a need for a little gentle pruning. A need to help redirect or eliminate some thought patterns of those I love who might need help renewing their minds if all of this is taking them down a rabbit trail of despair.
Pruning is a good thing sometimes – especially if it brings new life and health to a plant, body, mind or soul. Think about those unhealthy thoughts you might have during this time and whether you need to prune them out of your mind right now so new growth and life can occur.
I do it all the time.
During this crazy time I hope you all take some time of quiet therapy doing whatever you love to find peace, happiness and fulfillment.
Speaking of rabbit trails..onto the recipe!
And if you want to help ME, leave me a comment telling me what I can do with these hundreds of tomatoes!
- 10-12 medium sized fresh tomatoes
- 1 medium jalapeno, de-stemmed
- 1 medium onion, sliced in ¼" slices
- 4 cloves whole peeled garlic
- ½ c. cilantro (packed)
- 1 T. lime juice
- 1 t. kosher salt
- ¼ t. fresh black pepper
- On a comal, iron skillet or heavy bottomed skillet over high heat, char tomatoes on all sides about 5 minutes. There should be black charred spots but not completely black.Keep turning the tomatoes from side to side.
- Remove tomatoes to food processor.
- Add onion slices and whole de-stemmed jalapeno to pan and char, turning to get all sides, about 34 minutes. Add to food processor.
- Add garlic to skillet turning to avoid blackening. You just want it golden brown in spots. Add to food processor.
- Add in cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper
- Process until smooth.
*If sauce is thin, strain out some of the liquid to thicken. (Usually if you cook the tomatoes long enough it won't be). Save this juice and freeze and add to soups like tortilla soup!