This has been my go-to salsa formula for almost 11 years. It originally appeared in The Martha Stewart Cookbook, published in 1995, and it has been reprinted in her various other publications and used on her show many, many times. It appears and reappears because it is fabulous.
Martha’s general advice about salsa is solid. You want to balance sweet (onion), sour (vinegar, lemon, or lime juice) and heat (jalapeno peppers or serrano chiles), but beyond that, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Vary your star ingredients: tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, corn, or fruit. Just be sure to include those three necessary elements that differentiate a salsa from chutney or relish.
I picked up my CSA farm share today and was thrilled to see two stripey green tomatoes, a huge ugly orange and yellow tie-dyed looking guy who clearly rocked out to the Grateful Dead, and some classic red tomatoes. I balanced that with two jalapenos, a sweet white onion, and lime juice. We love cilantro at my house, so I never skip that.
Fresh salsa is a great technique to have up your sleeve for summer entertaining, because you need to make it at least one day ahead of time so that the flavors can meld, and it’s just so darned good.
Fresh Salsa Recipes
Read more by Robin Horrigan
Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen.
Photo by Maggie Hoffman / flickr
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