salsa recipe

[B7500]

I love a good salsa!

I was fortunate enough to live in San Diego for 10 years after the NAVY and enjoyed some of the best Mexican food you can possibly get. Later, when my son got married in San Antonio, Texas I relished the "Tex-Mex” version of salsa. Excellent!!

Living here in up-state NY a guy could kill for something similar. Unfortunately, it just can’t be found.

To me a good salsa with chips coupled with a cold beer is a gift from the Gods.

What is your favorite salsa recipe?

-Terry

 

[RobertN]

Nothing beats fresh Salsa(or fresh anything, for that matter). We usually do not use recipes; we chop and dice what we have fresh at the time.

Homemade Salsa, homemade chips, and a nice homebrew ale is just heavenly /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[hobbyfarm]

Hello B7500,
I don't know if there is a written recipe fot it. We always make it from scratch to taste. You know a dab os this, some of that.
Typically, the proportions depend on the heat you want and the heat of your peppers. Peppers are very inconsistant in their heat. It is a function of the plant conditions while growing. Hot, harsh weather makes a hotter pepper. Too much rain, for instance cools the taste of the pepper.

So, start with some ripe tomatoes, onions, garlic (crushed) and peppers - diced
Oh, yeah, almost forgot, fresh cilantro (coriander).
Taste as you go.
Too hot, try to add more lime juice and salt. Not hot enough, add more peppers.
Flavor to taste with fresh lime juice and salt.
Manually diced is more work - best for small batches, or in a blender for parties.

I can't stress this enough: Taste as you go. The best way to get good, consistant salsa is keep trying.
For best results, use serrano type peppers and Roma (oblong) tomatoes, and shop when you're going to make it.

Hmmmmmm, I think I have some chips and.....

 

[v8dave]

And then take that salsa and mix it in with some smashed avocado--gucamole. Some people think just guacamole is enough. Nope, you need some of each to go with the cerveza.

A good variety of Mexican food is one of the better reasons to live in the California and the SouthWest. Just had some tonight in a restaurant that made the revisit list.

 

[v8dave]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I love a good salsa! . . . Living here in up-state NY a guy could kill for something similar. . .
-Terry )</font>

When I was doing more travelling, upstate New York was where I looked forward to good Italian food. A great lead from somebody at Kodak was a find outside of Rochester, out in the middle of the fields, in what appeared to be a farm house.

Trying to get good Italian food here in California, outside of the big cities, is a challenge.

 

[hobbyfarm]

Yeah, I know. Italian food down here comes out of a can /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif or from Pizza Hut! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[B7500]

I can't agree more about using fresh vegetables.

I feel sorry for folks who think salsa is spaghetti looking sauce that comes in a jar called Ortega.

Thanks for the recipe.
-Terry

 

[RobertN]

Where'd you go, where'd you go /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif What was your Italian choice too?

One thing that we do have plenty of here, is choices in wine. There's what, 10 or so nice wineries within just a few minutes of Placerville. Then there's over 65 small to medium wineries in the Nevada/El-Dorado/Amador county area!

There's a bumper sticker around, that says "Napa is for auto parts - El Dorado is for wine" /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[RobertN]

What I find interesting, is that the Italian cooking we are used to is recent, as in the last few hundred years. The Tomatoe was a New World discovery; it is a native of the American continents.

What would Italian cooking have been like a few hundred years ago? Most stuff has Tomatoes in it now. Imagine, first the American continents were discovered by Europeans. It took a while for them to find some of these unique vegetables. Then, it took a while for the vegetables to work thier way in to the foods, and even longer to gain wide popularity. So, we're looking at maybe 300 years of popular Italian recipes with tomatoes?

Most of the hot peppers we are used to were Central American discoveries too, were'nt they?

 

[B7500]

Robert,

Ok, now you’re killing me. We flew out to see my son, his wife and the Grandkids to Portland, Oregon last may. We visited a couple of wineries but were a little disappointed.

I'd give anything to tour the California wineries that your hear so much about. Like Napa Valley.

My wife and I are really into wines (love the Australians) we even make our own.

Yup, a good meal like Italian, Mexican or even just a good steak coupled with a nice Merlot and life just doesn’t get any better.
-Terry

 

[PineRidge]

The wife and I also appreciate good Mexican food and we are fortunate to have a Mariachi Loco Restaurant real close to us. The first thing these folks do once they seat you is to bring out a bowl of fresh salsa and chips to build your appetite even before they take your food order. Naturally we have found that a good Margarita or even an ice cold Corona beer works best for washing all the good Mexican food down. Did I say that we love that cooking too! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RobertN]

The area south of Portland has some nice wineries. If you look on a map, it would be the area between Portland, and Amity to the south. Portland, is the place to go for breweries /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We are about a 1.5 hour drive from the Napa-Sonoma area. They have some great wineries. They6 tend to be expensive, lots of traffic, and more are big production wineries.

Around here, we tend towards smaller wineries, sometimes Mom, Pop, and extended family at the place. Frequently, the person pouring for wine tasting is the vintner him/her-self. We also have some older wineries; some were started during the gold rush.

I have found too, that some wineries even have Salsa! So this is not thread stealing /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Viansi, on the south of Napa/Sonoma has a great deli and picnic area looking over delta wetlands. And you can get Salsa in that deli

Try a web search for Boeger, Madrona, Windwalker and El Dorado County wineries. Lots of stuff comes up.

We've been toying with a TBN get-together around here. Maybe a good idea would be a TBN Limo and wine-tasting /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

www.boegerwinery.com
www.madronavineyards.com/
www.windwalkervineyard.com
www.sierrawineguide.com/Main/El_Dorado.htm
www.winecountrygetaways.com/fairplay-wineries.html

 

[Boondox]

Terry -- Boy, I sure can relate! I was raised in SoCal and was stationed there my last six years of service, plus all eight years of college. So moving to Vermont was something of a culinary change of worlds! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I remember thinking I was in deep trouble when Taco Bell was voted the "Best Ethnic Food" five years in a row...then went out of business! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I'm pretty good at making my own tortillas, but for salsa the ingredients have to be shipped in care packages from former students living in the SW.

Pete