Bart's Ultra Fresh Salsa Recipe
Printer version of this recipe

6 medium size vine ripe tomatoes
1 medium size vidalia onion
1 bunch of cilantro
1 clove of fresh garlic
1 lime
salt to taste (start with a teaspoon)

Yields 3 to 4 cups.

The recipe is mind bogglingly simple, however it is less than exact and I have had people come up with vastly different tasting salsas based on the above ingredients. I have made a ton of this stuff and have been able to get a consistent taste that I like and others also seem to like.

So, chop up the tomatoes as fine or as chunky as you like and place in a large bowl. Now chop the onion up into as fine or chunky pieces as you like and mix that with the tomatoes. Now chop up the cilantro and one fouth to one half of the garlic clove into fine bits. I like to really chop up the garlic very fine so that no one gets too big a bite of that in a single dip. Mix the cilantro and garlic into the mix well. At this point, you should have a fair amount of liquid from the tomatoes and onion mix. Now add the juice of one lime, stir well and then add the salt. Stir well. Taste it, with or without a chip and see what you are missing. At this point, it really is up to you to create a taste that you like. I add more garlic and salt until I get just the right combo for me. Sorry I cannot be more exact.

People asked me about using a food processor, I suppose you could, I just don't. Part of the fun of making this salsa for me is the chopping of everything by hand. If you have any questions about this recipe, drop me an email. Good Luck!

Bart
----------------

From: +Glenn
Sounds good Bart, but you forgot the best part, the chile. I would add to your recipe either one or two jalapeño chiles (either canned or fresh). If fresh, I would roast the chiles, peel them and remove the seeds first. I would also replace the onions with Texas 1051. I can't imagine salsa without chile. For other modifications: green tomatoes or tomatillas (husk tomatoes) for a salsa verde. I love salsa with scrambled eggs and bonillo rolls.
----------------

From: Andrew
On the vagaries of salsas and other tomato based recipes: I find that I often experience differences in recipes, particularly those that contain tomatoes and peppers of various sorts.

I attribute this to variation in the ingredients. My mother and my Quantitative Analysis Prof would much more likely attribute it to my slightly cavalier approach to quantitative measurements in general...

I've taken to tasting the various raw ingredients as I chop them up, and adjusting the portions accordingly. This is particularly true of chilies, as both their heat and other subtle flavors (like those that taste like aluminum foil) can vary quite considerably.

Most remarkable are tomatoes. Even ones I've hand-picked from the vine in the same garden will taste different from plant to plant. I guess people are like that, too.