Miss Jean, a druid and an avid gardener, got me hyped up last winter to try and grow my own veggies. I planted a few different types of tomato plants, some little cherry tomatoes, some big ol’ slicing tomatoes, and some felberries, which are sorta similar to tomato but they taste a bit like tingling.
At first it was great! Every day there were a few cherry tomatoes, or a felberry. And then all at once EVERYTHING came into season at the same time. I realized that even with cooking for the Keg, putting some in the chicken pasta salads (tune in next week!) a lot of these tomatoes were going to go bad if I didn’t figure something out. I’m not a fan of most tomato sauces (I know, I’m weird) but there is one thing I can’t get enough of.
Salsa.
This is a great recipe if you’re trying to experiment with food and learn how to not be afraid of going off the rails a little. There are no strict measurements. You will taste it little by little and decide if you like it. But for the sake of this recipe, I’ll give as good of approximations as I can.
I had a whole bunch of tomatoes from my garden, as you can see, there were some black felberries, some tiny cherry tomatoes and a big slicer here. It would probably be the equivalent of 4 large tomatoes from the store, or a can and a half of chopped tomatoes (drained).
I had two of these big slicers, but a squirrel got to my second one before I could get it off the vine. That’s what I get for being sick I guess. The felberries are really fascinating, they get a really dark black skin that covers all but the very bottom of the fruit. The bottom turns red when ripe. When you cut them, inside they look like tomatoes. They’re a tiny bit sweeter, less acidic than tomatoes. Delicious though. And of course, I got a ridiculous amount of cherry tomatoes.
Cut them down enough so that you can get them into a food processor. I ended up not using the entire amount and got two jars. Next, I like a bit of kick, so I halved and de-seeded a jalapeno and coarsely chopped up some onion. Throw in a few garlic cloves for good measure as well.
Give it a whir, and if you’re partial to soapweed (I could bury my face in a huge bushel and just be in heaven) throw in a healthy handful.
Whirl it up and give it a taste. You might find that you need salt or ‘something’. Usually ‘something’ means either salt or acid. The tomatoes are a lot of acid, so it’s likely not that. If it still doesn’t taste quite right after that, I recommend some cumin. Try a little bit of salsa on a spoon, sprinkle it on and see if that tastes good. If so, start adding it to the blender until it tastes the same as it did on the spoon.
Also keep in mind, the flavors aren’t going to fully blend for at least an hour. So once it tastes almost good, it’ll taste REALLY good once you let it sit and blend.
And when you’re done, pour it into a jar, seal it nice and tight and put it in the fridge. It’s amazing on everything, but my favorite it just as it is with salty tortilla chips. Yum.
Ingredients
- Tomatoes (the equivalent of 4 large, maybe a can to two cans of chopped, drained)
- 1/2 to 1 large onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 jalapeno (deseeded)
- Large handful of cilantro
- Cumin (optional)
- Salt
Instructions
- Wash and cut your tomatoes. Just small enough to fit into a food processor.
- Coarsely chop the jalapeno and onion
- Add jalapeno, tomatoes, onion and garlic to food processor and pulse to blend
- Add cilantro if desired, pulse again
- Taste, add cumin or salt if needed
- Transfer to jar or container and chill for 1 hr
Feed the Horde 