I think I've mentioned this before: I don't like raw tomatoes. They are gross and the innards look like something I'm not going to describe because it's too gross. Unfortunately I had an overabundance of them due to my garden and CSA box and needed something to do with them. Fortunately, when I poked around in my garden and saw all the peppers I knew just what to do! Make salsa!
Here we go:
Collect vast quantities of tomatoes and peppers. About 7 pounds of tomatoes and about 15ish peppers. If you have a few more or less, I don't really think it will matter. I was intent on using up every ripe tomato and pepper in site---and another huge bowl of them not in site!
If you like a hot salsa, you'll probably want to use a combination of anaheim, polbano chili peppers, jalapenos and serrano chili peppers. If you have someone in your household with weak tastebuds you'll want to stick to sweet peppers and the such.
Make your tomatoes naked.
Gut 'em. Then, put them in a large pot and cook them at a simmer for 45-55 minutes or until they are thick and chunky. Meanwhile--
De-stem, seed and chop your peppers. If you are using really hot ones, you'll want to wear gloves at this point. And I hear you're not supposed to ever rub your eyes. I wouldn't know because three of us--not me!--won't touch hot stuff.
Chop 2 cup of onions. *Curious tidbit about me: My eyes don't water when I use onions but I sneeze exactly one time each time I chop onions.* Mince 5 cloves of garlic.
Assemble peppers, onions, garlic, 1/2 cup vinegar (not pictured because I can't abide the smell of it for that long!), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper and 1/4 cup cilantro (or parsley).
Dump everything in the pot. Return mixture to boiling and cook for no more than a minute. Take it off the stove. Can or freeze excess as desired.
Eat!
