Thursday, July 03, 2008

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.

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