Tomato Salsa

A long time ago, my friend Sarah Jurado wrote about making homemade pico de gallo. It sounded so romantic and foreign to me at the time ... "You mean you have to buy all of the ingredients separately? And then you chop them up!?" I guess I've come a long way since then. Now I can't imagine life without everything homemade!

So today I made Tomato Salsa. It's the third and final salsa from The New Moosewood Cookbook.  I started by gathering the necessary ingredients:

I did make an adjustment to this recipe ... there were no cumin seeds in sight so I substituted ground cumin instead.  It worked well.

The tomato was skinned and seeded. The segments reminded me of lips. Creepy.

Everything got chopped up and mixed together. At the last moment, I added a minced jalapeno to the salsa. Super spicy, just the way I like it!

See the other two components in this trifecta of salsa here:
Mango Salsa
Pineapple Salsa

Pineapple Salsa

I used to say that I hated Mexican food, which was mostly a lie. I probably just said that for attention, which makes sense, because a lot of what I said from the ages of oh, 2 to 24 was just to get a rise. The truth is, I love Mexican food passionately. I just took me a while to get here. My mom introduced me to mango salsa as a teenager and I scoffed at the idea of perfumed fruit and spice together. But the combination was heavenly, and pumped up my otherwise bland cheese quesadilla.

So, a few days ago, I made Pineapple Salsa. I started with one groovy pineapple. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, my first job ever was working at a local natural foods market where I juiced fresh organic fruits and vegetables for crazy customers. It was there that I learned the secret to finding a ripe, sure to please pineapple: tugging on the centermost leaves of the top. If they pull out easily, almost eagerly, the pineapple is ready. This trick has always worked for me ... pretty cool, huh?

 

The pineapple was diced very small. The recipe called for minced pineapple, but this was as close as I got.

To this I added fresh cilantro, minced garlic, fresh lime juice, cumin, and salt. I didn't have the mint the recipe called for, so I used cilantro instead. Charlie, an avid cilantro eater, was pleased with this substitution.

Everything got mixed up in a bowl and served with tortilla chips. Kelly introduced me to tortilla chips with soy sauce and lime when I visited her in Newport Beach last week called Have'a Corn Chips. They are quite savory and tasted great with the sweet, spicy salsa!

Nachos Sauce, Mango Salsa, and Guacamole

Three fresh and tasty dips... Nachos Sauce, Mango Salsa, and Guacamole! I made these dips in advance so that the salsa and guacamole had enough time to chill. They paired exceptionally well with tortilla chips... though I might argue that anything tastes divine with a tortilla (cinnamon, pesto, peanut butter... I could go on and on!)

Nachos Sauce was a blend of peppers and onion, cooked slowly over low heat. A room temperature can of beer was added and then lots of grated, mild, white cheese. The sauce has an obvious, but not overpowering, beer flavor with lots of cheesy goodness!

Mango Salsa was by far my favorite of the three dips! Fresh, ripe mango slices, softened red onion, cilantro, freshly squeezed lime juice, and some salt! It's like diving into the crisp, bright blue waters of Lake Chelan... refreshing and blissful!

Guacamole was a little too over spiced for me. I added the optional cumin and chili powder to the avocado, lime juice, garlic, and salt, but it was simply too spicy. It took away from the smooth, cooling flavor of avocado and just tasted like mushy chili. Not a winner, but worth trying again with less optional additons.