My Holy Grail of Salsa?

And now for something completely different….

A few years ago during the dot-com gold rush, I was shuttled across the continent for a weekend of consulting in San Diego. While the gig wasn’t anything memorable, two things were: my all-to-brief trip to the Natural History Museum there (my first face-to-face brush with dinosaurs), and a delicious never-ending supper at a little “mom and pop” Mexican restaurant on the outskirts of the city. The salsa, in particular, was so good that I brought a large mason jar back to the hotel, and I actually finished it off that night. It was symbolic of everything I love about good Mexican food: the “unprocessed” summer-fresh earthy taste, the zing of tomatoes, the heat of peppers, and its ability to induce my appetite to such a frenzy that I could eat three times my fill.

Now, most of the food I ate that night I could never reproduce with the limited ingredients available up here in Newfoundland, but the salsa in particular was something that I thought within my grasp. After all, most salsa is a combination of tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, sugar and vinegar. However, my efforts to cajole any recipes out of the waitress proved fruitless (my Spanish was certainly not up to the task), and I’ve never been able to find a recipe that captured that exact taste, despite some well-meaning help from a few friends south of the border.

Last night, o! miracle of miracles! — some slightly-withered sprigs of cilantro actually appeared in the produce department of our local supermarket, as well as some inexpensive greenhouse tomatoes. Seizing upon this rare opportunity, I gathered together some ingredients and brought them home for another attempt.

I think I nailed it this time.

The key to this recipe is super-fresh ingredients. I wasn’t lucky enough to find all of it fresh, and even had to default to a jar of pickled jalepenos, but it’s still quite delicious. Some of the ingredients were probably not in the original recipe, such as the celery, but I find that these give the salsa a little extra edge. Also, this version is tailored for ingredients more commonly used up here in the Great White North, and doesn’t really rely on “specialty” items or those with very limited distribution. Finally, a food processor is a boon in preparing this, as chopping all of this by hand might take you a little while.

The resulting salsa is pretty hot, so use less hot peppers and more tomato if you want it a little milder.

Summer-fresh Salsa

Ingredients:

• 6 large fresh ripe tomatoes (not beefsteak — those have less taste)
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 2 large celery stalks
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 1 375 ml jar of pickled jalepeno peppers, drained (or 1 1/2 cups banana/serrano peppers); or 6-8 fresh jalepeno peppers plus 1 tbsp extra vinegar
• 5 tsp (or cubes) of sugar (I use “plantation raw” golden sugar cubes, which give a slightly earthy taste)
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, preferably balsamic (substitute white if absolutely necessary)
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (this cannot be substituted with anything else, especially dry cilantro)
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 4 tsp chili powder

Directions:

Cut the green pepper and onions into eighths, and the celery into 1/2 inch slices. Put this, the drained jalepenos, the sugar, and 1 cup water into the food processor. Pulse until chopped to the desired size. (Some people prefer salsa more chunky than others.) Scoop into large bowl.

Cut top core of tomatoes out, then section the tomato into quarters. Put four tomatoes into the food processor with the vinegar, garlic, cilantro, lime juice and 1/2 cup water. Blend well. Add the final two tomatoes and blend again, slowly, leaving a little texture to the final mix. Pour into the bowl with the other blended ingredients, add the chili powder, and stir well.

Spoon into jars, and the flavour will continue to mix overnight. This recipe will fill 3-5 medium jars and will keep for weeks, if you can stop eating it. Serve with tortilla chips, nachos, tacos, etc.