World's Best Salsa

This salsa recipe was originally given to me by a friend who grew up in Southern California. I have never tasted better salsa. Her family owned a huge cattle ranch and she learned to cook Mexican food from the workers who lived and worked on the ranch. Her recipes were out of this world. I have now lost touch with her and I wish that I had saved more of them. I have added a few of my own little touches to this recipe.

Of course, most people eat salsa as a dip with chips, but it makes a great filling for a quick veggie burrito. Just place a tortilla on a plate, pile on some cheese and nuke it for about 30 seconds, until the cheese just starts to melt. Remove from microwave, add a couple of spoonfuls of salsa, wrap, roll and eat!! Makes a great lunch or snack. Try using a low fat cheese and whole wheat tortillas to really make it healthy.

What you need:
This recipe makes a lot of salsa. Scale it down if you need to.
6 large heirloom tomatoes of different colors, washed,cored and quartered
2 green and 2 red jalapenos, seeded and chopped finely*
1 sweet onion, quartered
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt
Juice of 3 fresh limes
2 large bunches of cilantro, stemmed and chopped

In your food processor or blender, add the tomatoes, the onion, vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, lime juice and cilantro. Pulse until not quite pureed.
(If you do not have a food processor or blender, simply chop all of your ingredients. This will be more like a pico de gallo or a very chunky salsa, however.)

Pour mixture into a large bowl. If chunks of veggies remain, chop them again. Add the japalenos, and stir well. Cover and let sit at room temp for at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container. Will last about a week, unless it all gets eaten, which happens. Serve as a dip with blue corn or other chips or as a side dish to another meal. 

If you want this hotter, add some of the jalapeno seeds or use a hotter pepper such as habanero. If you don't want hot at all, use Anaheim chiles or even plain bell pepper.

*To kick this up, roast your jalapenos over either the open flame on a gas stove or grill or broil until blackened in your oven. Take peppers from flame or heat, place in a brown paper bag, seal it up and wait about 15 minutes, until the peppers are cool. Peel and chop to use. If you make more than you need, they will save in the 'fridge for about a week, especially if you place them in a little olive oil. Olive oil congeals when cool, so you will need to warm them up a little to use.