Salsa at Home {and not pico de gallo}

Something either terribly amazing or just plain terrible happened this week.

I discovered Dos Toros Taqueria and how ridiculously close it is to my house.  I’m thrilled because they have great (CA style) tacos and burritos with highly quality ingredients – primarily local and/or organic – and great prices.  I’m not so thrilled because having damn good tacos and quesadillas near by can be a bit dangerous.

So on my 18th trip in as many hours, I decided to pick up enough to share and bring it home for dinner.  As an impulse buy when I was paying, I asked them to throw in some chips and salsa.

But when I got home, I realized it wasn’t salsa, but pico de gallo (fresh tomato salsa). And as far as I am concerned, that doesn’t work as a dip for chips.  I love pico de gallo on plenty of things, don’t get me wrong, but I want something smoother and spicier when I think salsa.

It turns out we didn’t have any jarred in the fridge (that stuff goes quickly around here), but thankfully, salsa is a breeze to whip up.

I threw some canned tomatoes, canned chiles, onion, garlic, jalapeño and lots of cilantro in the food processor, added some lime juice and was good to go.

In about 2 minutes, I had some legit salsa to match the carnitas tacos.  And the batch is big enough to hold over to my next trip … let’s hope I can start spreading them out.

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Salsa at Home {and not Pico de Gallo}

NOTE: As for the tomatoes, just about anything goes here – diced, crushed, whole, etc.  I generally use diced here to save a pulse or two on the the food processor, but you it really doesn’t matter.  Fire roasted also work great here, if you have those.

Regarding the “oretga” chiles, as we affectionally call them, you may notice that the recipe says diced and the pics above show roughly chopped chiles.  Diced are what I usually have on hand in the pantry, but apparently I grabbed a can of the whole version on the last grocery stock up.  Just like the tomatoes, it really doesn’t matter.

Add tomatoes, chiles, onion, garlic, jalapeño and cilantro to the bowl of a food processor (or blender) and pulse until chopped and combined.  If you like it chunkier, just pulse just a few times; for a thinner salsa, let it go a bit more.  Add lime juice and whirl once more.  Season to taste with salt an pepper.

If you feel it needs a bit more richness, add a splash of olive oil.  Some folks like a bit of vinegar too, but I prefer to add more lime instead.

If you like you salsa particularly chunky or do not have a blender or food processor, you can do this all by hand.  Just make sure the onion, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro are finely chopped first.  Add the tomatoes to a bowl and using your hands, a fork or a small knife, break up the tomatoes to desired size.  Add the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.

Will last a few (plus) days in the refrigerator.