Salsa 101

I mentioned in last week's Menu Plan post that I was making fresh salsa to take to the Super Bowl festivities. Well, it was very well received. I think that fresh, homemade salsa is something many people don't ever think of attempting to make--and they have no idea what they're missing out on. It's so easy, so fresh and bright, and has nothing to do with anything you'd ever find on a shelf in a bottle. It's best when all of the fresh ingredients are in season, but even in the dead of winter, it's still better than bottled stuff. I know this because early in my pregnancy, I had a fierce craving for fresh salsa, made the recipe, and ate it all myself without even looking back. Give it a try!! (not the eating it all yourself thing--I don't necessarily recommend that.)

Salsa 101

5-6 ripe plum tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 of 1 large red onion, diced finely
3 jalapeños, seeded and diced finely
fistful of fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
ground sea salt to taste

I feel I may have already said too much with the instructions in the ingredients list, because there's little left to say. Simply chop up the tomatoes, onion, jalapeños and cilantro as instructed, toss together in a large bowl, squeeze the lime over top, and stir. Sprinkle with salt and taste test it with a few chips to make sure you've got the salt just right.

And that's about it.

Fresh salsa doesn't keep long--plan to use it that same day, or the day after, at the latest. And jalapeños very in heat somewhat, so start out with 1 1/2-2 jalapeños, taste, and then decide if you want more heat. And if you really want to knock up the heat a bit, leave the seeds in the jalapeños, because that's where a lot of the heat resides.

Go forth and conquer!