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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Spicy Homemade Salsa

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Unless I’m making “salsas” like cowboy caviar, I’m usually content to purchase my salsa when I’m eating it at home. The grocery store has a lot of good ones—fresh and canned—and they met my salsa needs, or so I thought. Then my coworker brought his infamous homemade salsa to our Christmas luncheon at work and my eyes were opened to the world of homemade salsa. Although he claims he makes it differently every time, he was kind enough to email me this particular version—so hot it had me sweating and munching on extra (plain) tortilla chips to quell the heat.

When I set out to remake the salsa for our New Year’s Eve party, I reduced the heat-slightly-so as not to scare off my party guests. Even so, it was a fantastically spicy salsa—hot, but not enough to bring out the sweat and tears!
This makes a HUGE batch. I had to put half of the ingredients in my food processor before removing and doing the second half. Even so, this disappeared within two days. Ryan, Nate (future bro-in-law), and Mike (friend) went so far as to turn the remaining smashed chip bits into “salsa cereal”. Determined not to let a single drop go to waste, they literally poured in crushed chips and ate the salsa with a spoon—a culinary delicacy, or so they declared!

Whether or not you turn it into salsa cereal, this is one ‘from scratch’ recipe you don’t want to pass up!

One Year Ago: Feta and Sun-dried Tomato Torta
Two Years Ago: Spinach and Black Bean Pasta

Spicy Homemade Salsa from my coworker Chris

Ingredients:
-1 whole white onion, diced
-1/2 red onion, diced
-2 small cans mild green chilies
-4 small fresh chilies, de-seeded and diced (to tone down the spice, reduce the number of chilies. I used 1 small green chili and 1 anaheim chili)
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 bunch cilantro, de-stemmed and leaves chopped
-1 bunch green onions, chopped
-3 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes
-1 jar sliced jalapenos
-2 tbsp cumin
-1 tbsp chili powder
-1 tbsp salt
-2 tbsp dried oregano
-juice from 1 lime

Directions:
1. Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor (I did this in two batches) and pulse until consistency is fairly smooth but with chunks.
2. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.