south of the border

Mango Salsa on the Screen Porch


Over at momandus, they are tossing around summer meal ideas. Grilled meats and veggies, salads, cold sandwiches, and other easy-fix meals are all up my alley, for sure! But here is one category that begs to be expounded upon: the world of salsa.

It's an exciting world--one full of possibility. Once you have partaken of fresh salsa, you will never go back to the overcooked, tomato-paste-laden stuff from a jar. Trust me on this.

The basic ingredients are:

a base (tomato, tomatilla, peach , pineapple, mango or combo of any)
accompanying veggies (sweet onion, cucumber, bell pepper, red and yellow pepper, crushed garlic)
a source of heat (jalapeno or any other pepper with a kick, freshly chopped ginger, hot pepper flakes)
a zing of herbs (fresh cilantro, mint, or parsley)
a squeeze of lime
salt and freshly ground pepper

I like to chop everything pretty finely by hand, although you could use a food-processor for everything but the tomatoes (for texture's sake). Don't make the mistake of making a bowl-ful of chopped tomatoes with a few sprinklings of other stuff! You will be disappointed with a bland dip for your chip. We call that "wimpy sauce" around here. Put lotsa extras in there, like a good senorita.

Serve with white tortilla chips. Be sure to have a tall glass of iced tea handy to whet your whistle.
Or to douse the flames, depending on how liberal you were with the hot stuff.