Cinco de Mayo Salsa
As promised in today’s earlier post called Washi Tape Garden Plant Markers, my husband Benjamin Hummel is here to share his family-famous salsa. We are going to call Benjamin’s salsa “Cinco de Mayo Salsa,” but honestly it is a wonderful treat all year round.
Ben’s Cinco De Mayo Salsa
Story and Recipe from the Kitchen of Benjamin Hummel
In everything I do, there is a story, and my fascination and expertise with cooking is no different. Having my aggressive auto immune disorder from childhood, many long hours were spent on a hospital bed. Frequently, I was placed on NPO (no food). So what does one do for hours on end when he is not allowed to eat? What the Food Network of course! Daytime television is awful, but I guess I enjoyed torturing myself watching celebrity chefs whip up delicacies while my tummy growled. But it was not in vain. Over the years, I started to learn a few things and when finally released and given the freedom to eat, I was more than eager to hop into the kitchen in order to try out what I had just discovered.
One of the very first food items I started with was a traditional salsa. Having gleaned from several recipes, over time, the following is was ascertained by a series of trial and error.
Ingredients
- __One 16 oz can of petite diced tomatoes (or, if you are feeling ambitious, use 2 cups of home-grown chargrilled tomatoes instead)
- 1/2 red onion (I don’t like my salsa too oniony. Red onion is pretty powerful. You are welcome to add more at your own risk)
- 1 finely chopped jalapeño
- 1 cup finely chopped cilantro
- The juice of one lime (optional, if you like it sweet)
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
- Chop the veggies. I like to pre-chop my ingredients. Chopping them in a blender would require a higher speed, and I discovered that this ends up frothing the tomatoes, something that is no good for the salsa.
- For the onion and jalapeño, I like to wear isolation gloves in order to protect my hands from the acids. On the jalapeño, if you are not into the spicy, be sure to clear all of the seeds and the ribs from the fruit and scrub the inside under a stream of water. This will help lower much of the heat.
- Add all into a blender or food processor. Blend at low speed for no more than 30 seconds.
- Chill in the fridge for a few hours to marinate the flavors together.
*Optional: Before refrigeration, pour blended salsa into a saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes. This helps break down the cellular walls of the vegetables, ramping up the flavor even more.*
Serve with tortilla chips and ENJOY!
YUM, thanks for sharing your awesome salsa recipe with us Benjamin!
Hope everyone gets to taste this. If you *like* it, don’t forget to SHARE on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest!
