Salsa and Gaucamole Recipes

[warbirdlover]

I'm a good cook but have never made my own Salsa or Gaucamole. The other thread made me want some, so toss out your recipes please!!

[JEFF4i]

I'll give ya the basics, but I can't really give away my twists.

Simple salsa is the best. No fruit for me, or beans. All that is naaaaasty.

Jalepeños (1:2 with the tomatoes)
Tomatoes
Garlic (1 clove for smaller batches, 2 for larger)
Crushed Garlic also works well
Onion
Salt

Concerning salt, if you don't plan to eat it all immediately, it will give it an extra day or two of life depending on how much you put in.

Really it's an obvious combo, excluding my special touches, but, it is a great starting point. 2 tomatoes per 1 jalepeño is a bit spicy, so you might want to drop that down a bit. Lastly, if you really want the good stuff on spicy foods, order from some place in New Mexico. Hatch chile is the best, bar none.

Poor Wisconson will be lacking in good chile, I'm afraid.

[DaveE]

I don't have a good salsa recipe but gaucamole is easy.

No exact measurements but this is close.

2 avocados cubed and crushed. If you use the big ones from California you could use one.

A handful of celantro chopped.

Slice of onion chopped into fine pieces.

Chopped jalapenos (optional)

Juice of one lime.

Salt.

[sandwedge]

I don't have an exact recipie for my salsa, I just start making it and it goes to taste. Here are the approximates.

6 Tomatoes (chopped up in a food chopper)
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 chopped Green pepper
1 chopped yellow pepper (gives a little sweet flavor to go with the spicy jalapeno's)
1 diced yellow onion
2 chopped jalapeno's
Garlic
A bunch of chopped cilantro.

This makes a nice big batch. The salsa gets better after a couple of days when the different flavors mix together.

[warbirdlover]

Sounds great. Thanks for the recipes.

[petersmells]

Grteat recipes guys, you gotta have cilantro, lots of cilantro.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by petersmells

Grteat recipes guys, you gotta have cilantro, lots of cilantro.

I wholeheartedly agree....any Salsa recipe without cilantro is hopelessly incomplete.

I learned this living in San Antonio - US Capitol of Mexican Food....where 55% of the population is of Hispanic descent...

[zaphod]

I agree about the cilantro. Jeff is on tract about using good chiles. You can also experiment with other peppers found in a good produce department. However beware of Habanero peppers. Gringo muerte. For those who need to reduce heat de-seed the jalapeños before adding.

Added advice Dont handle your contacts lenses after preparing the chiles.

enjoy

[JEFF4i]

Cilantro is a hugely acquired taste. Some people love it, some hate it. I love the stuff but have had plenty of good salsas without it.

Oh, and bear in mind my recipe is rather negligent of those who aren't big fans of heat. Bell pepper and that sort of stuff is a big no no for me, in anything really, Habaneros rock, but are pretty hot. Green chile can go well in salsa as well, if done right.

As Sandwedge said, which I forgot, if you like to have it a little bit less chunky and a little more smooth, canned tomatoes help with that.

The main parts to good salsa are making sure the produce you are using are good. I say this, without a doubt in my mind, you cannot buy as good of chiles anywhere as you can those from the southwest. The climate here are perfect for them, especially in parts of California, Arizona, and New Mexico.