Diced - Chop ingredient into small pieces, about the size of a pencil eraser
Minced - Same as diced but about 2x smaller. The best way to mince something is to take a sharp cooking knife & keep chopping it over & over until it's all teeny-tiny
The Stuff
- 7 ripe Plum Tomatoes, diced small
- 4 slices of jarred jalapeños, minced-minced-minced (you can add more if you like your salsa a little hotter)
- 5 or 6 whole garlic cloves (or you can use 2 tbsp of pre-minced jarred garlic if you're in a hurry)
- 1 big bunch of fresh cilantro...DON'T cheat - the dried stuff won't work
- 1/2 of a medium red/purple onion, minced
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Apple Cider Vinegar (or whatever you have in your pantry)
- Salt (I like kosher salt)
Making it Work
- Place the diced plum tomatoes in a medium mixing bowl (don't cheat & try to use canned...ewwww)
- Add the minced jalapeños
- Over the bowl, press the garlic cloves through a garlic press. If you don't have one, please do yourself a favor & get one...until then, you can mince the garlic.
- Chuck the minced onion into the bowl
- Have a sip of Guinness...it makes cooking much more fun ;o)
- Grab the bunch of cilantro by the stems & using your cooking knife, scrape off the leaves onto your cutting board. It looks like a lot, but trust me, it's OK. Don't stress if you get some stems in there, they're just gonna get chopped up anyway. Holding your knife in one hand & place the palm of your hand on top of the blade, rock the blade over the cilantro to chop it into itty-bitty pieces. You'll need to re-pile the green stuff several times & continue chopping until you have a pile of finely chopped, incredible smelling cilantro.
- Dump the cilantro into the bowl
- Add a glug of the Olive Oil (about a tablespoon)
- Add the same amount of vinegar
- Liberally add salt. I like mine a little on the salty side, so I guess it would be about 2 teaspoons. You can add more or less according to how you like it.
- Stir well & taste (that's the best part of cooking ;o)
- Celebrate with a nice pint of Guinness or wine...You just made freaking Salsa!!!!!
Faerie GothMother's Notes...
This salsa is yummy with a nice tortilla chip. It's also wonderful spread over chicken breasts, then baked in the oven.
You can use this recipe to make a wonderful topping for toasted Italian bread...just replace the Cilantro with Basil. You can also add chopped black or calamata olives to it. Take toasted Italian bread rounds & rub them with a garlic clove. Drizzle with a very small amount of olive oil & top with the tomato mixture. Place in the oven on 350* for about 5 minutes. Yummmmmmm. This one is also good on top of baked chicken.
