homemade salsa :: a rigney family recipe

When I married Joe back in 2005, I inherited a a number of things: a wonderful family, a new name, and one incredible salsa recipe.

I can’t remember a time while visiting Joe’s family in Midland when his mother didn’t make this salsa.  It was a staple appetizer in their home and we rarely had a game night when this salsa didn’t make an appearance.

Through the years, I have tweaked the basic recipe a bit to better fit our particular taste.  However, I’ve tried to stay pretty true to the original recipe, which in my humble opinion, is better than any restaurant salsa I’ve ever tasted!

About a week ago, I mentioned on Facebook that I had been given some freshly grown tomatoes from a friend’s garden and that I was making homemade salsa.  A number of people asked for the recipe, so here it is.  Welcome to the family!

Ingredients:

Fresh Cilantro, Fresh Garlic Cloves, Fresh Tomatoes, Jalapenos (Fresh or from a Jar), White (or Red) Onion, Red Wine Vinegar, Fresh Lime Juice, and Kosher Salt.

I use an entire bundle of cilantro (and I’m not even a huge fan of cilantro).  However, it is so necessary to enhance the taste of this salsa.

I used a variety of garden tomatoes in this batch of salsa, however, if given the choice I would always pick Vine Ripe or Roma.

I like to use at least 5 whole cloves of garlic (don’t skimp on the garlic, it gives the salsa a nice smoky flavor).

First chop up some clean, fresh cilantro and add then add the garlic cloves…

Mince them on high in your food processor for about 10-15 seconds…

Then add 1/2 of a white (or red) onion and 6-7 jalapeno slices…

Mince them together and add tomatoes.  I usually add a couple cans of diced tomatoes (in addition to the fresh ones) to make the batch of salsa stretch a bit…

Add the Red Wine Vinegar (as much or as little as you’d like) through the liquid spout of your food processor while you continue to blend the other ingredients…

Same with the lime (don’t skimp on the lime either!).  I use an entire lime because we like our salsa on the tangy side…

Final step: Add the Kosher Salt.  We like our salsa pretty salty, so I add around one Tablespoon.

Puree all the ingredients for another 15-20 seconds, add some tortilla chips and enjoy!  If you want a chunkier salsa, drain all the juice from the canned tomatoes before adding to the minced cilantro and puree for about 5-10 seconds

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A couple of shortcuts if you are looking for a quicker recipe:

- Use cans of Rotel instead of fresh tomatoes

- Use minced garlic in a jar instead of fresh cloves

- Use slices of jarred jalapenos instead of a fresh one

- You can also use dried cilantro, dried onion, and bottled lime juice (but I wouldn’t recommend it!)